David Crosby's musical legacy needs to include wasted time as well as his recent work

“Don’t waste the time. Time is the final currency, man. Not money, not power – it’s time.”~David Crosby

He was a founding member of The Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash. His songs included “Eight Miles High”, "Guinnevere”, “Wooden Ships”, “Long Time Gone”, “Almost Cut My Hair”, and “Deja Vu.” He was a two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

David Crosby was a music legend. When he died on Thursday his legacy had been set long ago. But, if you asked him, it could have been much more. As his quote at the top says, he felt that he wasted time when he could have been producing music.

His first solo album “If I Could Only Remember My Name” came out in 1971. At a time when record sales and artist’s royalties were at their largest, Crosby waited until 1989 for his next solo work, “Oh Yes I Can.” Four years later came “Thousand Roads”, album number three. Wasted time, indeed.

It took another twenty-one years for Crosby to record another solo album. Imagine what he could have accomplished in those two decades.

But, in the mid-2010s, he had a revelation. All of his health problems were starting to add up. Hepatitis C with a liver transplant, diabetes and multiple heart attacks is a bad combination. Crosby knew he was living on borrowed time and he realized he still had a lot to say. David Crosby went to work!

Starting with 2014’s “Croz”, the last years of his life were among his most creative and certainly his most productive. Two years later, he followed up with “Lighthouse.” In rapid-fire came “Sky Trails”, “Here If You Listen” and “For Free”. In 2022, there was a live album, “David Crosby & The Lighthouse Band Live at the Capitol Theatre.” Supposedly, there’s more waiting to be released.

In an era where musicians are rarely recording albums of new music, Crosby was pumping them out like he was back in his twenties. It wasn’t because of the money, it was because he believed he still had plenty to say that he didn’t want to leave unsaid. It would have been wasted.

This weekend, when you may be honoring the life and music of David Crosby, here are two things to check out and remember. If you’re listening to some of his songs, make sure you try some of his later work. I recommend “For Free.” It’s as good as anything he’s ever done. Also, think about his quote about wasted time. Life is short. Be productive while you still can so there will be no regrets in the end. Hopefully, David Crosby didn’t have any. That’s a real part of his legacy.