C.S.N.&Y. - What Are Their Names (CA October 26, 2013)

Bridge School Benefit: Shoreline Amphitheatre - Mountain View, CA October 26, 2013

From the first soloabbum of David Crosby ""If I Could Only Remember My Name"

 Crosby explained to Mojo magazine January 2008 that this song about an invisible, ruling elite is still just as relevant today: "I think that particular tune has lasted well because it's still true. We don't know who the people are who are running the planet. There is still a feeling they are in charge and we are not and we don't know who they are. We don't know where they go to school or if they even care about, say, seagulls, or if they ever liked a puppy or if they hate humans. We don't know anything about them."

 I wonder who they are
The men who really run this land
And I wonder why they run it
With such a thoughtless hand.
Tell me what are their names,
And on what street do they live?
I'd like to ride right over
This afternoon and give
Them a piece of my mind
About peace for mankind
Peace is not
An awful lot
To ask.

  Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead, Michael Shreve the drummer for Santana and Neil Young all have co-writing credits on this track. Many of the leading lights of San Francisco's music scene were used by Crosby on the album. In the same interview he explained how this came about: "They were my friends. That was who I was close with, I think a lot of it had to do with Jerry (Garcia). He was there almost every night, as was Graham Nash. And the 2 of them really cared about this record."