Search - Incredible String Band :: Be Glad for the Song Has No Ending/Liquid Acrobat

Includes some jigs on fiddle, whistle, and spoons,

Bruce P. Barten | Saint Paul, MN United States | 02/18/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I have found the text for songs contained in the film `Be Glad for the Song Has No Ending.' A two-CD set from The Incredible String Band contains the music from the film on Disc One and `Liquid Acrobat As Regards the Air' on Disc Two. There are no words listed as the text for the song `See All the People,' recorded March 1968, Royal Festival Hall. When I was watching the film, I thought the song would be called "Ha," because I had no idea what song it was until one of the guys started to sing "Ha" and the other joined in and they certainly didn't think of anything to say after that.



When I was listening to the film, I could make out the meaning of some of the phrases, but the complicated sentence structure of some verses escaped me. Looking at the text now, songs make sense in a way that flipflops around the basic ideas I picked up before. The second song, `All Writ Down,' by Mike Heron, is about some memory:



I fully understood

That you'd leave when your ship came by

And I fully understood

You had a purpose more high

Than to give a little schoolboy

To give a little schoolboy his first love

But oh did I cry, and did I cry

For I thought that those days would just fade and die

But every cell in my body had it all writ down

Every smile and every frown

And oh those good-time girls, oh those good-time girls

That book ft sometimes makes me glad

That book ft sometimes makes me sad

But oh - it don't read bad



I cursed you to your face when you turned to go

But I see now that you did just right

And I bow to you low

For you gave a little schoolboy

You gave a little schoolboy his first love...



According to CD liner notes by Alan Robinson dated February 2004, the song `Veshengro' by Robin Williamson mentions "Jali Uddin Rumi, a Sufi poet and mystic who founded the whirling dervish order in Konya, Turkey" in the line "I wore the coat of patches with Jalal beneath the stars."



The text of `Waiting for You' is long, with the line "Waiting for the world to begin" in three places and some attempts at humor.



I'm a turnip head, I'm a lately wed

And I'm waiting for you

More tea vicar? (Hold that tiger)

...

I'm waiting for God to take a holiday.



I bought these CDs in 2006 and mainly listened to Disc Two when I wanted to hear `Cosmic Boy,' which Likky sings while Mike Heron plays piano. "You look so high, and I shall dance for you, the sweetest dance that I can do" is the way it sounds. The other songs are more complicated. The `Evolution Rag' has a narrative in "the illusionist the circus man" style which makes "Evolution up the slopes of the sea" "While a million years pass by And we get on our way" as much explanation as we get."