DAVID CROSBY:

As time go by we lose things. That’s part of the process of living. We lose our hair, our youth, friends and sometimes our dreams. But there is a spirit within each of us that keeps striving to get to the next stop on the railroad.

Now as the years spin by quicker and quicker, the heroes of our youth are leaving us. I know it seems that they’re going at an accelerated pace, but that’s not true. People are always dying, and always being born. It’s just that these artists mean so much to us that losing even one can be heartbreaking. In the past few years so many have taken that ride to the other side, Tom Petty, David Bowie, Christie McVie, Jeff Beck, we are experiencing that hurt over and over again. Each had a special place in my heart. They were the voices of my generation and the shining lights I looked up to. They soothed me with their words and music; they calmed me when I was frantic, and they were my heroes and creative influences; simply irreplaceable. David Crosby was one of the most profound for me. His work throughout the decades was a spark of genius. CSN(&Y) was one of the best groups to ever harmonize. I can’t express in words how much Suite Judy Blue Eyes, Marrakesh Express, Ohio, and all the other tracks meant to me. I don’t mourn for David. He lived a wonderful, full and creative life, and he left us with so much to remember him by. I celebrate him. But still the tears come.

For those of you who know my music and songwriting you can easily hear the influences of CSNY, collectively and as individual artist, as well as Dylan, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Jackson Brown, Laura Nero, Van Morrison and all of the great singer-songwriters of that era. Also my jazz and blues often seeps into the rhythm and texture of my work.

And as the few remaining stars twinkle until the end – Dylan, McCartney, Jagger, and we must say goodbye again and again I understand more clearly not only the poem For Whom the Bell Tolls, written by John Donne in 1623, but the 1940 novel that took its title from that poem by Ernest Hemingway, in my opinion one of the greatest writers of the 20^th century, whose complex simplicity captured the hopes and angst of everyone. “Ask not For Whom the Bell Tolls, it tolls for thee.” We are all walking down that silent road on our way home. And the tears are as much for my lost youth and dreams as they are for David Crosby. Remember to love and cherish every day of your life, and those who matter. And do the best work you can for as long as you can. That is the only legacy we can truly leave behind.

R.I.P. Crosby, Petty, Bowie, Beck, and all the others. You have lit our path and lightened our load and for that I am eternally grateful.