In Crosby, Stills & Nash’s “Arrows,” David Crosby reflects on hardship and transformation through these memorable lyrics: “I have a thing about arrows / And diamonds and coal / Pressure turning carbon to jewels.” These opening lines offer a powerful reminder that life’s most challenging experiences can become the raw material for personal transformation. Just as pressure can turn carbon into a diamond, adversity can force a person to confront painful truths, discover inner strength and emerge with a renewed sense of purpose.
Welcome to Music Friday, when we highlight songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics.
For Crosby, the metaphor carried a deeply personal resonance. The song’s imagery of arrows turned inward suggests that growth begins not by blaming others, but by examining one’s own choices and weaknesses. Its uplifting message — “You can turn it around” — offers hope that even after hitting bottom, a person can find a path to the top.
Co-written by Crosby and acoustic guitarist Michael Hedges, “Arrows” appeared as the ninth track on Crosby, Stills & Nash’s sixth studio album, Live It Up, released in June of 1990. Although the song was never issued as a commercial single, the album reached No. 57 on the Billboard 200.
The timing of the song is significant. By the mid-1980s, Crosby’s long struggle with cocaine and heroin addiction had devastated his health and career. In 1986, he began serving a prison sentence in Texas for drug and weapons offenses. Without access to drugs or musical instruments, he endured a painful withdrawal and was released on parole later that year.
Crosby would later describe prison as an experience that helped save his life. His path to recovery was neither simple nor painless, but it marked the beginning of a remarkable comeback. By the time Live It Up arrived, he was sober and had begun rebuilding his personal life, including marrying Jan Dance in 1987.
Against that backdrop, the song’s diamond imagery becomes more than a poetic flourish. The coal represents a person’s darkest moments; the pressure represents the difficult work of facing them. And the jewel represents the possibility of becoming stronger and wiser without pretending the past never happened. The arrows turned inward are not weapons of self-destruction, but instruments of honest self-examination.
Crosby’s journey gave this message particular weight. A founding member of the Byrds before joining Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, he helped shape the harmonies and sound of a generation. Crosby, Stills & Nash became one of the defining supergroups of the late 1960s and 1970s, earning a Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1970. With Neil Young joining them at various points, the expanded lineup became Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
Across their different configurations, the musicians sold tens of millions of records and left an enduring mark on rock music. The trio was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Crosby died in January 2023 at age 81, but Stills and Nash remain living links to the group’s extraordinary legacy.
Please check out the audio track of Crosby, Stills & Nash performing "Arrows." The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along...
"Arrows"
Written by David Crosby and Michael Hedges. Performed by Crosby, Stills & Nash.
Arrows turned inward are good for the soul
I have a thing about arrows
And diamonds and coal
Pressure turning carbon to jewels
Slowly they aim at my iron mark
Flaming healing arrows
They beat at my heart
Angels turning metal to tools
I don't care what you think has got you down
You can turn it around
I don't care what you think, turn it around
Turn it around, turn it around
Times that I knew I could never get through
That's when I grew up the most
And alone sounds so sad
But alone I found the best friend I had
I don't care what you think has got you down
You can turn it around
I don't care what you think, turn it around
Turn it around, turn it around
Arrows turned inward are good for the soul
Piercing through every callus
They always get through
My target is a heart no one fools
Turn it around, turn it around
Turn it around, turn it around
Credit: Photo by Eddi Laumanns aka RX-Guru, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
