You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs, and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made.

I'm Rishi Kesh Hirway.

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Could you tell me about the day that you wrote the song?

Do you remember it?

I do indeed. I had taken my girlfriend, Johnny Mitchell, to breakfast at a delicatessen on

Ventura Boulevard in Los Angeles. It was at the end of winter a completely awful day, rainy and foggy and very, very cold.

After breakfast, Joni and I were walking to where her car was parked and we passed an antique store.

Johnny saw a vials that she wanted to buy, it was in the back, about 10 inches high, some hand painted flowers around the edge and

Johnny bought it. We collected the bars and drove to our house in Laurel Canyon

and as I went through the front door I said to John I said hey

John why don't I light of fire and you put some flowers in that vase that you bought today.

Well that's all I needed. While Joni was in the backyard trying

to find some flowers that hadn't died yet in winter and I was at her piano. I got the first lines and wrote the song. I liked the

first lines and wrote the song. I light the fire you place the flowers in the vars that you're born today.

In 1968, singer and songwriter Graham Nash joined David Crosby and Stephen Stills to form the super group

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