Stephen Stills - Southern Cross (unreleased, rare) - 1980 video free download

Stephen Stills & the California Blues Band rehearse a rare, early version of the CSN hit, Southern Cross.

"Southern Cross" is a song written by Stephen Stills and performed by the rock band Crosby, Stills & Nash. It was released in 1982 on the band's Daylight Again album. Stephen Stills sings lead vocals throughout, with Graham Nash joining the final verse.

The song, which peaked at #18, is about a man who sails the world following a failed love affair. During the voyage, the singer takes comfort in sailing ("We got eighty feet of the waterline. / Nicely making way."), in the beauty of the sea, and particularly in the Southern Cross, a constellation by which sailors in the Southern Hemisphere have traditionally navigated. But his final consolation is music ("I have my ship / And all her flags are a flyin' / She is all that I have left / And music is her name.").

Southern Cross is based on the song "Seven League Boots" by Rick and Michael Curtis. Stills explained, "The Curtis Brothers brought a wonderful song called 'Seven League Boots,' but it drifted around too much. I rewrote a new set of words and added a different chorus, a story about a long boat trip I took after my divorce. It's about using the power of the universe to heal your wounds. Once again, I was given somebody's gem and cut and polished it."[1][