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Crosby, Stills & Nash - Marrakesh Express

Crosby, Stills & Nash - Marrakesh Express Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Crosby, Stills & Nash
Released: 1969

Marrakesh Express Lyrics

Looking at the world
Through the sunset in your eyes
Trying to make the train
Through clear Moroccan skies
Ducks and pigs and chickens call
Animal carpet wall to wall
American ladies five foot tall in blue

Sweeping cobwebs from the edges of my mind
Had to get away to see what we could find
Hope the days that lie ahead
Bring us back to where they've led
Listen not to what's been said to you

Would you know we're riding
On the Marrakesh Express
Would you know we're riding
On the Marrakesh Express, they're taking me to Marrakesh
All on board the train, all on board the train

I've been saving all my money just to take you there
I smell the garden in your hair

Take the train from Casablanca going south
Blowing smoke rings from the corners of my my, my, my, my mouth
Colored cottons hang in air
Charming cobras in the square
Striped Djellebas we can wear at home, well let me hear you now
Don't you know we're riding on the Marrakesh Express
Don't you know we're riding on the Marrakesh Express
They're taking me to Marrakesh Express
Don't you know we're riding on the Marrakesh Express
Don't you know we're riding on the Marrakesh Express
They're taking me to Marrakesh
All on board the train
All on board the train, all on board

Writer/s: NASH, GRAHAM
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, SPIRIT MUSIC GROUP
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Marrakesh Express

Marrakesh is a city in Morocco famous for leather goods. The "Marrakesh Express" is the train Graham Nash took on a trip there from Casablanca in 1966. The lyrics are filled with the sights, sounds and vibes that he encountered on the trip.

Prior to exiting the Hollies in 1968, Nash offered this to his band mates. However, the tune was ultimately rejected as being not commercial enough. Their refusal to record this and other tunes he wrote was one of the main reasons Nash left the band and moved to Los Angeles to join up with Crosby and Stills. "After a couple months of that, a man is liable to go insane," Nash said of having his songs rejected, adding, "especially being the only one who was smoking grass at the time." Fortunately, his new bandmates liked the tune and it ended up on their debut album.

The became Crosby Sills And Nash's first hit in the US, and surprisingly their only Top 40 single in the UK.

Graham Nash told Rolling Stone magazine the story of this song: "In 1966 I was visiting Morocco on vacation to Marrakesh and getting on a train and having a first-class ticket and then realizing that the first-class compartment was completely f--king boring, you know, ladies with blue hair in there - it wasn't my scene at all. So I decide I'm going to go and see what the rest of the train is like. And the rest of the train was fascinating. Just like the song says, there were ducks and pigs and chickens all over the place and people lighting fires. It's literally the song as it is - what happened to me."

Crosby babbles some strange-sounding words like "Whoopa, hey mesa, hooba huffa, hey meshy goosh goosh" at the beginning of the song. Graham Nash remembered: "It's some Crosby gibberish that we moved from the beginning of 'Guinnevere' to the front of 'Marrakesh Express.'"

Crosby, Stills & Nash - Shadow Captain

Crosby, Stills & Nash - Shadow Captain Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: CSN
Released: 1977

Shadow Captain Lyrics

Oh, captain, what are we hiding from?
You've been hiding from the start.
Did some lover steal your heart,
Or did the full moon make you mad?

Oh, captain, why these speechless seas
That never seem to land?
Oh I need to understand.
Could a little light be that bad?

I can see your hands are roughened
By the wheel and the rope.
I'd like to look to you for hope,
I think it's hiding there.
This boat is blacked out like a city
Awaiting bombers in the night.
Oh you hold your helm so tight,
And yet the sky seems so fair.

Who guides this ship
Dreaming through the seas
Turning and searching,
Whichever way you please?
Speak to me, I need to see your face,
Shadowy captain, in a darkened space.

If I were to spy a city
Floating just above the sea,
Could we stop
And look for me
Among those playing on the pier?

Or would you turn away knowing,
It was still a ways away,
And if I was there today
you could not see me all that clear.

Shadowy captain of a charcoal ship,
Trying to give the light the slip

Writer/s: CROSBY, DAVID / DOERGE, CRAIG
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Shadow Captain

David Crosby wrote this song with session musician Craig Doerge, who also plays piano on the track. It's one of several songs that Crosby has written after waking up in the middle of the night. He told Uncut magazine February 2014: "It's that moment of half awake, half asleep, and it's happened over and over again."

Crosby added: "I woke up at 3 AM, I was off watch, hundred miles off the coast of California, I got up from my bunk and wrote the whole song down, as it is now without changing the word. I get to the end, 'Shadow Captain of a charcoal ship, trying to give the light the slip,' and I think, 'Croz, you are so f---ing cool!' I'm thrilled by it, but I feel as though it's been trapped in my head, as though I've been gifted it."

