Did you learn much about business from David Geffen and Elliot Roberts?
Yes. A great deal. Say what you want about them, they may be cold and they may be tough, but they knew what they were doing. We were earning millions of dollars, and doing stadium tours before anybody. They understood how to maximise the success of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and credit where it’s due, they did maximise it, they did get us the most amount of money that they could conceivably get out of it. And walked off with a considerable amount of it!
You spent a lot of time in San Francisco as well as Los Angeles, and I get the impression that the Bay Area musical community regarded the LA musical community as a bit showbizzy…
They did. And it was! I was leaving behind bands like Paul Revere & The Raiders, and going to hang out with my old friend Paul Kantner and these incredible people like Grace Slick and Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh. But yes, there was a definite difference between the two communities. And I didn’t want to be showbizzy Hollywood, I wanted to be like those guys – very free, breaking down the barriers, stretching the envelope, pushing the walls back. I wanted to be like that, so I moved up there, and lived on my boat in Sausalito. One of the best times of my life.
There was a CSN covers album mooted at one point?
At some point, that damn thing’s gonna come out, I’ll tell ya. We were on our way to making a good record, but the chemistry with Rick Rubin was not that good. I think it was something about the day I suggested there should be another Beatles song on the album and he told us, “There’ll only be one Beatles song on this record.” We all looked at each other and thought, ‘He’s appointed himself the sole arbiter of what goes on the record…’
Did the band’s drug intake get in the way of the music?
Well, duhh! Of course the drugs got in the way. That’s what they do. Though I don’t think there’s much harm in smoking pot, I never have done. It helps me at night, eases my shoulders – ’cos I’ve got two very bad shoulders – and it helps me sleep. I don’t think it’s smart to be a wake-and-bake, to get up and start your day with it, because you’re not going to get anything done that day!
When I was re-reading your autobiography Long Time Gone recently, I was struck by the frontispiece photo of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in bandoleros, with shotguns and so on. It was Desperado, three years before. Are CSNY to blame for the Eagles?
We kinda are! We were all friends, we knew the same girls, and you couldn’t help loving ’em. But the Eagles, you gotta admit, man, even though they had a different approach to it, they tried to do the record, every time. Exactly, to the note. I’ve had friends who were in that band, who shall remain nameless for fear that Henley’s goons will find them, tell me that Don would actually come by their room later and say, “Hey, you know that part where you did that thing? Don’t do that.” Ha ha ha! God bless him, Don’s always been really nice to me, I’ve had other people tell me he’s freakin’ Hitler, but to me he’s always been a gentleman, a nice guy, and extremely smart.