November 12, 2021 —– Chart #117
Hello Musical Friends,
Welcome to Friday, the 117th edition of Chart of the day. “Just a Song Before I Go” is a song by Crosby, Stills and Nash that appeared on the 1977 album CSN. It was also released as a single and reached number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 for consecutive weeks ending August 27 and September 3, 1977, becoming the band’s highest charting hit. It is also one of the band’s shortest songs, with a running time of only 2:14. In Canada, it peaked at number 10.
The song was written by Graham Nash about leaving loved ones behind before going on a concert tour. It was written in Hawaii in about 20 minutes at the piano while Nash and Leslie Morris were staying with a friend, later revealed to be a rather “low-level drug dealer”. Nash had a little while to get to the airport to head back to his home in Los Angeles. The dealer queried Nash something along the lines of “You’re a big shot song writer, I bet you can’t write a song just before you go.” After Nash asking how much the dealer was betting, he responded $500. In a February 25, 2016, interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Nash stated that he still has that $500. This song came in the nick of time, because an upcoming hurricane was about to wreak havoc on the island.
Crosby, Stills and Nash arranged “Just a Song Before I Go” as a straight ballad, with mostly acoustic textures anchored by two electric guitar solos from Stephen Stills.
Original Studio version:
Live performance: https://youtu.be/x1Ji8HzTQl4
Keep rockin’ my friends,
Stan