Teach Your Children

"Teach Your Children"
Single by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
from the album Déjà Vu
B-side"Carry On"
ReleasedMay 1970 (1970-05)
RecordedOctober 24, 1969
Genre
Length2:53
LabelAtlantic
Songwriter(s)Graham Nash
Producer(s)Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young singles chronology
"Woodstock"
(1970) 		"Teach Your Children"
(1970) 		"Ohio"
(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.[2] On the Easy Listening chart, it peaked at No. 28.[3] In Canada, "Teach Your Children" reached No. 8.[4] Reviewing the song, Cash Box commented on the "incredible soft harmony luster" and "delicately composed material."[5] Billboard called it "a smooth country-flavored ballad that should prove an even bigger hit on the charts [than 'Woodstock']."[6] Stephen Stills gave the song its "country swing", replacing the "Henry VIII" style of Nash's original demo.[7]

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.[8][9][10]

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.[11] 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.

  1. ^ Roberts, David (2015). "Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - "Ohio". In Dimery, Robert (ed.). 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die. New York: Universe. p. 272.
  2. ^ "Déjà Vu: Billboard Singles". Allmusic. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
  3. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–2001. Record Research. p. 67.
  4. ^ RPM Weekly 100, August 1, 1970
  5. ^ "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. May 30, 1970. p. 42. Retrieved September 15, 2022.
  6. ^ "Spotlight Singles" (PDF). Billboard. May 30, 1970. p. 76. Retrieved 2023-04-27.
  7. ^ Allen, Jim (December 6, 2018). "Making 'Déjà Vu' and the Early Days of CSN: An Interview with Graham Nash". Reverb. Retrieved September 15, 2022.
  8. ^ Nash, Graham (Fall 2009). "Graham Nash on Diane Arbus's Child With a Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, N.Y.C., 1962". Aperture. No. 196. p. 88. Retrieved September 15, 2022.
  9. ^ Varga, George (January 5, 2006). "Listening Post: As a Photographer, Graham Nash Still Hears the Music". San Diego Union-Tribune. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011.
  10. ^ Nash, Graham (September 18, 2017). Song Stories: "Teach Your Children". Reverb. Retrieved September 15, 2022 – via YouTube (official channel).
  11. ^ "Jerry Garcia And The Pedal Steel Guitar". No Depression. Archived from the original on 2017-04-25.