GRAHAM NASH ON DIANE ARBUS'S CHILD WITH A TOY HAND GRENADE IN CENTRAL PARK, N.Y.C., 1962
In the waning days of 1968 I had just finished writing a new song called "Teach Your Children," and I immediately recognized that this song would touch a nerve. (I continue to believe that touching nerves is a part of my job as a songwriter.) Sadly, these were some of my last days with my old band, The Hollies, because I had recently sung with David Crosby and Stephen Stills and knew that the three of us had created a vocal sound like no other. I had no choice but to follow that sound, and I knew that I would move to America and live the rest of my life in an environment of fine music and creation. One day, in a San Francisco gallery, I came upon an image that would stay with me forever. It was Child with a toy hand grenade in Central Park, N.Y.C. and it was taken by Diane Arbus in the early ’60s. While standing before this masterpiece, I realized that the sensibilities I was reacting to perfectly matched my new song. I understood that if we didn’t teach our children a better way of dealing with our fellow human beings then the very future of humanity was in dire straights. She pictured a child of about ten or eleven years old, clenching a toy hand grenade and threatening the very world upon which he stood. In Central Park, at his back, stands an elderly lady . . . was she his mother, grandmother, nanny or stranger? Whoever she was, she couldn’t possibly protect anyone from the child’s maniacal expression. Diane’s image makes me realize that we have to do better, as parents, to raise our kids in a more affectionate way. We must help them deal with their lives, their friends, and their fellow human beings in a much more compassionate manner because violence is not the way to deal with our differences. I praise Diane for her great courage in making images that disturb one’s realities and cause one to reflect on why the world is as it is and the need to accept it as it is. This image by Diane Arbus haunts me to this day.
In the waning days of 1968 I had just finished writing a new song called "Teach Your Children," and I immediately recognized that this song would touch a nerve. (I continue to believe that touching nerves is a part of my job as a songwriter.) Sadly, these were some of my last days with my old band, The Hollies, because I had recently sung with David Crosby and Stephen Stills and knew that the three of us had created a vocal sound like no other. I had no choice but to follow that sound, and I knew that I would move to America and live the rest of my life in an environment of fine music and creation. One day, in a San Francisco gallery, I came upon an image that would stay with me forever. It was Child with a toy hand grenade in Central Park, N.Y.C. and it was taken by Diane Arbus in the early ’60s. While standing before this masterpiece, I realized that the sensibilities I was reacting to perfectly matched my new song. I understood that if we didn’t teach our children a better way of dealing with our fellow human beings then the very future of humanity was in dire straights. She pictured a child of about ten or eleven years old, clenching a toy hand grenade and threatening the very world upon which he stood. In Central Park, at his back, stands an elderly lady . . . was she his mother, grandmother, nanny or stranger? Whoever she was, she couldn’t possibly protect anyone from the child’s maniacal expression. Diane’s image makes me realize that we have to do better, as parents, to raise our kids in a more affectionate way. We must help them deal with their lives, their friends, and their fellow human beings in a much more compassionate manner because violence is not the way to deal with our differences. I praise Diane for her great courage in making images that disturb one’s realities and cause one to reflect on why the world is as it is and the need to accept it as it is. This image by Diane Arbus haunts me to this day.
