I cannot listen to this song without weeping. Having come of age during the 60's and into the 70's, I had close friends who's memory now exists in my heart, and on the granite wall in D.C.
look around. The government surveillance on individuals w/o a reason by cellphone data, emails etc. Now the Biden administration is influencing social media platforms to sensor posts/news articles etc. Hell social media was asked by the Democrats to not post anything about Hunter Biden’s laptop a year before the 2020 election. That’s deliberately subverting an election.
@@vincentdsouza10 if your talking about the song or the musicians your comment is directed at weak wokes. CSN are VERY woke people. most of the work they did together was woke. amusing sometimes how some people will complain about woke people when many of them wouldnt be able to comment if it was not for what wokes have done.
@@orionoutdoorsandworkshop5617 CSN were not woke at all, they were a bunch of musical poetic geniuses ... comparing them to what woke is floating around is a gross insult to CSNY....current woke people confused about basics like gender for one ...
These harmonies were gawdawful. Crosby and Stills were ok but Nash was singing like a lovesick alleycat. Compare this with the glorious rendition on David Gilmour's concert video "Wasn't that a Night" with Crosby and Nash as back up singers. Three part harmony Acapella. THAT is the best harmony singing I've heard.
My favorite group in the 60's as a hippie traveling and going wherever. And at age 71 they are still the best.....oh the memories I have. I thank God I can still remember...peace
I sleep with my music playing, and this is the first time I heard this song. It woke me up! It's hauntingly beautiful and oh so pertinent still today. I'm 71 and seen wars,911, and the unrest that permeates here and the world today. Thank you CSNY for many years of great music well worth listening to..
Haunting and beautiful. I love the pure talent of CSN. The words....the unplugged guitar of Steven Stills...the slowly revealed pictures of Civil War soldiers....ending with the American flag.....perfect!
No tricks, no Pro Tools, just talent Saw two CSNY reunion tours and witnessed Croz and Nash sing “Guinevere” as naked as you can be (figuratively) and it was so quiet, the only sound out if the audience was breathing. Remarkable.
Saw CSN&Y during their reunion tour in '74 in Dallas (Irving) Tx. The Band, and Beach Boys were warm-up acts, and as hot as the day was at the end of July, the concert was blistering. I had seen Neil Young in early '73 at the Myriad in Oklahoma City, with the Stray Gators, and his set was awesome as well. Never had the opportunity to see them as a group again, but even once in a lifetime, is a good start.
I was a kid then, but later realized they were right. Like OWS, the power structure steamrolled the people, only now it is even worse! Remember the "Yuppie" lie trend to follow? Buy a polo shirt, act classy...get an education, they said. Wages FROZE while the cost of everything soars. College leaves people in 80k debt while they work THREE minimum wage jobs. Debt is the new slavery, and actual slave labor is rampant (both in prisons, "guest" Visa labor allow big business to explode their profits). Off-shore accounts hold their tax exempt profits, while roads, bridges, schools and services are squeezed. THE HIPPIES were right, and now I understand why they were high all the time. War sucks, and it's only worse with Private Armies fighting them. Still, enough pressure from enough people may, just might turn things around.
Another 68 year old with tears. The song is just as powerful today as it was in my youth. The enemy is in the white house. Trump Lies, while Americans Die.
I have many CD box sets. Clapton, Elton, Rod Stewart, Winwood, Motown, and many many more. The CSN box set would be my go to if I could only have one on that proverbial desert island.
some guitar players have a "sound"..Stills is one of the rare to have a recognisable acoustic sound (forgive my english)...he's one of my all time favorites...and these vocals...
I think Stephen Stills can play guitar as well as anyone. I love his acoustic guitar as much as Richie Havenens, Motherless Child is my personal favorite.
As “Poignantly Timely” in the 21st Century, as it t’was the year I graduated in ‘71, and as it sadly always will be… Raised up by these harmonious CS&N vocals that cannot ever be eclipsed. They OWN this song, though we all have joined with them playing and singing it. God Bless you all for this and your other tuneful gifts.
I am so blessed that I've seen them play this live many times! I LOVE these 3 men more than my own life. I cannot accurately describe how I feel inside when I hear one of their songs, no matter how many times I've heard it before. Those 3 voices take me to a place that no one else ever could in a gazillion years. GOD!, I LOVE THEM!! (54 yrs and counting, too, since I was 12yrs old).
