Great Speckled Bird the band

Subject: RE: Great Speckled Bird the band
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 19 Jul 22 - 08:30 AM

"When we first put together the Great Speckled Bird, we had some very adverse reaction," Sylvia told me in our 2001 interview. "We had some situations where the minute people saw pedal steel on stage, they would get up and walk out. They thought of us as folk music, as the acoustic thing, and the idea of an electric instrument on stage was an anathema to certain people who, for whatever reason, just couldn't deal with it."

The last verse of Flies in the Bottle appears to be Ian's response to the protests of their former fans. But it is indistinct.

They all love the changes
Till we get them down home?
We keep earning? new? checks?
Excluding home
And time rolls along
Till one day we're told;
We're all alone here...

Subject: RE: Great Speckled Bird the band
From: GUEST,Mike Maginn
Date: 17 Jul 22 - 11:43 AM

Anyone have the last verse lyrics to Flies in the Bottle. Hard to hear.

Subject: RE: Great Speckled Bird the band
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 25 Aug 18 - 01:22 PM

We Sail

This shows the lyrics written out by Sylvia for the album cover.

But they were sung by Ian - with one change, I think.

Subject: RE: Great Speckled Bird the band
From: GUEST,jmb
Date: 24 Aug 18 - 02:03 PM

Thanks again - just happened to hear this and wanted to be sure of the lyrics

Subject: RE: Great Speckled Bird the band
From: GUEST,drWord
Date: 30 Jan 17 - 06:49 PM

I love your anecdote, henryp!
to which I might add:
Ian Tyson sometimes* introduces 'Someday soon' with the line,
"Here's the song that bought the ranch..."

keep pickin'
dennis

    at least he did at the Manitou Opera House [Manitoba] a couple of years ago.

Subject: RE: Great Speckled Bird the band
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 30 Jan 17 - 08:10 AM

We Sail by Sylvia Tyson

These are the words that I hear;

We sail and we sail together
The name of our ship is the new beginning
And our sails are a hopeful colour
Filled with the wind of changing times

We sail and the sea around us
It winks and it swells as a great heart beating
All the storms of the night are passing
How can we sink when we can fly?

I met Mr Fricker, Sylvia's father, in the white goods department of the Bay in Chatham, Ontario. He didn't like cowboys. You can hear all about it in 'Someday Soon'.

Subject: RE: Great Speckled Bird the band
From: Thomas Stern
Date: 29 Jan 17 - 04:13 PM

point of information:
Ian & Sylvia recorded a bunch of albums for VANGUARD,
2 for MGM, 1 for AMPEX, and 2 for COLUMBIA.
The AMPEX album was titled GREAT SPECKLED BIRD, and did not
list Ian & Sylvia on the cover but were credited in the gatefold
album with other band members.
AMPEX A 10103 Great Speckled Bird LP 1969
A1 Love What You're Doing CHild
A2 Calgary
A3 Trucker's Café
A4 Long Long Time To Get Old
A5 Flies in the Bottle
A6 Bloodshot Beholder
B1 Crazy Arms
B2 This Dream
B3 Smiling Wine
B4 Rio Granade
B5 Disappearing Woman
B6 We Sail
Produced by Todd Rundgren, A Bearsville Record Production.

The album has been reissued on CD with an extra track
(New Trucker's Café) by Collectors Choice in 2003, and VICTOR(Japan) 2008.

The 2nd Columbia Album KC 31337 "You Were On My Mind"
credited Ian & Sylvia & The Great Speckled Bird.

Thomas.

Subject: RE: Great Speckled Bird the band
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Jan 17 - 11:44 AM

Thanks, Rich. We Sail is a fine, fine, song.

Subject: RE: Great Speckled Bird the band
From: rich r
Date: 18 Feb 99 - 07:12 PM

Here's one:

WE SAIL by Sylvia Tyson

We sail and we sail togehter
The name of our ship is the new beginning
And our sails are a hopeful color
Filled with the winds of changing times
We sail, and the sea around us it waves
and it swells as a great heart beating
All the storms of the night are passing
How can we sink when we can fly.

(repeat)

rich r

Subject: Great Speckled Bird the band
From:
Date: 18 Feb 99 - 02:31 PM

I'm looking for lyrics to songs from the Ian and Sylvia band project known as Great Speckled Bird any help would be awesome....thanks, wyatt you can e-mail at [e-mail]