Thursday Inspiration #199 Helplessly Hoping

Respond to this challenge, by either by using the prompt word fly, or going with the above picture, or by means of the song ‘Helplessly Hoping’, or by going with another song by Crosby, Stills and Nash, or anything else that you think fits.  This song was written by Steven Stills when he was trying to make ends meet as a session musician, before he became a superstar.  The woman in the song he is writing about is Judy Collins, who he met on September 4, 1967, when Cream played a show at Los Angeles’ Whisky A Go Go.  Stills said that he saw Collins in the audience and made his move.  He was drinking beer at the time because he couldn’t afford whiskey.  He wanted to meet her because he used to listen to her albums before he went to sleep, so he went up to her and kissed her hand.  They started a relationship which did not last, and she already had a son who Steven adored.  This is probably where the “3 together” line comes from.  In 1969, Judy dropped Steven after meeting actor Stacy Keach.

The song is about two lovers who don’t know what to do in a psychological setting and it makes use of both alliteration and wordplay (words with dual meanings) in the lyrics.  Buffalo Springfield was coming apart at the time, and CSN had not formed yet, and Collins was preparing to record a new solo album, to be titled Who Knows Where the Time Goes.  Stephen Stills first recorded this on April 26, 1968, in New York at a Judy Collins session for a demo album Just Roll Tape, which was not released till 2007.  Stephen fell for Judy’s “true gentle spirit”, as they begin a torrid affair.  He decides that she’s the one, so he endears himself to her son Clark and hopes that they will be able to have a future together.  Judy was deeply involved in her own career at the time, and she had no idea about what exactly was going on, so she is saying she is lost.  Stills said this song was inspired a long time ago by his 10th grade English teacher in Tampa, Florida who was a real knockout.  She was able to get all the football players to stand up and read poetry, trying to impress her with how sensitive we were and how much we loved this awful stuff, and Stills felt that some of this stuff must have rubbed off on him.

Helplessly hoping her harlequin hovers nearby
Awaiting a word
Gasping at glimpses of gentle true spirit, he runs
Wishing he could fly
Only to trip at the sound of goodbye