The final track on the eponymous "Emerson, Lake & Palmer" debut LP. The first edition was released by Island Records in the UK in November 1970 (quickly reaching No. 1), and by Cotillion (Atlantic) in the USA in January 1971 (making No. 9 in their Billboard album charts). Apparently, Greg Lake started writing this very "English folk" sounding song when he was just 12 years old. "I was round my friend's house and he had a broken down old guitar," Lake explained on his 'Songs of a Lifetime' tour.
"In fact, it only had one string on it. Luckily, it was the bottom string. With a matchstick, I picked out this tune. It made me think, you know, perhaps I could play guitar. So it came to Christmas and I said to my mom, 'Do you think there's any chance of me having a guitar for Christmas?' And she said, 'No.' You know, we were pretty poor. So that was it. I just accepted it. But anyway, Christmas came, and there it was, the guitar. And of course I was thrilled.
"The first four chords I learned were D, A minor, E minor, and G. With these chords I wrote this little song. It's a kids' song, really. And it was a medieval fantasy, really. And I never wrote it on a piece of paper. I just remembered the words." Arguably their best known song, this almost did not happen for the band. On the last day of recording the album, 'Emerson, Lake & Palmer' did not have enough material to fulfill their contractual requirement of 21 minutes per album side.
Greg Lake explained: "Everybody looked round the studio, you know, 'Has anybody got any more material?' And there was deadly silence. So I said, 'Well, look, you know, I've got this little thing I wrote when I was a kid. And if there's nothing else, maybe that would do.' You know. So Keith said, 'Well, you play it, then, let's have a listen.' So I played it, and nobody liked it. So I said, 'Yeah, but you know, the thing is we've got nothing else.'
"Keith said, 'Well, you record it on your own and I'm going to go down the pub.' So off he went down the pub. So Carl Palmer and I, we recorded the first part together, just drums and acoustic guitar. And it sounded pretty dreadful. But then I put a bass on it and it sounded a bit better. And then I went and put some more guitars on it, and an electric guitar solo. Then I put these harmonies on, these block harmonies. And in the end it sounded pretty good, it sounded like a record."
@leejohnson The addition to the tale I have heard is the Moog solo was just Keith playing around with the new keyboard having just taken it out of the box that day, and was never intended to appear on the final recording. Also the record company released the song as a single in the US, without Emerson's knowledge. So ELP turned up in NY ready to woo our transatlantic cousins with their brand of classical/prog bombast - only to find Lake's folksy piece being played on the radio all the time.
14 Comments (since 28 Jun 2014)
leejohnson
The final track on the eponymous "Emerson, Lake & Palmer" debut LP. The first edition was released by Island Records in the UK in November 1970 (quickly reaching No. 1), and by Cotillion (Atlantic) in the USA in January 1971 (making No. 9 in their Billboard album charts). Apparently, Greg Lake started writing this very "English folk" sounding song when he was just 12 years old. "I was round my friend's house and he had a broken down old guitar," Lake explained on his 'Songs of a Lifetime' tour.
leejohnson
"In fact, it only had one string on it. Luckily, it was the bottom string. With a matchstick, I picked out this tune. It made me think, you know, perhaps I could play guitar. So it came to Christmas and I said to my mom, 'Do you think there's any chance of me having a guitar for Christmas?' And she said, 'No.' You know, we were pretty poor. So that was it. I just accepted it. But anyway, Christmas came, and there it was, the guitar. And of course I was thrilled.
leejohnson
"The first four chords I learned were D, A minor, E minor, and G. With these chords I wrote this little song. It's a kids' song, really. And it was a medieval fantasy, really. And I never wrote it on a piece of paper. I just remembered the words." Arguably their best known song, this almost did not happen for the band. On the last day of recording the album, 'Emerson, Lake & Palmer' did not have enough material to fulfill their contractual requirement of 21 minutes per album side.
leejohnson
Greg Lake explained: "Everybody looked round the studio, you know, 'Has anybody got any more material?' And there was deadly silence. So I said, 'Well, look, you know, I've got this little thing I wrote when I was a kid. And if there's nothing else, maybe that would do.' You know. So Keith said, 'Well, you play it, then, let's have a listen.' So I played it, and nobody liked it. So I said, 'Yeah, but you know, the thing is we've got nothing else.'
leejohnson
"Keith said, 'Well, you record it on your own and I'm going to go down the pub.' So off he went down the pub. So Carl Palmer and I, we recorded the first part together, just drums and acoustic guitar. And it sounded pretty dreadful. But then I put a bass on it and it sounded a bit better. And then I went and put some more guitars on it, and an electric guitar solo. Then I put these harmonies on, these block harmonies. And in the end it sounded pretty good, it sounded like a record."
leejohnson
http://www.discogs.com/Emerson-Lake-Palmer-Emerson-Lake-Palmer/release/819730
tpjdavies
Great story.
21schizoid
...and a big fave of mine...
albakirk
Great tune, and story!
zodat
Thanks,I have always liked this song and I really enjoyed the background.
ian38018
@leejohnson The addition to the tale I have heard is the Moog solo was just Keith playing around with the new keyboard having just taken it out of the box that day, and was never intended to appear on the final recording. Also the record company released the song as a single in the US, without Emerson's knowledge. So ELP turned up in NY ready to woo our transatlantic cousins with their brand of classical/prog bombast - only to find Lake's folksy piece being played on the radio all the time.
Sid_Bonkers
Loved this track back in the day but never knew the back story before, fascinating....Thanks for both.
lynn200
nice history...brilliant track..
kompani101
Fabulous. Nice moog ending.