# Tropic of Sir Gallahad **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 29, 2000, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tropic-of-sir-gallahad/9550 "2000-03-29T13:19:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tropic-of-sir-gallahad/9550/41 "2011-09-18T16:48:56Z")
> [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](#): > > And “the heat was hot”. dupe ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tropic-of-sir-gallahad/9550/42 "2011-09-18T16:59:15Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Thank you! I can’t tell you how much I loathe this band and every single song they made. No reason (other than too… dopey, too…strummy) I can elucidate. I just HATE them. > > But what was wrong with the Monkees getting back together for an old-age tour? I’d a paid good money for that, they put out part of the soundtrack of my long gone youth. I sometimes thought America was a Neil Young ripoff band. Mostly, I avoided thinking about them at all. At the time, the Monkees were considered unhip & too commercial by us hipsters. Now, their stuff sounds pretty good. (_Much_ better than America.) Some of the LA sessions cats who played on their first album also helped some of the “hip” bands sound like real musicians… ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tropic-of-sir-gallahad/9550/43 "2011-09-18T22:21:40Z")
When I was a kid growing up in the 70’s in the general vicinity of the actual Ventura Highway it was well ‘known’ that alligator lizards would jump out of a tree at you. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tropic-of-sir-gallahad/9550/44 "2011-09-18T23:51:09Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > This lyric, from an oldie by “America” has always bugged me. What does this mean? > “The Tropic of Sir Gallahad”? {I understand “Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man that he didn’t already have…”} “The Tropic of Cancer” and “The Tropic of Capricorn” were famous novels by Henry Miller - famous for having graphic descriptions of sex, and thus for being sought out at libraries by teenagers (like Jerry Seinfeld in one episode). Galahad, on the other hand, was legendarily chaste. So “The Tropic of Sir Galahad” is an amusing juxtaposition of “dirty” and “clean”. (that’s what comes to my mind regarding the meaning of the line - no idea of whether it’s true) ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tropic-of-sir-gallahad/9550/45 "2011-09-19T00:31:14Z")
I think America are excellent musicians and vocalists, but really, would it have killed them to hire a lyricist? ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tropic-of-sir-gallahad/9550/46 "2011-09-19T11:29:02Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > “Maybe it’s the time of year, maybe it’s the time of man…” > My money’s on time of year. Is this not from _Woodstock_ by Joni Mitchell? No obvious America reference to me. Anyway, I remember being quite pissed off after I bought their 1st album - the UK release of it didn’t have _Horse with no Name_ on it, which was all I had heard… ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tropic-of-sir-gallahad/9550/47 "2011-09-19T13:12:17Z")
[Joni Mitchell wrote ‘Woodstock’.](http://jonimitchell.com/music/song.cfm?id=75) America had nothing to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tropic-of-sir-gallahad/9550/48 "2011-09-19T17:43:54Z")
This group may have the worst all-around set of lyrics for their body of work of any group, ever. just read the lyrics to ‘Horse with No Name’ ‘Ventura Highway’, 'Tin Man". Gah. They may have been stoned, or more likely just hooked up with terribly poor writers. Songs were catchy tho. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tropic-of-sir-gallahad/9550/49 "2011-09-19T18:05:52Z")
> [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](#): > > And “the heat was hot”. …on this ever-warming globe on which we live on. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tropic-of-sir-gallahad/9550/50 "2011-09-19T18:18:21Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Originally posted by Jinx: > Well, there is that line about “The pompatus of love.” > > There there’s accusations he ripped off - I mean, was heavily influenced by a lot of other artists. Steve Miller Band sucked ass. They had the best intros and the worst lyrics I’ve ever heard. The only halfway decent tunes they did were “Fly Like An Eagle”, and _maybe_ “Keep On Rockin’ Me Baby”, although I suspect the musicians were drunk or high when they recorded. Or maybe not drunk or high enough. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tropic-of-sir-gallahad/9550/51 "2011-09-19T18:34:50Z")
Wait - I Love me some early Steve Miller. even up to “Livin in the USA”. Somebody get me a cheeseburger! ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tropic-of-sir-gallahad/9550/52 "2011-09-19T18:36:41Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > OK, what you got against Steve Miller Band? > …beyond the egotism in the “The Joker”? In the old days, SMB had a reputation for surreptitiously using pre-recorded music in their live shows. Nowadays this is pretty much par for the course in some genres, but back then, it was considered pretty jive to pretend you were playing music that was in reality coming out of a tape deck. (I say this as someone who really likes a lot of the early SMB stuff.) ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tropic-of-sir-gallahad/9550/53 "2011-09-19T19:09:14Z")
So it’s not _The ectopic of Sir Galahad_? Because I was thinkin’ hey, no problem because, you know, armor plating. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tropic-of-sir-gallahad/9550/54 "2011-09-19T22:17:47Z")
> [@Sam\_A.Robrin](#): > > …on this ever-warming globe on which we live on. …live and let fry. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tropic-of-sir-gallahad/9550/55 "2011-09-20T01:18:04Z")
Everyone’s talkin about the Wolfman’s Pompatous of Love… ---
**Author:** ![Galahad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Galahad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galahad)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tropic-of-sir-gallahad/9550/56 "2011-09-23T14:39:54Z")
It’s a Book called THE TROPICS OF SIR GALLAHAD and tells about an adventure of a lord in tropical islands after his ship wrecked. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tropic-of-sir-gallahad/9550/57 "2011-09-23T15:10:52Z")
> **[HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News](https://www.huffpost.com/?err_code=404&err_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.com%2F2011%2F07%2F27%2Fdan-peek-dead-founding-me_n_910647.html)** > > Read the latest headlines, news stories, and opinion from Politics, Entertainment, Life, Perspectives, and more. Is this his zombie returning? Sorry ---
**Author:** ![Marks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce73a5/32.png) [@Marks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marks)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tropic-of-sir-gallahad/9550/58 "2014-04-04T15:13:47Z")
It is reckless for us not to be open-minded. America and The Steve Miller Band tried to run so deep that it was unlikely that songlyrics would be able to solve themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Marks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce73a5/32.png) [@Marks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marks)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tropic-of-sir-gallahad/9550/59 "2014-04-04T19:00:20Z")
Long live GTA San Andreas !!! ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tropic-of-sir-gallahad/9550/60 "2014-04-04T19:47:38Z")
> [@Rysdad](#): > > This must not be! No! Jesus H. Tonedeaf, what’s next, a Boyce & Hart, America and 1910 Fruitgum Company Crapapalooza Tour? I realize this is an old post, but if I had replied at the time it was made, it would have been just as germane as it is now. One of the three members of America Dan Peek, left the band in 1977 for a career in Christian music. The other two members carried on and are still active today. Dan Peek died in 2011. A Boyce and Hart reunion tour seems unlikely, seeing as Tommy Boyce took his own life in 1994. As for America generally, I don’t hate them, but they’re a very long way from being a favorite of mine. Unfortunately, my partner in my acoustic duo loves them, so we do several of their songs. Not, thank God, “A Horse With No Name” — I would draw the line at that! To be fair, though, that song’s line “There ain’t no one for to give you no pain” is often brought up derisively — but in fact this locution has a long history in folk music that stretches right up through Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” (“I’m ready to go anywhere, I’m ready for to fade…”). I agree with others that America is primarily of the “These words sound good, so let’s sing them and not worry about any actual meaning” school. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tropic-of-sir-gallahad/9550.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tropic-of-sir-gallahad/9550.md?page=4)