‘You just want to get the job done’: Graham Nash talks frankly about Crosby Stills Nash and Young’s squabbles

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Graham Nash, in his memoir Wild Tales: A Rock & Roll Life, excoriated bandmate David Crosby’s propensity for drug use at the expense of Crosby Stills and Nash — but the truth is, Crosby wasn’t the only one who derailed the group over the years.

Even after Crosby got cleaned up, following a late-1980s prison stint, Stephen Stills descended into a bout with the bottle that jeopardized their momentum once more. Squabbles involving sometime CSN partner Neil Young created long periods of silence beginning in the ’70s. They’d go years between official releases, issuing odd offshoot albums such as Crosby-Nash, and the Stills-Young Band.

Nash was no angel, of course, but his personal indulgences were never linked to obvious issues within the dynamic of Crosby Still Nash and (sometimes) Young. That led the Houston Press to ask the obvious: Did you ever get the distinct feeling that you were the only one who wanted to actually make music?

“Oh, I always think that. I have from day one, actually!” Nash says. “I mean, I’m English. My country was devastated twice by war in 80 years. And there were times you didn’t know if your house was going to be still standing or your friends were going to be alive. So, you just want to get the job done, because you don’t know if it’s ever going to end suddenly.”

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