As a young vet...this song resonated deep within my soul...i remember my fathers records that had this song... It's power grows stronger still. As a wounded warrior, i know the cost of freedom.
Our memories can keep us strong. I’m 68. My husband infantry Nam. He’s gone fucking brain cancer. But we were together on the uprising. Uprising. It’s a thing. Still. Our country is still the best we’ve had because of our generation.
This song makes me weep for the Navy buddies I have lost over the years and the men and women who have lost their lives defending this great country of ours.
My dad claim the only glory he experienced fighting the Japanese was the day his foot stepped foot on the dock in Long Beach CA. He lived until 2016, 60 years of Glory. I had him for 61 years.
Do y'all know the story behind this song? From Stephen's own lips.... he was at the site of a great Civil War battleground, when he saw a young man approaching him. The man was dressed in a Confederate uniform. As Stephen moved toward this soldier, who he thought was a reenactment character, the young man faded away. Stephen realized he had been in the presence of an original Confederate soldier. A deceased soldier. The experience affected him so profoundly that he immediately wrote this song. Cool, huh?
@@judetheneilyounggirl2358 WOW, I got the chills reading this. Reminds me of my own experience; I was in the old synagogue in Newport R. I. and heard the prayers of mothers beseeching God to protect there sons. Love that you are "The Neil Young Girl", he is a unique genius, open to the call of the Muses.
It’s just WOW!!! Such a beautiful, soulful sound from three hearts that play as one, and the best guitar picker I shall ever hear in my lifetime. Thank you for being the most incredible canvas on which I’ve had the honor and privilege to hold my heart and soul beside in awe up through the passages of time in harmonious splendor of all that is good and worthwhile …
I have always loved this song. I saw them live in concert with a friend who wasn't aware that Stephen Stills was the lead guitarist. Stills was brilliant on guitar and vocals, although he wasn't as strong as he was in his earlier years. Crosby and Nash harmonized perfectly onstage. It's a shame they can't harmonize as well offstage. They may never get back together again, which is a shame.
I can relate...as I am 64 years old, and this was one of my favorite songs since I saw Stills and his band Manassas play down in Virginia, when I was in Madison College in the early 70's...
The best recording of this song , Steven could still hear, and his playing was unbelievable ! David and Graham were clean, and at their best voices. Just absolutely incredible!
Such a powerful piece of music. It has been so beautifully written and sung. The motto behind the song is elevating. Music, harmony, guitaring, all put together to make a brilliant piece of music. The harmony is simply angelic. Stills guitaring is sensational. The ending harmony, without the guitar is just mesmerising.
For so many years after the first time that I heard Crosby, Stills, and Nash perform "Find The Cost Of Freedom", I had always thought that the song was somehow incomplete. I even attempted devising lyrics of my own, so much so that it would drive my friends & family members crazy. To some of my friends, some of my attempts were good enough that I would be encouraged to send them to the recording company to see if the group could make use of them, but I never dared to do so. It wasn't that I was seeking fame or recognition for completing a song that said so much in so few words, I suppose that I was attempting some of what I felt from just listening to this marvelously beautiful, yet intensely sad song. I also didn't wish to insult by insisting that there was more to say. I don't know if "Daylight Again" had already been written as a completed song at that moment in the early 70's, and that the group had just not felt that the time was right to gift us all with this musical statement on the futility & anguish of war. And once I heard the complete song, I realised that what I had to add, (or sing), fell far short of what they were saying to us. I still sing my version of the song at times, ( the completed CSN version with my added lyrics & music) and my friends enjoy it when I sing & play it, but now, with the passing of David Crosby, I sincerely lack the temerity to send my version to them, if for no other reason than to see what they might have thought of it.
