Laughing
Crosby's song with Jerry Garcia on pedal steel and Joni Mitchell in the harmonies, the fourth track on his solo debut.
David Crosby, from If I Could Only Remember My Name (1971)
- Written by
- David Crosby
- Released
- 1971
- Album
- If I Could Only Remember My Name
Laughing runs 5:20 and was written earlier, during Crosby's time with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Engineer Stephen Barncard called it the most magical track on the album and said it happened so fast that he remembers little of recording and mixing it. The basic track was cut with Phil Lesh on bass and Bill Kreutzmann on drums, with overdubs from Jerry Garcia on pedal steel, multiple Crosby vocals and a small part for Joni Mitchell, all in a day or so. Crosby had been working at the song and others like it for years.
Asked in 2021 by the Los Angeles Times about the song's skepticism of mysticism, Crosby called it the George Harrison story: he said he wrote it for Harrison, after Harrison went to India and was smitten with a guru. The Pitchfork review calls it the most conventional song on the record. Crosby performed it for BBC Radio 4's Mastertapes in November 2013.
On stage
- 2013-11, Maida Vale Studios, BBC Radio 4 Mastertapes Crosby performs the song for the programme.
More songs by David Crosby
Cowboy Movie, Guinnevere, Wooden Ships, Almost Cut My Hair, Eight Miles High
Sources
- Track by Track Commentary by Stephen Barncard, If I Could Only Remember My Name official website (archived) (2012-03-22)
- David Crosby on If I Could Only Remember My Name at 50, Los Angeles Times (2021-03-03)
- David Crosby: If I Could Only Remember My Name, Pitchfork (2019-03-10)
- David Crosby (A-Side), BBC Radio 4, Mastertapes (2013-11)