Songs for Beginners

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Songs for Beginners
Songs for Beginners cover
Studio album by Graham Nash
Released May 28, 1971
Recorded 1970-1971
Genre Rock
Length 32:13
Label Atlantic
Producer(s) Graham Nash
Professional reviews
Graham Nash chronology
Songs for Beginners
(1971)
Wild Tales
(1974)


Songs for Beginners is Graham Nash's first solo album, and one of four high-profile albums released by each partner of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in the wake of their chart-topping Déjà Vu album of 1970. It peaked at #15 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart, and the single "Chicago" made it to #35 on the Billboard Hot 100.

As with the debut albums by both Crosby and Stills, Nash roped in a legion of associates to assist in the recording. The album continued the traits that Nash had come to be known for in a good sense of pop song construction, expressions of emotional sincerity, and fervent political activism. The Top 40 track, "Chicago," concerned both the 1968 Democratic National Convention and the infamous trial of the Chicago Eight, articulating the outrage Nash, and many others, felt concerning those proceedings. The topicality which suffuses the album would always remain central to Nash's work: of the quartet, he and Crosby most directly professed sentiments aligned with those common to the Woodstock Nation. This similarity undoubtedly formed part of the foundation for their long-standing partnership even outside the parent group.

The album was released for compact disc on October 25, 1990, and a remixed version supervised by Nash was issued on 180 gram vinyl by Classic Records in 2001.

[edit] Track listing

All songs by Graham Nash, except where noted:

  1. "Military Madness" – 2:50
  2. "Better Days" – 3:47
  3. "Wounded Bird" – 2:09
  4. "I Used To Be A King" – 4:45
  5. "Be Yourself" (Nash, Reid) – 3:03
  6. "Simple Man" – 2:05
  7. "Man In The Mirror" – 2:47
  8. "There's Only One" – 3:55
  9. "Sleep Song" – 2:57
  10. "Chicago / We Can Change The World" – 4:00

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Additional personnel

  • Bill Halverson, engineer
  • Gary Burden, art direction
  • Russ Gary, engineer

[edit] Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year Chart Position
1971 Pop Albums 15

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year Single Chart Position
1971 "Chicago" Pop Singles 35
1971 "Military Madness" Pop Singles 73
In other languages