Helen Chellin was a girl from my old neighborhood in the Bronx. I didn’t really know her but at one point she started hanging around with my group of friends (I think she had a crush on my buddy Jake). She was very pretty and I quickly developed a crush on her and I wrote this song (my first love song) but never played it for her. She was my first muse, I guess. Fifty years later I Googled her, she is an artist living in San Francisco. I sent her a copy of the song and she seemed pleased (“honored” was the word she used). My pop, who never said anything about my songwriting (for fear of encouraging me to be a singer/songwriter) did confess to me on a few occasions that he loved this song.
Lyrics
Helen
When the wind from the mountain blows me down to the shore
And the great northern sky bursts in flame
They’re only preparing a symphony for strings
That sounds like Helen’s name
And I’m beckoned to the spot where the sea will slowly rise
And I see the eternity that’s echoed in her eyes
And I hear the singing of the stars in the skies
A dove will sweetly cry
Wherever Helen lies.
(cho) A love song’s refrain on a June night
Will fade like the morning dove’s sigh
But the sound of Helen’s name in the moonlight
Will never, ever die
Will never, ever die
If you’ve not felt the tempest as she reigns o’er the seas
If you’ve not seen the swallowtail fly
If you’ve not smelled the morning or tasted the breeze
You have never loved Helen as I
And when the great mountains see the snow melt and run
And the grass it awakens and leaps towards the sun
And the birds in the trees, they all sing as one
It comes as no surprise
That her smile comes to my eyes.
(cho)
I have seen the great monuments scraping the skies
As I sailed into ports on distant shores
I have known all the kingdoms, I’ve known all the kings
Tell me who could wish to know more
I’ve known quests that were greater than the great golden fleece
I’ve known love I’ve known hatred I’ve known war I’ve known peace
But I’d gladly know nothing and my wandering cease
For the thing I’ve been denied
To know love in Helen’s eyes
(cho)