I too 'came of age' in November, 1969, stowing away on a ship from Durban, South Africa to England. This era of fountains of music, knowledge beyond what our schools taught us, journeys within & outside of ourselves & wonders which few have seen and even less thought were out there. And to this day I still feel blessed to have journeyed safely, if at times precariously, to still be able to recall friends, wonders and the beauty of the arts in all their forms of creation. And to still believe in the path of universal freedom, love, peace & healing for all, if only more would play their part in making dreams become the reality we seek. 😊❤
I cannot breathe......i saw them perform this at the WNEW-FM Christmas Hungerton Concert at the United Nation in the Security Council Room...right there under the symbol of the world they asked for peace...that was 1989...
now that I know about my ancestors this Memorial Day I cry for Jason Ebenezer Twiss who died at Antietam when his son was just 4 months old. I cry for his sons and his widow who suffered his absence all their lives. And I celebrate that death in war is not the end of the story. The civil War took someone from every family in the midwest. Let us remember the price that was paid by people of every color to ensure that none would live in slavery. The ones we know are not free let us fight to set free.
I have an ancestor that died at Gettysburg on the final day of that battle. John C. Sholes served as a Sergeant in Company G of the 7th Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the American Civil War. He was killed on July 3, 1863, the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg. He was from Lapeer, Michigan, and was 19 years of age at the time of his enlistment. So many have died in useless hopeless wars
Old Men start useless wars and young men go fight these useless wars an die.. Your to honor the living memory of those that served and fell in battle..Go to Gettysburg and honor the dead, your Ancestor..Plaques and Monuments are there..Go realize the truth that lies there and honor the silence of peace that you hear around you when you walk the Battlefield..don't talk about it go there!!!
My great-grandfather volunteered, but due to his older age, he was assigned ambulance duty rather than fighting. I just donated his 1864 diary to the Civil War Museum. The most poignant entry was "Lincoln assassinated". We forget that many people gave their lives in hard, personal combat or lived their remaining lives with diseases and disabilities because they felt it was their moral duty to free the slaves. Their families bore the price as well. This was truly the greatest generation.
The cost of freedom is written in anguish, pains, sweat, tears and blood. A soldier, any mother and surgeon attests to this!...even those who desire a world without madness and chaos! Thanks, CSN.
The first night the Tonight show aired after 9/11, CSN sang this song. Ironically, I had been singing it already since the day of the attack. It was the one song that played in my mind as the buildings and the field in Pennsylvania smoldered. Having lived through the Civil Rights struggle, Viet Nam, Kent State, and then 9/11, this song has particular resonance for me. It is rare to hear the opening verses or the entire song. I think their harmony on this recording is especially pure and perfect. Thank you for posting it.
+orionh3000 That wasn't a very kind remark.....and maybe it is about all of the wars...all of the killing. I still can't believe you would post something like that, calling someone 'stupid'....you might want to lay awake thinking about that....peace.
+zippers2 It's ok, zippers2. I didn't take it personally-just some troll who missed my point. When the buildings fell, that was the song that started playing in my head. I was really not surprised when Crosby Stills and Nash played it the first night the Tonight Show aired again after 9/11. Those of us of a certain age always think metaphorically when it comes to war songs and protest songs. "The Cost of Freedom" was "about" the Civil War but also/therefore about Viet Nam. When the World Trade Center collapsed, the song was suddenly about 9/11, too. "...Mother Earth will swallow you. Lay your body down..." To this day, when I see the 9/11 WTC video, that is the song I "hear." I only commented on it because CSN must have "heard" it, too, because they played it. The other two songs I associate are "Sound of Silence" (watch Paul Simon play it at the 10 Year Anniversary Memorial for 9/11 on TH-cam) and "They Live In You/He Lives In You (reprise)" from the stage version of "The Lion King." Keep a box of Kleenex nearby. And, thank you for coming to my defense!
Such a superbly crafted song by true musicians, we would di well to take heed of the sentiment in the lyrics given the world situation at the moment, peace to all ,❤
In recent literature, author Kristin Hannah wrote/told an amazing and haunting novel about Vietnam Army Nursing Corps members, The Women. I served in the USAF during the final couple of years of the Vietnam era. I served half a world away, in the Azores. Yet, I've never read a work of literature that had me weeping as much as The Women. The author transported me into the trauma of warfare and the not at all comedic (unlike M.A.S.H.) life of those who saw and treated the war wounded and dying. If you're inclined to read novels, and you served during that era, I emphatically encourage you to immerse yourself in the story of The Women.
