Helpless (song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Helpless" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Song by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young | ||
| from the album Déjà Vu | ||
| Released | March 11, 1970 | |
| Recorded | 1969 | |
| Genre | Folk rock | |
| Length | 3:30 | |
| Label | Atlantic Records | |
| Writer(s) | Neil Young | |
| Composer(s) | Neil Young | |
| Producer(s) | Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young | |
| Déjà Vu track listing | ||
| "Almost Cut My Hair" (3) |
"Helpless" (4) |
"Woodstock" (5) |
"Helpless" is a song written by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young, most famously recorded by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young on their 1970 album Déjà Vu.
Helpless was originally recorded with Young's band Crazy Horse in early 1969, before Young's new CSNY bandmates (he had joined the then-trio in mid-1969) convinced him it would suit them better. The song was simple, at its core effectively the repetition of one melody over a descending D-A-G chord progression, but despite (or perhaps because of) its simplicity the group found difficulty deciding on an arrangement and many different versions of the song were recorded before the group finally decided on the slow-paced version that appeared on the album. On this final version Young was in the foreground, singing the verses and the chorus with his bandmates providing the "helpless" refrain, while the instrumentation came in the form of acoustic guitar, pedal steel guitar (played by Jerry Garcia), and piano. It became one of the most revered songs from the Déjà Vu album (Q Magazine's Peter Doggett regards it as "one of (the album's) showpieces"), and has remained a live favorite of Young's for over thirty years. As of 1995, k.d. lang's version, with a lush string section, is receiving good radio airplay.
The "town in North Ontario" referred to in the opening line of the song is often presumed to be Ontario native Young's hometown; Young himself cleared up the rumors in a 1992 Mojo interview with Nick Kent:
- "It's not literally a specific town so much as a feeling. Actually, it's a couple of towns. Omemee, Ontario is one of them. It's where I first went to school and spent my 'formative' years. Actually, I was born in Toronto. But Toronto is only seven miles from Omemee."
Actually, Omemee is eighty miles from Toronto, and is only barely considered "northern" Ontario.
The song's second verse contains the surreal nature-inspired imagery that was typical of Young's early 1970s work, similar to the lyrics of the well-known title track from the After The Gold Rush album:
- Blue, blue windows behind the stars
- Yellow moon on the rise
- Big birds flying across the sky
- Throwing shadows on our eyes
| Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young |
|---|
| David Crosby | Stephen Stills | Graham Nash | Neil Young |
| Discography |
| Crosby, Stills & Nash | Déjà Vu | Four Way Street | So Far | CSN | Replay | Daylight Again | Allies | American Dream | Live It Up | CSN (box set) | After The Storm | Carry On | Looking Forward | Greatest Hits |
| Songs |
| Suite: Judy Blue Eyes | Marrakesh Express | Wooden Ships | Woodstock | Chicago | Ohio | Southern Cross | Helpless | Just A Song Before I Go |
| Other related bands |
| The Byrds | Buffalo Springfield | The Hollies | CPR | Crosby & Nash | Stills-Young Band | Manassas | Crazy Horse |
| Other related people |
| Joni Mitchell | Judy Collins | Chris Hillman | Cass Elliot | Timothy B. Schmit |
