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Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young — Almost Cut My Hair
Album: Deja Vu
Avg rating:
8

Your rating:
Total ratings: 1210









Released: 1970
Length: 4:13
Plays (last 30 days): 0
Almost cut my hair
It happened just the other day
It's gettin' kind of long
I could've said it was in my way

But I didn't and I wonder why
I feel like letting my freak flag fly
Almost cut my hair
It happened just the other day
It's gettin' kind of long
I could've said it was in my way

But I didn't and I wonder why
I feel like letting my freak flag fly
And I feel like I owe it, ... someone

Must be because I had the flu for Christmas
And I'm not feeling up to par
It increases my paranoia
Like looking in my mirror and seeing a police car

Well I'm not giving in an inch to fear
çause I've promised myself this year
I feel like I owe it, ... someone

When I finally get myself together
I'm gonna get down in that sunny southern weather

And I'm goin' to find a space inside to laugh,
Separate the wheat from the chaff
I feel ...
Like I owe it, ... someone, yeah
Comments (196)add comment
Very meaningful now 2020
Love this song!  
Done better, much better
Good guitar work though
Here's a UTube of Joni doing this song at Gordon Lightfoot's house accompanied by Roger McGuinn and Dylan.

 hayduke2 wrote:



oh to be young again  : )
 
Freewheelin' Frankin Sez:  "Dope will get you through times of no money, BETTER THAN money will get you through times of no dope!"
Waterboys 'Still a Freak', and now this...  Bill's gettin' his freak on this morning!  
Weird, cause to me, shaving my head always freed me and let me feel like the real 'freak', who could easily grow out a fashionable hairstyle but would rather shave it to feel the wind and the rain...

"And I'm goin' to find a space inside to laugh,
I feel ...
Like I owe it, ... someone, yeah"


Still connects deeply
goosebumps
 Hey_Porter wrote:
Some time ago, when I saw CSN at Jones Beach, I thought walking into the ampitheater that they were kind of washed up and  irrelevant.  A trio of emerging has beens.  Then Crosby sang this song into the starry night and he proved the error of my thinking.  As fresh as ever.

 
I had the same experience in the Albert Hall.
Still hits that nerve!

Thanks Bill
Neil's snarling Gibson is the icing on the cake.
Not sure if there are still people out there that don't know...this is a tribute to the "long-haired" Senator from Massachusetts,,,Bobby Kennedy.
 waterl00 wrote:
A great song I have never heard before. 

Real Music.

Regards from Germany 

 
I frequently check the Who's Listening" map on the home page and Germany is always #2 in listenership. France and Germany are close behind. Thank you Germany.
 robertheston wrote:


 


oh to be young again  : )
A great song I have never heard before. 

Real Music.

Regards from Germany 
Forever grateful to my friends who introduced me to rp - what a freakin' fabulous Friday morning playlist!
Some time ago, when I saw CSN at Jones Beach, I thought walking into the ampitheater that they were kind of washed up and  irrelevant.  A trio of emerging has beens.  Then Crosby sang this song into the starry night and he proved the error of my thinking.  As fresh as ever.
I wouldn't call myself a CSNY fan (mostly because I can't handle Neil Young's voice), but this song is most excellent!  What a great freakin tune!!!  So thick and full of soul!
Thank you Bill.

One of these days we'll meet up.....I toured with those boys back in the day.

What you are doing is extraordinary.  

Yours,  dd 
James Perone writes that, "more than any other song of the entire era", it "captures the extent to which the divisiveness in American society ... had boiled over into violence and terror"
Wow, just realized that the Summer of Love, 1967 was 50 years ago.  50 years, my god, where has the time gone.  I seems like only yesterday.
I have been listening to RP all day today, and you have hardly played a single track I didn't like. Your choice of music today has been superb..! Thank you very much..
 
My son is in a band, and has long hair to look the part, and said the other day "I almost cut my hair, but I didn't, because I have to maintain the lead singer look." I then played this song for him. And he saw that this song was good, and he rated it 9.
 westslope wrote:
Yeah.  What is it with all the older white American dudes and the long hair?  
It appears to be even making a come back with the younger (<40) crowd.

