ELP Humour

richardh wrote: Dean wrote: By some amusing coincidence while clearing out the shed today I found an old ELP tour programme that belongs to my wife (from the days before I knew her... some dark secrets are best kept quiet methinks)... it's undated but I believe it comes from 1972. Now, why should this warrant a mention in this thread you may ask... well... it's one of the strangest tour programmes I've ever seen... I've found a pdf of it on the interwebs for all to read: www.timstinchcombe.co.uk/synth/broch/elp_300dpi.pdf  "One day, we'll look back on this and smile."   All ELP haters will enjoy reading it. (actually I quite enjoyed it as well)   I guess we have to assume that one of two things were at play here a) Dean's theory that this would seem all very amusing and ironic one day or b) the band actually had a sense of humour and didn't take themselves as seriously as is portrayed ( obviously I subscribe to this)   Truth is probably a bit of both. Emerson did have that comment 'The guy wears an armadillo costume while strutting about, must be some sort of ass' ( or something like that) framed and nailed to his toilet wall.   Of course everything ( apart from reviews) was going well for ELP at the time so 'Option C' is that they didn't care that much . However I know that Emerson ( and probably the other 2 as well) were not happy with a lot of the reviews so hey ho..

ExittheLemming wrote: ^ I just wish that those who routinely lambasted the trio for their alleged dead-pan earnestness would all read this programme and reconsider. It's perfectly OK to loathe ELP's music but calling them 'humorless' is very far wide of the mark indeed...

One of the funniest lines in prog rock appear in 'Officer and a Gentleman':

And for years thought central heating,
Was for just old people's homes

Yes, forgotten about that one - it's a cracker!  Reminds me of that 'peach and peacock' line in 'Pirates'.  It's the way he tells 'em

Whether intentional or unintentional the line that amuses me is from a Lake lyric, and I'm sure we all know which one I am referring to when I question Greg's sudden request for a ladder. I guess we'll never know why the acquisition such an item of equipment was so imperative or exactly what use he intended it for. Perhaps the lost love who was subject of that particular song was considerably taller than he, maybe he was proposing to use it to reach the moon mentioned in an earlier verse or the more depressing notion is that the sadder and madder he became the more the thought of using it to attach a rope to the bough of a tree weighed heavily on his mind... all these things are possible, and more besides. It could be just a nonsense line designed to bemuse and confuse the listener, or it could be as some have suggested, just a witty riposte that Mr Emerson shouted out in rehearsal. With the scallywags that are Emerson, Lake and Palmer we can never be sure.

Edited by Dean - April 07 2015 at 11:37

Dean wrote: Whether intentional or unintentional the line that amuses me is from a Lake lyric, and I'm sure we all know which one I am referring to when I question Greg's sudden request for a ladder. I guess we'll never know why the acquisition such an item of equipment was so imperative or exactly what use he intended it for.

To be honest, as silly as the lyrics sounds, I always imagined it as a bit of a metaphor for wanting to climb out of the pit of despair that he was obviously in.

Excuse me if I fail to find cheesy and sleazy lyrics to be humorous. 

It's humorous to me that Keith Emerson was the subject of a People magazine article in the '90s(?).

I remember discussing 'Love Beach' on the back seat of the bus going to college and one of the punks piped up 'ELP is to your lot wot the Boomtown Rats are to our lot'!  I thought that was quite funny - and true (at the time).

^ reminds me that I played Keith Emerson's Nighthawks LP at 45rpm by mistake when I first got it but it took me 10 minutes to realise! ( this is honestly true )