If you’re looking for an act that laid the groundwork for what Yacht Rock artists would eventually deliver, Crosby, Stills & Nash might be a good place to start. The ornate vocal harmonies, the intricate instrumentation, and the breezy vibes were all in place almost a decade before people started making the music that would be characterized as Yacht.
Videos by American Songwriter
By 1982, the trio was in a place to contribute to the soft-rock revolution they spearheaded. They did so with “Southern Cross”, a grooving meditation on travel and lost love.
Two of Three
The three members of Crosby, Stills & Nash combined and separated in many different permutations throughout the 70s. That math gets even more complex when you include sometime band member Neil Young in the equation.
The sad part of it all is that they weren’t all able to get on the same page that often. Considering the magic that they made when they were together (as well as the commercial success they enjoyed), this phenomenon proved somewhat baffling. Heading into 1982, the trio had connected for just two studio albums since their 1969 debut.
It looked like that streak of inaction might be continuing that year as well. David Crosby was dealing with personal problems and drug dependency at the start of the 80s. As a result, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash were planning an album as a duo. One of the songs they were working up for their new project was “Southern Cross”.
“Cross” Purposes
Stephen Stills wrote the song around an existing track composed by Rick and Michael Curtis. Their song, “Seven League Boots”, provided the bulk of the melody for “Southern Cross”. Stills took the music and changed the words around. His love of sailing came to the fore in the new lyrics.
Without Crosby in the picture, Stills and Nash utilized Timothy B. Schmit of The Eagles to fill out the vocal blend. Feeling good about the songs they had in the bank, the duo was spurned by their record label, which wanted to put out a CSN album instead.
Realizing the way the wind was blowing, Stills and Nash relented and called Crosby into the project at the eleventh hour. He ended up contributing a few songs and adding some vocals to preexisting tracks for the 1982 album Daylight Again. But even though he appears in the “Southern Cross” video, he’s not at all on the recording.
Behind the Lyrics of “Southern Cross”
“Southern Cross” spends a lot of time on sailing terminology. The title refers to a specific constellation that can be seen in the night sky in the regions Stills mentions on the track. He balances all this out with musings about a fractured relationship. For example, at the end of the first verse, he sings, “In a noisy bar in Avalon, I tried to call you / But on a midnight watch I realized / Why twice you ran away.”
Stills acknowledges his sailing excursion is a getaway plan. “’Cause the truth you might be running from is so small / But it’s as big as the promise / The promise of a coming day.” The sea invigorates the narrator into believing a reconciliation can happen. “What heaven brought you and me cannot be forgotten,” he sings.
“Southern Cross” even has the sailing milieu in its favor to compare it to other Yacht Rock offerings. The 1982 Top 20 hit proved that CSN still had the soft-rocking touch, even if “C” contributed in name only.
Photo by Tom Copi/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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