The Moody Blues - Departure / Ride My See-Saw (1968)

Heard below is actually a combination of two songs, “Departure” and “Ride My See-Saw”. As the opening tracks on the group’s third album, In Search of the Lost Chord, the songs are both somewhat unique on their own. “Departure,” written by the group’s drummer Graeme Edge, is a rare example of Edge performing lead vocals (or in this case, narration) for the group. “Ride My See-Saw,” on the other hand, was written by the group’s bassist John Lodge and was one of the first rock singles ever to be recorded on 8-track tape multi-track recording.

When “Ride My See-Saw” was released as a single in October 1968, the maniacal laughter spilling over from the previous track was removed from its beginning. The versions combined together below are from the July 1968 album release and melt into one another as originally intended.



The Moody Blues - Departure / Ride My See-Saw (1968)

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“Departure” Lyrics:

Be it sight, sound, smell, or touch
There's something inside that we need so much
The sight of a touch or the scent of a sound
Or the strength of an oak with roots deep in the ground
The wonder of flowers to be covered and then to burst up
Through tarmac to the sun again or to fly to the sun
Without burning a wing to lie in a meadow
And hear the grass sing; to have all these things
In our memory's hoard and to use them
To help us, to find
[laughter]

“Ride My See-Saw” Lyrics:

Ride
Ride my see-saw
Take this place
On this trip
Just for me

Ride
Take a free ride
Take my place
Have my seat
It's for free

I worked like a slave for years
Sweat so hard just to end my fears
Not to end my life a poor man
But by now, I know, I should have run

Run
Run my last race
Take my place
Have this number
Of mine

Run
Run like a fire
Don't you run in
In the lanes
Run for time

Left school with a first class pass
Started work, but as second class
School taught “one and one is two”
But right now, that answer just ain't true

My world is spinning ‘round
Everything is lost that I found
People run, come ride with me
Let's find another place that's free

Ride
Ride my see-saw
Take this place
On this trip
Just for me

Ride
Take a free ride
Take my place
Have my seat
It's for free

Ride my see-saw
Ride- ride- ride my see-saw
Ride my see-saw
Ri-…

The Moody Blues - Question (1970)

In 1964, they were making R&B cover hits on both sides of the Atlantic. By 1967 they were heavily fusing psychedelic rock with classical music on albums such as Days of Future Passed. By 1970, they were heavily defining the emerging genre of progressive rock, which at that time was referred to as art rock. By the time they split up in 1974, this group had been considered a dominant force in music for a full decade. Then, to top it all off, they got back together again in 1977 to continue recording and touring to this very day.

This song, with its anti-Vietnam chorus, comes from the band’s first progressive rock album, A Question of Balance. The group was looking to create an album that could be played in concert and chose to lead off the album with this nearly six-minute track. It featured no dubbing, no double-tracking, and was recorded in one take.



The Moody Blues - Question (1970)

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Lyrics:

Why do we never get an answer
When we're knocking at the door?
With a thousand million questions
About hate and death and war

It's when we stop and look around us
There is nothing that we need
In a world of persecution
That is burning in its greed

Why do we never get an answer
When we're knocking at the door?
Because the truth is hard to swallow
That's what the wall of love is for

It's not the way that you say it
When you do those things to me
It's more the way that you mean it
When you tell me what we’ll be

And when you stop and think about it
You won't believe it's true
That all the love you've been giving
Has all been meant for you

I'm looking for someone to change my life
I'm looking for a miracle in my life
And if you could see what it's done to me
Lose the love I knew
Could safely lead me through

Between the silence of the mountains
And the crashing of the sea
There lies a land I once lived in
And she's waiting there for me

But in the gray of the morning
My mind becomes confused
Between the dead and the sleeping
And the road that I must choose

I'm looking for someone to change my life
I'm looking for a miracle in my life
And if you could see what it's done to me
To lose the love I knew
Could safely lead me to
The land that I once knew
To learn as we grow old
The secrets of our souls

It's not the way that you say it
When you do those things to me
It's more the way you really mean it
When you tell me what we’ll be

Why do we never get an answer
When we're knocking at the door?
With a thousand million questions
About hate and death and war

It's when we stop and look around us
There is nothing that we need
In a world of persecution
That is burning in its greed

Why do we never get an answer
When we're knocking at the door?