‘Teach Your Children’ is a song written by Graham Nash in 1968 when he was a member of the Hollies. Although it was never recorded by that group in a studio, the Hollies did record it live in 1983. After the song was initially recorded for the album Crosby, Stills & Nash in 1969, a much more enhanced version of the song was recorded for the album Déjà Vu by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, released in 1970. As a single, the song peaked at No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts that year. On the Easy Listening chart, it peaked at No. 28. In Canada, ‘Teach Your Children’ reached No. 8.
Reviewing the song, Cash Box commented on the "incredible soft harmony luster" and "delicately composed material." Billboard called it "a smooth country-flavored ballad that should prove an even bigger hit on the charts [than 'Woodstock']." Stephen Stills gave the song its "country swing", replacing the "Henry VIII" style of Nash's original demo.
Nash, who is also an accomplished photographer and collector of photographs, associated the song's message with a famous 1962 photo by Diane Arbus, Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, shortly after writing the song. The image, which depicts a child with an angry expression holding the toy weapon, prompted Nash to reflect on the societal implications of messages given to children about war and other issues.
Graham Nash explained in the liner notes of the CSN 1991 boxed set: "The idea is that you write something so personal that every single person on the planet can relate to it. Once it's there on vinyl it unfolds, outwards, so that it applies to almost any situation. 'Teach' started out as a slightly funky English folk song but Stephen (Stills) put a country beat to it and turned it into a hit record."
Jerry Garcia performed the pedal steel guitar part of this track. He had been playing steel guitar for only a short period of time. Garcia played on this album in exchange for harmony lessons for the Grateful Dead, who were at the time recording their acoustic albums Workingman's Dead and American Beauty.
Label – Atlantic
Songwriter – Graham Nash
Producers – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1]You, who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a goodbye
[Chorus]
Teach your children well
Your father's hell did slowly go by
And feed them on your dreams
The one they pick's the one you'll know by
[Bridge]
Don't you ever ask them why
If they told you, you would cry
So just look at them and sigh
And know they love you
[Verse 2]
And you of tender years (Can you hear and do you care?)
Can't know the fears (And can you see?)
That your elders grew by (We must be free)
And so please help (To teach your children)
Them with your youth (What you believe in)
They seek the truth (Make a world)
Before they can die (That we can live in)
[Chorus]
Teach your parents well
Their children's hell will slowly go by
And feed them on your dreams
The one they pick's the one you'll know by
[Bridge]
Don't you ever ask them why
If they told you, you would cry
So just look at them and sigh
And know they love you