MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
On the podcast "Song Exploder," a musician takes apart one of their songs and tells the story of how it was made. Recently, host Hrishikesh Hirway spoke with Graham Nash about "Our House" from the 1970 Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young album, "Déjà Vu."
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "SONG EXPLODER")
HRISHIKESH HIRWAY: Could you tell me about the day that you wrote this song? Do you remember it?
GRAHAM NASH: I do, indeed. I had taken my girlfriend, Joni Mitchell, to breakfast at a delicatessen on Ventura Boulevard in Los Angeles. It was at the end of winter, a completely awful day - you know, rainy and foggy and very, very cold. After breakfast, Joni and I were walking to where her car was parked, and we passed an antique store. Joni saw a vase that she wanted to buy. It was in the back, about 10 inches high, some hand-painted flowers around the edge, and Joni bought it.
We collected the vase and drove to our house in Laurel Canyon. And as I went through the front door, I said to Joan, I said, hey, Joan, why don't I light a fire and you put some flowers in that vase that you bought today? Well, that's all I needed. While Joni was in the backyard trying to find some flowers that hadn't died yet in winter, and I was at her piano, I got the first lines and wrote the song.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "OUR HOUSE")
NASH: (Singing) I'll light the fire. You place the flowers in the vase that you bought today.
HIRWAY: I'd love to listen to the vocal arrangement 'cause I have these three tracks of your voice...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "OUR HOUSE")
NASH: (Singing) Such a cozy room, such a cozy room.
HIRWAY: ...Two tracks of David...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "OUR HOUSE")
DAVID CROSBY: (Singing) Such a cozy room.
HIRWAY: ...And two tracks of Stephen.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "OUR HOUSE")
STEPHEN STILLS: (Singing) Such a cozy room.
NASH: Anyone can sing the same notes as we can. That's no secret. But you can't sound like David and Stephen and I when we put our voices together and present it as one voice.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "OUR HOUSE")
CROSBY, STILLS, NASH AND YOUNG: (Singing) Such a cozy room. Such a cozy room. The windows are illuminated by the evening sunshine through them, fiery gems for you, only for you.
HIRWAY: So one thing I wanted to ask you about is this moment where you sort of split off into this counterpoint thing.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "OUR HOUSE")
CROSBY, STILLS, NASH AND YOUNG: (Singing) Our house is a very, very, very fine house, very fine house.
NASH: So what happened is, basically, it was a mistake.
HIRWAY: Really?
NASH: Oh, yeah. It was David and Stephen just drifting off into a different part. But, you see, sometimes mistakes can happen that really, really are not mistakes. And so once we did that, we made it a part of the vocal blend, but it was actually a - started out as a mistake.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "OUR HOUSE")
CROSBY, STILLS, NASH AND YOUNG: (Singing) Is a very, very, very fine house, very fine house.
HIRWAY: OK, there's just one more thing that I wanted to play for you.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
GRAHAM NASH AND JONI MITCHELL: (Singing) Our house is a very, very, very fine house, with two cats in the yard. Life used to be so hard. Now everything is easy 'cause of you.
NASH: That's the time that we were in Philadelphia, at the Music Hall there. And Joni was with me, and I started to, at soundcheck, play "Our House," and she joined me on vocal and piano.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
NASH AND MITCHELL: (Singing) And you placed the flowers in the vase that you bought today.
JONI MITCHELL: Oh (laughter).
NASH: Yeah, that's me and Joni.
Hearing that version again - what does that evoke for you?
NASH: It was a very important time in my life. I mean, to live and love Joni Mitchell was incredibly special to me. And to be able to write a song about my actual home where I lived was very comforting for me. And it was easy to remember. That's when I first put my voice together with David and Stephen's, in Joni's living room, with Joni as the only witness to the beginning of Crosby, Stills and Nash.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROSBY, STILLS, NASH AND YOUNG SONG, "OUR HOUSE")
KELLY: Beautiful. Graham Nash, speaking there with Hrishikesh Hirway, host of the award-winning music podcast "Song Exploder."
(SOUNDBITE OF CROSBY, STILLS, NASH AND YOUNG SONG, "OUR HOUSE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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