Just a Song Before I Go

"Just a Song Before I Go" is a song from Crosby, Stills and Nash that appeared on the 1977 album CSN. It was also released as a single and made it to number seven on the Billboard singles charts and ended up being the band's highest climbing hit.

The song was written by Graham Nash about leaving loved ones behind before going on a concert tour. He wrote the song in 15 minutes on a dare from his driver while en route to the airport.

"Just a Song Before I Go" is lyrically straightforward about the situation Nash was in at the moment he wrote it, and there is also an undercurrent of regret towards rootlessness, a feeling that Nash — born and raised in England, a resident of the United States who had lived in California and was now living in Hawaii — might very well have had at the time.

Nash seemed to have used some poetic license in talking about "traveling twice the speed of sound," as airliners other than the Concorde do not go that fast, and the line about "the friendly skies" was pinched from United Airlines's well-worn slogan.

Crosby, Stills and Nash arranged "Just a Song Before I Go" as a straight ballad, with mostly acoustic textures anchored by two tasteful, understated electric guitar solos from Stephen Stills.

Source

• Liner notes from the 1991 box set Crosby, Stills and Nash: CSN. The commentary on the songs's genesis is from David Crosby.