It’s rare that you find a song that seems to comment directly on the circumstances surrounding its making. And it’s rarer still that you find a song that does so while also managing to be relevant to the world at large.
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“Wasted on the Way” by Crosby, Stills & Nash manages to clear both those hurdles. Written by Graham Nash as a commentary on how the never-ending drama within the group had robbed them of so much, it was recorded at a time when that drama was playing out in front of them. And yet, somehow, the song exudes relevance to anyone who’s missing out on the good stuff in life for the wrong reasons.
Getting “Wasted”
Considering they formed back in 1969, the output of the supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash looked pretty meager at the start of the ’80s. They’d only released three albums where all three were involved, one of which included their on-again, off-again buddy Neil Young. Just one of those three albums had come after 1970.
You could kind of understand how that sort of thing might start to weigh on the participants. Graham Nash certainly felt that burden, which as he told Songfacts, is what inspired him to write “Wasted on the Way”:
“How much time the three—sometimes the four—of us had wasted. We had wasted a lot of time arguing with each other and debating how we should do this or do that, and that’s what I wanted to say: We wasted a lot of time. CSN&Y only did what, three albums? We had wasted a lot time, and I just wanted to make my partners realize that.”
Putting his commitment where his mouth was, Nash started working again with Stills at the start of the ’80s, despite lingering animosity between the two men. “Wasted on the Way” was one of the songs they recorded for a potential dual album, with the Eagles’ Timothy B. Schmit providing some harmonies to the track.
The only problem was their record label (Atlantic) didn’t believe the project was commercial unless it could be a CSN album. Hence, David Crosby, despite dealing with serious drug-related problems, came back into the fold. Although he was absent from many of the songs on the resulting album (Daylight Again, released in 1982), he did add vocals to “Wasted on the Way.”
Examining the Lyrics of “Wasted on the Way”
Graham Nash did an amazing job on “Wasted on the Way” of taking these concerns, which were specific to his own experience, and transforming them into relatable life advice. The narrator has made the mistake of failing to prioritize the most valuable parts of his life: I am older now / I have more than what I wanted / But I wish that I had started long before I did.
He then shifts the focus to the listeners and their own hangups: Oh when you were young / Did you question all the answers? / Did you envy all the dancers who had all the nerve? It’s not too late for them to change their ruinous patterns: You must go for what you wanted / Look at all my friends who did and got what they deserved.
In the chorus, he can’t help but get caught up looking back with regret: So much time to make up everywhere you turn / Time we have wasted on the way. The word time is changed to love in the final repeat of the chorus, emphasizing the scope of what’s been lost.
Still, there is some hope that deliverance awaits: So much water moving underneath the bridge / Let the water come and carry us away. The lyrics of “Wasted on the Way” must have hit home hard for the members of Crosby, Stills & Nash. It’s to the song’s credit they also have the power to propel listeners past their own personal stumbling blocks.
Photo by Lester Cohen/Getty Images
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