Everything about this piece is haunting. The lyrics, the guitar, the vocals and harmonies. The emotions become awakened and drive home the message into the soul. War is futile and the subsequent sacrifice of human life is a travesty.
The sheet music I have for this song reads "All the Brave Soldiers who cannot grow older, been asking after you." I think it speaks to Stephen Stills conflict about the Civil War and War in general.
I cannot listen to this song without weeping. Having come of age during the 60's and into the 70's, I had close friends who's memory now exists in my heart, and on the granite wall in D.C.
Myself as well........
Me too, brother. Me too.
Me Too... That my friends, is the real "Me Too" Movement...
This was of the Civil Was!
The granite wall was not the topic of this song!! It was the Civil War between the south and north!!!!
A very appropriate song for 2023 as Americans freedom is gradually disappearing before our weary eyes.
RIP David.
what freedom are you talking about? nothing is different now than it ever was, except the thieves have gotten more greedy.
look around. The government surveillance on individuals w/o a reason by cellphone data, emails etc. Now the Biden administration is influencing social media platforms to sensor posts/news articles etc. Hell social media was asked by the Democrats to not post anything about Hunter Biden’s laptop a year before the 2020 election. That’s deliberately subverting an election.
Disappearing because of the weak wokes in the USA
@@vincentdsouza10 if your talking about the song or the musicians your comment is directed at weak wokes. CSN are VERY woke people. most of the work they did together was woke. amusing sometimes how some people will complain about woke people when many of them wouldnt be able to comment if it was not for what wokes have done.
@@orionoutdoorsandworkshop5617 CSN were not woke at all, they were a bunch of musical poetic geniuses ... comparing them to what woke is floating around is a gross insult to CSNY....current woke people confused about basics like gender for one ...
Wow - even after 50 years no other trio can match their harmonies
Really, the Byrds had beautiful harmonies and imagine the young beach boys singing this,
You said it, Honey! And I think Stephen's quitar playing is very underrated. He is brilliant, as they all are. LOVE THEM.
The ultimate memorial day tribute
@@judetheneilyounggirl2358 You know what? You're right. I think Stephen's guitar playing has always been underrated and underappreciated.
These harmonies were gawdawful. Crosby and Stills were ok but Nash was singing like a lovesick alleycat. Compare this with the glorious rendition on David Gilmour's concert video "Wasn't that a Night" with Crosby and Nash as back up singers. Three part harmony Acapella. THAT is the best harmony singing I've heard.
My favorite group in the 60's as a hippie traveling and going wherever. And at age 71 they are still the best.....oh the memories I have. I thank God I can still remember...peace
Thank you for your words! I feel the same way - we played these songs (in East Germany) in the 70s and I still love them today.
Peace.
The most perfect harmonies ever. RIP David.
Love these guys. We need this kind of music today. Nothing like it
try hanson "the walk"
No matter what war, this song is for any soldier who died for OUR FREEDOM. God bless us all
Has contemporary resonance too….
Absolutely!
Unfortunately, you will NEVER hear this AMAZING SONG played on the radio!
I'm sixty four yrs old & the Magic of CSNY has finally caught me up.I'm so blessed
Where have you been all this time?
I sleep with my music playing, and this is the first time I heard this song. It woke me up! It's hauntingly beautiful and oh so pertinent still today. I'm 71 and seen wars,911, and the unrest that permeates here and the world today. Thank you CSNY for many years of great music well worth listening to..
I'm 73 and completely understand!
One of the best voice harmonies EVER. We will never forget
Beautiful. Sometimes you don't realize how important a piece of the puzzle is until that piece is gone.
Haunting and beautiful. I love the pure talent of CSN. The words....the unplugged guitar of Steven Stills...the slowly revealed pictures of Civil War soldiers....ending with the American flag.....perfect!
This still stirs up emotions for me decades later
No tricks, no Pro Tools, just talent
Saw two CSNY reunion tours and witnessed Croz and Nash sing “Guinevere” as naked as you can be (figuratively) and it was so quiet, the only sound out if the audience was breathing. Remarkable.
Saw CSN&Y during their reunion tour in '74 in Dallas (Irving) Tx. The Band, and Beach Boys were warm-up acts, and as hot as the day was at the end of July, the concert was blistering. I had seen Neil Young in early '73 at the Myriad in Oklahoma City, with the Stray Gators, and his set was awesome as well. Never had the opportunity to see them as a group again, but even once in a lifetime, is a good start.
