The Epic
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Version 1 is a full studio recording, in stereo. The song was written by Larry Norman and Denny Fridkin
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Version 2 is a full studio recording, in mono
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I Love You (Brazilian mono LP, T-2924)
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lyrics version 1 and 2
High on a hill
In Canthian Green
Born to the throne of a
Bolingsworth queen
Alain duc L’Anglais
Heir to the king
And all of the land
In Canthian Green
[First two verses are sung and spoken in unison]
La la la la la
La la la la la-ah
And on the night of that
Bolingsworth day
Deep in the woods
Through Rivington Glade
The woodcutter Charles
And Kristin his maid
Gave life to the girl child
Tory Kincaid
La la la la la
La la la la la-ah
Children of fate
Caught in a dream
Under the stars
Of Canthian Green
Alain duc L’Anglais
Son of a king
Bravest of all in
Canthian Green
One of his princely pleasures are
Riding his horse both near and far
Out in the early morn’ he goes
In his gounting clothes
Rides through the woods with the speed of wind
Stops for a drink in a shady glen
Then takes note of a lovely maid
Bathing in the shade
Hides among the watercress
Staring at her lovely breasts
Wonders if he’s in a dream
She’s the most beautiful maid I've ever seen
Tory ah
I must tell her my name
And must ask her the same
We will talk and in time
She’ll decide to be mine
[Says something in a foreign language]
We will talk and in time
She’ll decide to be mine
[More foreign speech]
Courting maidens is my pleasure
Lovely ladies at my leisure
Tory is no easy treasure
When I’m with her nights in flower
Reasons not have I to doubt her
But I lock her in the tower
Throw away the key
You can’t go running all over the country
There’s perilous dangers
Mysterious strangers
And fire breathing dragons
Dragons, dragons
I’m going hunting in the country
After something
In the country
And when I’m hunting in the country
There’s just one thing
I must do
Ah ah ah
Oh [Very faintly]
One, two, three [Spoken]
Just come back, I killed the dragon
Fixed his wagon good
And his fire’s gone out
And he’s dead no doubt
You were always in my dreams
And on my mind
Though afraid l’d die
It’s so good to see
You’ve come back again
Uh back again to me
You were always in my dreams
And on my mind
Though afraid l’d die
It’s so good, oh so good to see, yeah
You’ve come back again, man, back again to me
Oh mamma
It’s so good to see
You’ve come back to me
You’ve come back again
Back again to me
Alain killed the dragon
In Canthian Green
Born to the throne of a
Bolingsworth queen
Alain duc L’Anglais
Heir to the king
And all of the land
In Canthian Green
[First two verses are sung and spoken in unison]
La la la la la
La la la la la-ah
And on the night of that
Bolingsworth day
Deep in the woods
Through Rivington Glade
The woodcutter Charles
And Kristin his maid
Gave life to the girl child
Tory Kincaid
La la la la la
La la la la la-ah
Children of fate
Caught in a dream
Under the stars
Of Canthian Green
Alain duc L’Anglais
Son of a king
Bravest of all in
Canthian Green
One of his princely pleasures are
Riding his horse both near and far
Out in the early morn’ he goes
In his gounting clothes
Rides through the woods with the speed of wind
Stops for a drink in a shady glen
Then takes note of a lovely maid
Bathing in the shade
Hides among the watercress
Staring at her lovely breasts
Wonders if he’s in a dream
She’s the most beautiful maid I've ever seen
Tory ah
I must tell her my name
And must ask her the same
We will talk and in time
She’ll decide to be mine
[Says something in a foreign language]
We will talk and in time
She’ll decide to be mine
[More foreign speech]
Courting maidens is my pleasure
Lovely ladies at my leisure
Tory is no easy treasure
When I’m with her nights in flower
Reasons not have I to doubt her
But I lock her in the tower
Throw away the key
You can’t go running all over the country
There’s perilous dangers
Mysterious strangers
And fire breathing dragons
Dragons, dragons
I’m going hunting in the country
After something
In the country
And when I’m hunting in the country
There’s just one thing
I must do
Ah ah ah
Oh [Very faintly]
One, two, three [Spoken]
Just come back, I killed the dragon
Fixed his wagon good
And his fire’s gone out
And he’s dead no doubt
You were always in my dreams
And on my mind
Though afraid l’d die
It’s so good to see
You’ve come back again
Uh back again to me
You were always in my dreams
And on my mind
Though afraid l’d die
It’s so good, oh so good to see, yeah
You’ve come back again, man, back again to me
Oh mamma
It’s so good to see
You’ve come back to me
You’ve come back again
Back again to me
Alain killed the dragon
I had given co-writing to others because they were in the room when I wrote a song but Denny was the only one I had ever actually sat down with and wrote a song with. This was the second song Denny had ever written, though later he would write the unreleased "Floor Talk" and the song "Apple Cider".
My musical concept of the song we were going to write is that it would span the musical styles from Gregorian group singing ("Alain duc Langlois, son of a king"...) to post-modern jazz ("Just came back I killed the Dragon, fixed his wagon good, and his fire's gone out..." and "All the while you were away I prayed and prayed...")
