Sun King and Albatross
 

[On the musicbyday site they are going through all the Beatles albums and compiling quotes of what was said about each song by the band members. This was included for Sun King]

http://www.musicbyday.com/abbey-road...own-words/574/

“Sun King”

Lennon: When we came to sing it, to make them different we started joking, saying ‘cuando para mucho’. We just made it up. Paul knew a few Spanish words from school, so we just strung any Spanish words that sounded vaguely like something. And of course we got ‘chicka ferdi’ - that’s a Liverpool expression; it doesn’t mean anything, just like ‘ha ha ha’. One we missed: we could have had ‘para noia’, but we forgot all about it. We used to call ourselves Los Para Noias.


Harrison: At the time, Albatross was out, with all the reverb on guitar. So we said, ‘Let’s be Fleetwood Mac doing Albatross, just to get going.’ It never really sounded like Fleetwood Mac… but that was the point of origin.

Well, obviously George would think it didn't sound like Fleetwood Mac, he didn't think "My Sweet Lord" sounded like the Shirelles' "He's So Fine" either! :lol: But, that cost him a bundle in royalties & court costs.

Play 'em back to back ("Sun King" & "Albatross" that is)...they're pretty damned close for those first 8 bars or so.

other "albatross" soundalikes
 

Do you see any similarities in Jimi's "Waterfall"?

Yeah, this is a pretty well-known quote from Harrison regarding the Sun King - Albatross connection.

Never thought about any similarities between those two (assume you mean Hendrix's "May This Be Love"), and don't really hear very much similarity myself. Do you think Peter Green was influenced by that track when he wrote "Albatross"? Don't know that he's ever mentioned anything like that when he's talked about writing it.

Peter has mentioned the Santo and Johnny song "Sleepwalk" was the inspiration for 'Albatross'. It's the Hawaiian theme. If you've ever seen the end of "La Bamba" when Ritchie Valens' family finds out that he was killed, "Sleepwalk" is the song playing in the background.

That's right, slipkid - I've read that Peter credited "Sleepwalk" as one of the inspirations for "Albatross", and it's easy to understand why. But I don't believe I've ever read that he spoke of any other specific songs as having inspired it. As mentioned, I don't hear much similarity with "May This Be Love" but that's just me.

Don't worry, me too.
However, I do hear some resemblance of May This Be Love by Jimi Hendrix (after 2.00 minutes) with Little Dreamer by Peter Green.

John Lennon said...
 

...yes, they were inspired by Albatross for Sun King.
We, the FM, were off to a British gig one night in 69 (I think) and we were listening to a radio interview with John Lennon where the dj was quizzing him about every track on Abbey Road, after playing it.
They came to Sun King, and it seemed that the dj was miffed that the Beatles (having a rep for exceptional originality!) would stoop to 'copy' Albatross like that! John said: "So what? We like Fleetwood Mac, and that's a good tune."
Hope that's of interest.
Jeremy.

By the way, I know that George openly acknowleged that he took the tune of 'My Sweet Lord' from 'He's So Fine', and willingly paid the compensation. Sad that a story like that gets lost in favour of sensationalism.

I always thought the McVie-Nicks-Buckingham vocal mix could have done wonders with the harmonies on Sun King, thereby making it an FM-inspired song in more than one sense.

John Lennon's "The Dirty Mac"
 

I know Mac is slang for raincoat in England, but I always thought Lennon's makeshift band name had a double meaning, as in a tip of the hat to Fleetwood Mac.

For those that don't know John Lennon put together an all-star band composed of Eric Clapton on guitar, Mitch Mitchell on drums, and Keith Richards on bass. They played at the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus which was filmed 12/68. The song they performed was "Yer Blues" from the Beatles 'White Album'. After Jeremy's recollections on what Lennon said I thought it was appropriate.

I was just being overly facetious with my comment about George. (been in a kind of goofy mood like that most of the day today) Apologies, if I offended.

yer blues
 

lt think this is a link to "The Dirty Mac"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAjdRHzH4M8



doodyhead

Then after you did that, play "Sun King" and "Little Dreamer", especially the beginnings, forget the lyrics. Now there's a resemblance....

Jeremy, if you're still following this discussion, I have a question. Were you or any of the other Fleetwood Mac members fans of Jimi Hendrix? I'm just curious....I hear very little of his influence on any of the band's music (maybe some in Peter's "Fast Talkin' Woman Blues", possibly in "Underway") but of course that doesn't really mean that any of you were or were not fans. I've read that Peter once jammed with Jimi at a club but unfortunately it was not recorded.

Fans of Hendrix?
 

With the exception of 'Hey Joe', 'The Wind Cries Mary' and 'Little Wing', I personally wasn't a fan of Hendrix.
Pete told me that he had modelled the 'Curly' instrumental, which he recorded while with Mayall, after Hendrix. I know that Pete did not like the way he played blues, however.
Other than that I don't remember us talking too much about him. Remember, we were die-hard Chicago blues purists at the time!