David Crosby: Cosmic Hippie
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Hi, everybody. Welcome to Literally With Me. It's Rob Lowe. Today, one of my oldest friends. I don't think you necessarily think of me and David Crosby as old good friends, but that's the truth. Known each other for, gosh,

over 30 years and been through so much together. And, you know, like a lot of old friends go through years where we don't see each other, multiple years where we may not see each other, but whenever we get together, it's like old times and like we've never been apart. So it's going to be a really, really fun talk. And I'm going to get to the bottom of him wearing a cape.

when he was in The Birds because I've had more rock stars talk about David Crosby in a cape as being like the iconic, coolest thing a rock star has ever done. I gotta find out what's what and I'm gonna. So, ladies and gentlemen, David Crosby. I have so many great memories. I think the first time I came to Santa Barbara, one of them was to go out on the Mayan sailing with you. Oh boy. Do you remember taking me out on the Mayan? I remember taking you out on the Mayan. Didn't you go from like Florida to...

To the Pacific with her one time? What was the most radical? Give me some David Crosby sailing stories. I brought her from Florida through the Panama Canal and up the west coast of America to here. I mean, west coast to south, you know, Mexico and up to here. But that wasn't the best one. The best one was sailing from California down to Mexico and then from Mexico to Hawaii. Mexico to Hawaii, 3,000 miles, open ocean coast.

What's the most interesting you've ever seen in the water? The most fascinating thing I've seen in the water has been a humpback whale. No question. Because you know how everything is bigger underwater? Yes. Well, man, when a whale swims up to you underwater, it looks like the size of the Empire State Building. You saw, okay, you were diving when you saw it.

Oh, a number of times. That's insane. Wow, that's crazy. Okay, this is cosmic hippie bullshit, but I swear they understand who we are and they're way smarter than we understand. The dolphins particularly. I've been in the water with dolphins a hundred times probably, but I've seen whales underwater and...

We found one man off the coast of Maui when we were diving, and we heard one. You can hear him singing. The humpbacks are the ones that sing. Yes. Yeah, I've heard them. It's a huge cry, right? We heard him, and we could tell what direction he was coming from, so we went that direction until we found him. And he was hanging, head down, just hanging there.

Not moving. Singing. And he stayed that way for probably, well, we stayed under for all our air. So at least 20 minutes. Wow. Not moving. Hanging vertically. 60 feet long. Yeah. And what is it like? Because the sound travels...

So many miles. Many miles. So I've been in the ocean many times in Hawaii and you can hear them. You can hear them. What's it like when you're that close though? Just louder? It's loud and it's so strange and so otherworldly.

Do you know what I figured out, man? I mean, in old literature, you hear them talk about sirens. That's the siren song. That's what you, when they were talking about the sirens, right, they imagined that they were these half-woman, you know, luring monsters that were trying to lure them away from their path on the sea. Bullshit, it was whales. That makes perfect sense. They do sound like sirens.

They could hear them through the wooden hull of their boats playing this day. You can hear them. Right. They couldn't tell what it was, so they made stuff up. You wrote a number of songs on the Mayan. Wrote wooden ships. Cantner was down and Stills came down and the three of us wrote it. It was good. I wrote Lee Shore on there. I wrote Rusty and Blue, which is one of my best songs. I write a lot there, or I used to write a lot there. Tell me, I want to ask you a little bit about your relationship with Jackson Brown because I love...

I didn't realize you're singing harmonies on the track Pretender, right? Yeah. What other Jackson songs are you on? The whole first record. The whole first record. I did all those harmonies. All of them on the first. But the Pretender obviously is the... That's me and Nash both. And we're on the Pretender. We're on a couple of other ones with him. But I did all the harmonies on the first one. I think Nash did one song. I did all the rest.

Jackson and I, that's a tough one. I love the guy. I think he's a good human being. He's got a new good song. You have a great new album too, but his Cleveland Heart song is great. I have create new albums rather more than everybody. I've got another one since the last one you know about. Really? Yeah. The last one that I put out was called For Free. Yeah.

I've already done another one since. How do you have your energy at 80? Because I'm not on the road. I can't go on the road. You cannot go on the road. Rob, the people, I'm going to get in trouble. No, not you. Yeah. Really, Dave? You're getting in trouble? We've never seen that. You would never say something that would get you in trouble. That's just not who you are. I'm getting in trouble right here. I do think going on the road right now is stupid. For what of the many reasons?