What can I say. I still cry every time. I'm 67 so this brings back some great memories and,unfortunately, some I wish I could forget. Kent State.😭
yes, me too.
Me three.
Me four
I was a kid then, but later realized they were right. Like OWS, the power structure steamrolled the people, only now it is even worse! Remember the "Yuppie" lie trend to follow? Buy a polo shirt, act classy...get an education, they said. Wages FROZE while the cost of everything soars. College leaves people in 80k debt while they work THREE minimum wage jobs. Debt is the new slavery, and actual slave labor is rampant (both in prisons, "guest" Visa labor allow big business to explode their profits). Off-shore accounts hold their tax exempt profits, while roads, bridges, schools and services are squeezed. THE HIPPIES were right, and now I understand why they were high all the time. War sucks, and it's only worse with Private Armies fighting them. Still, enough pressure from enough people may, just might turn things around.
I still cry...so sad. and look where we are now. Covfefee? Fuck...
Another 68 year old with tears.
The song is just as powerful today as it was in my youth.
The enemy is in the white house. Trump Lies, while Americans Die.
So true
One of the greatest groups of our time
Definitely
Still listening to this...still cry every time.
RIP - grand old man.
Those that have been, old and young alike, totally understand the "cost".
The trio created a classic.
To have seen these wonderful people in concert is one of the great highlights of my entire life. Pure genius!!
It's not how many notes you play, but which ones at the right time. Stills knows this so well.
I know man. Shredding is easy.
Love the short guitar solo in the middle of the song. Stills is such the multi-instrumentalist. Was the backbone of the group, musically speaking.
Stills commands the silence as he solo's...Harmonies echo and send chills down the spine...Thank you David, Nash and Stephen....
Ginny Marie, so true. Doesn’t get any better.
I know, this like one of the best guitar solos of all time. I think I grew up in the best time for popular music. born "55"
Friends died- for what??
Beautifully said.
12 String Acoustic Guitar 🎸
This song goes real deep for me on many different levels !
One of the best "anti-war" songs ever written, performed by 3 of the greatest singers of all time 🙏🏻💔😥
The best band of their generation.
I have many CD box sets. Clapton, Elton, Rod Stewart, Winwood, Motown, and many many more. The CSN box set would be my go to if I could only have one on that proverbial desert island.
@@jccook5353 I think I want to be buried with mine.
CSN&Y
It's almost December 2024. My birthday is on the 14th. I feel melancholy missing those days 😢
I've always liked this song and this video gives me the woolies. David Crosby passed away 1-19-23.
some guitar players have a "sound"..Stills is one of the rare to have a recognisable acoustic sound (forgive my english)...he's one of my all time favorites...and these vocals...
i know there's lots of greats, but i feel that Steven plays the guitar with more feel that most humans
You are right!
You said a serious mouthful, my Stephen Stills loving brother! I am 66 and have loved him since 1967, so far..... Love, jude.
I agree, he’s amazing
I think Stephen Stills can play guitar as well as anyone. I love his acoustic guitar as much as Richie Havenens, Motherless Child is my personal favorite.
I agree with you Mr. Positive
As “Poignantly Timely” in the 21st Century, as it t’was the year I graduated in ‘71, and as it sadly always will be…
Raised up by these harmonious CS&N vocals that cannot ever be eclipsed.
They OWN this song, though we all have joined with them playing and singing it.
God Bless you all for this and your other tuneful gifts.
What a great and beautiful sound ✨🏆👏
I am so blessed that I've seen them play this live many times! I LOVE these 3 men more than my own life. I cannot accurately describe how I feel inside when I hear one of their songs, no matter how many times I've heard it before. Those 3 voices take me to a place that no one else ever could in a gazillion years. GOD!, I LOVE THEM!! (54 yrs and counting, too, since I was 12yrs old).
Such amazing harmony. Stevens haunting guitar. Gram . A true English gentleman. And what can't you say about croz. Beautiful performance
Absoloutely beautiful. Graham Nash's voice is incredible
Castrato.. Joni wishes.
