Album Review — The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter by The Incredible String Band
Got a real “marmite” record on review here. The incredible Incredible String Band record is frankly amazing. It’s just very different. It’s fairly indescribable. The closest description would be a sort of folk, sometimes termed psychedelic folk, but this really doesn’t do justice to the band who through a charming disregard for conventional musical forms and instrumentation stumbled upon a unique style all of their own.
However you like to describe it, The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter polarises listeners — many love it, many hate it. It has enjoyed much reverence from musicians and critics alike. Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan and John Peel were fans. McCartney selected the album as his favourite of 1968. Led Zeppelin were influenced by it, particularly around the time of their III album. It frequently features in “greatest albums of all time” lists.
Yet many find it unlistenable.
Anything that elicits such extreme views has got to be worth a listen.
In the style of a good court room drama I’m honoured to take the role of the defending barrister arguing the case for this album. I will present three pieces of evidence through which I will demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt that The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter is in fact an amazing record. In fact I will do this by an examination of the first three tracks only.
Exhibit A
I first present the opening song Koeeoaddi There as Exhibit A. There are enough ideas in this 5 minute piece for a whole career let alone a single song. The structure of the song, like a lot of Incredible String Band songs is all over the place but in my opinion it holds together and works. It’s actually a miniature masterpiece!
The lyrics present a description of childhood to which many of us can relate, particularly the “shadowy fingers on the curtains at night”:
Born in a house where the doors shut tight
Shadowy fingers on the curtains at night
Cherry tree blossom head high snow
A busy main road where I wasn’t to go
I used to sit on the garden wall
Say hello to people going by so tall
Hallo to the postman’s stubbly skin
Hallo to the baker’s stubbly grin
There is also a mention of writer Robin Williamson’s enigmatic girlfriend Licorice in a Dr. Seuss inspired verse:
But me and Licorice saw the last of them one misty twisty day
Across the mournful morning, moor motoring away
Singing ladybird, ladybird what is your wish
Your wish is not granted unless it’s a fish
Your wish is not granted unless it’s a dish
A fish on a dish is that what you wish
There is even a sort of chorus which is the catchiest part of the song:
Met together in a garden fair
Put in a basket bound with skin
If you answer this riddle
If you answer this riddle, you’ll never begin
The girls in the band are an interesting case. They were Christina “Licorice” McKechnie and Rose Simpson. I’m not sure whether they were more important as girlfriends or musicians — certainly it appears they were the former before the latter and rumour has it Rose was only invited to join the band as Licorice had been invited too. By all accounts there was a fair bit of rivalry between Williamson and Mike Heron, both personally and professionally. The girls didn’t get on either!
Exhibit B
Exhibit B is The Minotaur Song which is an enjoyable call and response marching song. It features Richard Thompson and Judy Dyble from Fairport Convention. Roll up your sleeves and sing-a-long:
Straight from the shoulder
I think like a soldier
I know what’s right and what’s wrong
He knows what’s right and what’s wrong!
I’m the original discriminating buffalo man
And I’ll do what’s wrong as long as I can
He’ll do what’s wrong as long as he can!
I live in a labyrinth under the sea
Down in the dark as dark as can be
I like the dark as dark as can be
He likes the dark as dark as can be!
Exhibit C
Exhibit C is the thirteen minute epic A Very Cellular Song, a kind of circular suite that opens with a wavering organ riff and harpsichord refrain which ebbs and flows, and leaves and returns throughout.
The lyrics are out of this world, literally:
Nebulous nearnesses cry to me
At this timeless moment someone dear to me
Wants me near, makes me high
I can hear vibrations fly
Through mangoes, pomegranates and planes
All the same
When it reaches me and teaches me
To sigh
Who would mouse and who would lion
Or who would be the tamer?
And who would hear directions clear
From the unnameable namer?
Who would skip and who would plot
Or who would lie quite stilly?
And who would ride backwards on a giraffe?
Stopping every so often to laugh
Amoebas are very small
Oh ah ee oo
There’s absolutely no strife
Living the timeless life, I don’t need a wife
Living the timeless life
If I need a friend I just give a wriggle
Split right down the middle
And when I look there’s two of me
Both as handsome as can be
Oh, here we go slithering, here we go
Slithering and squelching on
Oh, here we go slithering, here we go
Slithering and squelching on
Oh ah ee oo
There’s absolutely no strife
Living the timeless life
Black hair, brown hair feather and scale
Seed and stamen and all unnamed lives that live
Turn your quivering nerves in my direction
Turn your quivering nerves in my direction
Feel the energy projection of my cells wishes you well
May the long time sun shine upon you
All love surround you
And the pure light within you
Guide you all the way on
I have heard the last verse before as a yoga mantra. I had assumed this was a traditional mantra but apparently it was lifted from this original ISB song.
The spiritual leader of Kundalini Yoga, Yogi Bhajan, once came into a room where a group of yoga students were singing the ISB song. Yogi asked them to keep it up, and from then on requested them to sing it after each of his classes. It quickly became a tradition that continues today at the end of every Kundalini Yoga class taught throughout the world. Quite an endorsement.
Closing Remarks
It is time to rest my case, your honour. I hope I have made a case strong enough for listeners to investigate, or reappraise, this most unusual and fascinating album.
After Hangman the band fell within the clutches of Scientology and despite some decent later albums and continuing good sales (much of the proceeds they invested in the Church) they gradually lost their edge:
Soon the new compositions began to lose their wild melodic beauty. In the studio, there were fewer moments of surprise and inspiration.
Joe Boyd
The band broke up in 1974, both leading members going on to take up solo careers with the occasional short lived reunion. The enigmatic Licorice sadly went missing in the late 80s, presumed dead.
To read more about the Incredible String Band, along with all the other artists Joe Boyd managed and produced in the late 60s — Fairport Convention, John Martyn, Nick Drake, early Pink Floyd etc, I highly recommend his brilliant and very readable White Bicycles memoir.
