On the podcast Track Exploder, a musician takes aside one among their songs and tells the way it was made. Graham Nash talked about “Our Home” from Crosby Stills Nash and Younger’s 1970 album Deja Vu.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
On the podcast “Track Exploder,” a musician takes aside one among their songs and tells the story of the way it was made. Just lately, host Hrishikesh Hirway spoke with Graham Nash about “Our Home” from the 1970 Crosby, Stills, Nash and Younger album, “Déjà Vu.”
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, “SONG EXPLODER”)
HRISHIKESH HIRWAY: Might you inform me in regards to the day that you simply wrote this music? Do you bear in mind it?
GRAHAM NASH: I do, certainly. I had taken my girlfriend, Joni Mitchell, to breakfast at a delicatessen on Ventura Boulevard in Los Angeles. It was on the finish of winter, a totally terrible day – you realize, wet and foggy and really, very chilly. After breakfast, Joni and I have been strolling to the place her automobile was parked, and we handed an vintage retailer. Joni noticed a vase that she needed to purchase. It was within the again, about 10 inches excessive, some hand-painted flowers across the edge, and Joni purchased it.
We collected the vase and drove to our home in Laurel Canyon. And as I went via the entrance door, I stated to Joan, I stated, hey, Joan, why do not I mild a fireplace and you set some flowers in that vase that you simply purchased immediately? Nicely, that is all I wanted. Whereas Joni was within the yard looking for some flowers that hadn’t died but in winter, and I used to be at her piano, I bought the primary traces and wrote the music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG “OUR HOUSE”)
NASH: (Singing) I am going to mild the hearth. You place the flowers within the vase that you simply purchased immediately.
HIRWAY: I would like to take heed to the vocal association ‘trigger I’ve these three tracks of your voice…
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG “OUR HOUSE”)
NASH: (Singing) Such a comfy room, such a comfy room.
HIRWAY: …Two tracks of David…
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG “OUR HOUSE”)
DAVID CROSBY: (Singing) Such a comfy room.
HIRWAY: …And two tracks of Stephen.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG “OUR HOUSE”)
STEPHEN STILLS: (Singing) Such a comfy room.
NASH: Anybody can sing the identical notes as we will. That is no secret. However you’ll be able to’t sound like David and Stephen and I once we put our voices collectively and current it as one voice.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG “OUR HOUSE”)
CROSBY, STILLS, NASH AND YOUNG: (Singing) Such a comfy room. Such a comfy room. The home windows are illuminated by the night sunshine via them, fiery gems for you, just for you.
HIRWAY: So one factor I needed to ask you about is that this second the place you kind of cut up off into this counterpoint factor.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG “OUR HOUSE”)
CROSBY, STILLS, NASH AND YOUNG: (Singing) Our home is a really, very, very high quality home, very high quality home.
NASH: So what occurred is, principally, it was a mistake.
HIRWAY: Actually?
NASH: Oh, yeah. It was David and Stephen simply drifting off into a distinct half. However, you see, typically errors can occur that actually, actually should not errors. And so as soon as we did that, we made it part of the vocal mix, however it was really a – began out as a mistake.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG “OUR HOUSE”)
CROSBY, STILLS, NASH AND YOUNG: (Singing) Is a really, very, very high quality home, very high quality home.
HIRWAY: OK, there’s only one other thing that I needed to play for you.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
GRAHAM NASH AND JONI MITCHELL: (Singing) Our home is a really, very, very high quality home, with two cats within the yard. Life was once so arduous. Now all the pieces is straightforward ‘reason for you.
NASH: That is the time that we have been in Philadelphia, on the Music Corridor there. And Joni was with me, and I began to, at soundcheck, play “Our Home,” and he or she joined me on vocal and piano.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
NASH AND MITCHELL: (Singing) And also you positioned the flowers within the vase that you simply purchased immediately.
JONI MITCHELL: Oh (laughter).
NASH: Yeah, that is me and Joni.
Listening to that model once more – what does that evoke for you?
NASH: It was a vital time in my life. I imply, to stay and love Joni Mitchell was extremely particular to me. And to have the ability to write a music about my precise residence the place I lived was very comforting for me. And it was straightforward to recollect. That is once I first put my voice along with David and Stephen’s, in Joni’s front room, with Joni as the one witness to the start of Crosby, Stills and Nash.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROSBY, STILLS, NASH AND YOUNG SONG, “OUR HOUSE”)
KELLY: Lovely. Graham Nash, talking there with Hrishikesh Hirway, host of the award-winning music podcast “Track Exploder.”
(SOUNDBITE OF CROSBY, STILLS, NASH AND YOUNG SONG, “OUR HOUSE”)
Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional info.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This textual content might not be in its closing kind and could also be up to date or revised sooner or later. Accuracy and availability might range. The authoritative report of NPR’s programming is the audio report.