soft machine “dedicated to you but you weren’t listening”
from: soft machine Volume two, 1969
“Famous parabolic versions
Songs that promise:
Beauty, sleep, love, sadness.
Do I dream that something’s missing?
Hungry, thirsty, open off-peak mind
Give me the truth, give me the truth,
give me the truth, tell me
Songs and versesa,
Handy captions,
Photographs of
Real-life action, horror, madness.
Can it be that something’s happening?
Wash me, paint me, but please don’t taint me
Give me a chance, give me chance,
give me a chance
When I was young, the sky was blue
And everyone knew what to do
But now it’s gone, the telly’s here
Mass media, the sewer too
Universal maximillion
Eight rare cases
Chickenpox and crawling gladness
Seemingly it’s nothing happening
Cure my doctor
don’t swallow him down
Give me the cure, give me the cure,
give me the cure
The night was cool, the moon was bright,
The air was clear with oxygen
The stars were there, and in my eyes
Were thousands of chrysanthemums
Don’t use magnets
Geophysics carry you back
Wholesome, healthfood, homepride
Satisfied
Something outside gives out hunger
Face my mirror
Electricity”
Though the focus of The Bop Shop is on a single song per day (with a few inexcusable exceptions) it should be noted that we often drag them from the full context of the record from which they come. In the case of today’s example from Soft Machine Two which is put together like a BMW carburetor, we carefully extracted it from its original setting to glow on its own. That’s the marvy Robert Wyatt on vocals. The band went through many personnel changes but this combo including Mike Ratledge piano and Hugh Hopper on bass is top gear.