As a young vet...this song resonated deep within my soul...i remember my fathers records that had this song... It's power grows stronger still. As a wounded warrior, i know the cost of freedom.
where is america going to bomb next is all i think about..and TRUMP IS A PRESIDENT..
Thank you!
So when Obama was doing predator drone stiles, no concern?
NO MATTER WHO IS BOSS AMERICANS LOVE BUILDING WITH BOMBS..
Thank you for your service ......
As a wounded veteran I know the cost of freedom. I have also had friends pay the ultimate sacrifice so I know better than anyone the cost freedom.
This becomes more powerful every time I listen to it
Our memories can keep us strong. I’m 68. My husband infantry Nam. He’s gone fucking brain cancer. But we were together on the uprising. Uprising. It’s a thing. Still. Our country is still the best we’ve had because of our generation.
As a veteran, and a music lover, this song clutches my heart whenever I hear it.
This song makes me weep for the Navy buddies I have lost over the years and the men and women who have lost their lives defending this great country of ours.
I cry every time and I wasn’t even alive then. The power of music is unbelievable.
Haunting is the only word that I can think of that does this song justice. Be well ✌️
My dad survived Iwo Jima and said the real heroes were the thousand of men that died there that never returned home.
My Dad talked abou Saipan and the Chosin. He never talked about Iwo.
My dad claim the only glory he experienced fighting the Japanese was the day his foot stepped foot on the dock in Long Beach CA. He lived until 2016, 60 years of Glory. I had him for 61 years.
These beautiful men make me cry, blessings to them for all they have given us for so long
There are simply no words that truly express the beauty of this song. Every time I hear it I'm simply.....
Speechless
I cried when this song played on Seal Team... it's so relevant Now as it was then. GOD BLESS AMERICA MILITARY MEN & WOMEN
Do y'all know the story behind this song? From Stephen's own lips.... he was at the site of a great Civil War battleground, when he saw a young man approaching him. The man was dressed in a Confederate uniform. As Stephen moved toward this soldier, who he thought was a reenactment character, the young man faded away. Stephen realized he had been in the presence of an original Confederate soldier. A deceased soldier. The experience affected him so profoundly that he immediately wrote this song. Cool, huh?
@@judetheneilyounggirl2358 WOW, I got the chills reading this. Reminds me of my own experience; I was in the old synagogue in Newport R. I. and heard the prayers of mothers beseeching God to protect there sons. Love that you are "The Neil Young Girl", he is a unique genius, open to the call of the Muses.
I agree totally, Kent State will never go away it's etched in my memory. Nor should we forget
You haven't heard the songs ok
Mary Anne Vecchio
It’s just WOW!!! Such a beautiful, soulful sound from three hearts that play as one, and the best guitar picker I shall ever hear in my lifetime. Thank you for being the most incredible canvas on which I’ve had the honor and privilege to hold my heart and soul beside in awe up through the passages of time in harmonious splendor of all that is good and worthwhile …
Wisdom in the words...perfection in the music.
there are magicians and there are these guys, pure musical magic !
Heavenly song ! Mother earth will swallow you, lay your body down !
I have always loved this song. I saw them live in concert with a friend who wasn't aware that Stephen Stills was the lead guitarist. Stills was brilliant on guitar and vocals, although he wasn't as strong as he was in his earlier years. Crosby and Nash harmonized perfectly onstage. It's a shame they can't harmonize as well offstage. They may never get back together again, which is a shame.
I can relate...as I am 64 years old, and this was one of my favorite songs since I saw Stills and his band Manassas play down in Virginia, when I was in Madison College in the early 70's...
I've sang and played this for years, but never have I been so moved.
the song is extraordinary and touches the soul of anyone who experienced those times.
never was a truer word written than "when everyone's talking and no one is listening, how can we decide?"
When everyone is tweeting and no one is listening... so sad. :'(
The Trouble is Trump is tweeting.
beautiful version of this song...beautiful...
One more great band for sure💔🌹 AUG 4 2024 WHOS OUT THERE I IM 😢 happy KENNY TODAY 67 SWEET 🌹JUDY🌹NOW MY SWEET ANGEL RIP LOVE OF MY LIFE ALWAYS 🌹❤️🩹
Your not alone friend.
@@MrJch24 thanks friend ♥️
I love this song.
