This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
It's very far away
It takes about a half and a day to get there
If we travel by my uh, dragon-fly
No it's not in Spain
But all the same you know, it's a groovy name
" And the wind's just right.
Hey !
Hang on my darling
Hang on if you wanna go
Here it's a really groovy place
It's uh, just a little bit of uh, said uh, Spanish Castle Magic.
The clouds are really low
And they overflow with cotton candy
And battle grounds red and brown
But it's all in your mind
Don't think your time on bad things
Just float your little mind around
Look out ! Ow !
Hang on my darling, yeah
" Hang on if you wanna go
Get on top, really let me groove baby with uh Just a little bit of Spanish Castle Magic. Yeah
baby,
here's some
Yeah, ok babe, ok
It's still all in your mind babe
Oww !
Yeah !
Ah !
Hang on my darling, hey
Hang on, hang on if you wanna go
And it's happening, oh no. damn hey ! That's right baby, listen
A little bit of Spanish Castle Magic
Hey !
Little bit of Spanish Castle Magic
" Hey hey !
I can't uh, sing this song, no
" Yeah, ok baby
Get on baby
" Yeah
It's all in your mind baby
Little bit of daydream here and there
Oh !
Yeah !
Ooh ! yeah !
Ow !
Ev'rything's gonna be alright babe!
It takes about a half and a day to get there
If we travel by my uh, dragon-fly
No it's not in Spain
But all the same you know, it's a groovy name
" And the wind's just right.
Hey !
Hang on my darling
Hang on if you wanna go
Here it's a really groovy place
It's uh, just a little bit of uh, said uh, Spanish Castle Magic.
The clouds are really low
And they overflow with cotton candy
And battle grounds red and brown
But it's all in your mind
Don't think your time on bad things
Just float your little mind around
Look out ! Ow !
Hang on my darling, yeah
" Hang on if you wanna go
Get on top, really let me groove baby with uh Just a little bit of Spanish Castle Magic. Yeah
baby,
here's some
Yeah, ok babe, ok
It's still all in your mind babe
Oww !
Yeah !
Ah !
Hang on my darling, hey
Hang on, hang on if you wanna go
And it's happening, oh no. damn hey ! That's right baby, listen
A little bit of Spanish Castle Magic
Hey !
Little bit of Spanish Castle Magic
" Hey hey !
I can't uh, sing this song, no
" Yeah, ok baby
Get on baby
" Yeah
It's all in your mind baby
Little bit of daydream here and there
Oh !
Yeah !
Ooh ! yeah !
Ow !
Ev'rything's gonna be alright babe!
Lyrics submitted by , edited by epiwoosh
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
Sunglasses at Night
Corey Hart
Corey Hart
In the 1980s, sunglasses were a common fashion for people who wanted to adopt a "tough guy" persona (note all the cop shows from that era -- Simon & Simon, Miami Vice, etc. -- where the lead characters wore shades). So I think this song is about a guy who wears shades as a way of hiding his insecurity after learning that his girlfriend is cheating on him. He's trying to pretend that he's a "tough guy" to hide the fact that his girlfriend's affair is disturbing him.
Guy's spanish castle magic was and still is a very potent type of weed gown only in Anna Lucia Spain. Listen to the song with head phones on and right before jimi says "a little bit a" he says "hit".
you guys are dumb, this song is about the first club that jimi played in. " It takes about a half and a day to get there" they are talking about the car they used to drive them theyr it would sometimes break down and then it would take a long time to get there
@gage1 -- Correct. There was a club in Seattle (or near it) I think where Jimi played his first gigs.
This song owns, this song I think is about going ot a castle of magic? idk about drug use be responsable.....
gage is right. does every song hendrix does have to be about drugs? its just a great song.
this song is awesome.
I figure this song is mainly just psychedelia in terms of the lyrics. The only line that really interests me is about the "battlegrounds red and brown". The red is obviously blood (and anger, violence, warfare, etc) but I wonder what the brown is. It could be brown like a dry dead field, meaning perhaps that the philosophy that leads to war is dry and dead. I think it may also represent the corpses on the battleground.
this song is so awesome. I really really like the one on the BBC sessions, freakin rocks
keep in mind the effects of acid trips can last up to two days \"It\'s very far away It takes about a half and a day to get there\" could refer to the duration of the trip. Then the whole verse about \"The clouds are really low And they overflow with cotton candy And battle grounds red and brown But it\'s all in your mind Don\'t think your time on bad things Just float your little mind around Look out ! Ow !\" He\'s just describing a bit of a trip from before, and the battle grounds red and brown may just be part of that trip that turned bad for a moment because through the song he tells her not to worry and that everything\'s gonna be alright, and don\'t think your time on bad things. When he says \"get on top, really groove me baby...\" he could very well be talking about sex with his girl while tripping... it really does enhance the experience. I hope nobody dares to say Hendrix wouldn\'t do acid. That would just be insane.
gage1 is kind of right. it is about his first gig he played. but not about his car. "takes half a day to get there" is just a line. it has no meaning about how long it actually took to get there. the Spanish Castle was a club in northern Seattle, where Jimi grew up
this songs about a place he used to play at before he got big called The Spanish Castle. And the dragonfly refers to the car he took down there.