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Doing That Scrapyard Thing Lyrics
When I was young they gave me a mongrel piano,
Spent all my time inventing the cup of tea.
Writing your name in the sea,
Banging my fav'rite head.
Missing the last bed, waving a cheery herring,
Balancing brass bands on the tip of my toe.
Phoning your home from my tree,
Drinking my fav'rite loch.
When I was old they gave me a model factory,
I met three salads out on the motorway.
Leaving your name at the door,
Breaking my fav'rite egg.
Missing the walrus, sharing my last banana,
Balancing zeppelins on the end of my nose.
Calling your name in the zoo,
Blowing my fav'rite mind.
Spent all my time inventing the cup of tea.
Writing your name in the sea,
Banging my fav'rite head.
Balancing brass bands on the tip of my toe.
Phoning your home from my tree,
Drinking my fav'rite loch.
I met three salads out on the motorway.
Leaving your name at the door,
Breaking my fav'rite egg.
Balancing zeppelins on the end of my nose.
Calling your name in the zoo,
Blowing my fav'rite mind.
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Great psychedelic weirdness, not unusual in the years of the Jack Bruce/Peter Brown songwriting collaboration, excellent phase-shifted guitar and lead guitar from Clapton, surreal lyrics and vocal by Bruce, clockwork-precise drumming by Baker. An overlooked masterpiece of acid zaniness from Cream's final studio album, released after their official breakup.
@mbrachman That would be half studio/half live final LP. Lyrics almost as weird as What A Bringdown from the same album
@mbrachman That would be half studio/half live final LP. Lyrics almost as weird as What A Bringdown from the same album
Famously a rush-job. I read that Jack Bruce called Peter Brown at 3am to give him the melody. Cream had broken up and the record company wanted three more songs for "Goodbye". Clapton contributed "Badge" and Baker contributed "What a Bringdown".
What I imagine is Brown making a cup of tea, playing the melody first on a crappy recorder, and then on a "mongrel piano" while "banging his favorite head". Looking around his flat at various random things, he just played with silly word association in the wee morning hours. The second verse seems to speak to Bruce's Scottish roots. By the third verse he's getting hungry and goes to the fridge and cracks an egg. The last verse seems like a shout-out to the Beatles (I am the Walrus and Yellow Submarine) and the newly-formed Led Zeppelin. There, he's done and ready to call Jack Bruce up at the recording studio—which has devolved into a zoo given the tense nature of the breakup—and blow his mind.
Quite a random song apparently, but I think there's themes of innosence and childhood in the first couple of verses, then of aldult life and growing up in the last two.