I'll tell you several. Okay. And I was talking with Walsh. I was over at Walsh's house having dinner. He's on the road now with the Eagles. He's on the road now. And I was over there and he and I and Ringo were talking about it for a good couple of hours. And man, the way it is on the road right now, I know the Eagles make a lot of money. Right. I understand that. Yeah. I wouldn't go. Even for that money? It's no fun. Why is it no fun? No guests, no family.

From the transport straight to the stage, from the stage straight back to the transport. No backstage, no guests, no get back to the hotel. You are locked in. Room service, period. That's it. You can't go out to a bar. You can't go out to a gig. You can't go out to have fun. You can't go out to a restaurant. You can't do anything outside.

And every single one of those tours has got people getting sick. Anyway, it's screwed up. I take it seriously and I love it, but I was on the road. I didn't raise my kids the way I would have liked to. The only one that I got to actually raise has been Django. Yeah. You live through a crazy, crazy time and you've got, you need a scorecard to keep up with your kids. Six kids, five mothers.

Ouch. I mean, there should be an award. Well, two of those now are Melissa and Julie's kids. Right. Right. One of whom is gone. Yeah, I know. It's a sad, sad story. Oh, man. Phew.

And Django is one of the sweetest human beings. He's turning out so good, man. You've got to see him. He's a seriously strong guy and much smarter than I am. Much smarter than I am. And very scientifically minded. I think he's going to wind up doing something that he's brilliant at math and science and I never was.

Kids are fun, man. I loved seeing he and Jannie in the documentary. Remember my name? Yes. Cameron Crowe and AJ. Yeah. Yeah. It's a great documentary. You did a good job. Really, what I thought it captured great was the goodbyes of leaving your house to go on the road and then the coming back to your house from being on the road.

I thought that was super authentic. None of that part is easy. But, you know, we really didn't have a choice. You had to go on location and I had to go on the road. That's how we did our gigs. And it's not something we can take a pass on. I miss it. Truthfully, I miss being on the road a lot. I'm happy at home and I'm really happy with what happened with my family. My relationship with my son got way better than

Because I'm there. That's stupid. He needs somebody to talk to. When you and Jan are like, the two of you have formed like one person. Well, 46 years, man. 46. What do you think the secret is to a successful long marriage with all of the craziness that... Honesty. Honesty.

Don't bullshit each other. And don't ever fucking cheat. Just don't ever fucking do it. That's got to be hard. For me and you? What we live, yeah. It's not easy. Yeah.

Right? I remember you before you got married, and you remember me before I got married. Yes, I do. So we know what we're talking about here. We do. We do. Yes. I was much worse than you were. That's impossible. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to say, I'd like to go on record at this point and say that Rob Lowe was not anywhere near as bad as I was. Not anywhere near. And he certainly had the opportunity and had better looks to do it with. I'm going to believe you only because I've talked to too many, and read too many...

famous rock stars talk about David Crosby and the cape? I was having lots of fun, man, riding around on a motorcycle with a cape. Yeah, that was pretty silly. I love that. Well, it had style, but, you know...

I was just a kid, man. I pretty much am still a kid. That's the funny part. I haven't grown up. There was a rumor going around that I would grow up, but it didn't pan out, really. It didn't take, did it? No. I'm calmer now, you know, at 80 than I used to be. Some don't get mad as much, and

Have more fun. We've never really talked about this. You, and I didn't really realize it. You actually saw Joni and got her, brought her to LA, right? Joni Mitchell. Yeah. You saw, it was you. Cause there were a lot of people in the mix after and before, but it was you who found her. I found her in a coffee house in Florida, walked in and she was singing Michael from mountains or both sides. Now are one of those unbelievably good songs. And, uh,

Yeah, I'm a songwriter, man. I can't ignore it. If it's there and it's that good, she was, on the face of it, the best songwriter I had run into anywhere. Might still be one of them. In her prime, I think she was the best singer-songwriter in the world. She's as good a poet as Bob.

Which is saying some shit. And she's 10 times the musician and singer that Bob will ever be. And I love Bob. He's my friend. And he knows that he's not as good as she is. None of us are. What's her best song for your money? That's like saying, what's your best child? But probably, you know, Coyote or River or, you know, one of those ones off of Blue. Blue, yeah. Blue, probably the best singer-songwriter record ever made.

