Traffic: Traffic

Traffic Oct 1, 1968 UK: ISLAND ILP 981 and US: UA UAS 6676
# Preview Title Duration
1 You Can All Join In (Mason)
Here's a little song you can all join in with
It's very simple and I hope it's new
Make your own words up if you want to
Any old words that you think will do, yeah
Yellow, blue, what'll I do? Maybe I'll just sit here thinking
Black, white, stop the fight, does one of these colours ever bother you?

Here's a little dance you can all join in with
It's very simple and I hope it's new
Make your own steps up if you want to
Any old steps that you think will do
Left, right, don't get uptight, keep in line and you'll be alright
Clap hands, move around, make sure no one puts you down

Here's a little world you can all join in with
It's very simple and I hope it's new
Make your own life up if you want to
Any old life that you think will do
Love, yeah, it's nothing new, there's someone much worse off than you are
Help me set them free, just be what you want to be
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Songs of Polygram Internationl, Inc. (BMI)
03:34
2 Pearly Queen (Capaldi/Winwood)
I bought a sequined suit from a pearly queen
And she could drink more wine than I'd ever seen
She had some gypsies' blood flowing through her feet
And when the time was right she said that I would meet
My destiny

I traveled round the world to find the sun
I couldn't stop myself from having fun
And then one day I met an Indian girl
And she made me forget this troubled world
We're living in

I had a strange dream. In my hair
I saw a pearly queen lying there
And all around her feet flowers bloomed
But they were made of silk and sequins two by two
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F.S. Music Ltd (PRS) & Island Music Ltd. (PRS)
All rights on behalf of F.S. Music Ltd. admin by
Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp (BMI)
04:20
3 Don't Be Sad (Mason)
Don't be sad, I just want to see you get through
All I have, it's yours if you think it helps you
Good or bad, there's no one can really judge you
You just have to come to your own conclusion
There is only one who means more than all to me
And through the lady, in a dream I've learned to live with everyone
Mother, father, all my friends, have seen me have my day
But now I see that there's no need in trying to run, though it's been fun
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Songs of Polygram Internationl, Inc. (BMI)
03:24
4 Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring (Capaldi/Winwood/Wood)
We are not like all the rest, you can see us any day of the week
Come around, sit down, take a sniff, fall asleep
Baby, you don't have to speak
I'd like to show you where it is but then it wouldn't even mean a thing
Nothing is easy, baby, just please me, who knows what tomorrow may bring?
If for just one moment you could step outside your mind
And float across the ceiling, I don't think the folks would mind
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F.S. Music Ltd (PRS) & Island Music Ltd. (PRS)
All rights on behalf of F.S. Music Ltd. admin by
Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp (BMI)
03:11
5 Feelin' Alright (Mason)
Seems I've got to have a change of scene
'Cause every night I have the strangest dreams
Imprisoned by the way it could have been
Left here on my own or so it seems
I've got to leave before I start to scream
But someone's locked the door and took the key

You feelin' alright? I'm not feelin' too good myself
Well, you feelin' alright? I'm not feelin' too good myself

Well, say, you sure took me for one big ride
And even now I sit and wonder why
That when I think of you I start to cry
I just can't waste my time, I must keep dry
Gotta stop believin' in all you lies
'Cause there's too much to do before I die

Don't get too lost in all I say
Though at the time I really felt that way
But that was then, now it's today;
I can't get off so I'm here to stay
Till someone comes along and takes my place
With a different name and, yes, a different face
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Songs of Polygram Internationl, Inc. (BMI)
04:16
6 Vagabond Virgin (Capaldi/Mason)
Tell me how you want me to be, then look again and you will see
That I'm still the same love
Think me into any shape, your twisted mind has no escape
But don't be ashamed, love, it's just a game, love
But don't be ashamed, love, it's just a game, love
You can learn how to play
Born like you were in a terrible mess, didn't know what it was to have a new dress
You just wanted to scream out my name
Till somebody said, 'Let me take you to bed'
And with money and lies they filled up your head
You were barely thirteen, a child from the villages
So fresh on the scene
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Songs of Polygram Internationl, Inc. (BMI)
05:21
7 Forty Thousand Headmen (Capaldi/Winwood)
Forty thousand headmen couldn't make me change my mind
If I had to take the choice between the deafman and the blind
I know just where my feet should go and that's enough for me
I turned around and knocked them down and walked across the sea

