Het betoverende steelguitar-werk en de vocale harmonie maken het tot een wonderschoon nummer. Maar waar gaat het eigenlijk over?
Onderwijs je ouders goed – plotseling, net als de oproep in The times they are a-changin’ om uit de weg te gaan als je geen handje kunt helpen als oudere, denderend van toepassing op deze dagen.
You, who are on the road
Must have a code
That you can live by
And so
Become yourself
Because the past
Is just a good-bye
Teach your children well
Your father’s hell did slowly go by
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked
The one you’ll know by
Don’t you ever ask them why
If they told you, you would cry
So just look at them and sigh
And know they love you
And you of tender years
Can’t know the fears
That your elders grew by
And so please help
Them with your youth
They seek the truth
Before they can die
Tweede stem-koor:
Can you hear and do you care and
Can you see we
Must be free to
Teach the children
To believe and
Make a world that
We can live in
Teach your parents well
The children’s hell
Will slowly go by
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked
The one you’ll know by
Don’t you ever ask them why
If they told you, you would cry
So just look at them and sigh
And know they love you
Teach your children, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, 1970