And she was, everybody is floored. They were. She kind of took the world by storm. What are you going to do? She sits down and gives you a cute little smile and then sings something that rips your heart out. What are you going to do? Everybody got goo-goo-eyed and just followed her around. Followed her around, right? Well, duh. She's revered, man. There's an entire coterie of people around her who worship her.

you know, Brandy Carlisle goes over to her house about every 15 minutes. You know, it's...

And I don't blame him, man. I worship her talent myself. I still love her dearly. Yeah, you are a truth teller, man. I try, man. I really try. The other way, you got to remember what you said. And I can't remember shit because you know I'm stoned. I just got stoned. You were blowing that vape. It's as close to getting stoned as I've been in many, many years. But it made me feel like Woodstock. It was good. I felt like I got a glimpse. You are so full of shit, Woodstock. I just missed the cape. That's the only part.

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Qualifying plan required. Wi-Fi were available on select U.S. airlines. Deposit and Hilton honors membership required for 15% discount terms and conditions apply. There's no fucking chance with Stills and Graham. No. Do you ever get tired of talking about it? No, I expect it. Yeah, a little bit. No. Here's the story. Because you know I know all of you, the three of you, really, really super well. You've got a right to ask. You're our friends with all of us, man. You've been our friend for a whole long time. Okay, so...

Neil, I definitely, you know, screwed it up by criticizing Daryl and saying bad stuff about Daryl because I don't like Daryl. So I didn't like how that one played out. Graham seems to be just a tremendously unhappy person now with everybody about anything. Stills and I, I saw Steven, man. I saw Steven at Finnegan's Wake yesterday.

Finnegan had a memorial service out in Topanga. And you know Mike Finnegan. You remember Mike. Yep. So I went because Mike was my first sponsor in the AA and one of my best friends. Tremendous guy. So I went and Stills was there. Wow. How recently is this? A few weeks ago. Oh, wow. Oh, geez. Okay. So Stills and I were both there. Chrissy was there. Most of the family was there. Right.

And he and I got to sit next to each other, and I got to hug him, and I got to tell him I loved him, because I do love him. Yeah. He's a wonderful cat, and, you know, went through a hard time with drugs, white-knuckled it, got off him himself. Not like me. I went to prison. That's what it took. He did it himself, which is a hugely laudable thing to have done. And truthfully, man...

Stills, you got to know he was the real deal in that band. The reason that CSNY, the reason that CSN for 40 years of it, the reason we were any good was Steven. Stills is one of the most talented guys in the music business always. He swung. Now, other people can play. Some of them can play lots of notes. Very few can swing. Want to know what was wrong with the Doors? They didn't swing. Ever. Never.

Still swung the minute his hands touched the guitar. It was just brilliant. It was shiny. It was unbelievable how well he did it. He did it over and over again. He was a great writer. He was the best singer in the band, the best guitar player in the band, and the best writer in the band. Me and Nash were just harmony singers, man. Good writer. I'm a good, decent writer, you know, but not like that. Carry on. Love the one you're with. Love the one you're with. Hello. Now, that's Stephen Stills.

And you can't you can't fault that shit. It's just too fucking good. It feels like all of you had different times where you had to support the other. It feels like none of you had it together at the same time together. Not after the beginning. Right. Other than the beginning. And it was fine at the beginning. Beginning, we all have a good shape at the same time. And and we were not strung out yet. Longer, longer. All of that went along. The more dope there was.

And that slowly disintegrated us. You know, me especially more than anybody. I mean, that's the thing is people, we talk about drugs. It's like, it works great until it doesn't work anymore. Works great for the beginning. Yeah, the beginning is great. You think it's just fucking terrific and then it kills you slowly. It's been tough on me. I'm 80 and it is not easy at all. But you're happy.

I'm happy because I got a family, man. You're happy you have a family, you have a home life you love. I mean, I'm not... I, from afar, as a longtime friend, I think you're in among the best shape that I've ever seen you. I lost a bunch of weight. That helps. I lost 60 pounds. I sold my publishing. Oh, no way. I think I read this and then forgot about it. That's great. Yeah. Why wouldn't you? Well, why would you, though? Here's the thing. I...

I didn't want to. You didn't want to? No, but... You're 80 years old, David. I know, but here's the thing. I had two ways of making money, right? Touring records. Yes. So, long-term streaming, they don't pay us for records anymore.