What's that old saying: "If you've got it, flaunt it"?
I've been stuck with the Bruce Willis buzz cut for some time now.  : (
 Andy_B wrote:
Wearing my hair long again.  Of course it mostly is combed back over the top of my head to cover the emerging bald spot.  LOL!!!  Oh yes, absolutely great music too!

 
Yeah.  What is it with all the older white American dudes and the long hair?   It appears to be even making a come back with the younger (<40) crowd. 
Wearing my hair long again.  Of course it mostly is combed back over the top of my head to cover the emerging bald spot.  LOL!!!  Oh yes, absolutely great music too!
Thanks for the Gilbert Shelton art robertheston!!!

we need Wicked cool Wonder Wart-Hog these days

 

great music too!
{#Sunny}
 zepher wrote:
<—— You win the award for the "I cut my hair" story.  Sounds like when you are hitching from Mexico to Tierra del Fuego it's dangerous to let your freak flag fly....



 
Probably less so these days as the Monteneros and other guerrilla groups are no more.

In any event, over the years I found that often the coolest 'freaks' wore their hair short so as to fly under the radar.   
Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers Cover
Since the late 90's we have slaughtered millions in the Middle East... est. aprox. 2.5 Million... beginning with the sanctions to Iraq that killed 500,000 infants that starved to death then the 2,000,000 (majority of it being innocents) beginning with the bombing of Iraq and until the end of 2015. The propaganda has the majority fooled. They willingly go to fight the evil enemy. Mostly they go to create the enemy. But, now, in their continuing attempt at world domination —at least economically— the fascist morons of the US are surrounding Russia and China and maliciously trying to tempt them both into war, especially Russia, and probably thinking they will back down in fear of the beast. I think our intended foes have been preparing for it and will fight if the US continues and increases its provocations... Oh... I should add the millions of refugees that we created directly and millions more indirectly... they are starving to death then there's the ones drowning around the waters near Greece and the Mediterranean. There are currently 60,000,000 of them worldwide for various reasons. "US Has Killed More Than 20 Million People in 37 “Victim Nations” Since World War II"

That draft very well may happen but if it comes as a result of a war with Russia and China, everyone will go out of desperation for survival of the country. Of course, most of it will probably be missles and bombs. Maybe the nuke's will fly early on and get it over with........................

LowPhreak wrote:

If there were a draft today like then, we'd have a lot more songs like this. And a lot less illegal wars.

 


 Hitch Hiker Toon - 1960's
zepher wrote:




 


We would just stand on the rise next to the Río Bravo del Norte (Rio Grande) with our friend "Robert Gonzales" and watch as our purchase was imported from Mexico on the backs of a few hombres walking across the river.

It was much less populated in this area in the early 1970's.
Rio Grande showing where they walked across the river with our bails on their backs.

zepher wrote:




 


 coloradojohn wrote:
For me, it's never been about the hair; fashions come and go! but WOW, the ANGST, the raw, dueling guitars, the agonizing over what it means to be alive and conscious to the suffering, the injustice — The anti-War movement was everything then! — and the courage, at least, to try and do something, anything, about it other than turn away, kill or be killed. CSNY were Rock Poets, and deserve praise.

 
If there were a draft today like then, we'd have a lot more songs like this. And a lot less illegal wars.
Freak flag fly. Absolutely. It would be nice, though, if we weren't so unfairly treated at times tho… 
Back in those days your hair really mattered. Now the rebels get the buzz cuts! Please, let the man bun thing end. 
I feel like letting my freak flag fly. 4/29/16 Neil Young to play in Memphis Beale st Music fest. 
Love this song.  It is iconic.  

