July 27, 2016 - Julian Cope - Not Raving But Drowning (1991)

aka Not Waving But Drowning, as it was printed like this on the CD track listing by Island Records, and inspired by the haunting Stevie Smith poem of the same title. It shows as Raving in the booklet, which is how Julian Cope, clever person that he is, certainly intended it to be. The song is about a young raver who was tripping on LSD when he fell off a ship and drowned. 'Now I'm the man of importance.' Whoa.

The groovy intro lasts a whopping 1:20 before Julian starts singing. The hypnotic main riff is a ringing Dsus2 chord, with a little D-D#-E run.

This is from the incredible Peggy Suicide album. Based on a review by David Fricke in Rolling Stone I bought this album, having no idea who Julian Cope was. It became one of my favorite albums ever, and Julian became my musical guru.