“Helpless” is a song written by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young, 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. 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. (More from Wikipedia)
Crosby, Stills, Nash and/or Young have released any number of cultural and counter-cultural touchstones over the years: “Ohio” (about the Kent State University shootings); “Woodstock” (written by Joni Mitchell based on what Graham Nash told her about the festival – Matthews’ Southern Comfort had a Number 1 hit in the U.K. with “Woodstock”); “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” (written about Judy Collins); “Teach Your Children” (featuring Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead on pedal steel guitar; the song actually made the country charts); “Helpless” (one of Neil Young’s loveliest songs); “Southern Man” (on Neil Young’s excellent solo album, After the Gold Rush, with Lynyrd Skynyrd good-naturedly answering the song in their hit “Sweet Home Alabama”); “Love the One You’re With” (first released on Stephen Stills’ debut solo album, Stephen Stills – live versions of “Southern Man” and “Love the One You’re With” appear on the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young double album 4 Way Street); etc.
(April 2014)