Hadn't traveled very far when suddenly I saw
Three small ships a-sailing out towards a distant shore
So lighting up a cigarette I followed in pursuit
And found a secret cave where they obviously stashed their loot

Filling up my pockets, even stuffed it up my nose
I must have weighed a hundred tons between my head and toes
I ventured forth before the dawn had time to change its mind
And soaring high above the clouds I found a golden shrine

Laying down my treasure before the iron gate
Quickly rang the bell hoping I hadn't come too late
But someone came along and told me not to waste my time
And when I asked him who he was he said, 'Just look behind'

So I turned around and forty thousand headmen bit the dirt
Firing twenty shotguns each and man, it really hurt
But luckily for me they had to stop and then reload
And by the time they'd done that I was heading down the road
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F.S. Music Ltd (PRS) & Island Music Ltd. (PRS)
All rights on behalf of F.S. Music Ltd. admin by
Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp (BMI)
03:15
8 Cryin' to Be Heard (Mason)
Somebody's cryin' to be heard
And there's also someone who hears every word

Sail across the ocean with your back against the wind
Listening to nothing save the calling of a bird
And when the rain begins to fall, don't you start to curse
It may be just the tears of someone that you never heard

Reflected in the water is a face that you don't know
And isn't it surprising when you find out it's your own?
And so you try to find out whether it is friend or foe
And what it wants to know, and what it wants to know

Well, you're wrapped up in your little world and no one can get in
You sit and think of everything, then you wonder where you've been
You put the blame on someone that you've hardly ever known
And then you realize too late the blame was all your own
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Songs of Polygram Internationl, Inc. (BMI)
05:14
9 No Time to Live (Capaldi/Winwood)
As time begins to burn itself upon me
And the days are growing very short
People try their hardest to reject me
But in a way, their conscience won't be caught

Something's happening to me day by day
My pebble on the beach is getting washed away
I've given everything that was mine to give
And now I'll turn around and find that there's no time to live

So often I have seen that big wheel of fortune
Spinning for the man who holds the ace
There's many who would change their places for him
But none of them have ever seen his lonely face
------------------------------------------------------------------------
F.S. Music Ltd (PRS) & Island Music Ltd. (PRS)
All rights on behalf of F.S. Music Ltd. admin by
Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp (BMI)
05:10
10 Means to an End (Capaldi/Winwood)
Well, you told me you were sorry, when I needed your advice
And I was too confused to see the meaning
Like Peter, you disowned me with a voice as cold as ice
And before the fire died and they were leaving

I'm a means to an end and everybody's friend
To a richman, poorman, beggar man or thief
From my heart I send a messenger to bend
And take your mind from agony and grief

Oh, sweet silence without kings and queens
No one here has ever reached your centre
Better to be quiet than to speak without a thought
Or you may lose the meaning of your venture
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F.S. Music Ltd (PRS) & Island Music Ltd. (PRS)
All rights on behalf of F.S. Music Ltd. admin by
Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp (BMI)
02:39
1 Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush (Capaldi/Mason/Winwood/Wood)
Turn around every way, looking back another day
The race is on, I'm out to win, before I start I must begin

Here we go round in circles to nowhere
Mulberry bush just won't let me see
If I am lonely when I arrive there
Mulberry bush, will you shelter me when I am naked and cold?
Yet no one must see, oh they're looking at me
When I am straight I feel that my world is real

With people running round and round, bringing one another down
People running round and round, bringing one another down

Here we go round, I'm looking for someone
Mulberry bush is calling to me
Red lights and green ones, I can't be nervous
Mulberry bush, your bright eyes I see

Here we go round in circle to nowhere
Mulberry bush just won't let me see
If I am lonely when I arrive there
Mulberry bush, will you shelter me?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1968 EMI Unart Catalog Inc. (BMI)
02:45
2 Am I What I Was or Am I What I Am (Capaldi/Winwood/Wood) 02:36
3 Withering Tree (Capaldi/Winwood)
Withering tree, bearing no fruit
Never will see an evergreen suit
Reaching right out, out for the sun
Broken old branches, fall one by one
Into the arms of eternity

