Beat-Workshop with Manassas in the Studios of Radio Bremen in Bremen, Germany on June 8th, 1972.
Manassas was an American rock band formed by Stephen Stills in 1971. Predominantly a vehicle for Stills’ music, the band released two albums: 1972’s Manassas and 1973’s Down the Road. The band dissolved in October 1973. Manassas was formed in the fall of 1971, following Stills’ concert tour to support his album Stephen Stills 2 (1971). While Stephen Stills 2 was Stills’ second solo album, it was his first completed following the acrimonious 1970 breakup of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (CSNY), and was not critically well received. After a chance meeting with Flying Burrito Brothers singer/multi-instrumentalist Chris Hillman in Cleveland, where Stills’ tour schedule crossed paths with that of the Burritos – a band that, by late 1971, had undergone multiple personnel changes and was in financial trouble[5] – Stills saw an opportunity to change his artistic direction. He subsequently contacted Hillman, asking him, along with Burritos’ guitarist Al Perkins and fiddler Byron Berline, to join him in Miami at Criteria Studios to jam. Stills also invited several members of his touring band (drummer Dallas Taylor, bassist Calvin “Fuzzy” Samuels, keyboardist Paul Harris and vocalist/percussionist Joe Lala) to play at the session.
“It Doesn’t Matter”
Losin’ and winnin’
Keepin’ my head
Watchin’ for signals
Wearisome vigil
Was I misled
I remember you said that you
Don’t want to forget me
It doesn’t matter
Which of our fantasies fled
Every tomorrow
Lookin’ to borrow
A piece of today
Run a bit faster
Here comes the catcher
Makin’ his play
You had better not stay
You will soon be surrounded
It doesn’t matter
Which of our fantasies fled
Lonely and winsome
Calling for someone
Living right now
Something is shallow
Ugly and hollow
Doesn’t even allow
You to want to know how you might
Live for the living and
Give for the giving. Living
Moment by moment
One day at a time
It doesn’t matter
It’s nothin’ but dreamin’ any how
