Teach Your Children

Teach Your Children - Crosby, Stills Nash and Young

You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a good bye.

Teach your children well,
Their father's hell did slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you'll know by.

Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.

And you, of tender years,
Can't know the fears that your elders grew by,
And so please help them with your youth,
They seek the truth before they can die.

Counter Melody To Above Verse:
Can you hear and do you care and 
Cant you see we must be free to
Teach your children what you believe in.
Make a world that we can live in.

Teach your parents well,
Their children's hell will slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you'll know by.

Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you. 

I think this song was released in 1970.  I was about 13 years old.  This was from the Deja Vu album. One of my first.  When it came out I was a young student who thought the educational establishment (ALL of the establishment for that matter) was so unfair, unjust and ignorant.  While I wasn't sure exactly what it meant, I felt sure that CSN and Y were knocking down "the MAN".  I was all for that.  

It is Jerry Garcia, from The Grateful Dead, on that wicked pedal steel guitar.  Those licks are historic.  And who even knew the guy played that instrument?  CSN and Y was the only group that I can think of that had 4 guitarists playing at once.  While some of these guys played other instruments as well (Neil plays harp, everyone plays keys, Graham plays piano quite well), there were a lot of songs where they were all strumming and picking at the same time.  Also there were 4 part harmonies on many of their songs.  So tight that you can't really pick out who is singing lead.  I always figured the melody was sung by whoever wrote it. All those harmonies were icing.  And they laid it on thick.