Song of the Day #2,829: ‘Teach Your Children’ – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

crosby_stills_nash_deja_vuDeja Vu was the second album by Crosby, Stills & Nash, and the first after the addition of Neil Young. It received universal critical acclaim, sold more than 8 million copies and remains the top-selling album in any of the four men’s careers.

CSN&Y were an early supergroup, each of the members having found success either as solo artists or in other bands. Relationships within the band were often strained, the whole thing barely hanging together, perhaps because they really didn’t need each other.

This album, widely considered their finest, was recorded in a series of individual sessions, with other band members coming and going as needed. Its biggest hits were ‘Our House,’ written by Graham Nash about his time living with Joni Mitchell, and today’s iconic track, ‘Teach Your Children,’ also penned by Nash.

You, who are on the road
Must have a code
That you can live by
And so
Become yourself
Because the past
Is just a good-bye

[Chorus]
Teach your children well
Your father’s hell did slowly go by
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked
The one you’ll know by

Don’t you ever ask them why
If they told you, you would cry
So just look at them and sigh
And know they love you

And you of tender years
Can’t know the fears
That your elders grew by
And so please help
Them with your youth
They seek the truth
Before they can die

[Chorus]
Teach your parents well
The children’s hell
Will slowly go by
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked
The one you’ll know by

Don’t you ever ask them why
If they told you, you would cry
So just look at them and sigh
And know they love you

One thought on “Song of the Day #2,829: ‘Teach Your Children’ – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

  1. Dana says:

    Great stuff!

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