While Crosby, Stills & Nash’s self-titled debut album had been a runaway success in 1969, the supergroup became that bit more super when Neil Young came on board for 1970’s Déjà Vu. Released in March 1970, that album was certified gold in the US within two weeks of its release, and has it has since gone on to sell more than eight million copies worldwide. It also helped the quartet became Laurel Canyon royalty and countercultural heroes thanks to the inclusion of era-defining songs such as David Crosby’s defiant Almost Cut My Hair and Graham Nash’s Our House, plus the group’s cover of Joni Mitchell’s Woodstock. Mitchell had also helped inspire Our House, a song whose celebration of simple domestic pleasures defined the public perception of hippiedom.
Listen to the best of Crosby, Stills & Nash here.
On CSN’s debut album, Nash’s gentle and melodic tunes, including Marrakesh Express and Lady Of The Island, had provided a counterpoint to Stephen Stills’ swaggering and soulful rock and David Crosby’s stoned mysticism. On Déjà Vu, Nash’s pop sensibility again gave the album balance, with the sweet, idealistic country of Teach Your Children and the gentle harmony-pop of Our House chosen as the album’s second and third singles, respectively.
It makes sense that Nash’s songs were deemed entry points for the wider public: accessible and relatable, they spoke of everyday things. This was especially true of Our House, which was inspired by a day Nash spent with his then partner, Joni Mitchell.
