Smax #3 - "3: The Grasshopper Green Burying-Band"

[laughing_tree]

Comments

[shadur]

... Those are some mighty big footsteps.

[michael_ellis_day]

So...the titles for each issue of SMAX were lines from the song "Octopus" by Syd Barrett, but Moore seems to have mangled or misheard the lyric here. The actual lyric was partly lifted from the poem Rilloby-Rill by Sir Henry Newbolt, which goes:

"Madame, you see before you stand,
Heigh-ho! never be still!
The Old Original Favourite Grand
Grasshopper's Green Herbarian Band
And the tune we play is Rilloby-rilloby."

For whatever reason, Barrett changed that to:

"And the tune we play is In Us Confide."

Listening to the song you can tell exactly why Moore wanted to reference it; it has that combination of whimsy and threat he was aiming for in the story, the sense that things are rushing forward but about to spin out of control. But still, he blew that line.

[laughing_tree]

Yeah, I wondered about that. Maybe he did find out he’s been hearing it wrong but decided to keep it as is because he thought it fit his story better...?