But I think the explanation is a little off, or at least leaves out an important aspect of the song. Reading the lyrics, such as:
“You’ve got that pure feel, such good responses.
You’ve got that rainbow feel but the rainbow has a beard.”
it seems clear to me it’s essentially saying “you’re very nice but I’m not gay, thanks all the same”. Maybe that’s why Cream felt they should obfuscate with an inscrutable acronym?
I don’t really see it. Are you saying this because they mention a beard? Or is there other references. This would depend on when “beard” became a code word.
I don’t think they’re using “beard” as a code word in the same sense it is now (a female companion for a gay male to make him look straight). Remember this was written in the late 60s when most young males had beards.
I just think they are saying “you’re a great person and if you were female I’d go with you, but as you are male and I’m straight it’s not going to happen”. IOW, they’re using the moustache and beard as a signal that the subject of their song is male, otherwise from the tone of teh song you would assume they were female.
“Running to me a-cryin’ when he throws you out.
Running to me a-cryin’, on your own again.
You’ve got that pure feel, such good responses,
But the picture has a mustache.”
I don’t see these interpretations. A picture with a moustache has been disfigured - it is fine underneath, but there is something wrong with it. A rainbow with a beard sounds similar to me. So, this could mean the girl who is crying to the singer is beautiful and fine, but has a fatal flaw. I need to check the liner notes on my boxed set.
My understanding was that Disraeli Gears came out of a pun session - another I heard was “Elephants Gerald”.
And BTW - is Tuba implying that Cream covered the Those Were the Days quoted? If so, shame. Those Were the Days on Wheels of Fire is a song about Atlantis, and has nothing to do with that old standard. it also has a short and perfect Clapton solo, and some wicked drumming.
As a 60s survivor, I’m sure that TubaDiva is referring to the 1968 hit “Those Were the Days” by McCartney protege Mary Hopkins.
Although beard was certainly a term used in Hollywood for a gay male’s date before the 60s, I’m not sure how widely known that term was. Besides, in 1968 the issue of the day was the beards worn by hippies. You might also reference the practice of “naughtily” drawing mustaches and beards on pictures. Not to mention Marcel Duchamp’s L.H.O.O.Q. 1919. Remember how many rock stars of the era went to art college.
I can’t prove what Bruce and Brown were thinking, but if nobody even mentions a gay interpretation until 35 years after the song was released it’s probably not true.
You all are obviously not very familiar with some of Jack Bruce’s other song titles, which are similarly whimsical (Rope Ladder to the Moon, Never Tell Your Mother She’s Out of Tune),
Looking for meaning in his titles and lyrics is a fool’s errand. Sometimes a song just is what it is and says what it says: go try and analyze Theme From An Imaginary Western–it’s about exactly what it says it about, it says what it means and means what it says.
Not everything is code. I suspect that “I’m So Glad” is about being, you know, glad. And “Politician” is pretty staightforward. Just because the lyrics don’t make manifest and obvious sense, they don’t necessarily have to be squeezed: sometimes they’re just turnips.
I saw a Behind the Music program about this album a couple of years ago. They specifically went into Swlabr and what it meant. Some sheepish looks from Jack Bruce and a tangental reference to Dali later, and it was revealed that there were (gasp!) drugs involved when it was written.
Swlabr is one of my favorite songs and I feel better just letting it flow rather than trying to pin it down. Lyrics are separate and distinct from poetry or other verse in that they must move with the ebb and flow of the music they are tied to. This sometimes makes for unusual word and sentence structures.
Gee, I was smart seven years ago, wasn’t I?
Pete Brown, who wrote the lyrics, was a poet, and so used odd imagery. The songs in “Song for a Tailor” are good examples, and the Cream boxed set has an early, Cream, version of “The Bringdown”, a song for that album.
I’m So Glad is not by Bruce and Brown, but rather a blues song, all about not being glad, of course.
So, was there any reason why they couldn’t use the full title instead of the abbreviation? I mean, other than it being kind of wordy. I don’t see it as potentially offensive, as opposed to something like The Fugs’ “CCD”* for instance.