Nash was born in Blackpool, England, during World War II. His mother was evacuated from the Nashes' hometown of Salford (now in Greater Manchester ), where Graham grew up. In the early 1960s he was a leading member of The Hollies, one of the UK's most successful pop groups ever. Although recognised as a key member of the group, he seldom sang lead vocals, although he did write many of the band's songs, most often in collaboration with Allan Clarke. Best known in the US for their 1965 hit "Bus Stop", the Hollies also scored with "Look Through Any Window" in 1965, "Stop, Stop, Stop" in 1966, "Carrianne", and "On a Carousel " in 1967, among others. Nash was pivotal in the forging of a sound and lyrics showing an obvious hippie influence on The Hollies' album Butterfly, a collection that brought differing opinions on the band's musical direction to the fore.
In 1968, after a visit to the US during which he met David Crosby in Laurel Canyon and began recreational drug use, Nash left The Hollies at the height of their fame to form a new group with Crosby and Stephen Stills. A threesome at first, Crosby, Stills & Nash later became a foursome with Neil Young: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (CSNY). With them, Nash went on to even greater worldwide success. Nash, nicknamed "Willy" by his band mates in CSNY, has been described as the glue that keeps their often fragile alliances together. A mark of this is the loyalty and support Nash showed to his best friend, Crosby, during Crosby's well-documented period of drug addiction ending in the mid 1980s. Nash's solo career has often been shelved in favour of reunions on stage and in the studio with either Crosby and Stills or Crosby, Stills and Young. His own solo work shows a love of melody and ballads. His solo recordings have experimented with jazz and electronic percussion but tend not to stray too far from a pop format with well-defined hook lines.
Nash became very politically active after moving to California to join with David Crosby and Stephen Stills, as reflected such in Nash songs as "Military Madness" and "Chicago (We Can Change the World)". His song "Immigration Man", Crosby and Nash's biggest hit as a duo (see below), arose from a tiff he had with a US Customs official while trying to enter the country. Nash became an American citizen on August 14, 1978.
Starting in 1972, Nash teamed with Crosby, the two continuing as a successful recording and performing duo until the more or less permanent reformation with Stills for the CSN album of 1977. The pair reunited for another Crosby & Nash studio album in 2004, and a legitimate release of music from a 1970s Crosby-Nash tour as on a widely circulated bootleg appeared in 1998.
In 1979, Nash co-founded Musicians United for Safe Energy.
In 2005, Nash collaborated with Norwegian musicians a-ha on the songs "Over the Treetops" (penned by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy) and "Cosy Prisons" (penned by Magne Furuholmen) for the Analogue recording.
In 2006, Nash worked with David Gilmour and David Crosby on the title track of David Gilmour's third solo album, On an Island. In March of 2006, the album was released and quickly reached #1 on the UK charts. Nash and Crosby subsequently toured the UK with Gilmour, singing backup on "On an Island", "The Blue", "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", and "Find the Cost of Freedom".
Nash is part of the No Nukes group which is against the expansion of nuclear power. In 2007 the group recorded a music video of a new version of the Buffalo Springfield song "For What It's Worth".
Graham Nash has been putting the finishing touches on a 65-song career-retrospective box set, Reflection, due in February 2008.
Nash became an early collector of photographs beginning in the 1970s. The sale of his collection in 1990 by Sotheby's became an important milestone in establishing the market for fine-art photography. Proceeds of the sale funded charitable causes and provide the means for Nash to co-found Nash Editions, a digital fine-arts printmaking firm that used some of the most advanced scanning and printing equipment in early days. The company continues to operate today. Starting with an IRIS printer, a device initially designed for color-proofing for commercial printing, Nash experimented in the late 1980s with creating large-scale digital photos. Using image management software written by Nash and Holbert, a hand-built scanner, and an IRIS Graphics IRIS 3047 printer, they developed methods to adapt the printer's output to the fine-arts printing of black-and-white photographs on archival-paper substrates. In August 2005, Nash and colleague Mac Holbert donated that IRIS 3047 printer to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.
Nash has also exhibited a collection of his photographs at the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego and elsewhere. In 2004, he released a catalog of his photography as a book entitled Eye to Eye.
Be Yourself
Graham Nash Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When life doesn't seem real
And you're folating about on your own
Your life seems uncertain
So you draw the curtain
Pretending there's nobody home
Don't theorize
They can't tell lies
Though you may disguise what you see
The mirror is free
We once had a savior
But by our behavior
The one that was worth it is gone
Song birds are talking
And runners are walking
A prodigal son's coming home
Don't theorize
Look in his eyes
They won't tell lies
But if he defies what you see
He'll give you a key
Be yourself
Be yourself
Be yourself
We needed a tutor
So built a computer
And programmed ourselves not to see
The truth and the lying
The dead and the dying
A silent majority
Don't theorize
Look in their eyes
Are they telling lies
The ones that they learn on T.V.
