"
Immigration Man" is a song recorded by
David CrosbyDavid Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds; Crosby, Stills & Nash, which is sometimes augmented with Neil Young; and CPR. Crosby is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work in the Byrds and...
and
Graham NashGraham William Nash is a British singer-songwriter known for his light tenor vocals and for his songwriting contributions with the British pop group The Hollies, and with the folk-rock band Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Nash is a photography collector and a published photographer.- Music career...
as a duo, from 1972. It was released as a single and was also the closing track on Crosby and Nash's first duo album,
Graham Nash/David Crosby.
Nash wrote "Immigration Man" about an unfortunate moment he had with a U.S. Customs official when he tried to enter the country. The customs official held him up interminably, and soon people started coming up to Nash for his
autographAn autograph is a document written entirely in the handwriting of its author, as opposed to a typeset document or one transcribed by an amanuensis or a copyist; the meaning overlaps with that of the word holograph.Autograph also refers to a person's signature...
.
"
Immigration Man" is a song recorded by
David CrosbyDavid Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds; Crosby, Stills & Nash, which is sometimes augmented with Neil Young; and CPR. Crosby is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work in the Byrds and...
and
Graham NashGraham William Nash is a British singer-songwriter known for his light tenor vocals and for his songwriting contributions with the British pop group The Hollies, and with the folk-rock band Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Nash is a photography collector and a published photographer.- Music career...
as a duo, from 1972. It was released as a single and was also the closing track on Crosby and Nash's first duo album,
Graham Nash/David Crosby.
Nash wrote "Immigration Man" about an unfortunate moment he had with a U.S. Customs official when he tried to enter the country. The customs official held him up interminably, and soon people started coming up to Nash for his
autographAn autograph is a document written entirely in the handwriting of its author, as opposed to a typeset document or one transcribed by an amanuensis or a copyist; the meaning overlaps with that of the word holograph.Autograph also refers to a person's signature...
. When that happened, Nash was allowed to go through, but he remained angry with the treatment he received.
Music and lyrics
The music of "Immigration Man" is straightforward, midtempo West Coast
rockRock music is a genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the 1960s. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, rhythm and blues, country music and also drew on folk music, jazz and classical music....
in the
Crosby, Stills and NashCrosby, Stills & Nash are a folk rock supergroup made up of David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, also known as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young when joined by occasional fourth member Neil Young...
or
Buffalo SpringfieldBuffalo Springfield was a short-lived folk rock group that served as a springboard for the careers of Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay and Jim Messina, and is known for the song "For What It's Worth"...
tradition. The first verse of "Immigration Man" refers to Nash going through
customsCustoms is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country. Depending on local legislation and regulations, the import or export of...
and getting stopped by the "immigration man", who tells Nash that he's not sure if he can let him in. The second verse tells how Nash was given trouble over various documents, and the third finds him filling out a form that Nash humorously describes to be as big as a blanket. Crosby joins Nash on the next line, offering a warning to would-be global travelers: "So go where you will / As long as you think you can / You better watch out, watch out for the man / Anywhere you're going." The choruses, with harmonies from Crosby and Nash, are pleas for the
immigrationImmigration is the arrival of new individuals into a habitat or population. It is a biological concept and is important in population ecology, differentiated from emigration and migration.-As a political term:...
official to let Nash into the country, with a slight rewording at the end in which the immigration man is referred to as an "irritation man."
"I'm not against local colour," Nash explained in discussing the song, "but why should you fight me just because you speak differently than I do?" Nash also explained why he chose a picture of the earth from space for the cover of the
sheet musicSheet music is a hand-written or printed form of musical notation; like its analogs—books, pamphlets, etc.—the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens...
for "Immigration Man". "When you look at a photograph of the earth you don't see any borders. That realization is where our hope as a planet lies."
Nash himself became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1978.
Trivia
Former
TrafficTraffic were an English rock band formed in 1967 by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason. They began as a psychedelic rock group influenced by The Beatles when releasing early pop singles , and diversified their sound through the use of instruments such as keyboards,like the...
guitarist
Dave MasonDavid Thomas Mason is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and guitarist from Worcester, who first found fame with the rock band Traffic. In his long career, Mason has played and recorded with many of the era's most notable musicians, including Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jackson, The Rolling...
provided the stinging guitar solos for "Immigration Man".