That's how it is. We don't get paid for the records. Make a record. You're never going to make a nickel from it, period. Not a fucking bit. It's only something- Unless you're Taylor Swift. It's only something new to play on the road, period. You don't get jack shit. They are making billions, which is why I'm pissed at them. They're making billions of dollars, but they're not sharing it with the people who make the music that they're selling. Half my earnings went away right away. Half my normal state of living for 50 years has been that and it's gone. Yeah.

So I think to myself, okay, be grateful that you can still play live and pay the rent and take care of your family. So long comes COVID and I can't.

I'm shut down. Right. Sold the publishing. So, but let me, devil's advocate, you're 80. Take the money. It worked. It allows me to take care of my family. The first thing to do is pay off the house. Look, the perception in all businesses has changed. There was a time when one wouldn't be caught dead doing a commercial. Now, everybody, everybody's done one, will do one, wants to do one.

I did one. I did one years and years ago for AT&T. There was a time, I remember when they, you know, Bruce famously wouldn't sell any of his... Well, that's different. Selling one of your songs for them to use as like...

You know, like. Like a rock, Bob Seger for the truck, for example. Don't do that. Because now every time you hear like a rock, you think of the commercial. You don't do that. You can't do it? No, don't piss on a good song like that, man. You can't do it. You can, but nobody's going to have any respect for you. Right. I guess you don't want to hear a day in the life underneath a. By the way, that's a story I didn't hear. I didn't realize you, the Beatles played you.

Day in the life, yeah. You got to just walk me through that. You just have to tell me. Okay, well, here's the deal. We're in London right now. I've got good pot. They did not. Wait, you mean to tell me the Beatles? What's the point of being the Beatles? Nobody in England did. What is the point of being the Beatles if you can't have good pot? I totally agree. Now, in England back then, man, the way they were doing it was they could get hash in. Hash has always come into England in... I learned this.

welded into the frames of the trucks that bring the fruit and vegetables from Southern Europe up to England. So there was hash. Right. Lots of hash. No problem. Lebanese hash, Afghani hash, all over the place. But they would put it on tobacco.

That's what they were fucking smoking. It was joints of tobacco with hash in it. Awful. Awful. I never understood the difference between hash and... You are such an innocent... No, I am. I had my stuff that I did, but I wasn't a smoking guy. I wasn't. I wasn't. You're a funny dude. Okay, so hash is... You take the resiny stuff of the pot...

And instead of having leafy matter, you get the resin and you ball it up into just a ball of resin. Got it. That's hash. Gotcha. Well, they had that, but they didn't have good wheat. And I rolled up some joints and they loved me. They loved our music, in all fairness. They loved the birds' music and they thought we were a real breath of fresh air. Everybody else was trying to do predictable dumb shit.

And we were writing good songs. And they liked us a lot. They made that very plain. They told Roger the same thing. You can ask him. So they were extremely nice to us anyway. But they did enjoy getting loaded. And we did get extremely high a lot.

And I was at the studio with them that night, and they sat me on a stool in the middle of the room, and then they rolled these speakers up. At that time in that studio, they had these great big, they were the size of a coffin with wheels on the end, standing on their end.

And they rolled them up on either side of me, right? I'm sitting on a stool like a little gnome right in the middle of this huge room. The big studio there is gigantic. Tabby Road Studio. The big room? The big room is fucking gigantic. It's for recording orchestras. So I'm sitting all alone in the middle of it.

These two huge towering speakers on the other side of me. And I'm as high as I can get, man. I've taken all the drugs I can find. I am ripped, bombed, screwed up. Absolutely wasted. And they played me day in the life. And nobody had heard it. I'd never heard it.

I mean, my brain's running out of my nose in a puddle on the floor. It was like... Oh, yeah. That was all stuff nobody had done before. Two different songs mushed together like that and taking you over here and then wham, over there. My favorite people song. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry or shed or go blind. I just... One of the best experiences of my life. Because you know how sensitive I am to music, man. It's my...

Lifeblood. Right. And this was music quintessentially fine. You couldn't, at that time and that place and that kind of music, you couldn't do it better. And they were nice about it too. And they laughed when they came down here. When you hear a song like that, what do you, you immediately want to tell everybody, but how could you possibly... Back then you couldn't. Describe what you just... No Twitter. I would have been on Twitter. I guarantee it. What would you have said? I would have said, I just heard one of the most beautiful pieces of music of my entire life.

