Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young -- Teach Your Children

 

Going a little long today but I wanted to finish with a special Sunday Reminiscings of Youth. As one commenter under the above video has mentioned, "We’re losing too many legends". With a sense of melancholy, I agree. On January 18th, the music world lost David Crosby of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young at the age of 81. 

To be honest, I've only known David Crosby as that old man with the flowing white hair and moustache, so it was fascinating to see him as a young fellow with The Byrds. To me, he struck me as a family's coolest and dude-iest uncle or grand-uncle; the type of guy, for good or for bad, who let a teenager secretly have a first sip of a beer or a first drag on a cigarette even when the parents may not like that. And more often than not, when I've seen him on the news, it's usually for some sort of demeanor that he had committed.

And yet, I also knew him and the rest of this iconic folk band with those exquisite harmonies coming through the radio as a kid, although I can't consider myself a dedicated fan. But whenever one of their songs came on that SONY, I knew exactly who they were. One of those songs was "Teach Your Children", a May 1970 single and a track from CSN&Y's March 1970 album "Déjà Vu". 

Considering the times and circumstances that we're currently living in, "Teach Your Children" still packs a punch despite the short time of a little under three minutes. Perhaps it's a gentle prod or admonishment to folks to teach the generation after and even the one before about the various societal messages in quality as well as in quantity. The spoonful of sugar that helps this medicine go down is the welcoming country swing and perhaps the brevity of the song.

In Canada, "Teach Your Children" went as high as No. 8 on their RPM Singles chart while in the United States, it peaked at No. 16. All my condolences to Crosby's family, friends and fans.

So, what were winning the prizes at the Japan Record Awards for 1970?

Grand Prize: Yoichi Sugawara -- Kyo de Owakare（今日でお別れ）

Best Performance: Hiroshi Uchiyamada and The Cool Five -- Uwasa no Onna（噂の女）

Best New Artist: Mari Henmi -- Keiken（経験）