海角大神

During David Crosby鈥檚 show at the Troubador in Los Angeles in 2014, a woman in the audience shouted, 鈥淚 love you!鈥澛�

鈥淚n my younger days, I would have followed that call,鈥� quipped the veteran songwriter, a grin visible beneath his famous mustache, shaped like a suitcase handle. He told showgoers that he鈥檇 been in love with the same woman for 37 years. Then he dedicated his beloved classic 鈥淕uinnevere鈥� to his wife, Jan.

Mr. Crosby, who died on Thursday, once told me that love was his main preoccupation as a songwriter.

鈥淚t鈥檚 utterly fascinating,鈥� he said in a previously unpublished excerpt from his聽2019 interview with the Monitor. 鈥淲e write about every aspect of it that we possibly can: love lost, love found, love lasting, love desired, love celebrated.鈥�

Mr. Crosby, a founding member of the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash (later joined by Neil Young), displayed a deep care for humanity in his songs. At the same concert, he started a song called 鈥淢orning Falling鈥� by explaining that it鈥檚 about a young Afghan shepherd boy killed by a drone strike. But he got so choked up that he couldn鈥檛 finish the introduction.聽

鈥淚 try to write when I see something so egregious and so wrong that I can鈥檛 not write about it,鈥� he later told me.聽

I asked the honey-voiced tenor what he thought his legacy as a songwriter would be.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not for me to answer,鈥� he replied. 鈥淚 know I鈥檓 supposed to be doing it, and I know I love doing it, but judging it has got to be somebody else鈥檚 thing.鈥澛�

For me, Mr. Crosby鈥檚 work resonates because it embodies the sentiment he expressed in the title of his 1971 song 鈥淢usic is Love.鈥� Over the past nine years, the musician released five extraordinary albums that profoundly articulate the joy and wisdom he attained following his hard-won sobriety. He believed that songs could be a powerful counterpoint to the ills of the world.

鈥淢usic is a lifting force,鈥� Mr. Crosby 聽in 2016. 鈥淲hen you create songs, you do a good deed. You help lift, and make things better.鈥