For whatever silly stupid reasons, once upon a time, the length of a male's hair in most of the rich west mattered.   In the not so rich west, it could get you killed.  
Not one of their best, in my opinion.  Compared to the lyrics on some of their other songs....lametastic.
Some time ago, I think it was 1970 or '71, Crosby admitted to Rolling Stone that the vocal was sloppy, "sliding all over the place." At least he was honest.
For me, it's never been about the hair; fashions come and go! but WOW, the ANGST, the raw, dueling guitars, the agonizing over what it means to be alive and conscious to the suffering, the injustice — The anti-War movement was everything then! — and the courage, at least, to try and do something, anything, about it other than turn away, kill or be killed. CSNY were Rock Poets, and deserve praise.
Funny to think of the times this was written compared to now.  My hair is long, mid/low back long, and mostly gray and there a lot of others around who look similar.  So much so that I am constantly told I look like so and so.  
Sitting on a porch, Mifflin Street, Madison, Wisconsin, 1970. Yeah, that was very, very good.
 bachbeet wrote:

Actually, my hair was quite long.  I made the comment because I actually disliked that song then and still do.  It is not good musically nor lyrically.

 
An "anthem" doesn't need to be "good musically nor lyrically", it simply needs to reflect the zeitgeist of the moment in a memorable format.
I remember my wife, about 1974, said she "wished I would cut my hair because I looked like a girl from behind." Actually the girls loved it and I still think that is really why she said that. This is as short as she could get me to cut it.
That's me with my son Jeremy about 1977. 
I think capitalism took its toll on the little boy —my son— in the above picture:
That little boy's transition


 wgsu_1978 wrote:
Sorry, folks. IMO this was, and remains, one of the worst rock anthems ever. 

60 in October. 
 
Free clue: it wouldn't have made "anthem" status if it were nearly that bad.

54 last June.
Sorry, folks. IMO this was, and remains, one of the worst rock anthems ever. 

60 in October. 
Love it. Always have. Always will.
.
.
.
"if all the hippies cut off all their hair,
i don't care
'cause i got my own world to live thru,
an i ain't gona copy you"
Jimi Hendirx - 'If 6 was 9'
.
.
make of that what you will.
i hit 52 tomorrow. (boo!)
Yay Phreaks!!  {#High-five}
 westslope wrote:
Before crossing into Mexico and hitching to Tierra del Fuego, I cut my shoulder-length hair to well above my ears.  

Various guerrilla liberation groups were dressing with long hair and beards.  As I had no wish to be shot, detained and vigorously interrogated, I cut my hair.  

Glad I did.  Just having a backpack in Argentina in the late 1970s was cause for increased interest by federal police.

Sigh.  I still miss it over 3 decades later. 

 
<—— You win the award for the "I cut my hair" story.  Sounds like when you are hitching from Mexico to Tierra del Fuego it's dangerous to let your freak flag fly....


 Larry_Rosenow wrote:


Can I assume you never wore long hair, so it is likely you cannot relate.   So sorry. 

 
Actually, my hair was quite long.  I made the comment because I actually disliked that song then and still do.  It is not good musically nor lyrically.
Before crossing into Mexico and hitching to Tierra del Fuego, I cut my shoulder-length hair to well above my ears.  

Various guerrilla liberation groups were dressing with long hair and beards.  As I had no wish to be shot, detained and vigorously interrogated, I cut my hair.  

Glad I did.  Just having a backpack in Argentina in the late 1970s was cause for increased interest by federal police.

Sigh.  I still miss it over 3 decades later. 
exellent album!
I don't feel like the sentiments are that outdated Bill and agree with you on the guitar work.
What he said!  Double!

ccjemmett wrote:
Dated sentiments, my ass !
 
Dated sentiments, my ass !
 bachbeet wrote:
Probably the worst song from that album.  Thought so then and still do.

 

Can I assume you never wore long hair, so it is likely you cannot relate.   So sorry. 
I cut off my long hair of many years last month before attending a Jewish wedding.    After listening to this song, I feel a bit guilty.   But I admit it sure feels good to feel the breeze blow around my ears.  Not sure when I will get a haircut again, though.  Thx RP. 
Yeah,bring back those magic moments!!! 
 Leener wrote:
So this is where that expression "Let My Freak Flag Fly...." comes from!!!!
 
Uh, no.... that line originally appeared in a Hendrix number, If 6 Was 9:

Pointing their plastic finger at me.
They're hoping soon my kind will drop and die,
But I'm gonna wave my freak flag high, high.
Wave on, wave on
Fall mountains, just don't fall on me
Go ahead on Mr. Business man, you can't dress like me.
Sing on Brother, play on drummer. 
 Giselle62 wrote:
Almost shaved my pubes
It happened just the other day
They were getting kind of long
I could have said they were in the way

But I'm not givin' in to fear
She says she gets 'em in her ear, etc.
 