Which was absolutely the truth. I can't imagine what that was. Yes, you can. Think about the time you saw a piece of acting that was so fucking over-the-top good that it left you just aghast. Absolutely. I'll tell you what it reminds me of is my aunt and uncle...

were working on what they called a B-grade low-budget space western. And they took me to where they were doing the special effects and I saw an early assemblage of some footage and it was Star Wars. And...

I had that. You had one of those. I had one of those. You heard The Day in the Life. I saw Star Wars and I was like, the world, music would never be the same and it wasn't. And movies would never be the same. Not after that. Not after that. No, it changed everything. The big Rock and Roll Hall of Fame event

50th anniversary, whatever the heck it was, the big HBO documentary on Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. You guys come out and sing with, is it Jackson? Are you doing the pretender? Yeah, you're doing the pretender. Jackson. Well, he came and sang with us. Oh, he sang with you.

Well, we had the first hour. That's right. So they got James to come up and sing with us, and they got Jackson to come up and sing with us, and Bonnie to come up and sing with us, which is a huge honor because all three of them are better than us. I mean, I don't know, but they're great singers. And we did great anyway. That was a great concert. Was Stills ever a spy? No, of course not. You know, he told me many times he was. I know that story.

I've seen him get so high he came downstairs in a uniform, too, man. In the uniform? We all did a lot of stupid shit. It's too good. It's too good. I believed it for a while. You know, you were a gullible young fella. I was. I was like, I did not know that Stephen Stills would get parachuted behind enemy lines. And then just go back on tour. I mean, it's kind of a good cover story. It's kind of not. It's not.

Who's the best? Who are the best harmonizers? Who are your favorites? Everly Brothers? You Everly Brothers person? That's where I learned. Probably the best harmony work that I've ever heard is the Bulgarian National Folk Choir in a record that was made in the 60s under the direction of a man named Philip Gutierrez. Is that based on its complexity or its beauty? Complexity and beauty, both. Beyond belief. Beyond belief.

Because there's Bulgarian folk music taken out by a really, really, really good arranger to a level that I can't touch. Well, that's the thing is your harmonies are beautiful, but they're super, they can be super like complex.

It's fun, man. Yeah. You know, the normal harmonic structure is this regular major triad. Yep. And that's nice, and I do it a lot. But it's not the only way you can do it. Right. There's a lot of other places to go. Well...

I love... And I love doing counterpoint. I love doing one line going this way and another line going, you know, like eight miles high. Eight miles high. Hey, eight miles high. That. Mm-hmm. I like doing that. I like converging and diverging lines. I like...

Stuff that is genuine counterpoint, answer back lines and stuff. I like all kinds of ways that you can structure a song to take people on a little voyage emotionally. That's what we're trying to do. It's the same thing you are. We're trying to tell them a story and take them on a little voyage emotionally.

You do it larger. Your medium is a superior medium to our medium because you can incorporate our medium in your medium. I think your medium's superior. No, not a chance. A movie is the premier experience of art that you can have in our times if you do it well enough. And the music is part of it.

It's bigger and more powerful. It's the biggest, most powerful art form on the planet. There isn't any question. And you guys are good at it. Well, listen, that's a huge compliment to the people who do what I do. But I mean, when I look at your work alone, your work with Neil's work, all of it, it's like that's time stops. I can instantly go back. I mean, music is a time machine and I don't think movies are a time machine.

I think there's superior art simply because they can encompass more and you got more tools. I can't show you a war in a song. Not really. But Private Ryan can. Has there ever been like something you're like, I don't get it. Yeah. Larry David. Interesting. Never made me laugh once. Not once. Not once. And that one's just not there for me. You know, I'm spoiled, man. Robin was one of my best friends. Yeah. So my funny point has been seriously fucking tickled.

That's so interesting. Who, Jimmy Hendrix? Fascinating. Fascinating. Right? Way smart. Not a stupid mother-of-pearl at all. And much gentler and much more subtle and much more complex than you would imagine from how he behaved on stage. His stage act was an act and really good, and he did it extremely well.

But there was a lot more going on. So interesting. And Dylan, I mean, how many incarnations has he had? You know, I have a feel for Bob, man. The world went crazy on the poor fucker. He comes along, he's a good folk singer, and it turns out he's a really masterful poet. Right. And then the goddamn world goes crazy to the point where there's three people trying to take his garbage cans apart.

Way too far. And he was rebuffed by it. His career path was not a happy one at that point. It was way too over the top. He got too famous, too big, too lauded. Too famous, too big. And he didn't like it. He was not a pop guy. He was not trying to be Elvis. He was trying to be a poet.

