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Preface: Since this happens to be a leap year, we'll honor all the leaplings out there by doing a week of songs about enchanted races of beings and fantastic worlds. Do you believe?
Monday (2/25/08): Black Sabbath - Jack The Stripper/Fairies Wear Boots [Paranoid, 1971]
Comments: It's ironic for heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath to do a song about fairies, but there it is. Although, in my fantasies, fairies usually don't wear boots (or anything else). They typically come in the form of small female humans with insect wings. But be careful, they've been known to play tricks on unsuspecting mortals. "Yeah, fairies wear boots and you gotta believe me. I saw it, I saw it with my own two eyes."
Tuesday (2/26/08): Elf - Never More [Elf, 1972]
Comments: "Can't remember how I got from here to there. Isn't any reason. Plain and simple - I can't recall any more." Before making a name for himself as a heavy metal king, Ronnie James Dio played in a good time rock 'n' roll band named for his small stature. Contrary to certain modern interpretations, in the fantasy world, elves are usually depicted as a noble and graceful race parallel to humans, living long lives peacefully among nature. Usually tall, thin, and with long hair, they are often good archers, or possess some amount of magic ability.
Wednesday (2/27/08): Pink Floyd - The Gnome [The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, 1967]
Comments: Most people seem to think of Santa's helpers as elves, but the way they're usually depicted is really more similar to a type of gnome. Gnomes are an earth-based race of small stature, possibly related in some way to dwarves. Today's song is Syd Barrett's own ode to the gnome. "Little gnomes stay in their homes - eating, sleeping, drinking their wine."
Thursday (2/28/08): Ten Years After - The Hobbit (Live) [Live At The Fillmore East, 1970]
Comments: Ric Lee (no relation to Alvin) shows us his chops on Ten Years After's take on the rock standard drum solo song, accompanied by a kickass guitar riff on the intro and the outro. In the fantasy world of Middle Earth, Hobbits - also known as Halflings - are little people who live simple lives in the countryside, but have been known to possess the courage and honor of heroes, belying their humble reputation.
Friday (2/29/08): The Doors - The Changeling [L.A. Woman, 1971]
Comments: Leap Day only comes once every four years. A changeling isn't quite the same as a leapling, but I figure it's a close enough match. This is the rocking track that kicks off The Doors' last album, L.A. Woman. Once upon a time, people believed that every now and then a human child would be switched with a faerie child as part of some mischevious plot. This 'changeling' would be different from normal children somehow. Historians think that maybe this fantastic belief was used to explain the deformities of children that weren't otherwise understood. Sometimes I feel like a changeling - the legendary kind - out of place with this world, like I belong somewhere else. Like I'm not even human... "I'm a changeling - see me change!"
Saturday (3/01/08): King Crimson - Moonchild [In The Court Of The Crimson King, 1969]
Comments: I'd say this track is pretty avant-garde, and probably too taxing for the average listener - but if you have an open mind, you might at least give it a respectful try. Have you ever gone outside in the middle of the night, when everyone else is asleep, on a night when the full moon is riding high in the sky? Particularly when the weather is warm, and the moonlight is streaming through the canopy of leaves above, filtering around you like a luminescent mist. If you have, then you know what it's like to frolic with a moonchild. "Lonely moonchild, dreaming in the shadows of a willow. Playing hide and seek with the ghosts of dawn."
Sunday (3/02/08): Led Zeppelin - The Battle Of Evermore [Untitled, 1971]
Comments: Led Zeppelin live up to their reputation of being Tolkien fans and bring out the fantasy in full on this track once described by Robert Plant as "medieval punk rock". Sounding like it would fit right in during the Battle of Helm's Deep, this song utilizes otherworldly harmonies and a triple-necked mandolin for a very tense and ancient folky feel. "The pain of war cannot exceed the woe of aftermath. The drums will shake the castle wall. The Ringwraiths ride in black."