Helplessly Hoping

Stephen Stills wrote it and sings lead with Crosby and Nash on harmony, and plays acoustic guitar; it runs 2:41 on Crosby, Stills and Nash, released by Atlantic on May 29, 1969. It was also the B-side of "Marrakesh Express" in June 1969. The song's Wikipedia article says it was recorded in December 1968 at Wally Heider's Studio 3 in Hollywood with Paul Rothchild producing, while the album page gives sessions in February and March 1969; the two do not agree. Stills first recorded it on the 1968 demo album Just Roll Tape, released in 2007. Wikipedia says, without a citation, that it was written for Judy Collins; we found no statement from Stills.

Our upload comes from Winterland Reunion 1973: The San Francisco Broadcast, a Parachute Recording Company gatefold LP (PARA570LP) of 11 tracks that opens with it; the exact night and release date vary between listings. Live versions also exist from Woodstock in 1969, Woodstock in 1994, the 1989 United Nations General Assembly and the Fillmore East in 1969 on a 2024 Rhino set. Covers include J. D. Crowe and the New South (1986), Taxiride (1999), Home Free (2017) and Richie Havens. It was used in the films Annihilation (2018) and The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019) and in The Last of Us Part II (2020).