Soundtrack of my life: Deciding NOT to cut my hair

When I left Big Spring for North Texas State University in the late summer of 1971, I was – unlike many (most?) young people of the age of 20 – short-haired and closely shaven.

Because of pressure from my parents, I had delayed my fervent wish to escape the aridness – in so many ways – of Big Spring and West Texas. To keep peace in the family, and to placate my parents, I had kept my hair short and my face clean.

To my generation, long hair was a symbol of revolution, a rejection of the Vietnam War, racism, sexism and the corrupting influence of the business establishment on our political and social order.

It felt like a betrayal every time I looked in the mirror.

But after two years at Howard County Junior College, where I made myself as much of a pain in the ass to the administrators of that institution as I could manage, I finally made my escape.

I immediately grew a mustache and didn’t get a haircut for more than a year. In the safe confines of North Texas, I settled in, becoming – in the scornful words of my father – a long hair in appearance, temperament and action.

 This song, “I Almost Cut My Hair,” was written by David Crosby and was included on Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s Déjà Vu album in 1970. Neil Young considered it “David Crosby at his best.” Who can disagree?

Here’s a personal coda. When I came home from North Texas for a visit, my hair brushing my shoulders, my mustache in full bloom, I knew my parents disapproved – but they never mentioned it. And as I was getting in my 1961 Dodge Polaris to return to Denton, my father slipped me two $20 bills, a tidy sum in those by-gone days. 

Make of that what you will.

Almost cut my hair
It happened just the other day, it's gettin' kinda long
I could-a said, "It wasn't in my way"
But I didn't and I wonder why
I feel like letting my freak flag fly

CROSBY STILLS NASH & YOUNG - Almost Cut my Hair (Live 1974) - Bing video