He was trying to be a decent guy and write songs that, you know, mattered and would help with the black-white thing. He was an activist from the get-go. He was a caring, good poet. Not a pop star. I don't think it went well for him. He's still my friend and I still love him and I will always love him. When he plugged in, was that the moment, the beginning of the pop star thing, do you think? No. I can tell you how it happened.

I'm holding my breath, folks. This is old school pot smoking where you talk and you hold your breath. I just want to say one thing about that. So here's your picture. There was a recording studio on Melrose down in Boys Town called World Pacific. And at night after they finished recording the actual music that they were being paid to record, we could get in there and use the studio to rehearse. That's where the birds became the birds. So after we'd been doing that for a couple months...

The guy that was managing us knew the guy that was managing Bob and got Bob to come by. Now, Bob's still a folk singer. 68? We talking 68 now? 67? 64. Jesus Christ. Bob comes by. We sing Tambourine Mantua. Electric. The Roger McGuinn arrangement. Yes. Okay, Dylan absorbs it the way a sponge absorbs water. Utterly fascinated.

Sucks in every single molecule. Leaves, gets a band the next day. So you're the one, you turned Bob into a pop star. It's your fault. We didn't mean to. We just were trying to make a record. He listened and he knew what it was. He saw the cape and was like, I'm going to... It wasn't the cape. You're obsessed with that damn cape. And then he was like, that's a dope look. It was theater. It was theater.

At Ashley, you'll find colorful furniture that brings your home to life. Ashley makes it easier than ever to express your personal style with an array of looks in fun trending hues to choose from, from earth tones to vibrant colors to calming blues and greens. Ashley has pieces for every room in the house in the season's most sought after shades. A more colorful life starts at Ashley. Shop in store online today. Ashley, for the love of home.

All set for your flight? Yep. I've got everything I need. Eye mask, neck pillow, T-Mobile, headphones. Wait, T-Mobile? You bet. Free in-flight Wi-Fi. 15% off all Hilton brands. I never go anywhere without T-Mobile. Same goes for my water bottle, chewing gum, nail clippers, passport. Okay, I'm going to leave you to it. Find out how you can experience travel better at T-Mobile.com slash travel. ♪

Qualifying plan required. Wi-Fi were available on select U.S. airlines. Deposit and Hilton Honors membership required for 15% discount. Terms and conditions apply. You guys are the only group who could get away with it for me because you know how much I love you guys. And you guys could come out looking. You would come on stage looking exactly as you look right here. Well, yeah. What else would you do? Well, you could put clown white on like Bob. I didn't need to. Did I say that? I'm troubled now. That's the fucking...

There are so many great quotes in this interview, as I know there would be. It's just too... Tell me just quickly about James Taylor. Because you know how much I love him and you sing on my face. He's my hero, man. He's your hero. I've absolutely loved the man. He's a gentleman. He's a family guy. He, like me, was a junkie. He beat it. I beat it. There's only a handful of us that did. You got to hand somebody props on that. It's the hardest thing I ever did. I'm proud I did it.

It's the hardest thing he ever did, I guarantee you. And he did it. God bless him for that, man, because the man has given us more good music than anybody else. Right. I got 30 of his songs in my head. I was listening to him driving down here. My God, he's good. It's hard. I'm going to go with, because of who I'm sitting with, Carolina on my mind.

that was what i was listening to oh man it was so much fun he did a such a funny thing we were we were cutting it and we could do harmonies pretty good me and ash both good harmony singers and grant and he's a really good harmony singer also so we're sitting there we're doing them around one mic stand here and uh we go along and i hear this tiny whistling noise

We get up to a certain point and I hear it again and looking around, we can't figure out what the hell it is. There's something that's feeding back or something. It was James the whole time. He can make a little whistling noise with his teeth. And he was just doing it to be fun. And then it made me laugh so hard. He's such a sweetheart. He's just a decent guy in the first place. And such a good musician. He swings hard.

Oh, dude. Copperline. Copperline. Might be... One of the best. He's got it. I mean, it's like you could go on and on and on, right? Yeah, what are you going to do? It's like he's got so many. Did you listen to the last record he made? I haven't heard it yet. Okay, well, I'm going to tell you that you need to listen to his last record. Him with the back of his green truck. Yeah.

