"Helplessly Hoping" is a 1969 song by the American

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk music, folk and rock music, rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the American fo ...

group Crosby, Stills, and Nash written by

Stephen Stills Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945) is an American musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. As both a solo act and member of two successful bands, Stills has c ...

, and using both

alliteration Alliteration is the conspicuous repetition of initial consonant sounds of nearby words in a phrase, often used as a literary device. A familiar example is "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers". Alliteration is used poetically in various ...

and

wordplay Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, pho ...

in its lyrics. They recorded the song at Wally Heider's Studio 3, Hollywood in December 1968 during their first recording session as a group, with producer

Paul Rothchild Paul may refer to: * Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chr ...

. The song was first released by

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most ...

on Crosby, Stills, and Nash's

eponymous An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

debut album on May 29, 1969. In June 1969, they released it as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

of their debut single " Marrakesh Express".

Lyrics

The song is about two lovers who don't know what to do in a psychological setting.

Alliteration Alliteration is the conspicuous repetition of initial consonant sounds of nearby words in a phrase, often used as a literary device. A familiar example is "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers". Alliteration is used poetically in various ...

is used throughout the song; "Helplessly Hoping", "Wordlessly Watching", and "Stand by the Stairway".

Wordplay Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, pho ...

is also employed — the chorus contains number words with dual meanings:

They are One Person, They are Two Alone, They are Three Together, They are Four Each Other.

The play on three of the Chorus lines would go:

They are Too Alone, They are Free Together, They are For Each Other.

Personnel

David Crosby David Van Cortlandt Crosby (born August 14, 1941) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of both the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash. Crosby joined the Byrds in 1964. They got ...

–vocals *

–vocals, guitar * Graham Nash–vocals

In popular culture

* The song was prominently featured in the 2018 Alex Garland film ''

Annihilation In particle physics, annihilation is the process that occurs when a subatomic particle collides with its respective antiparticle to produce other particles, such as an electron colliding with a positron to produce two photons. The total energy ...

''. * The song was also featured briefly in the 2020

Naughty Dog Naughty Dog, LLC (formerly JAM Software, Inc.) is an American First-party developer, first-party video game developer based in Santa Monica, California, Santa Monica, California. Founded by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin in 1984, the studio was acqu ...

game ''

The Last of Us Part II ''The Last of Us Part II'' is a 2020 action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. Set five years after ''The Last of Us'' (2013), the game focuses on two playable charac ...

'', with Joel playing the song on guitar. * The song was also featured briefly in the 2019 film '' The Art of Racing in the Rain''.

Cover versions

* The song was covered by the American bluegrass band J. D. Crowe & the

New South New South, New South Democracy or New South Creed is a slogan in the history of the American South first used after the American Civil War. Reformers used it to call for a modernization of society and attitudes, to integrate more fully with the ...

in 1986. The cover was included in their seventh studio album ''Straight Ahead''. * The song was also covered by the American a cappella group Home Free in 2017. * The song was also covered by the American rock band Of Mice & Men in 2021. The cover was included in their third EP ''

Ad Infinitum ''Ad infinitum'' is a Latin phrase meaning "to infinity" or "forevermore". Description In context, it usually means "continue forever, without limit" and this can be used to describe a non-terminating process, a non-terminating ''repeating'' pro ...

'' and their seventh studio album ''

Echo In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the li ...

''. * The song was also covered by the American band Foxes and Fossils in 2013.

References

1969 songs Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young songs Songs written by Stephen Stills Atlantic Records singles {{1960s-song-stub