Helpless was written by Neil Young and released on the 1970 Crosby Stills Nash & Young album Deja Vu. There are three definitive performances by Young of this tune – the studio recording, Young’s performance with The Band that is captured in both audio and video formats at The Last Waltz where drugs were involved and the third is from MTV’s Unplugged.

Cover Wars

We’ve got a lot of renditions this week, more than I normally allow, but when it was time to cut some, I thought they were all pretty damn good.

The Contestants:

Buffy Sainte-Marie: This cover was recorded just a year after the original release of CSNY’s version of Helpless. In fact, Neil Young plays on this album but I have been unable to determine if he plays on this track. For those of you listening on headphones, crazy reverb/delay on the snare drum in the intro to this song. I’m not sure if this is intentional as it disappears once the vocals kick in. Source: She Used To Wanna Be A Ballerina

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

READ ON for the rest of this week’s contestants…

Cowboy Junkies: Vocalist Margo Timmins says in the intro that it’s “another song written by Neil Young”, as they had already played Tired Eyes earlier in the set. The band has also an official live recording on their 2006 release Long Journey Home. Source: 7-26-2002

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Fareed Haque Group: This week’s only instrumental rendition comes from the Fareed Haque Group. This ensemble recorded Deja Vu in it’s entirety as part of the Blue Note Cover Series. Source: 6-24-2002

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Some great video footage from HSMF ’03:

k.d. lang: This track comes to us from an album full of covers by fellow Canadian artists recorded in 2004. Canadians are all about Canada. Source: Hymns of the 49th Parallel

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Lang fills in for Neil Young at the Juno Awards in 2005:

Nick Cave: Interesting phrasing, and I think a few added words, from Nick Cave. If you’re familiar with Cave’s style, you will not be surprised that this rendition is sung an entire octave down from the original. Source: The Bridge: A Tribute to Neil Young

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Outformation: Maybe a little too mumbly, but the vocals here are very Neil-like. Tasteful solos from both the keyboardist and guitarist round this slightly uptempo cover out nicely. Outformation transposed it down a whole step from D to C. Source: 7-15-2007

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Patti Smith: This is the third Cover Wars to feature a cover off of Patti Smith’s 2007 covers album (See Boy In The Bubble and Everybody Wants To Rule The World). I am not doing that intentionally. It’s a nice take, a lush acoustic arrangement that is also transposed down to C. Source: Twelve

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Video from June of 2008:

Perpetual Groove: PGroove vocalist Brock Butler really makes this one his own, like he does with basically everything he sings. Helping out on vocals is guest female vocalist Shantel. I don’t know what it is about this part of the alphabet, but three in a row – transposed down a whole step. Source: 9-17-2008

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Reid Genauer & Jamie Masefield: At Reid Genauer’s solo show last year in Burlington Vermont he welcomed Jamie Masefield of the Jazz Mandolin Project to the stage for a number of tunes. Check out the whole show for great renditions of Speculator and Same Ol’ River with Masefield helping out. This version is in the key of Ab, but I assume Reid was playing it in A and had his guitar tuned down a half-step. Source: 4-24-2008

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Ryan Adams & Gillian Welch: What a pair! A stellar recording and an even better performance. Ryan Adams fans should check out this entire set from Nashville’s Exit/Inn. Ryan & Gillian have brought bus back to key of D, what the song was recorded in. Source: 10-28-1999

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

YARN: This is a nice take from the folks who ultimately upset Phish in the Oh! Sweet Nuthin’ Cover Wars. Wish the electric guitar was a little louder in the mix, but that happens sometimes on SBD tapes. Key of C. Source: 5-7-2009

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

This video is shot through the “looking glass” at the Pour House in Raleigh.

Looking back at last week, the Time Cover Wars is too close to call. Can you help us declare a winner?

Also, the voting for this week:

DaveO

David Onigman is a recent transplant from Boston to San Francisco. In addition to behind the scenes work and the occasional post, DaveO contributes the (almost) weekly Cover Wars column, though he's always looking for guest authors for it.

Website - More Posts