Helpless

Neil originally tried recording this track with Crazy Horse, but it ultimately found its true home on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s legendary 1970 album, Déjà Vu.

The song’s famously slow, hypnotic tempo was actually a byproduct of exhaustion—Neil recorded the final take at 4am, joking that he had to wait until the rest of the band was tired enough to play at his speed. That late-night vibe perfectly matches the opening lyric about a “town in north Ontario,” which serves as a dreamy, poetic composite of his childhood and a symbol of lost youth.

Built entirely around a hypnotic loop of just three open position chords—D, A, and G—this classic Neil Young track will help you get into swing 16th strumming within a nice, accessible tempo.