What a way to be free
Be yourself
Be yourself
Then you can free yourself
Free yourself
See yourself
Then you can see yourself
Come on and see yourself
The song "Be Yourself" by Graham Nash is a commentary on modern life and the struggle to maintain individuality and authenticity in a world that often seems manufactured and false. The lyrics explore the idea of feeling lost and disconnected, of living life behind a mask, pretending to be someone one is not. Nash urges us to look inward, to trust our own perceptions, and to resist the pressures of society to conform.
The song begins by describing the feeling of disconnection, of not being able to trust one's own senses in a confusing and uncertain world. The metaphor of drawing the curtain and pretending there's nobody home suggests a desire to hide from the world, to retreat into oneself rather than face the challenges and complexities of life. Nash urges us to look in the mirror, to confront ourselves honestly, and to recognize that the truth cannot be hidden or disguised.
Nash then turns to the larger societal context, lamenting the loss of ideals and values that once held us together. He observes that we have turned away from our savior, that we have built machines to do our thinking for us, and that we have become a silent majority, content to let others do our talking and our thinking. In the face of this bleak picture, Nash calls on us to be ourselves, to reject the false promises and illusions of modern life, and to find our own path to freedom and self-expression.
Line by Line Meaning
How does it feel
How does it feel when life feels unreal?
When life doesn't seem real
When life feels unreal, like you're floating through it?
And you're floating about on your own
Alone in this unreal life?
Your life seems uncertain
Your life feels uncertain?
So you draw the curtain
So you hide from the world?
Pretending there's nobody home
Pretending you're not there?
Don't theorize
Don't speculate or theorize?
Look in your eyes
Look at yourself introspectively?
They can't tell lies
Trust your own innate sense of truth?
Though you may disguise what you see
Even if you hide from discomforting truths?
The mirror is free
The mirror doesn't judge or deceive?
We once had a savior
There was someone who could save us?
But by our behavior
But we pushed that person away?
The one that was worth it is gone
The one person who could have helped is now out of reach?
Song birds are talking
Nature speaks to us?
And runners are walking
Normal people are trying to better themselves?
A prodigal son's coming home
Someone who was lost is returning?
Don't theorize
Don't speculate or theorize?
Look in his eyes
Look at the person who is returning?
They won't tell lies
Trust that person's sincerity?
But if he defies what you see
If that person seems fake or insincere?
He'll give you a key
He'll reveal what you need to see to understand the truth?
Be yourself
Be who you truly are?
Be yourself
Be who you truly are?
Be yourself
Be who you truly are?
We needed a tutor
We needed someone to teach us?
So built a computer
So we created a machine to do it for us?
And programmed ourselves not to see
And we trained ourselves to ignore certain truths?
The truth and the lying
The truth and the deception?
The dead and the dying
Life and death?
A silent majority
The majority who remain silent about the truth?
Don't theorize
Don't speculate or theorize?
Look in their eyes
Look at the people who are silent?
Are they telling lies
Are they being truthful?
The ones that they learn on T.V.
What they're taught by the media?
What a way to be free
How terrible to not live in truth and freedom?
Be yourself
Be who you truly are?
Be yourself
Be who you truly are?
Then you can free yourself
Only then can you be truly free?
Free yourself
Free yourself from your illusions?
See yourself
See yourself for who you truly are?
Then you can see yourself
Only then can you see your true potential?
Come on and see yourself
Take that step and see yourself as you truly are?
Lyrics © Spirit Music Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: GRAHAM NASH, TERRY REID
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@Mamalion730
I just dedicated this song to my socially conscious 26 years old son. Amazing how this song still rings true today.
@timblock3483
What a great song!!! Just remembered how much I loved it as a teenager and sought it out.
@legormetrustre
I have loved this song for years. đ„°
@mark1952able
Graham was w a y beyond his time! He understood the present and future ...........To me , one of the best songs ever written!..............
@cowboybebobb
"We needed a chooser, so we built a computer, and programmed ourselves not to see." Very prophetic for 1971.... Love ya Graham Nash!!!!!! Does anyone have "Oh Camil" off of "Wild tales"?
@Bingchudie
I too love those lyrics. Very profound
However, I have recently come to learn the the word is âtutorâ not âchooserâ which in a way is even more sad because it implies we wanted to get smarter but didnât...
@1982river
not chooser.. we needed a tutor so we built a computer..
@ChristiRich
@@Bingchudie I know that you're right, but when I first heard this, I thought he said "we needed a Judah".
@sisco3404
CBS this morning brought me to this page.New fan.
@mandyinseattle
Mee too! He's a treasure. My mom was a fan in the 60s â€