Encore

Album: This Path Tonight (2016)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Graham Nash closes This Path Tonight with this song, where he has more questions than answers. He told UK newspaper The Sun: "It asks, 'Who the f--k are you, the show's over and the lights are all fading? Are you a decent person or not? One thing I do know is that I'll be writing songs until they put the lid down on my coffin."
  • An encore is a call for an additional performance to be given at the end of a concert. It is from the French encore, which means "again." The French themselves call une autre ('another'), un rappel ('a return') or the Latin bis ('second time') in the same circumstances.
  • Nash wrote this about his fellow CSN&Y bandmate David Crosby, who he's known for 50 years.

    In 2016, he told FaceCulture that he wrote the song just after deciding he'd never work with CSN or CSN&Y again. He wouldn't go into great detail, but made clear he had no desire to talk to Crosby ever again and that he thinks Crosby "is not a very great person."

    Nash added that Crosby tore the heart of the band "in the space of a few months." The one thing he makes clear is that, whatever happened, it started with Crosby publicly putting down Daryl Hannah shortly after she started dating CSN&Y bandmate Neil Young.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Joan Armatrading

Joan ArmatradingSongwriter Interviews

The revered singer-songwriter talks inspiration and explains why she put a mahout in "Drop the Pilot."

American Hits With Foreign Titles

American Hits With Foreign TitlesSong Writing

What are the biggest US hits with French, Spanish (not "Rico Suave"), Italian, Scottish, Greek, and Japanese titles?

Is That Song Public Domain?

Is That Song Public Domain?Fact or Fiction

Are classic songs like "Over The Rainbow" and "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" in the public domain?

Lita Ford

Lita FordSongwriter Interviews

Lita talks about how they wrote songs in The Runaways, and how she feels about her biggest hit being written by somebody else.

Best Band Logos

Best Band LogosSong Writing

Queen, Phish and The Stones are among our picks for the best band logos. Here are their histories and a design analysis from an expert.

Phone Booth Songs

Phone Booth SongsSong Writing

Phone booths are nearly extinct, but they provided storylines for some of the most profound songs of the pre-cell phone era.