Teach Your Children Explained

Teach Your Children
Cover:Teach_Your_Children_-_Crosby,_Stills,_Nash_&_Young.jpg
Type:single
Artist:Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Album:Déjà Vu
B-Side:Carry On
Recorded:October 24, 1969
Length:2:53
Label:Atlantic
Producer:Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Prev Title:Woodstock
Prev Year:1970
Next Title:Ohio
Next Year:1970

"Teach Your Children" is a song written by Graham Nash in 1968 when he was a member of the Hollies. Although it was never recorded by that group in a studio, the Hollies did record it live in 1983. After the song was initially recorded for the album Crosby, Stills & Nash in 1969, a much more enhanced version of the song was recorded for the album Déjà Vu by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, released in 1970. As a single, the song peaked at No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts that year.[1] On the Easy Listening chart, it peaked at No. 28.[2] In Canada, "Teach Your Children" reached No. 8.[3] Reviewing the song, Cash Box commented on the "incredible soft harmony luster" and "delicately composed material."[4] Billboard called it "a smooth country-flavored ballad that should prove an even bigger hit on the charts [than '[[Woodstock (song)|Woodstock]]']."[5] Stephen Stills gave the song its "country swing", replacing the "Henry VIII" style of Nash's original demo.[6]

Nash, who is also an accomplished photographer and collector of photographs, associated the song's message with a famous 1962 photo by Diane Arbus, Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, shortly after writing the song. The image, which depicts a child with an angry expression holding the toy weapon, prompted Nash to reflect on the societal implications of messages given to children about war and other issues.[7] [8] [9]

The recording features Jerry Garcia on pedal steel guitar. Garcia taught himself how to play the instrument during his tenure with the New Riders of the Purple Sage.[10] He told Lon Goddard of the British music newspaper Record Mirror in an interview that he recorded a series of pieces on the steel guitar and spliced them together in the studio to create the backing and solo. Garcia had made a deal that in return for his playing steel guitar on "Teach Your Children," CSNY would help members of the Grateful Dead improve their vocal harmony for their upcoming albums, Workingman's Dead and American Beauty.

Personnel

CSN

Additional Personnel

Chart history

Weekly charts (1970)

Chart (1970)Peak
position
Australia KMR[11] 11
Canada RPM Top Singles[12] 8
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[13] 7
New Zealand (Listener)19
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[14] 16
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary[15] 28
U.S. Cash Box Top 100[16] 16
U.S. Record World Top 100[17] 16

Year-end charts (1970)

Chart (1970)Rank
Australia[18] 81
Canada[19] 95
Netherlands[20] 68
U.S. (Joel Whitburn's Pop Annual)[21] 129

"The Red Hots" (1994)

In 1994, Crosby, Stills & Nash re-recorded the song with guest vocals from country music artists Suzy Bogguss, Alison Krauss and Kathy Mattea, crediting the recording to "The Red Hots". This version was included on the album Red Hot + Country, a release by the Red Hot Organization benefiting AIDS awareness. The Red Hots' version of the song spent one week on the Hot Country Songs chart in October 1994, at No. 75.[22]

In popular culture

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: [{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r34338|pure_url=yes}} ''Déjà Vu'': Billboard Singles]. Allmusic. 10 August 2010.
  2. Book: Whitburn, Joel . Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–2001. Joel Whitburn . 2002 . Record Research . 67.
  3. http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.3821&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.3821.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.3821 RPM Weekly 100, August 1, 1970
  4. News: CashBox Record Reviews . May 30, 1970. 42. September 15, 2022 . Cash Box.
  5. Billboard. Spotlight Singles . May 30, 1970. 2023-04-27. 76 .
  6. Web site: Making 'Déjà Vu' and the Early Days of CSN: An Interview with Graham Nash . Jim . Allen . Reverb . December 6, 2018 . September 15, 2022.
  7. Nash . Graham . Graham Nash on Diane Arbus's Child With a Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, N.Y.C., 1962 . . 196 . 88 . Fall 2009 . September 15, 2022.
  8. News: Varga . George . Listening Post: As a Photographer, Graham Nash Still Hears the Music . https://web.archive.org/web/20110717163336/http://sports.uniontrib.com/uniontrib/20060105/news_lz1w05nash.html . July 17, 2011 . San Diego Union-Tribune . January 5, 2006.
  9. Song Stories: "Teach Your Children" . Nash, Graham . September 18, 2017 . Reverb . YouTube (official channel) . September 15, 2022.
  10. Web site: Jerry Garcia And The Pedal Steel Guitar . No Depression. https://web.archive.org/web/20170425013255/http://nodepression.com/article/jerry-garcia-and-pedal-steel-guitar . 2017-04-25 . dead.
  11. Book: Kent, David . David Kent (historian) . . Australian Chart Book . St Ives, N.S.W. . 1993 . 0-646-11917-6.
  12. http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.3821&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.3821.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.3821 RPM Weekly 100, August 1, 1970
  13. Web site: Jaaroverzichten – Single 1970 . Single Top 100. Hung Medien . February 25, 2018 . nl.
  14. Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990 -
  15. Book: Whitburn, Joel . Joel Whitburn . 1993 . Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993 . Record Research . 61.
  16. http://www.cashboxmagazine.com/archives/70s_files/19700801.html Cash Box Top 100 Singles, August 1, 1970
  17. Web site: RECORD WORLD MAGAZINE: 1942 to 1982. 2020-12-28. worldradiohistory.com.
  18. Web site: Forum - 1970 (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts) . Australian-charts.com . 2017-05-07 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160602084720/http://australian-charts.com/forum.asp?todo=viewthread&id=35092 . 2016-06-02.
  19. Web site: Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada. collectionscanada.gc.ca. 17 July 2013.
  20. Web site: Jaaroverzichten – Single 1970 . Single Top 100. Hung Medien . February 25, 2018 . nl.
  21. Book: Whitburn, Joel . 1999 . Pop Annual . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin . Record Research Inc. . 0-89820-142-X.
  22. Book: Whitburn, Joel. Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. 2008. 342. 978-0-89820-177-2.
  23. Web site: WKRP in Cincinnati - I Want to Keep My Baby (TV Episode 1979) - Soundtracks. IMDb.com, Inc.. 26 September 2018.
  24. http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1984/arms-control-5 Mondale ad
  25. Web site: Teach Your Children by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young . Songfacts . September 15, 2022.
  26. Web site: The Wonder Years - Road Trip (TV Episode 1991) - Soundtracks. IMDb.com, Inc.. 31 August 2018.
  27. Web site: The X-Files - Rm9sbG93ZXJz (TV Episode 2018) - Soundtracks. IMDb.com, Inc.. 16 November 2018.

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