As sung by Gweneth Paltrow?     ;<)



very nice!

One of the greatest fatuities from an era that tried to make an art form out of self-important fatuousness.  And to think I was there, a barefoot boy with cheek.  I gave it a 3 out of genuine embarrassment.
 Giselle62 wrote:
I was trying to think of a modern equivalent to this song:
"Almost shaved my pubes.....they were getting kiiiiiiinda   long-------guess, I'll just let my freak flag fly!"  
I'm still working on it.

 
Almost shaved my pubes
It happened just the other day
They were getting kind of long
I could have said they were in the way

But I'm not givin' in to fear
She says she gets 'em in her ear, etc.


I was trying to think of a modern equivalent to this song:
"Almost shaved my pubes.....they were getting kiiiiiiinda   long-------guess, I'll just let my freak flag fly!"  
I'm still working on it.
Let yo freak flag F L Y
First record (remember those?) I ever bought and this is still just one of many terrific songs on this LP. It's amazing how many years good music keeps bringing joy to so many people. Whatta gift to be a gifted musician. Thanks C, S, N, and Y.
 nagsheadlocal wrote:

Keed spills!

I recently scanned and archived my complete collection of Freak Bros as the newsprint they were printed on was falling apart.

I shouldn't have been surprised at how often I laughed out loud as I did this. The humor maintains its edge, same as the Marx Bros.

 
 
Don't forget Philbert Desenex/Wonder Warthog.
Good cut, GREAT guitar work by Stills & Young, utterly fatuous lyrics that remind me what a dippick I was at the time.
Flash back to the best days...
gute alte Zeit  {#Good-vibes}
Whole album: exellent!
The rating i just selected plain and simply describes my feelings towards this song:
 

Outstanding!
 fredriley wrote:
CSN&Y's role models:



 
Keed spills!

I recently scanned and archived my complete collection of Freak Bros as the newsprint they were printed on was falling apart.

I shouldn't have been surprised at how often I laughed out loud as I did this. The humor maintains its edge, same as the Marx Bros.

 
Another RP moment. I needed to stop what I was doing to rate this a 10. Just because.
It's kind of like stepping away from one reality to another, having to conform to expectations from employers, customers if you're in sales in a conservative environment. Steve Jobs grew older and cut his youthful hair away. Then again, sometimes it's all about just feeling cooler in the summertime an not having to use so much shampoo in the shower. Ha. It's all good.
I feel ..... just got to be the best,if you know what it really means to cut your hair.
noise
Please segue into "Okie from Muskogee"
 Wow!
way back is right, Gilbert also introduced Wonder Warthog to that (this) pathetic dreary reality
Thank you Fred

fredriley wrote:
CSN&Y's role models:



 


Bill,
 
It is absolutely imperative that you include the spoken words (by Crosby, I think) that precede the opening bars of music:
"I will now proceed to entangle the entire area...."

Then sit back and enjoy the en"tangle"ment of this passionate hairy anthem. 
Let the sun shine in! 

Just sayin'
 
Powerful

Nice deep resonance on the audio 
Second song today from this album. Very nice!
 The_Enemy wrote:

Have you heard the bootleg of the "Crosby Stills Nash Young & Harvey" concert in Miami?  Man, those guys were like nothing else.

'course, that was before Harvey split with the band over hygiene issues.

 
I heard Harvey was bogarting all the groupies too.
Never liked the guy. ;-)


Cover to cover brilliant!!

Can I just go back to this time? Can I?
IMHO, this IS a truly great song; totally reflective of its' era..........not to mention, HTF did they get those sounds????
 Proclivities wrote:
Maybe this book?
ph
 
Have you heard the bootleg of the "Crosby Stills Nash Young & Harvey" concert in Miami?  Man, those guys were like nothing else.

'course, that was before Harvey split with the band over hygiene issues.

