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.
Colorado
Stephen Stills Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Don't much bother me it won't be long
Come a woman who wants to be near
Me and my mountains, we'll be right here
Colorado
Way back east in the dirt and smog
Courted a woman she had a job
Guess she was afraid of bein' alone in
Colorado
Way out yonder in tinsel land
Look around hard you might find a real man
Dark-eyed country girl, tears in her eyes
Needs the music of the wind in the pines
Colorado
Many's the time I've gone astray
The things I'm thinkin' I seldom say
Guess I'm waitin' for that special girl
The one who loves me and loves my world
Colorado
Colorado
Stephen Stills's song Colorado is a tribute to the state of Colorado, the singer's home for many years. The lyrics expound on the singer's deep love for his life in the mountains and his desire to have someone special to share it with. The opening lyrics, "I am a man, I live alone, Don't much bother me it won't be long", describe the singer's contentment with his solitary existence in the mountains. However, the singer's longing for a companion is clear when he sings, "Come a woman who wants to be near, Me and my mountains, we'll be right here".
Stills speaks about his past experiences with relationships. He had a girlfriend back East, but she didn't want to leave her "adopted home" for Colorado, which left him feeling lonely. He then contemplates relocating to Hollywood to find love but knows that he belongs in Colorado, stating "Look around hard, you might find a real man, Dark-eyed country girl, tears in her eyes, Needs the music of the wind in the pines, Colorado."
The song presents the beauty of the Colorado mountains and Stills's contentment with his life there. The theme of the song, the longing for a companion, is balanced with Stills's love for his life in Colorado.
Line by Line Meaning
I am a man I live alone
I'm a single man and I'm content with living by myself
Don't much bother me it won't be long
Living alone doesn't really bother me because I know it won't be forever
Come a woman who wants to be near
If a woman wants to be by my side, I wouldn't object
Me and my mountains, we'll be right here
But regardless of whether I'm alone or have a companion, I'll be here with my beloved mountains
Colorado
This place is Colorado
Way back east in the dirt and smog
Before I came to Colorado, I lived in an urban setting with lots of pollution
Courted a woman she had a job
I courted a woman who had a job back in the city
Didn't want to leave her adopted home
But she didn't want to leave the city that she had grown accustomed to
Guess she was afraid of bein' alone in
I suppose she was scared of being alone in Colorado
Colorado
This place is still Colorado
Way out yonder in tinsel land
Out in Hollywood, where everything glitters
Look around hard you might find a real man
But if you look hard, you might find a real man who's not a phony
Dark-eyed country girl, tears in her eyes
Perhaps a rural girl with dark eyes and a sad expression
Needs the music of the wind in the pines
Might be searching for something that can only be found in the natural world, like the sound of wind blowing through the pine trees
Colorado
Still talking about Colorado here
Many's the time I've gone astray
I've made my fair share of mistakes
The things I'm thinkin' I seldom say
But I rarely vocalize my thoughts
Guess I'm waitin' for that special girl
I'm probably waiting for a particular woman to come into my life
The one who loves me and loves my world
Someone who loves me and shares my passion for this place, Colorado
Colorado
And once again, this is Colorado
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing
Written by: Stephen A Stills
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind