Wooden Ships

"Wooden Ships"
Song by Crosby, Stills & Nash
Album	Crosby, Stills & Nash
Released	1969
Genre	Rock
Length	5:29
Label	Atlantic
Writer	Stephen Stills Paul Kantner David Crosby
Composer	David Crosby
Producer	Bill Halverson David Crosby Graham Nash Stephen Stills
Crosby, Stills & Nash track listing
"Wooden Ships" (6) Lady of the Island (7)

Wooden Ships is a folk-rock song written by David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Paul Kantner (of Jefferson Airplane fame) in the late 1960s. The song was written on Crosby's boat in Florida. Crosby wrote the music, and Stills and Kantner wrote most of the lyrics.[1].

Kantner could not be credited on the original release of Crosby, Stills & Nash due to legal issues, but he is credited on the 2006 re-release. The song was also released by Jefferson Airplane the same year on the album Volunteers. Both versions are considered to be original versions of the song, although they differ slightly in wording and melody.

Crosby recorded a solo demo in March 1968, with the melody but no lyrics at this stage. Stills recorded his own demo the following month with most of the lyrics now in place.

Wooden Ships was written at the height of the Vietnam War, a time of great tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, nuclear-armed rivals in the Cold War. It was one of the few songs of that era that openly dealt with the ever-present fears of an apocalyptic nuclear war (preceeded by Tom Lehrer's "We Will All Go Together When We Go", and "Eve of Destruction", sung by Barry McGuire).

The song poignantly depicts the horrors confronting the survivors of a nuclear holocaust, where presumably two sides have virtually annihilated each other (and everyone else). One man from each side stumbles upon the other, and they reflect on the pointlessness of the conflict.

The opening line of the song is considered by many fans as being one for the ages. "If you smile at me I will understand, that is something everybody everywhere does in the same language" These lyrics are still printed today on tee shirts at Crosby Stills and Nash and Young concerts and on various internet stores.

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