Brief 56: Diverse viveurs

I've watched documentaries recently about two men who are still alive - 'David Crosby: Remember My Name. and 'Shane MacGowan: Crock of Gold'. Both have lived and are hitherto still alive.

The MacGowan one in particular has led me down several paths which, in the past, I'd have combined into one long, circuitous post, but now, older and wiser, I'll separate them out. But. for now, old Crosby ...

... it's a fine film, 'Remember My Name'. It navigates the path of making you warm to its subject while still showing him in all his warty ridiculousness.

While I see him as a man who talks in faux-profound aphorisms (and as archive footage shows, has done so all his life), and he is a man who has alienated all his musical collaborators - one of the highlights of the film is the one of those collaborators who deigned to appear in the film, Roger McGuinn, drily saying "David had become insufferable by that point" - Crosby has nevertheless been around some of the key moments in the rock'n'roll tale, has an incredible story to tell, and retains, against all the odds, a voice in tremendous fettle.

When I first bought a '1000 Greatest Albums' book, compiled by a man by Colin Larkin, which would be a fine resource for me for years to come, Larkin revealed his own personal favourite was Crosby's 'If I Could Only Remember My Name'. I bought it a year or two later and while I quite like it, , I don't really hodl it in high regard, and I also have always found Crosby writes the least appealing on the CSN and CSNY albums, but the man can sing, that's for sure, and has excellent musical instincts.

There is a fragility and tenderness to the Crosby of today that one can't avoid warming to, though there remains the self-importance and mythologisation. As the rock survivor most willing to shoot his mouth off, a lot of my understanding of the golden era of rock'n'roll is filtered through Crosby's gaze, for good or bad.

He is, as he says himself, a man who could die any day. But he's still, right now, throwing out the twitter funnies, so, all in all, after all, fair play to him.