There's a song on there that he wrote about his grandmother and Fenway Park. Oh, my God. Great. And it's one of the best songs I've ever heard in my life. Really? One of the best songs I ever heard. And it's about a baseball stadium and his grandmother. It will show you how good he is still to this day. So great. You know what? I got to tell you something, Rob. This is fun. And we could do it all day because we know a lot of people. Yeah.

I love it that you and I stayed friends all this time. America, take a listen to this because Rob and I don't think alike, but we're respectful of each other.

It always happens. Yeah, for sure. We treat each other with respect and we communicate with each other. And you guys need to know that. You know, and there's always been so much that we all have in common. If we just stick to the stuff that we have in common and let the stuff we disagree on is like, let that fall down the list and we'll get to that later. Kind of.

You know, if you're not trying to hit a show over the head with it, you know, I think it certainly worked for me and you because we stayed friends. And that's what the important thing was for me. You know, anybody that does listen to this, you can do it. I'll tell you one more. Yeah. I might have a new job. Oh, yeah, we're ready. All right. So a few months back, I get a phone call from a guy at Rolling Stone who says, we want you to do an advice column.

And I said, you're out of your mind. Genius. I said, I am a noted loony. I remember using those words, noted loony, and no one's going to ask my advice about anything. You're out of your mind. He says, that's why it's funny, Dave. Okay. Okay. Yeah, sure. So what we've been doing is we've done it about 10 times in Rolling Stone.

And they don't show me the questions ahead of time. So I'm winging it. Yep. All right. So while I'm doing this, three different groups of people come up to me in different ways, contact me and say, that's a TV show. And I said, you're out of your mind. Must get an answer. You're out of your mind. Nobody's going to let me loose with anything like that. Well, they did. What? And they want me to interview one person twice.

Per show, have a guest on and interview them and talk to them. 100% because just in this conversation, you're so good at it. I'm good at it and it's fun. Yeah. And you, what I love about

You and this is all people at any age who've accomplished what you've accomplished. They all have the one thing they all have. You guys all have in common. My heroes like that is you're interested still like you're a fan. Oh, I'm very interested. I'll come in and sit on the I was going to ask you. I'll be on your couch. I need a lot of advice, David.

And a lot of advice. You can always call me, but you know what kind of advice I'm going to get. I know what kind of advice I'm going to get. I need a lot. I, you know, I'm always in the market for good advice. I love you, man. Thank you for coming on. It's my pleasure. We're shaking hands. Give Jannie a big hug for me and Django. I will. There's no one like David Crosby. And now you know why. That was vintage, vintage Crosby.

And I was happy to bring it to you. We got to get to it. All right, I'm going to listen to some of these lowdown lines. Here we go. Hello, you've reached literally in our lowdown line where you can get the lowdown on all things about me, Rob Lowe. 323-570-4551. So have at it. Here's the beep.

Hi, Rob. I'm Casey from Houston, Texas. And I just finished watching The West Wing for the very first time. Absolutely loved it. But I have a question. If you run into somebody that has never seen anything you've ever been in, what would you recommend them to watch first? Big fan. Love everything I've seen you in. Have a great day.

Wow. Thanks. Thanks for calling in. Well, I think you picked the right thing. If I had to pick one thing, it would be the West Wing. The Grinder would be another on the comedy side, for sure. Very well received comedy where I play a demented actor. It was a stretch. I don't know how I did it.

But those would be the two West Wing and the Grinder. Really good question. Thanks for calling in. I will see you all soon. By the way, don't forget Parks and Rec election, Parks and Rec fans.

It's a fun podcast. It's going great. We've got some really fun guests coming out. So if you're at all interested in Parks and Recreation, you do not want to miss Parks and Recollection. You can get it wherever you're getting your podcasts. And if you're so inclined, I wouldn't mind a five-star rating and review on both the podcasts. Super important to me, and I read the reviews, too. All right. Appreciate you. And I'll see you next week on Literally.

You've been listening to Literally with Rob Lowe, produced and engineered by me, Rob Schulte. Our coordinating producer is Lisa Berm. The podcast is executive produced by Rob Lowe for Low Profile, Jeff Ross, Adam Sanks, and Joanna Solitaroff at Team Coco, and Colin Anderson at Stitcher. Our talent bookers are Gina Batista, Paula Davis, and Britt Kahn. And the music is by Devin Tory Bryant. Make sure to leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, and we'll see you next week.

I'm literally with Rob Lowe. This has been a Team Coco production in association with Stitcher.

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