From "Pete Brown obituary/Long-haired poet who wrote the lyrics for the Sixties supergroup Cream, including White Room and Sunshine of Your Love" (London Times).
May 26, 2023
"Black roof country, no gold pavements, tired starlings/Silver horses ran down moonbeams in your dark eyes...."
"... he wrote for the song White Room, editing the lyric down to three stanzas and a chorus from what was originally an eight-page poem. Other songs such as Sunshine of Your Love were more spontaneous. At about 5am at the end of a long night’s writing session, Bruce had picked out the now familiar 11-note descending bass pattern and said, 'Well, what about this then?' Brown looked out of the window and said: 'It’s getting near dawn when lights close their tired eyes...."
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8 comments:
Loved White Room. I have never worried about nonsensical lyrics and still don't care if they don't make sense. The album it was on was one of the first three my college roommate and I acquired upon moving into the dorm.
Great, now I'll have this in my head all day...
RIP to a creative lyricist, but I don't like either the lyrics or the music a lot.
When the albums you listened to back in the day are coming out with 40th Anniversary Editions and the artists you admired are dying off from old age, you realize that you're older than you thought you were.
Wrapping paper in the gutter
Moving slowly as the wind on the sea
(Faces calling, waves moving)
In your picture on a wall of a house of old times
(Can you hear me?) Can you hear me
(Can you hear me?) Wandering sadly?
That's a ten note descending bass line.
"That's a ten note descending bass line."
Why was that hard to count? If you listen to the recording, there's an extra note at the end — like a stutter on the 10th not — the first time it's played. So you hear 11 notes. The second time it's played there are 10.
If you just play what you remember in your head, you'll get 10 notes and feel sure that's right. But the first time it's played on the recording, you'll be able to hear one more.
Those were the days (yes they were!)
Where's re Pete when you need him.
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