This is a fun song, but it's not a great song, beyond the presumably tongue-in-cheek giggles you can almost hear in the background.
I can remember, though, taking it very seriously, as when it came out I had just stopped cutting my hair. (I lasted until 1984, when I got a real job.) 
Play "Carry On" instead. It's an under-rated CSNY tune. "Cut My Hair" is one I've never been able to stand. I guess I had to be there (or then) — but I wasn't and I don't want to get on the Wayback Machine.
"...like lookin' in my mirror and seein' a po-lice car." {#Devil_pimp}
 WayUpNorth wrote:
freak flag
 
Flying mine proudly!
I intended to make a business phonecall right now, but I'll enjoy this song and wait for it to be over!

 johnjconn wrote:
Not to many people know this, but the original title for this song was "almost took a bath"
Seems Nash and Stills couldn't stand the smell of David, for reasons you can imagine.
They complained so much that Crosby wrote this, but was later forced to change the title
because of Dove soap legal conflict in their sponsorship contract.

And now you know the rest of the story

 

 pinto wrote:


I'm too lazy to look it up, so where did you get this info?
 
Maybe this book?
ph


Great song, Great album, Great album cover!
 johnjconn wrote:
Not to many people know this, but the original title for this song was "almost took a bath"
Seems Nash and Stills couldn't stand the smell of David, for reasons you can imagine.
They complained so much that Crosby wrote this, but was later forced to change the title
because of Dove soap legal conflict in their sponsorship contract.

And now you know the rest of the story

 

I'm too lazy to look it up, so where did you get this info?
 crockydile wrote:
I'm sure this was a kind of anthem back then. It sucked the first time I heard it in the early 80's and still sucks. I honor my hippie brethren, but this can't stand on musical merit. {#Notworthy}
 
You are far more charitable than I could ever be. I'm proud of not having a lot of 1-rated songs but this one will get a 2 for now, with the understanding that a 1 is probably it its future.

 bachbeet wrote:
Probably the worst song from that album.  Thought so then and still do.
 

Totally agree, but what a great album nonetheless....
freak flag

One of the best albums ever being made!
> 10


CSN&Y's role models:



Pretty darn, most excellently good! {#Cheers}
Been There, Done That
Yea, I would not hesitate to go back 
Probably the worst song from that album.  Thought so then and still do.
...okay, i cut it, but only halfway - it's nice and breezy for summretime...

So this is where that expression "Let My Freak Flag Fly...." comes from!!!!
This song is very dated... although my 3 year old did tell me yesterday someone told him he needed a haircut (his hair is not long, just getting a little shaggy).  I think it was just something that happened in a dream or something though...
...i've been toying with the notion of cutting my hair this weekend...

Crosby, Stills and Nash - "Almost Cut My Hair" Live (2009)

- Madison Square Garden, NYC - 2009/10/29 & 30.

"Art Is Resistance"

<yawn>
Some people's parents tell them to go to college and get a good corporate job. My dad sat me down and made me listen to this song—-really listen. I guess he was trying to "Teach His Children" well.
I'm sure this was a kind of anthem back then. It sucked the first time I heard it in the early 80's and still sucks. I honor my hippie brethren, but this can't stand on musical merit. {#Notworthy}
Still quoting this song, after all these years. Great message!
 Photo-John wrote:
Hell yeah! I'm cleaning my guns right now. And my hair is long. Redneck hippie.
 

You and Crosby both, apparently —- he's had a few gun-related run-ins with the fuzz.
Very nice tune!!
 westslope wrote:
BTW, while travelling the southern latitudes and working as a political activist I always stayed clean shaven with short hair. Didn't want to be mistaken for some neo-marxist revolutionary or some alternative culture creep. It worked.
 

Indiatlantic, Fla. 1970 while at FIT, got my ass kicked because I was a long haired surfer type walking down the street at night.  Never forget it.  4 against 1.  The sound of a beer can bouncing off the gutter makes me look around to this day.
like looking in the mirror and seeing a police car........brrrrrrrrrrrrr
rock on
{#Cowboy}
 jbtidwell wrote:
"letting my freak flag fly" I love that line!!!!
 
"Wave my freak flag high" is what I've been familiar with, until a few moments ago.

Hendrix, If 6 was 9.

Hell yeah! I'm cleaning my guns right now. And my hair is long. Redneck hippie.