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.

Love Again
Stephen Stills Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

All of your time alone
How long do ya think it will take?
Before you go round the bend
A permanent spiritual break
A broken heart on the mend
Somebody comin' just wait

Fate

Can be your best friend
And love
Is an accident of

Faith
Then in the end
Here is love
Come again

I had a girl I know
Love me more than life
She couldn't figure why
Confused to be precise
Finally let it go
I couldn't get enough of it right, right

Fate
Can be your best friend
And love
Is an accident of

Faith
Then in the end
Here is love
Come again

I'm with a woman now
Satisfied with me must be
Crazy about her yeah
I think maybe I got lucky
Watchin' what we are growin'
Ain't it amazing she really loves me

Fate
Can be your best friend
And love
Is an accident of

Faith
Then in the end

Here is love
Come again

Overall Meaning

The song Love Again by Stephen Stills, is a reflection on the nature of love and how it can come and go unexpectedly. The opening lines, “All of your time alone, how long do ya think it will take?” set a tone of loneliness and the fear of being alone for too long. The fear is that if you are alone for too long, you may go around the bend and experience a permanent spiritual break. However, the song suggests that fate can be your best friend in finding love, and that love is an accident of faith.

The second verse speaks of a past love that ended because the singer could not give enough of himself to the relationship. The singer reminisces about the love he once had, but ultimately realizes that it was confused and ultimately ended. In the final verse, the singer speaks of his present love, and how lucky he is to be with the woman he is with. The line “watchin' what we are growin', ain't it amazing she really loves me” shows a sense of gratitude and awe at the love that is growing between him and his partner.

Overall, the song speaks to the universal experiences of love and how it can come and go unexpectedly. It suggests that fate can play a role in finding love, but ultimately it is an accident of faith.

Line by Line Meaning

All of your time alone
You spend all your time by yourself

How long do ya think it will take?
You wonder how long you can stay alone before it drives you crazy

Before you go round the bend
Before you lose your sanity

A permanent spiritual break
A long-lasting break from your spirituality and sense of purpose

A broken heart on the mend
Your heart is healing from a past breakup

Somebody comin' just wait
Someone new will come into your life if you're patient

Fate
Destiny

Can be your best friend
It can lead you to good things

And love
Romantic love

Is an accident of
It happens unexpectedly

Faith
Believing in something greater than yourself