Stephen Arthur Stills is an American guitarist, a songwriter, and a singer,… Read Full Bio ↴Stephen Arthur Stills is an American guitarist, a songwriter, and a singer, best known for his work with the Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills & Nash and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

Stephen Stills was born in Dallas, Texas on January 3, 1945 to a military family. Moving around as a child, he developed an interest in blues and folk music. He was also influenced by Latin music after spending his teenage years in Costa Rica and the Panama Canal Zone, where he graduated from high school.

Stills dropped out of the University of Florida to pursue a music career in the early 1960s. He played in a series of unsuccessful bands including the Continentals, which featured future The Eagles guitarist Don Felder. Stills eventually ended up in a nine-member vocal harmony group, the house act at the famous Cafe Au Go Go in NYC, called the Au Go Go Singers (Rick Geiger, Roy Michaels, Michael Scott, Jean Gurney, Kathy King, Nels Gustafson, Bob Harmelink, Richie Furay & Stills) where and when he met Richie Furay. This group also did some touring in the Catskills, and in the South, released one album in 1964, then broke up in 1965. Afterwards, Stills, along with four other former members of the Au Go Go Singers: Geiger, Michaels, Gurney & Scott, formed The Company, a folk/rock group. Immediately prior to performing in the Au Go Go Singers, Stills could be seen singing solo in Gerde's Folk City, a well-known coffee house in Greenwich Village. The Company embarked on a 6-week tour of Canada where Stills met a young guitarist named Neil Young. On the VH1 CSNY Legends special, Stills would say that at that time, Young was doing what he always wanted to do, "play folk music in a rock band." The Company broke up in New York within four months, opening up the way for Geiger to join a light opera company in Los Angeles; Michaels to link up with Jimi Hendrix, Gurney to go on to college while doing TV commercials, and Scott to tour with a retro-Highwaymen. Stills did session work and went to various auditions (including an unsuccessful one for The Monkees). In 1966 he convinced a reluctant former Au Go Go Singers, Richie Furay, then living in Massachusetts, to move with him to California.

Solo years

In the wake of CSNY's success, all four members recorded solo albums. In 1970, Stills released his self-titled debut, which featured guests Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, "Mama" Cass Elliot, and Ringo Starr (credited only as "Richie") as well as contributions from various members of the CSNY band. It provided Stills with the hit single "Love The One You're With" as well as the concert favorite "Black Queen." Stills followed this with Stephen Stills 2, which featured "Change Partners." Nash saw this song as a metaphor for the many relationships in CSNY, while Stills viewed the band as something much less bland and repetitive.
The next year, Stills teamed up with ex-Byrd Chris Hillman and several CSNY sidemen to form the band Manassas. During a Manassas tour in France, Stills met and married French singer-songwriter Veronique Sanson. Then he switched to Columbia Records, where he recorded two albums: Stills in 1975 and the punningly titled Illegal Stills in 1976. The former record found Stills in an uncharacteristically joyful mood; his marriage was going great, his son Chris had just been born, and he was happy living in Colorado. "To Mama From Christopher and the Old Man" was an exceptionally optimistic view of his new family.
In 1976, Stills attempted a reunion with Neil Young. At one point, Long May You Run was slated to be a CSNY record, but when Crosby and Nash left to fufill recording and touring obligations, according to both David and Graham the other pair wiped their vocals from the recordings, as Stills and Young decided to go on without their erstwhile partners as The Stills-Young Band. However, Young would leave midway through the resulting tour due to an apparent throat infection. Stills was contractually bound to finish the tour, which he did, but upon returning home, his wife announced she wanted a divorce and wished to move back to France. Stills reunited with Crosby and Nash shortly afterwards, thanks to the efforts of Nash's future wife Susan, who got Nash to forgive Stills for wiping the Crosby and Nash vocals from Long May You Run. This led to the semi-permanent CSN reunion of 1977, which has persisted even though all three have released solo records since then.
In 1997, Stills became the first person to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice in the same night for his work with CSN and the Buffalo Springfield.
2005 saw Stills release 'Man Alive'; his first solo offering in 14 years. Although not troubling the chart compilers, the record was critically well received and is regarded by many fans as his best since the mid seventies.

Stills was the inspiring influence for Ray LaMontagne who, after hearing one of his songs, decided to quit his job and focus on music.

Cold
Stephen Stills Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I been burned
By a cold empty fire
I been turned and led astray
But you learn
When you deal with a liar
It's a cold cold world
Cold world when it's
Your friends

I bee taken
Down a blind street
I been shaken and led astray
You awaken
With a bad bad feelin'
It's a cold cold world
When it's your friends

You might listen you might
Not it don't bother me
You won't know till the
Time catches up with you
Can't you see how close I'm
Watching you

Feel like dirt
They've taken my pride
And what's worse
I've been so betrayed
And it hurts you deep down inside
It's a cold cold world
Cold world, when it's your friends

You know trust is so hard to give
But you must or you're gonna be alone
When you're dust it just should not be
That it was a cold cold world

Cold world, cold cold world
In the end

Overall Meaning

Stephen Stills's song "Cold" is a lyrical reflection on how one's friends can often be the source of betrayal and heartbreak. The opening verses are filled with imagery of being burned by a "cold empty fire" and being led astray. Stills suggests that we learn to recognize liars and untrustworthy people through these experiences. The chorus repeats the refrain “it’s a cold world when it’s your friends” which serves as the central idea of the piece.

Stills continues to explore the theme of betrayal and deception in the following verses, singing about being led down a "blind street" and feeling like "dirt" after being betrayed. The repeated lines "cold cold world" create a somber mood, highlighting the sense of despair and loneliness that can come with being hurt by those closest to us. The bridge offers a glimmer of hope, suggesting that trust is still essential despite the risks involved.

Stills's song speaks to the universal experience of being betrayed by someone we thought we could trust. It is a poignant reminder that we must be cautious and mindful of those that we allow into our inner circle. It also encourages the idea of forgiveness and resilience, even in the face of heartbreak.

Line by Line Meaning

I been burned
I have been hurt deeply

By a cold empty fire
By a passionless or unfeeling experience

I been turned and led astray
I have been misled by someone I trusted

But you learn
A lesson is learned

When you deal with a liar
Through dealing with a dishonest person

It's a cold cold world
The world is a harsh place

Cold world when it's
Especially, when it's

Your friends
Your friends who let you down

I bee taken
I have been taken

Down a blind street
Down a path of no return

I been shaken and led astray
I have been thrown off balance and misguided