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Album #206 of 1001

If I could only remember my name

David Crosby

Sleeve of If I could only remember my name by David Crosby
David Crosby’s debut solo album is at various points ethereal, dark and poignant. Inspired by his girlfriend’s death from a car accident, it seems like a soulful hangover from the summer of love.

David Crosby has always been (to me at least), a symbol of how rock music can chew up its artists. From the death of his girlfriend Christine Hilton (which would inspire this album) to years of alcohol and heroin abuse followed by ill health, David Crosby’s been a survivor for most of the last 50 years.

All of which makes this, his solo debut, an interesting beast that’s sometimes difficult to pin down. It feels like a hung-over lament for the hippie excess of the late sixties, and mixes gentle ambiance (such as the album opener “Music is Love”) with heavier and darker moments like “Cowboy Movie” and the poignant “What are their names”.

It’s been called a ‘shambolic masterpiece’, which is a pretty good way of summing it up. It is shambolic, certainly, and much of it seems of its time (as a lot of CSNY stuff does), but there are moments like the dreamlike opening track that means it is worth paying at least a little attention to.

Track listing

  1. Music Is Love 3:21
  2. Cowboy Movie 8:11
  3. Tamalpais High (at About 3) 3:33
  4. Laughing 5:26
  5. What Are Their Names 4:14
  6. Traction in the Rain 3:46
  7. Song With No Words (Tree With No Leaves) 6:00
  8. Orleans 2:01
  9. I’d Swear There Was Somebody Here 1:20
  10. Kids And Dogs
  11. Music Is Love
  12. Cowboy Movie 8:11
  13. Tamalpais High (At About 3)
  14. Laughing
  15. What Are Their Names
  16. Traction In The Rain
  17. Song With No Words (Tree With No Leaves)
  18. Orleans
  19. I'd Swear There Was Somebody Here
  20. Kids And Dogs
  21. Photos
  22. Lyrics
  23. An Interview With Stephen Barncard

23 tracks, total running time 46:03 · released 1973. Track data from MusicBrainz.