Fighting the fish up from the deep
Oh how I wish the lake would not sleep
Following dreams into the blue
There you will see, hidden from view
Trees in the arms of eternity
Into the arms of eternity
------------------------------------------------------------------------
F.S. Music Ltd (PRS) & Island Music Ltd. (PRS)
All rights on behalf of F.S. Music Ltd. admin by
Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp (BMI)
02:57
4 Medicated Goo (Miller/Winwood)
Pretty Polly Possum what's wrong with you?
Your body's kind a weak
and you think there's nothing we can do
Good Golly Polly shame on you
Cause Molly made a stew that'll make a newer girl out of you

So follow me, its good for you
That good old fashioned Medicated Goo
Ooo, aint' it good for you?
My own homegrown recipe'll see you thru

Freaky Freddy Frolic had some, I know
He was last seem picking green flowers in a field of snow
Get ready Freddy, they're sure to grow
Mother nature just blew it
and there's nothing really to it I know

Aunty Franny Prickett and Uncle Lou
They made some Goo
Now they really sock it to their friends
Frantic friends and neighbors charge the door
They caught a little whiff
Now they're digging it and seeking more
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F.S. Music Ltd (PRS) & Island Music Ltd. (PRS)
All rights on behalf of F.S. Music Ltd. admin by
Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp (BMI)
03:39
5 Shanghai Noodle Factory (Capaldi/Fallon/Miller/Winwood/Wood)
In a Shanghai Noodle Factr'y
Place where I once used to be
No where doing nothing
People there were made of steel
Tiny cogs in one big wheel
Turning never learning

Had to make a break
And soon I had to wake up feeling stronger, feeling stronger
In my island of dreams, with impossible schemes

In a Shanghai Noodle Factr'y
Place where I once used to be
No where doing nothing
People there were made of cans
Packed like roosters in a pen
Crowing, never knowing

Had to make a break
I knew I couldn't fake it any longer
Everything just aches
Soon I'd have to wake up feeling stronger, feeling stronger
In my island of dreams, with impossible schemes
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F.S. Music Ltd (PRS) & Island Music Ltd. (PRS)
All rights on behalf of F.S. Music Ltd. admin by
Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp (BMI)
05:03

 

The bonus tracks on the new U.S. remastered version differ from the U.K. re-issue. The U.S. bonus tracks are Withering Tree (stereo), and rare mono single mixes of You Can All Join In and Feelin' Alright. The 2000 re-masters were assisted by Jim Capaldi.

 

 

PLAYERS:

 

Steve Winwood: Keyboard

Chris Wood: Bass, Sax, Flute

Jim Capaldi: Drums

Dave Mason: Guitar

 

NOTES:

 

Produced By Jimmy Miller

Engineers: Glyn Johns, Eddie Kramer, Brian Humphries, Terry Brown

Photography: Richard Polak, Gered Mankowitz

Original Album Design: Jim Capaldi

 

Original Liner Notes:

 

The U.A. Man wants some big underground D.J. to write the liner notes. Traffic don't really care whether there are liner notes are not. And I'm just thinking that not enough people know about Traffic. Not enough people have ever driven with Dave, or had him sit on their bed, and play an acoustic, and sing four new songs, and ask if you dig them; and suddenly you don't know how to say "yes" that really means it. Not enough people have ever met Chris Wood, or any other saxophone player free of trying to top "the Bird", or Stilt, or Coltrane; blowing as honestly hard that the roots of his hair fly out. Fewer people have ever seen him sleep. No one else ever went to Birmingham, that weekend with Steve, to see the Cream right after they formed, and at a time when Steve was getting into coming out. Not too many people have seen him play, while too many who have seen him, have not heard him. Too many wonder how Jim can sweat so much, or if the drops will begin to fall off in time. Not enough people know that nothing falls off of Jim out of time.

 

And the U.A. Man still thinks that some underground D.J. should write the liner notes.

It's all a shame!

 

-Jimmy Miller

 

 

SINGLES:

 

Traffic: "Medicated Goo" / "Shanghai Noodle Factory" UK single released in 12/68

Traffic: "Feelin’ Alright?" / "Withering Tree" US single released in ??/68

Traffic: "Pearly Queen" US single released in ??/68