I Had Too Much To Dream
Posted in 1960s, Lyrics, Music, Nostalgia, Rock at 10:31 pm on 19 January 2009
I had a strange dream on Friday night/Saturday morning, during which I was crossing a road in Dunfermline and was honked at by a utility vehicle, a fire engine or some such. The weird bit about this was its horn sounded the musical phrase:- Daaah, da-da-da! dah, da-da-da! da-da, dah.
In my dream I recognised it was from a song and so while the dream was still running I kept on humming the tune until I got to the last line of the verse – when I knew what it was. And I felt great just to have worked it out. (Bear in mind I was still asleep.)
The song is The Diamond Hard Blue Apples Of The Moon, written and performed by The Nice, formed as P P Arnold’s backing group but now better known as the first rise to prominence of Keith Emerson of ELP fame notoriety. It was the B-side of America, their first (only?) hit.
It’s a fine piece of psychedelia with TARDIS-like sound effects and some great bits of mellotron work but features almost impenetrable lyrics which a quick search on the internet can not shed light on.
The nearest I can get for the first verse is:-
The ??? stroked circles from the heads of all the heroes
And confusions caused by echoes
That’s not ???? for us to see
The sound of magic carpets (cobblers?)
Suddenly be seeking for the…
Here it is on You Tube.
Can anyone decipher them? The lyrics, that is.
Edit (24/4/10): I see the original clip has been taken down.
Here is a new link.
Tags: The Electric Prunes, The Nice
Friday On My Mind 1. – A Son of the Rock -- Jack Deighton
April 22, 2010 at 10:35 pm
[...] down.) Or there’s America by The Nice, with which I started off my prog rock musings, plus their The Diamond Hard Blue Apples Of The Moon – even if it was a B-side – and The Thoughts Of Emerlist Davjack, The Electric Prunes’ I [...]
gareth davies
April 24, 2010 at 1:28 am
Jack – this is very interesting – the lyrics are very hard to decypher – I’ve never been able to de-scramble them – but now i’ve stumbled upon your site – you’ve done a good job.
1st line : transcribed circles round the heads of all the heroes
2nd line : and confusion caused by echoes
3rd line : that’s not hard for us to see
4th line : the sound og magic carpets
5th line : suddenly be seeking for the …(“same as you – this bit is a mystery”)
2nd verse (my first attempt at trying to understand the lyrics)
1st line : find them in the darkroom
2nd line : from their magic carpets
3rd line : we have stretched by the blank strep
4th line : and the _____ we declare
5th line : wanna be be there
6th line : try to make a ______
I’m sure we will sort this out together .. cheers gareth.
ie. 2nd verse 3rd line … “blank strep” …. that is what it sounds like .. so we need to think of something sensible that fits the “shape” of what he says…. if you know what I mean
gareth davies
April 24, 2010 at 1:42 am
corrections to last entry
1st verse 4th line : “of” .. not “og”
1st verse 5th line : dismiss my comment in brackets
2nd verse 2nd line : from their magic flying carpets
2nd verse 4th line : and the apples we declare