4 Meanings
Add Yours
Share
Q&A

What A Bringdown Lyrics

Dainties in a jam-jar parson's colour in the sky.
Water in a fountain doesn't get me very high.
Moby Dick and Albert making out with Captain Bligh.
So you know what you know in your head.
Will you, won't you, do you, don't you know when a head's dead?
What a bringdown!

Winter leader Lou is growin' 'Ampsteads in the North.
Betty B's been wearin' daisies since the twenty-fourth.
Wears a gunner when there's one more coming forth.
And you know what you know in your head.
Will you, won't you, do you, don't you want to go to bed?
What a bringdown!

There's a tea-leaf about in the family,
Full of nothin' their fairy tale.
There's a tea-leaf a-floatin' now for Rosalie,
They'll believe in ding-dong bell.

Take a butchers at the dodginesses of old Bill.
Aristotle's orchestra are living on the pill.
One of them gets very very prickly when he's ill.
And you know what you know in your head.
Will you, won't you, do you, don't you want to make more bread?
What a bringdown!
Questions and Answers

Ask specific questions and get answers to unlock more indepth meanings & facts.

4 Meanings

Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.

Cover art for What A Bringdown lyrics by Cream

I think that this song is about how everyday life is getting boring, unless its just their drugs. ahaha

Cover art for What A Bringdown lyrics by Cream

Sorry, but the lyric is: Little Leta Lou's been growing hampsteads in the north (she's growing nuggies, what with being a teen and all that). Nettie Bea's been wearing daisies since the twenty-fourth (need no for explanation, we all know what it means when a young lady wears daisies). Where's it gonna end, there's one more coming forth (Ginger's son, who was yet to be born). Thank you for attention to this, and for "Od's sake get it right!

@JohnBader hampsteads are Hampstead Heath =teeth! and daisies are daisy roots = boots they were only kids at the time

Cover art for What A Bringdown lyrics by Cream

Nah. Ginger provides a plethora of rhyming slang in this piece. It's more or less a song of his family situation the year Cream broke up. Great band, but it didn't really bring the bacon home. The Baker didn't make the bread, so to speak. Most of the money stayed at the record company, as always.

So 'ere it goes: "Dainties in a jam-jar.. " and so on is 'bout 'is car (jam-jar = bad car) drugs and economical situation. "Winter leader Lou is growin' 'Ampsteads in the North." - she'd getting' teeth (Hampstead heath = teeth) "Betty B's been wearin' daisies since the twenty-fourth." She needs new boots - daisy roots "There's a tea-leaf about in the family, Full of nothin' their fairy tale." Ginger himself - a rock star, but also Tea leaf - thief because of his bad habits, living in the fast lane, but he needs to care for his family - not so easy.

"Take a butcher's..." Take a look , butcher's hook

I could explain it all but it's more fun if you google every slang phrase - so funny, so brilliant, so bitter-sweet. Ginger is at his best very under-rated lyricist, but he uses lots and lots of rhyming slang which makes his songs a little hard to understand.

Cover art for What A Bringdown lyrics by Cream

As a teen in the '70s, I owned the published sheet music book for Cream: Goodbye. For better or worse, here's what the lyrics were, at least according to that book. If you read them while listening to the song, you'll see that they sound about right. (Mind you, this is from 50-year-old memory, so one or two lines may be slightly off, but on the whole I think they're what was published.)

By the way, I'm no expert on cockney rhyming slang, but it's well known that "take a butcher's" means "take a look" (look = "butcher's hook"). Also, I assume most people know that "old Bill" is UK slang for the police.

Danger's in a jam-jar parson's collar in the sky. Water in a fountain doesn't get me very high. Moby Dick and Albert making out with Captain Bligh. So you know what you know in your head. Will you, won't you, do you, don't you know when a head's dead? What a bringdown!

Little leader Lou is growing abstracts in the North. Betty B's been wearing daisies since the twenty-fourth. Where's it gonna end there's one more coming forth. And you know what you know in your head. Will you, won't you, do you, don't you want to go to bed? What a bringdown!

There's a tea-leaf about in the family Who'll end up in the Bowery and else There's a tea-leaf afloat in the Rosie Lee Help! Ring ding-dong bell!

Take a butchers at the dodgy minces of old Bill. Aristotle's orchestra are living on the pill. One of them gets very very prickly when he's ill. And you know what you know in your head. Will you, won't you, do you, don't you want to make more bread? What a bringdown!

[Edit: Correcting typo]

Positive
Subjective
Enjoyment
1970s
Music Memory
Lyrics Interpretation
Cockney Slang
Nostalgia