Crosby, Stills & Nash - Pre-Road Downs

Crosby, Stills & Nash - Pre-Road Downs Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Crosby, Stills & Nash
Released: 1969

Pre-Road Downs Lyrics

I have kissed you
So I'll miss you
On the road I'll be wantin' you

But I have you
'Cause I love you
And you have me 'cause you love me too, yeah

Felt forsaken
You'll awaken
To the joys of livin' hand in glove

And then I will
Lend you my will
And your days will be filled with love

Don't run the time approaches
Hotels and midnight coaches
Be sure to hide the roaches

Felt rejected
As expected
You rejected all the thoughts of words

So I'll pray with
You to stay with
Me forever and we'll make it work

Elevated
You're elated
'Cause I've waited a year for you

If you're thinkin'
What I'm thinkin'
Then I'm gonna make my love to you

Don't run the time approaches
Hotels and midnight coaches
Be sure to hide the roaches

Writer/s: NASH, GRAHAM
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, SPIRIT MUSIC GROUP
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Pre-Road Downs

Crosby, Stills & Nash first sung together during an informal jam at the house of Cass Elliot. The trio were so fond of the Mamas And The Papas' singer that she sung backing vocals on this song during the part that goes "Hotels and midnight coaches. Be sure to hide the roaches."

"She insisted, and with good reason," Nash recalled to Uncut magazine in 2014. "Nobody else would have the balls to do that, that we loved her dearly. So we agreed."

"I've always thought that Cass understood intuitively what the sound of me, David and Stephen singing together would sound like, and when she introduced me to them, she knew they were trying to put something together," Nash added.

Cass Elliot was the only person outside of the trio who sang on the Crosby, Stills & Nash album.

David Crosby commented to MusicRadar.com of this Graham Nash penned tune: "A Nash song after he realized that he could write rock 'n' roll – fierce rock 'n' roll."

The backwards guitar was played by Stephen Stills. Said an admiring Crosby: "This is real backwards guitar, and how he got it match up to the forwards stuff, I have no idea. He did it, and we looked him and thought, This guy is from f---ing Mars! I'm still freaked out by it."

Crosby, Stills & Nash - Southern Cross

Crosby, Stills & Nash - Southern Cross Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Daylight Again
Released: 1982

Southern Cross Lyrics

Got out of town on a boat goin' to Southern islands
Sailing a reach before a followin' sea
She was makin' for the trades on the outside
And the downhill run to Papeete

Off the wind on this heading lie the Marquesas
We got eighty feet of the waterline nicely making way
In a noisy bar in Avalon I tried to call you
But on a midnight watch I realized why twice you ran away

Think about
Think about how many times I have fallen
Spirits are using me larger voices callin'
What Heaven brought you and me cannot be forgotten

(Around the world) I have been around the world
(Lookin') Lookin' for that woman girl
(Who knows she knows) Who knows love can endure
And you know it will

When you see the Southern Cross for the first time
You understand now why you came this way
Cause the truth you might be runnin' from is so small
But it's as big as the promise, the promise of a comin' day

So I'm sailing for tomorrow my dreams are a dyin'
And my love is an anchor tied to you tied with a silver chain
I have my ship and all her flags are a' flyin'
She is all that I have left and music is her name

Think about
Think about how many times I have fallen
Spirits are using me larger voices callin'
What Heaven brought you and me cannot be forgotten

(I've been around the world) I have been around the world
(Lookin') Lookin' for that woman girl
Who knows love can endure
And you know it will, and you know it will yes

So we cheated and we lied and we tested
And we never failed to fail it was the easiest thing to do
You will survive being bested
Somebody fine will come along make me forget about loving you
And the southern cross

Writer/s: CURTIS, MICHAEL / CURTIS, RICHARD / STILLS, STEPHEN
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Southern Cross

The "Southern Cross" is a constellation also known as the Crux Constellation that can be viewed from most of the Southern hemisphere. The 4 brightest stars within the constellation form a cross pattern. Sailors have relied on the "Southern Cross" to help in navigating their boats. The national flags of Australia and New Zealand have versions of the Southern Cross on them.

This was written by Stephen Stills with help from Richard Curtis and Michael Curtis. In the CSN Boxed Set, Stills explained: "The Curtis Brothers brought a wonderful song called 'Seven League Boots,' but it drifted around too much. I rewrote a new set of words and added a different chorus, a story about a long boat trip I took after my divorce. It's about using the power of the universe to heal your wounds. Once again, I was given somebody's gem and cut and polished it."

Jimmy Buffett covered this on his 1999 album Buffett Live: Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays. (thanks, Amy - Chicago, IL, for all above)

There is a vocal mistake in the line "But it's as big as the promise, the promise of a coming day." One of the vocalists says "coming" on the first "promise." (thanks, Dave - Leesburg, VA)

Since this song is based on a song called "Seven League Boots," it bears mentioning that seven-league boots are a common magical artifact which crops up repeatedly in many European folk and fairy tales. They're a pair of boots which allow the wearer to take strides that are seven leagues (21 miles, 33.8 kilometers) long. The same concept of footwear that greatly increases one's traveling speed or stride is adapted into many role-playing and video games.

This same year that "Southern Cross" came out also saw David Crosby arrested on drug-related charges. He would be in and out of court on them numerous times until he finally turned himself in for an 8-month sentence.

The video for this song, with a ship a-sail, saw heavy rotation in the early MTV years, providing a soft rock respite from the European pop acts that dominated the network at the time.

The cover art for the Daylight Again album features an enigmatic domed structure on a rocky hilltop, flanked by three glowing blue flying saucers. The US was in the midst of a resurgence in UFO popularity in the late-'70s and early-'80s, bolstered by the writings of Chariots of the Gods author Erich von Daniken and renewed interest in Area 51.