Quad LP/Tape Poll America: Holiday [CD-4/Q8/QR]

[J. PUPSTER]

Fret not guys, it's "old fart music". You'd probably hate it.

 

[fredblue]

Fret not guys, it's "old fart music". You'd probably hate it.

there's many a good tune played on an old fart!

 

[lennon fan]

outside the hits this album lands a bit weak for me, why oh why can't we get that first album in quad????

 

[JonUrban]

"And 'cause never was the reason for the evening
Or the tropic of Sir Galahad"

WTF is that?

 

[Clint Eastwood]

"And 'cause never was the reason for the evening
Or the tropic of Sir Galahad"

WTF is that?

lyrics from Tin Man

 

[steelydave]

Some words from Dewey Bunnell, the man himself:

"The Tin Man was the heart; that’s why people think it was sex because the Tin Man was looking for his heart. And we all think of heart and love.

For me, I jumped to that because there was the reason for the evening or the Tropic of Sir Galahad. Sir Galahad is another love element. Sir Galahad is this dashing guy, charming. It’s very abstract, but I did have a theme in mind and it all just poured out like that, in one fell swoop.

It was mixing the worlds, and as I said about “Horse with No Name,” never forget that a writer, in this case me, is trying to rhyme things. I was trying to stay in that thought process of the Tin Man looking for a heart. He always had the heart, and he always was a loving guy and compassionate.

Sir Galahad was the same thing. “Cause never was the reason for the evening.” That’s the same line that I was trying to just say that there’s no reason for the evening. There is a cause, obviously, because the earth spins around and the sun goes down.

I was trying to allude to the evening, also, as being a time when I just can’t really define my words on that. It was a time when you are talking about from the heart. "


https://americansongwriter.com/behind-the-song-tin-man-by-america/

 

[JediJoker]

"And 'cause never was the reason for the evening
Or the tropic of Sir Galahad"

WTF is that?

America lyrics are littered with nonsense like this. "Alligator lizards in the air," anyone?

 

[sjcorne]

America lyrics are littered with nonsense like this. "Alligator lizards in the air," anyone?

From Wikipedia:

Dewey Bunnell, the song's vocalist and writer, has said that the lyric "alligator lizards in the air" in the song is a reference to the shapes of clouds in the sky he saw in 1963 while his family was driving down the coast from Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, California, where they had a flat tire. While his father changed the tire, he and his brother stood by the side of the road, watched the clouds, and saw a road sign for Ventura.

 

[Doug G.]

Oh yeah, well there were plants and birds and rocks and THINGS...so there!

Doug

 

[ar surround]

America lyrics are littered with nonsense like this. "Alligator lizards in the air," anyone?

Oh yeah, well there were plants and birds and rocks and THINGS...so there!

Weird lyrics are simply part of the America brand. I wouldn't want them without it.

BTW, the quad mix of Tin Man is a bit wanting. I enhanced it by taking the fronts, adding a bit of reverb, lowering the volume appropriately, and then mixing that back into the rear channels.

 

[fredblue]

"And 'cause never was the reason for the evening
Or the tropic of Sir Galahad"

WTF is that?

i remember auditioning a set of speakers in the 90's, the salesman was playing some demo tracks which were eliciting suitably head-nodding and chin-stroking responses from me and my buddy that i'd dragged along for the ride.

all was going well until the sales chappy earnestly said; "here comes the esoteric bit.."

at which point we all fell about laughing

maybe America were similarly going for laughs while seemingly playing it straight

 

[Doug G.]

Weird lyrics are simply part of the America brand. I wouldn't want them without it.

BTW, the quad mix of Tin Man is a bit wanting. I enhanced it by taking the fronts, adding a bit of reverb, lowering the volume appropriately, and then mixing that back into the rear channels.

I totally agree with your first statement. When my friends and I first heard "Horse With No Name", we just thought it was this wonderful, unique, sound and it was/is, weird lyrics and all.

Doug

 

[peloton]

Weird lyrics are simply part of the America brand. I wouldn't want them without it.

BTW, the quad mix of Tin Man is a bit wanting. I enhanced it by taking the fronts, adding a bit of reverb, lowering the volume appropriately, and then mixing that back into the rear channels.

You and JediJoker refer to weird/nonsense lyrics that America and other bands sing. One of my favorite bands of all time is (vintage lineup) Yes, but man, did they have some "out there" lyrics. I've read that Jon Anderson was influenced by science fiction and fantasy novels (if you believe Wikipedia) and that sounds right on the money concerning their often head scratching lyrics. However to me, that's part of their charm - I don't have to necessarily understand (make sense) of a band's lyrics. That would certainly eliminate many bands...both very good and "bad"! I view such music like movie directors who don't "wrap up everything neatly" and where you may be left pondering what certain things meant. Hey, if David Lynch was a singer also maybe he should've been a vocalist in a prog rock band!