Just the little "nail tap" at 1:45 is thrilling me, everytime.
Haunting and beautiful.
The best recording of this song , Steven could still hear, and his playing was unbelievable ! David and Graham were clean, and at their best voices. Just absolutely incredible!
Great song with such meaningful lyrics. RIP David. 😀
This song defined my generation of the late '60's and early '70's.....
Such a powerful piece of music. It has been so beautifully written and sung. The motto behind the song is elevating. Music, harmony, guitaring, all put together to make a brilliant piece of music. The harmony is simply angelic. Stills guitaring is sensational. The ending harmony, without the guitar is just mesmerising.
For so many years after the first time that I heard Crosby, Stills, and Nash perform "Find The Cost Of Freedom", I had always thought that the song was somehow incomplete. I even attempted devising lyrics of my own, so much so that it would drive my friends & family members crazy.
To some of my friends, some of my attempts were good enough that I would be encouraged to send them to the recording company to see if the group could make use of them, but I never dared to do so. It wasn't that I was seeking fame or recognition for completing a song that said so much in so few words, I suppose that I was attempting some of what I felt from just listening to this marvelously beautiful, yet intensely sad song. I also didn't wish to insult by insisting that there was more to say.
I don't know if "Daylight Again" had already been written as a completed song at that moment in the early 70's, and that the group had just not felt that the time was right to gift us all with this musical statement on the futility & anguish of war. And once I heard the complete song, I realised that what I had to add, (or sing), fell far short of what they were saying to us.
I still sing my version of the song at times, ( the completed CSN version with my added lyrics & music) and my friends enjoy it when I sing & play it, but now, with the passing of David Crosby, I sincerely lack the temerity to send my version to them, if for no other reason than to see what they might have thought of it.
This song and "For What It's Worth" are two of his most iconic songs and are truly classics in every sense of the word!
I wish I could play guitar 1 tenth as good as Stills. These harmonies always give me chills.
There are moments in history when the heart speaks true.
Sacred music.
Heavenly song !
I too 'came of age' in November, 1969, stowing away on a ship from Durban, South Africa to England. This era of fountains of music, knowledge beyond what our schools taught us, journeys within & outside of ourselves & wonders which few have seen and even less thought were out there. And to this day I still feel blessed to have journeyed safely, if at times precariously, to still be able to recall friends, wonders and the beauty of the arts in all their forms of creation. And to still believe in the path of universal freedom, love, peace & healing for all, if only more would play their part in making dreams become the reality we seek. 😊❤
I cannot breathe......i saw them perform this at the WNEW-FM Christmas Hungerton Concert at the United Nation in the Security Council Room...right there under the symbol of the world they asked for peace...that was 1989...
now that I know about my ancestors this Memorial Day I cry for Jason Ebenezer Twiss who died at Antietam when his son was just 4 months old. I cry for his sons and his widow who suffered his absence all their lives. And I celebrate that death in war is not the end of the story. The civil War took someone from every family in the midwest. Let us remember the price that was paid by people of every color to ensure that none would live in slavery. The ones we know are not free let us fight to set free.
I have an ancestor that died at Gettysburg on the final day of that battle.
John C. Sholes served as a Sergeant in Company G of the 7th Michigan
Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the American Civil War. He was killed on
July 3, 1863, the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg.
He was from Lapeer, Michigan, and was 19 years of age at the time of his enlistment.
So many have died in useless hopeless wars
Old Men start useless wars and young men go fight these useless wars an die.. Your to honor the living memory of those that served and fell in battle..Go to Gettysburg and honor the dead, your Ancestor..Plaques and Monuments are there..Go realize the truth that lies there and honor the silence of peace that you hear around you when you walk the Battlefield..don't talk about it go there!!!
WHERE IS AMERICA GOING TO BOMB NEXT..
270 MILLION DEAD SINCE 1800 BY BOSSES..
My great-grandfather volunteered, but due to his older age, he was assigned ambulance duty rather than fighting. I just donated his 1864 diary to the Civil War Museum. The most poignant entry was "Lincoln assassinated". We forget that many people gave their lives in hard, personal combat or lived their remaining lives with diseases and disabilities because they felt it was their moral duty to free the slaves. Their families bore the price as well. This was truly the greatest generation.
