UPFRONT/THE A LIST
7 Life Lessons From Graham Nash
1. Music = Honesty
When you’re writing songs, you have to tell the truth, to reflect the times. Most of the choices I’ve made started with my mother and father telling me, “Follow your heart and you won’t go wrong.”
2. Find Your Place
I came to New York City with the Hollies for the first time in 1965. It thrilled me. “Wait, I can have a cheeseburger delivered in five minutes? What a country this is!” I never wanted to go back to England, and I never did.
3. Take Leaps of Faith
The first time I sang with David Crosby and Stephen Stills, there was no doubt what I had to do. I was already in a famous band, and we had been famous for seven years. People thought I was f------ crazy to leave the Hollies. “Give up all the women, the money and the fame?” They had not heard me, David and Stephen sing—but I had.
4. Collab Is Good
I played “Teach Your Children” for Stephen when I’d just finished it. He said, “Pretty good song, Graham, but don’t ever play it like that again. You sound like Henry VIII doing ‘Greensleeves.’ This is how it should go.” And he played a beautiful guitar part that turned it into a hit.
“I can only write songs for me. I can’t write them for you.”
5. Make Up Swiftly
David was my best friend for over 50 years. But eventually, I had to distance myself from him. He’d said terrible things about Neil Young’s wife [actress Daryl Hannah] and others. When it’s uncomfortable to be around a friend, it’s time to move on. But his death [on January 18] was like an earthquake; with those smaller earthquakes that happen afterwards. It wasn’t until two or three days after he passed that I realized he was gone. The fact is, we were getting a little closer at the end. He had just left me a voice mail saying he wanted to talk, to apologize, and could we set up a time. And I heard from his son that he was ecstatic that we were going to reconnect. But then he was gone.
6. Sing for Change
In the ’60s we thought we could stop the Vietnam War if we riled people up with our songs. I still believe we can change the world.
7. In the End, We All Go Solo
The opening line of my new album is, “I used to think that I could never love again / I used to think that I’d be all on my own.” At 81 years old, one has to think about these things. We’re all going to die alone, every single one of us, even though there may be somebody around. —As told to Rob Tannenbaum
Graham Nash, 81, is a singer, songwriter and member of Crosby, Stills & Nash, as well as a photographer. His forthcoming album is Now.