Van Joy of a Toy, Kevin Ayers’ eerste soloalbum na zijn vertrek uit Soft Machine. Bijna al zijn vroegere bandmaatjes deden mee en zelfs Syd Barrett maakte zijn opwachting in de studio. Sommige mensen kunnen Ayers niet uitstaan – want een overdosis (typisch Engelse) whimsiness – maar ik vind Ayers’ gevoel voor humor en de relaxte, luie klanken van Joy of a Toy heel aanstekelijk. Intelligente ‘feel good music’ waar ik altijd weer een goed humeur van krijg: People say that they want to be free/They look at him and they look at me/But it’s only themselves they’re wanting to see.
People say that they want to be free
They look at him and they look at me
But it’s only themselves they’re wanting to see
And everybody knows about it
We talk all night and we’re all turned on
We believe we heard him singing his song
Telling us all there was work to be done
And everyone sung a chorus of ‘I am the walrus‘
Yes disneyland has come to town
Everyone’s dressed and standing around
Alice is wearing her sexiest gown
But she doesn’t want you to look at her
Beautiful people are queuing to drown
They wait for the lifeguard to put on his crown
But he’s up at the other end of town
Trying to talk to the mirror
The scientist talks and he knows what he means
He sits on the floor and has beautiful dreams
Then he gets brought down by a woman who screams
But he knows it’s only a record oh yes it is
His brave new girl stops feeding the ants
And looks at him with her septic pants
She still knows how to make him dance
And forget about emancipation it’s just imagination
And you and I we sit and hum
We know something’s got to come
And get us off our endless bum
There’s probably one in the bathroom
Or even in the hall
I don’t know anymore than you do
In fact I don’t know anything at all
Uitgelichte afbeelding: By TimDuncan – Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3896767