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Wed 29 October 2025 14:29, UK
Folk legend David Crosby rose to prominence in the 1960s as a member of The Byrds, shooting straight to number one in the United States and the United Kingdom with their Bob Dylan cover, ‘Mr Tambourine Man’. The song’s popularity helped pioneer the folk-rock genre, which subsequently dominated the decade.
In 1968, the musician formed Crosby, Stills, and Nash, with Neil Young joining in 1970. Meanwhile, Crosby released his debut album, If I Could Only Remember My Name, in 1971, kickstarting a successful solo career. No matter what Crosby was creating, he was wholly dedicated, even if his outspoken opinions often resulted in personal clashes between him and his bandmates.
Throughout the decades, Crosby expressed an intense love for creating music and performing – continuing until his death in January 2023, aged 81. According to his friends, he was planning new music and tours until his passing, despite his belief that he didn’t have long left. The musician released his last album, For Free, in 2021, named after the Joni Mitchell track, with a cover of the song appearing on the record.
The album was special for Crosby because it contained two collaborations with members of his all-time favourite band, Steely Dan. Crosby confirmed the fact in 2020, tweeting: “Steely Dan is my favourite band in the world period”. The opening track, ‘River Rise’, features Michael McDonald, who has sporadically played with Steely Dan through the years.
it goes a little further than that. Crosby once nobly credited the band with saving his life. Following a prison sentence after his arrest for weapons and drugs charges, Crosby had nine months of confinement ahead of him. Thankfully, the work of Steely Dan helped him through: “In the depths of my addiction, I let drugs become the most important thing in my life – more so than making music, more so than almost anything,” said Crosby when discussing the deep connection that he feels with the Steely Dan song. “But somehow, the music hung in there for me, and it’s what kept me alive. I was listening to this an awful lot at that time because it’s spectacularly strong: ‘They call Alabama the Crimson Tide / Call on me Deacon Blue’ That whole record helped me stay alive at that point.”
He also saif o their monumental album AjaI: “Stunning writing. Stunning production, stunning singing, outstanding playing, but songs. Unbelievable goddamn songs. It’s too good. They’re all fantastic”.
However, the album also features the track ‘Rodriguez for a Night’, which includes lyrics written by Steely Dan’s main man, Donald Fagen. Crosby long admired Fagen, referring to him as one of his musical heroes. Although the pair shared the stage a few times, he never managed to record anything official with Fagen until 2021.
However, these live collaborations allowed the pair to form a friendship. Their first time duetting live occurred at a Santa Barbara show in 2019, where Steely Dan invited Crosby to sing ‘Home At Last’. It didn’t take long for Fagen to ask Crosby to join them in New York, where they sang ‘Wooden Ships’.
A few years later, Crosby spoke to Rolling Stone about his delight that Fagen had penned lyrics for him to sing. “It’s really fucking good, man,” he said. “I’m so honoured he gave us a set of words. I’ve been asking him for a couple of years. He started to trust us, I think. It took a long time, but he gave us a set of words that are really wonderful and we just wrote the shit out of them”.
In another Rolling Stone interview, Crosby declared his love for Fagen by explaining: “He doesn’t wear his heart on his sleeve, but he’s a brilliant guy. I admire him beyond belief“. Crosby genuinely respected Fagen; thus, it’s fitting that his final album featured a song written by one of his heroes.
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