David Crosby quotes

David Crosby was an American musician, singer, and songwriter, recognized as a founding member of both The Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash. His harmonies and songwriting deeply influenced the sound of 1960s and 1970s rock music. He was also known for his outspoken personality and lifelong dedication to music and social activism. Here are 14 of his quotes:

When I was 11 years old, my parents wanted me to do something besides get in trouble. So they enrolled me in sailing classes at the Sea Shell Association in Santa Barbara, Calif. From the moment I climbed into that 8-foot dinghy in 1952, I knew instinctively what to do and sensed I had done it before.

David Crosby

I don't like greed, I don't like ignorance. I really don't like anger. But I love love.

David Crosby

There are a lot of people who look great but can't sing.

David Crosby

My songs emerge from my life, or wherever they do, unbidden and unplanned and completely on a schedule of their own.

David Crosby

Sailing became one of the mainstreams of my life. I suppose my father was an influence. I remember seeing a photo of him at home sailing a big boat to Bermuda in his 20s. I still have it.

David Crosby

The people who run record companies now wouldn't know a song if it flew up their nose and died. They haven't a clue, and they don't care. You tell them that, and they go, Yeah? So, your point is?

David Crosby

Now record companies are run by lawyers and accountants. The shift from the one to the other was definitely related to when the takes started to get big.

David Crosby

My father being in the movie business, I thought being an actor would be great. But when I started singing to people in coffeehouses, you know, singing folk music and then, later, singing songs that I started to write myself, I felt more than an affinity for it.

David Crosby

I don't collect the way other people do. Some people collect rare guitars, like, 'I have a '54 Strat worth $50,000.' And I don't collect the way Nash does. Nash has Duane Allman's guitar and Johnny Cash's guitar. I bought guitars because they sounded good. I played them, they sounded unbelievably good, and I couldn't resist.

David Crosby

I can't legislate a song into being; it just will not happen for me.

David Crosby

Describing Woodstock as the 'big bang,' I think that's a great way to describe it, because the important thing about it wasn't how many people were there or that it was a lot of truly wonderful music that got played.

David Crosby

I have a pretty clear picture of the whole weight of my life, and there are things that I've done that are good, and I'm proud of them. There are things that I'm really not proud of, and that they, you have to look at me with a perspective, and I try really hard to do that, to keep from thinking I'm cool and ever so smart.

David Crosby