‘If I Could Only Remember My Name’ was released on 22 February 1971. If came after Crosby Stills Nash & Young’s ‘Déjà vu’ (March 1970) and in a batch of solo albums with Stephen Stills ‘Stephen Stills’ (November 1970), Graham Nash ‘Songs for Beginners’ (28 May 1971) and Neil Young ‘After The Gold Rush’ (19 September 1970).
For Crosby, Still and Nash, the albums were all solo debuts. ‘After The Gold Rush’ was Young’s third solo album.
Crosby’s album featured Nash and Young on various tracks. Stills did not guest on the record. Other musicians on the Crosby album include Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, Joni Mitchell, and Grace Slick and Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane.
The album was recorded at Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco across 1970 and 1971. Stills and Nash also used the studio for their solo records. CSNY recorded ‘Déjà vu’ there. Creedence Clearwater Revival also recorded ‘Cosmo’s Factory’ there. The “factory” Studio C was known as Cosmo’s Factory. It was CCR’s rehearsal studio.
‘If I Could Only Remember My Name’ reached no 12 in the USA and no 13 in Australia.