Helpless Lyrics

[Verse 1]
There is a town in North Ontario
With dream, comfort, memory to spare
And in my mind, I still need a place to go
All my changes were there

[Verse 2]
Blue, blue windows behind the stars
Yellow moon on the rise
Big birds flying across the sky
Throwing shadows on our eyes
Leave us

[Chorus]
Helpless, helpless, helpless
(Helpless, helpless, helpless, helpless)
Babe, can you hear me now?
(Helpless, helpless, helpless, helpless)
The chains are locked and tied across my door
(Helpless, helpless, helpless, helpless)
Babe, sing with me somehow
(Helpless, helpless, helpless, helpless)

[Verse 2]
Blue, blue windows behind the stars
Yellow moon on the rise
Big birds flying across the sky
Throwing shadows on our eyes
Leave us
[Coda]
Helpless, helpless, helpless
(Helpless, helpless)
Helpless, helpless, helpless
(Helpless, helpless, helpless)
Helpless, helpless, helpless
(Helpless, helpless, helpless)
Helpless, helpless, helpless
(Helpless, helpless, helpless, helpless)
Helpless, helpless, helpless
(Helpless, helpless, helpless, helpless)
Helpless, helpless
(Helpless, helpless, helpless, helpless)

How to Format Lyrics:

  • Type out all lyrics, even repeating song parts like the chorus
  • Lyrics should be broken down into individual lines
  • Use section headers above different song parts like [Verse], [Chorus], etc.
  • Use italics (<i>lyric</i>) and bold (<b>lyric</b>) to distinguish between different vocalists in the same song part
  • If you don’t understand a lyric, use [?]

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About

Genius Annotation

In “Helpless”, Neil Young explores feelings inspired by his time in Omemee, and places like them. Young was born in Toronto, but after his birth his parents brought him a few miles further north in Ontario to an unincorporated community called Omemee. When Young contracted polio (at age five), his parents wintered with him in the warmer climes of Florida’s east coast. They moved back to the Greater Toronto Area a few months after returning to Canada.

[As told in Neil Young: Long May You Run—The Illustrated History by Daniel Durcholz and Gary Graff, and in Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography by Jimmy McDonough]

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young say about "Helpless"?
Genius Answer

In an interview with Mojo in 1995, Young said that, contrary to the common interpretation, “Helpless” is not about any particular place:

Well, 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. ‘I was born in Toronto'—God, that sounds like the first line of a Bruce Springsteen song (laughs). But Toronto is only seven miles from Omemee.

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