The story would be an allegory, and no allegory is thoroughly aligned to its actual meaning or it would be so literal that it wouldn't be poetry. Alain is the Son of his Father the king. He comes down out of his position and eminence. His future bride, Toria Kincade, (Toria meaning Victoria or Victory, Kin meaning related to others; Mankind, Cade meaning Lamb, Langlois is The Lion). He loves "mankind" but this world is plagued by the "dragon", the evil one, Satan. To save the one he loves, his bride to be, and establish his kingdom he must do battle with the dragon. Though he is wounded during this battle, he destroy Satan. ("Alain killed the dragon.") Boom. The end. The end of the song. The end of the album. The first rock opera ever written.
People! toured with The Who for more than a month and Pete Townshend was very interested in the song, especially the dramatics of the song. The Battle scene was acted out. The sounds of the dragon were done simply ... by tipping, pounding, jarring the guitar amp and letting it "feed-back" just a little. The bass contributed to the lunging and plunging, Denny added dynamics to the sound. The whole band was busy with movement. Townshend said he wanted to write a rock opera and the next year The Who released "Tommy". A few months after its release Pete and Denny were travelling and Pete said "Well, I did it. I wrote a rock opera," and he told Denny he had been directly inspired by "The Epic". In later years he would say he got the idea elsewhere, inspired by another band. Twenty years later he was saying it was three different English bands. It's show biz, baby. You can't admit you nicked the idea off of an obscure, one hit wonder.
My musical concept of the song we were going to write is that it would span the musical styles from Gregorian group singing ("Alain duc Langlois, son of a king"...) to post-modern jazz ("Just came back I killed the Dragon, fixed his wagon good, and his fire's gone out..." and "All the while you were away I prayed and prayed...")
The story would be an allegory, and no allegory is thoroughly aligned to its actual meaning or it would be so literal that it wouldn't be poetry. Alain is the Son of his Father the king. He comes down out of his position and eminence. His future bride, Toria Kincade, (Toria meaning Victoria or Victory, Kin meaning related to others; Mankind, Cade meaning Lamb, Langlois is The Lion). He loves "mankind" but this world is plagued by the "dragon", the evil one, Satan. To save the one he loves, his bride to be, and establish his kingdom he must do battle with the dragon. Though he is wounded during this battle, he destroy Satan. ("Alain killed the dragon.") Boom. The end. The end of the song. The end of the album. The first rock opera ever written.
People! toured with The Who for more than a month and Pete Townshend was very interested in the song, especially the dramatics of the song. The Battle scene was acted out. The sounds of the dragon were done simply ... by tipping, pounding, jarring the guitar amp and letting it "feed-back" just a little. The bass contributed to the lunging and plunging, Denny added dynamics to the sound. The whole band was busy with movement. Townshend said he wanted to write a rock opera and the next year The Who released "Tommy". A few months after its release Pete and Denny were travelling and Pete said "Well, I did it. I wrote a rock opera," and he told Denny he had been directly inspired by "The Epic". In later years he would say he got the idea elsewhere, inspired by another band. Twenty years later he was saying it was three different English bands. It's show biz, baby. You can't admit you nicked the idea off of an obscure, one hit wonder.
Denny Fridkin (April 2015):
"Unfortunately or fortunately, I was the only one to personally talk to Pete Townsend when we toured with them in '68. Larry was not on the tour and already moved to LA. Over the years Pete may forgotten our chat, but he watched us doing the EPIC from the wings. I had told him that we were influenced by their "A Quick One " on the Happy Jack album; he said how much he enjoyed the Epic and said when he got back to England he was going to write a Rock Opera, which as I have read in interviews; he had already written bits and pieces that became a part of Tommy. Years later I saw them at the Palladium in Hollywood; asked their road mgr to say I was outside and he remembered me and came out to say hi. No communication with him since."
Denny Fridkin (March 2015, Facebook post on Pete Townsend's page):
"Go back to July 28 1968. Miami Marine venue on a floating stage. We, were fortunate to open for The Who. The band was 'People" and I was the drummer. We ended our set with 'The Epic' a rock opera I penned with Larry Norman of the same band. I sat next to you on a plane to the next gig. You had seen us perform and told me when you got back to England you were going to pen a full on rock opera. I am not looking for validation of this story, but I have decided that I want to be your drummer the next time you tour. I fancied my style after Keith from the beginning."
"Unfortunately or fortunately, I was the only one to personally talk to Pete Townsend when we toured with them in '68. Larry was not on the tour and already moved to LA. Over the years Pete may forgotten our chat, but he watched us doing the EPIC from the wings. I had told him that we were influenced by their "A Quick One " on the Happy Jack album; he said how much he enjoyed the Epic and said when he got back to England he was going to write a Rock Opera, which as I have read in interviews; he had already written bits and pieces that became a part of Tommy. Years later I saw them at the Palladium in Hollywood; asked their road mgr to say I was outside and he remembered me and came out to say hi. No communication with him since."
Denny Fridkin (March 2015, Facebook post on Pete Townsend's page):
"Go back to July 28 1968. Miami Marine venue on a floating stage. We, were fortunate to open for The Who. The band was 'People" and I was the drummer. We ended our set with 'The Epic' a rock opera I penned with Larry Norman of the same band. I sat next to you on a plane to the next gig. You had seen us perform and told me when you got back to England you were going to pen a full on rock opera. I am not looking for validation of this story, but I have decided that I want to be your drummer the next time you tour. I fancied my style after Keith from the beginning."