Glam Rock Rules! The Slider by T. Rex is one of my favourite Glam Rock albums, and my favourite song from it is "Ballrooms of Mars", which was also my favourite song from the album back in those times whence it stems. Marc Bolan died in car accident, and in a way, it seems he did soundingly so, as I could not imagine him as an aged person. No phrases here about those who die young. Bolan was simply cool in an era with producer-pop on the one hand and so called progressive music and art rock on the other, word. Ballrooms of Mars features everything that was great in T. Rex: Bolan's soft voice with just the right amount of reverb, laid-back slow-rock tempo, a guitar solo based upon just a few notes, and cryptic lyrics with a load of nice allusions and alliterations like lizard leather boots, ROCK:
you gonna look fine
be primed for dancing
you're gonna trip and glide
all on the trembling plane
your diamond hands
will be stacked with roses
and wind and cars
and people of the past
i'll call you thing
just when the moon sings
and place your face in stone
upon the hills of stars
and gripped in the arms
of the changeless madman
we'll dance our lives away
in the ballrooms of mars
you talk about day
i'm talking 'bout night time
when the monsters call out
the names of men
bob dylan knows
and i bet alan freed did
there are things in night
that are better not to behold
you dance
with your lizard leather boots on
and pull the strings
that change the faces of men
you diamond browed hag
you're a gutter-gaunt gangster
john lennon knows your name
and i've seen his
be primed for dancing
you're gonna trip and glide
all on the trembling plane
your diamond hands
will be stacked with roses
and wind and cars
and people of the past
i'll call you thing
just when the moon sings
and place your face in stone
upon the hills of stars
and gripped in the arms
of the changeless madman
we'll dance our lives away
in the ballrooms of mars
you talk about day
i'm talking 'bout night time
when the monsters call out
the names of men
bob dylan knows
and i bet alan freed did
there are things in night
that are better not to behold
you dance
with your lizard leather boots on
and pull the strings
that change the faces of men
you diamond browed hag
you're a gutter-gaunt gangster
john lennon knows your name
and i've seen his
A bonus track from Slider, "Main Man", featuring one of the best lines in rock lyrics ever: "Bolan likes to rock now, yes he does, yes he does":
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