Our House - CSN&Y (1970) 9/17/22

From 1968-70, Graham Nash and Joni Mitchell were happily living together in domestic bliss. They also served as each other's muse.

Joni was busy writing songs and painting, while Graham was also writing songs when he wasn't working with Crosby, Stills & Young.

When Graham and Joni were together, they did all the normal things: going out to eat, relaxing in front of the fireplace on quiet evenings, some gardening, shopping, generally enjoying each other's company...etc.

One day, they went out for breakfast, and later went shopping. Joni bought a nice-looking vase for some flowers growing in their garden.

Nothing special so far...but when they got home, Graham said, "I'll light the fire, while you place the flowers in the vase that you bought today."

As soon as he heard himself, Graham stopped in his tracks and ran to the piano. Shortly, thereafter, today's "Great Song of 1970" was born.

"Our House" appeared in glorious 4-part harmony on the iconic CSN&Y album, "Deja Vu," and when it was released as a single, the stars seemed to align. Well, at least the CHARTS did.

I've mentioned before that during the '70s, there were 3 magazines that compiled weekly charts: Billboard, Cashbox, and Record World. All of them used their own methodology to compile their charts, so the numbers were almost always different. (For the most part, I use Billboard on this blog for consistency, but I will occasionally mention the others).

"Our House" peaked at #20 on all three charts simultaneously! Now keep in mind that "Deja Vu" was selling millions of copies at the same time, so the fact that "Our House" was able to reach #20 on its own is very impressive.

Bottom Line: A little slice of Graham and Joni's home life turned out to be a "Great Song of 1970!"