SLS: Travelling In Panic

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For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday Jim is inviting us to play something from a concept album, as you can see from his post, Central Theme. I had a pretty good idea what a concept album was – to my mind, an album with songs built around a theme – but the Wikipedia page on this muddies the waters horribly, and their list of such albums is long and in many cases nowhere near what I had thought. Oh well, I’ll stick with what I was intending to play anyway!

My musical tastes were developed in the Sixties, and one of the bands I loved – and still do – was The Moody Blues. After their pop beginnings the band reconstituted itself into what was described as prog rock, and made a string of great albums, all of which fit the bill for today. I’m not going with the two more obvious ones but am instead playing something from their fifth album, To Our Children’s Children’s Children. Well three somethings, actually. Starting with this:

And in true, time honoured SLS fashion, here are the lyrics:

The gypsy of a strange and distant timeTravelling in panic, all directions blindAching for the warmth of a burning sunFreezing in the emptiness of where he’d come from
Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ahAh, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ahLeft without a hope of coming home
Speeding through a shadow of a million yearsDarkness is the only sound to reach his earsFrightening him with visions of eternityScreaming for a future that can never be
Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ahAh, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ahLeft without a hope of coming home
The gypsy of a strange and distant timeTravelling in panic, all directions blindAching for the warmth of a burning sunFreezing in the emptiness of where he’d come from
Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ahAh, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ahLeft without a hope of coming home
Left without a hope of coming homeLeft without a hope of coming home
 
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Justin Hayward
Gypsy lyrics © Universal Music Corp., Shandon Music, Peter Maurice Music Co. Ltd., Peter Maurice Music Co Ltd, Shadon Music
 
 
I amended those details slightly, as Musixmatch seems to think the song was written by someone called ‘Billy Reid.’ Having looked him up I found that Billy Reid was a songwriter, who wrote a song called Gypsy for The Inkspots in 1946: totally different song, and this one was definitely a Justin Hayward composition! The album was released in November 1969 and reached #2 in the UK and #14 in the US – their highest US chart placing at that point, though it was soon surpassed. It was recorded from May to September of that year, and anyone who was around at that time will probably recognise that as when Apollo 11 landed on the Moon, complete with moonwalks of a rather different kind from those that Michael Jackson did much later – these guys moved forwards, for one thing. The band was inspired by that, and by the Space Race in general. Keyboard player Mike Pinder told it thus, “We were watching man going to the moon. In the studio, we were watching it. I remember Neil Armstrong setting down. We weren’t in the studio that night but I remember it was like 4 A.M. and I was in my apartment in London. I remember that part of it. But the album was all around the moon mission and man’s venturing into space. This was the beginning of maybe discovering man’s true legacy.”
 
Justin Hayward credited producer Tony Clarke as being a driving force behind the concept: “To Our Children’s Children’s Children…was really driven by Tony. It was something that he really wanted to do, and I’m glad that we were able to share that with him. He had a bee in his bonnet about doing an album about space; he was an astronomer and followed the stars. He built this dome on the top of his house with big telescopes, and really used to get quite boring about it! But it was a baby of his, and his idea was really to try and coincide releasing an album – in our usual kind of pretentious way – with man landing on the moon.” And out of that the album was born.
 
 
The lyrics to Gypsy (Of A Strange And Distant Time) speak of man’s eternal quest for meaning, and come to a fairly nihilistic conclusion – the traveller is doomed to search forever, without ever returning. It may just be coincidence, but David Bowie released Space Oddity in July 1969, ten days before the moon landing, and we all know the fate that befell Major Tom, don’t we. Some big questions were being asked – but remained unanswered. I haven’t found anything linking Bowie with this album and this song in particular, but there really must be a shared influence there, mustn’t there?
 
I had a full set of Moodies albums, and was well known amongst my peers for my love of the band, as I mentioned in my recent post Old Friends. Like all of their records, I played this one to bits, so it seems right to share a couple more with you. Firstly, my favourite from it:
 

Candle Of Life was written by John Lodge, whose main role in the band was as bass player, though he is also credited with harp and cello on this album. It is a song about loneliness, whilst encouraging us to be compassionate, and it strikes a chord with me – after my parents separated my Mum moved us away from the town I had been born and grown up in. It was only seven miles, but far enough to give me feelings of loneliness whilst I was hoping to find new friends. My first holiday job solved that, but I can remember playing this one a lot at the time, and am still just about word perfect on it.

I’m closing with the only single released from the album, its closing track:

Watching And Waiting wasn’t a hit, and always struck me as an odd choice for a single: apparently the band had high hopes for it, believing it could be another Nights In White Satin, but I always thought that Gypsy would have been a more likely success as they opened their shows with it for a couple of years. It’s still a lovely song, though. Justin Hayward co-wrote it with flautist Ray Thomas: he actually had the basics before recording began, and amended the lyrics better to fit the conceptual theme of the record. To me, it has always been a lovely way to end an album.

Apparently I’m not alone in my enjoyment of this record: it was one of those played by the crew of Apollo 15 during their 1971 mission – I wonder what they made of the idea that they might never return to earth! Luckily they made it back, though the intensity of the training and the mission in general did cause the marriage break up of one of the astronauts. I hope the music gave him some comfort.

That’s me done for today, so I’ll wish you a happy and warm day, if your weather is anything like it is here. See you again for Tuesday Tunes, I trust? 😊

39 thoughts on “SLS: Travelling In Panic”

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  7. Clive…I feel dumb. While thinking of concept albums…The Kinks and Who were the first to come to my mind. I love The Moody Blues and grew up with their 70s albums.

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    • It was a big field to choose from. I thought others might go for Tommy or The Kinks so I went elsewhere. It helped that The Moody Blues were my favourite band through my teenage years.

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      • They have always been a favorite of mine…my first album by them was Every Good Boy Deserves Favour. From there I started to go through their catalog.

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      • At least you got there! That was their sixth in their prog rock guise. I had all of them! Amidst all of the big production numbers I’ve always loved Emily’s Song, John Lodge’s ode to his daughter. A real gem of a song.

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      • Wow…The only one I bought in real time was Long Distance Voyager and The Present.
        Clive…you have jarred my memory banks…I haven’t heard Emily’s song in years. I’m listening to it now…as soon as I heard it I remembered…thanks as always.

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      • For me, their run up to Seventh Sojourn was their best. After the hiatus they never seemed the same to me. Still the recognisable sound, but not as many stand out songs.

        Happy to have jogged your memory – it’s a lovely little song.

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      • Oh that is the album that had I’m Just a Singer…. the song that drew me to them was Story in Your Eyes and Ride My See-Saw…that is what started me down the Moody Blues road….very happily I might add.

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  8. My 2nd favorite Moodies album next to Lost Chord. Yes, the single should have been “Gypsy,” which Hayward admits, though “Watching and Waiting” is indeed lovely. Pinder’s “man’s true legacy” quote is interesting, especially in light of his claim that he met space aliens. (A true quote, and the interview with this is or was available on YouTube.)

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  10. I listened to several Moody Blues albums, but somehow this one passed me by, and it is really beautiful, at least the songs that you selected form it, Clive. This last tune reminds me a lot of Tuesday Afternoon, great choice today and thanks for sharing your music again.

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  11. Although more a radio listener than a fan, I love the sound of this band. What a great choice for today’s topic. And i love the visual of the astronauts listening to the Moody Blues in space- what more perfect music!

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    • Thank you, Christine, I’m pleased you liked them. They made some great records, and always had that ability to touch your heart with their lyrics.

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