"Carry on, love is coming! Love is coming to us all!"
Déjà Vu is the first album under the supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and the second album by the first three musicians together. It was released on March 11, 1970 through Atlantic Records. After the successful release of Crosby, Stills & Nash, the eponymous group sought a fourth member, and under Ahmet Ertegun's recommendation was referred to Stephen Stills' former Buffalo Springfield bandmate Neil Young. It was released to strong sales, at seven times Platinum according to the RIAA, to date the highest-selling album for any of the members.
Supported by four singles: "Woodstock", "Teach Your Children", "Our House" and "Carry On", the first three of which were Top 40 hits.
Tracklist
Side one- "Carry On" (4:26)
- "Teach Your Children" (2:53)
- "Almost Cut My Hair" (4:31)
- "Helpless" (3:33)
- "Woodstock" (3:54)
Side two
- "Déjà Vu" (4:12)
- "Our House" (2:59)
- "4 + 20" (2:06)
- "Country Girl" (5:11)
- "Everybody I Love You" (2:21)
Principal members
- David Crosby: vocals, rhythm guitar
- Stephen Stills: vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, organ, piano, percussion
- Graham Nash: vocals, piano, organ, rhythm guitar, percussion, tambourine
- Neil Young: vocals, guitars, keyboards, harmonica
Trope your children well. Your troper's hell will slowly go by:
- Cover Version: "Woodstock" was originally recorded by Joni Mitchell, released on the same year she released the original version on the album Ladies of the Canyon.
- Déjà Vu: "Déjà Vu", obviously. The song itself was inspired by a trip Crosby took on a friend's sailing boat where he felt he had done the same trip beforehand.
- The Generation Gap: "Teach Your Children" by Graham Nash addresses both sides of the gap between baby boomers and their parents, urging them to understand each other.
- Important Haircut: Crosby's "Almost Cut My Hair" concerns a hippie/counterculture type who nearly gets his hair cut to avoid being harassed by the cops, but ultimately changes his mind and decides to be true to himself by "letting my freak flag fly".
- The Insomniac: The narrator of "4 + 20", written by Stills:
- Night after sleepless night
I walk the floor and I want to know
Why am I so alone?
- Scatting: David Crosby scat sings during the introduction to the title track.
- Special Guest: Two session musicians Dallas Taylor (drums) and Greg Reeves (bass) were credited in slightly smaller type font on the cover for playing for most of the album. Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead played the pedal steel guitar for "Teach Your Children", while The Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian played the harmonica for the title track.
- War Is Hell: "Woodstock"And I dreamed I saw the bomber death planes flying shotgun in the sky.
