Sons of Champlin “Rooftop”
from Loosen Up Naturally (1969)
“I got one thing to say to the Fool on the Hill
You’re gonna feel funny on a rooftop
The man just bought your hill, tomorrow the hammers and the drills
They’re gonna take another hilltop
We’ve gotta hurry up and slow ‘em down
Otherwise we’ll all end up part of town
I don’t want to lose my hill, do you?
We have got more stoned and decadent
Not the time to change a strange predicament
I’m gonna keep my hill, are you?
It’s very easy to say, “Man that just ain’t the way”
While you’re contemplating a raindrop
And it’s all very fine to sit and smoke all the wine
But what about the teardrop?
In a world where all of us are living in
Just be sure that none of us are giving in
I don’t want to lose my world, do you?
In a word, where all of us are radical
Now is not the time for a sabbatical
I’m gonna keep my hill, are you?
I’ve got one thing to say
”
What can be said about a piece of music in which the lyrics conclude at 1:25 of a 3:47 song? It is basically a jazz/rock instrumental from one of the Bay Area’s finest psychedelic jazz/rock bands. Could the lyrics have inspired Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi? – They paved paradise and put up a parking lot – which came out just a year later. Bill Champlin went on to play with Chicago from 1981 till 2009, but the Sons have returned and he is still performing at 76.
-Alan West-
