I confess that teenage me was not into watching “This Is Tom Jones,” the variety show the Welsh belter hosted from 1969 to 1971. I was too young to realize that though he found fame and fortune singing what came to be called Adult Contemporary, Jones was a helluva soul singer. Just listen to what he does with David Crosby’s musical response to the RFK assassination.
Of course, it helps that he’s backed by CSN&Y themselves, and they all really get into it. Stephen Stills, on the organ for this song, delivers some great soul singing of his own on the outro — all the more impressive because this was live in the TV studio, though one of the edits makes me think they might have filmed two separate performances.
For a long time I thought this song just reflected Crosby’s paranoia. Now I think it was prophetic.