Bob Dylan paved the way in the early 60s for the transformation of music and inspired artists to compose their own songs. He influenced both Folk and Rock musicians to experiment and to sing about anything they felt was worth expressing. As he was getting older, Bob talked less and less with the press but still talked about some of his peers over the decades. Some of those were the supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. What is Bob Dylan’s opinion on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young & Dylan? Well, if it depended on Bob Dylan, he would have been the fifth member of the group, since he told Interview magazine in 1986 that they were one of the bands he wished he had been a member of. He had the chance to see the supergroup perform, but only had the opportunity to play with its members separately. Although that partnership never happened, they covered Dylan songs a couple of times, including "Girl From the North Country". Besides being a fan of them, Dylan also likes their solo careers and what they did with other bands. Talking with Rolling Stone back in 2007, the musician praised Neil Young, with whom he had the chance to perform multiple times over the decades. “Neil is very sincere, if nothing else. He’s sincere, and he’s got a God-given talent, with that voice of his, and the melodic strain that runs through absolutely everything he does." Bob Dylan continued: "He could be at his most thrashy, but it’s still going to be elevated by some melody. Neil’s the only one who does that. There’s nobody in his category,” Bob Dylan said. He even said that the first he was bothered that someone sounded like him was when he first heard Young's "Heart of Gold" in 1972. “The only time it bothered me that someone sounded like me was when I was living in Phoenix, Arizona, in about ’72 and the big song at the time was 'Heart of Gold.' (So) I used to hate it when it came on the radio. I always liked Neil Young, but it bothered me every time I listened to 'Heart of Gold'. I think it was up at number one for a long time, and I’d say, “Shit, that’s me. If it sounds like me, it should as well be me. I needed to lay back for a while, forget about things, myself included. I’d get so far away and turn on the radio and there I am. But it’s not me. It seemed to me somebody else had taken,” he told Spin magazine in 1985. Bob Dylan didn't perform "Heart of Gold" but he already covered live "Old Man", another track from "Harvest" (1972), in the early 2000s. The Canadian musician also was mentioned by the American songwriter in his song "Highlands", from his 1997 album "Time Out of Mind". “I’m listening to Neil Young, I gotta turn up the sound, someone’s always yellin’ “Turn it down. Feel like I’m driftin’, driftin’ from scene to scene. I’m wonderin’ what in the devil could it all possibly mean,” they lyrics say. David Crosby said Dylan is temperamental and extremely complex On their solo careers and work with other bands, the members of CSNY covered Bob Dylan many times over the years. David Crosby was one of the first since The Byrds scored many hits with songs originally written and performed by the songwriter, who even performed with the band in the 1990s. Bob Dylan liked him since those first recordings of tracks like "Mr. Tambourine Man" and even invited him to be part of his 1990 album "Under the Red Sky", on which he sang backing vocals in the tracks "2x2" and "Born in Time". "Temperamental is too light, a (light) word to describe (him). Bob is extremely complex and he's also very much his own man. He makes his own decisions about what he wants do and when he wants to do it. He is not easily manipulatable, that was an aside that he made to Joan Baez that nobody heard but the microphone was on when we got to tape," David Crosby told CSpan Booknotes in 2000 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage). In a conversation with Uncut in 2015, Crosby recalled how Bob loved to confuse musicians who were working with him. "Dylan used to get up in the morning, straight, cup of coffee, sit down at the typewriter. He had a work ethic, which seems like something crazy to say about him. I mean, talk about crazy as a fruit bat! Bob loves to screw with your mind. I went with him to sing on a record, and I said, 'OK Bob, show me the song'. He says, 'Ah, let’s just go in and cut it.'" David Crosby continued: "I say, 'Bob, I’ve seen this movie before. Sing me the song, so I’ve got a chance.' He goes, 'All right,' looks at me out of the corner of his eye, and he sings me the song, one time. Then he says, “All right, let’s cut this thing!”, we go in the room, and he sings it completely different. On purpose! I’m just out there floundering, trying to find something that I can sing," David Crosby said. Curiously, the first time the late David Crosby saw Bob Dylan perform, he thought he could definitely sing better than him. But when he listened to the lyrics, he realized what made Dylan so special and why people admired him. “He was the archetype, he was mysterious and extremely f*cking good in what he did. When he started out he was reasonably good looking, he was completely different from anyone. I remember the first time I saw him at Gerde’s Folk City. I sneaked in because I didn't have the money to buy it. So I listened to him and I thought ‘Oh f*ck, I can sing better than that! What is this guy all about?’ (But) then I started to listen to the words,” he said in an interview with Rolling Stone in 2017 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage). Stephen Stills says Bob Dylan was who inspired him to become a songwriter Stephen Stills, who first played with Neil Young when they were part of Buffalo Springfield, decided to become a songwriter after he first heard a Bob Dylan song. "(Girl From the North Country) was one of the songs that inspired me to write songs. As a matter of fact, I was going to do 'Helpless Hoping' as Bob (sings). 'Freewheelin (Bob Dylan)', that album had a profound effect on me. He's been my friend forever and way to go, Bob!" Stephen Stills told Grammy Awards in 2015 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage). But according to CSNY's former bassist Tim Drummond, there was an embarrassing moment between the two of them in 1974. “He played us all the songs from 'Blood on the Tracks' on acoustic guitar. We were on twin beds (at the hotel), across from each other. Oh God, I can’t tell you how great it was. At one point Stephen said something to him about the songs not being good. I was so Goddamn embarrassed. He was probably coked out. Dylan, being the arrogant man that he was, said, ‘Well, Stephen, play me one of your songs.’ That was the end of it. Stephen couldn’t even find one string from another at that point,” Tim Drummond told Rolling Stone. But they are good friends But as Stills had said previously, they are good friends and he is a big fan of Dylan's work. "I’m not, like, agog. Most people get speechless. I just kid him to death. He’s got a great sense of humour and we’ve always got on. God knows what he’s done for everyone’s writing. I really like him. And I’m a fan," Stephen Stills said in an interview with Classic Rock in 2007. According to Aaron Galbraith, the track "Seen Enough" from the final CSNY album "Looking Forward" uses the "verbal meter and rhythm from 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' - so much so that Stills even calls it out on the sleeve notes" of the album. Like all his bandmates in CSNY, Stills covered Bob Dylan songs during his solo career. Some of them made studio versions and others played some of Dylan's songs live. Bob Dylan was one of the causes why Graham Nash left The Hollies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I4pIULFGLI&list=RD5I4pIULFGLI&start_radio=1&pp=ygUXc3RlcGhlIHN0aWxscyBib2IgZHlsYW6gBwE%3D Before joining CSN, Graham Nash was a member of the famous British group The Hollies for a few years, scoring numerous hits with the band. By the late 60s, however, he wanted more creative freedom in his songwriting rather than just focusing on recording Top 10 hits. That was one of the reasons he ultimately left the band. Another factor was their decision at the time to record a Bob Dylan covers album. Nash even participated in their version of 'Blowin’ in the Wind,' which he now considers horrible. "Every Hollies single that we had made, apart from the first couple, made it into the top 10. (So) that's where we used to be. We would bring out a single and it would go into the top 10, that's what we were used to. When I was with The Hollies I think we had 14, maybe 16 top 10 hits. When 'King Midas in Reverse' came along, we made a very decent record but it only got into the top 30 and so The Hollies went 'Bloody hell, we failed'. Most bands would give their right arm to have a top 30 hit but because we were used to being in the top 10, being in the top 30 wasn't so special." Graham Nash continued: "So that was one point, then they wanted to do an album of Bob Dylan songs and I just didn't like the way that it was going. I'm a great fan of Bob Dylan, I think he's our greatest poet and I think he's one of our greatest singers. (But) the way The Hollies wanted to do some of his stuff, appalled me. I did actually sing on 'Blowin' In the Wind', it's out somewhere. (But) to me it's just awful, it's kind of a Las Vegas (kind of singing)," Graham Nash told the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage). Crosby, Stills and Nash was formed in Los Angeles, California back in 1968 by the successful musicians: David Crosby (The Byrds), Stephen Stills (Buffalo Springfield) and Graham Nash (The Hollies). Neil Young (Buffalo Springfield) wasn’t constant member of the group over the decades, working the trio from time to time. There was also a period that the band became a duo with only Nash and Crosby.