This is the most touching version of this song I have ever heard.
Stephen Stills is AMAZING to me...
ALL wonderful - Thank You
The cost of freedom is written in anguish, pains, sweat, tears and blood. A soldier, any mother and surgeon attests to this!...even those who desire a world without madness and chaos! Thanks, CSN.
PEACE.
What a novel idea.😢
The first night the Tonight show aired after 9/11, CSN sang this song. Ironically, I had been singing it already since the day of the attack. It was the one song that played in my mind as the buildings and the field in Pennsylvania smoldered. Having lived through the Civil Rights struggle, Viet Nam, Kent State, and then 9/11, this song has particular resonance for me. It is rare to hear the opening verses or the entire song. I think their harmony on this recording is especially pure and perfect. Thank you for posting it.
+orionh3000 That wasn't a very kind remark.....and maybe it is about all of the wars...all of the killing. I still can't believe you would post something like that, calling someone 'stupid'....you might want to lay awake thinking about that....peace.
+zippers2 It's ok, zippers2. I didn't take it personally-just some troll who missed my point. When the buildings fell, that was the song that started playing in my head. I was really not surprised when Crosby Stills and Nash played it the first night the Tonight Show aired again after 9/11. Those of us of a certain age always think metaphorically when it comes to war songs and protest songs. "The Cost of Freedom" was "about" the Civil War but also/therefore about Viet Nam. When the World Trade Center collapsed, the song was suddenly about 9/11, too. "...Mother Earth will swallow you. Lay your body down..." To this day, when I see the 9/11 WTC video, that is the song I "hear." I only commented on it because CSN must have "heard" it, too, because they played it. The other two songs I associate are "Sound of Silence" (watch Paul Simon play it at the 10 Year Anniversary Memorial for 9/11 on TH-cam) and "They Live In You/He Lives In You (reprise)" from the stage version of "The Lion King." Keep a box of Kleenex nearby. And, thank you for coming to my defense!
one of the most under-rated guitar players of all time.
Such a superbly crafted song by true musicians, we would di well to take heed of the sentiment in the lyrics given the world situation at the moment, peace to all ,❤
Magical, these guys have always stirred inner thoughts and emotions, and continue to do so.
One guitar and 3 voices……….Amazing
Really a dulcet and melodious song !
I will take my last breath with this song in my head! RIP DC ThomyT
unlike many artists, these guys are best when not hiding behind a band.
They never did. What you see/ hear IS the band. It's what they do best. I have been trying to solve David Crosby for decades.
Their music was so loved back in the day.
In recent literature, author Kristin Hannah wrote/told an amazing and haunting novel about Vietnam Army Nursing Corps members, The Women. I served in the USAF during the final couple of years of the Vietnam era. I served half a world away, in the Azores. Yet, I've never read a work of literature that had me weeping as much as The Women. The author transported me into the trauma of warfare and the not at all comedic (unlike M.A.S.H.) life of those who saw and treated the war wounded and dying. If you're inclined to read novels, and you served during that era, I emphatically encourage you to immerse yourself in the story of The Women.
Absolutely epic performance. This is true musical genius.
Everything about this piece is haunting. The lyrics, the guitar, the vocals and harmonies. The emotions become awakened and drive home the message into the soul. War is futile and the subsequent sacrifice of human life is a travesty.
Do you think there will ever be another group that has this much musicality and such powerful and haunting harmonies? Neither do I.
The sheet music I have for this song reads "All the Brave Soldiers who cannot grow older, been asking after you." I think it speaks to Stephen Stills conflict about the Civil War and War in general.
The message in this song has probably saved lives. Probably hundreds. Thanks CSN. Peace.
Are you being sarcastic, dude?
Freedom is not free, but it's WORTH IT!!! Thanks for this fine video!
I will never never forget Kent State.
I'll never forget my brothers in arms (7) - for most all that's left is those memories, a few pictures, their names on the wall, and our freedom..
It just doesn't get any better than this. So moving.
These guys were my motivation to sing harmony!
Their amazing harmonies are so perfect on this. Sad and grim as it is,I can listen over and over.
This song is hauntingly beautiful
Celestial song.
I have tears in my eyes as I listen to this song.