SWLABR
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2016}}
{{Infobox song
| name = SWLABR
| cover = Cream swlabr atco 45 1967.jpg
| cover_size = 180
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Cream
| album = Disraeli Gears
| A-side = Sunshine of Your Love
| released =
- {{Start date|df=yes|1967|11}} (album)
- December 1967{{efn|name="Release date"}} (US single)
- September 1968 (UK single)
| format =
| recorded = May 1967
| studio = Atlantic, New York City
| venue =
| genre =
| length = 2:30
| label =
| composer = Jack Bruce
| lyricist = Pete Brown
| producer = Felix Pappalardi
| chronology = Cream US
| prev_title = Spoonful
| prev_year = 1967
| next_title = Anyone for Tennis
| next_year = 1968
| misc = {{Extra chronology
| artist = Cream UK
| type = single
| prev_title = Anyone for Tennis
| prev_year = 1968
| title = SWLABR
| year = 1968
| next_title = White Room
| next_year = 1969
}}{{Audio sample
| type = single
| file = Disraeli Gears - SWLABR Cream clip.ogg
| description = 29-second verse segment
}}
}}
"SWLABR" is a song recorded by the British rock band Cream in 1967. It first appeared on the album Disraeli Gears (1967). Later, the song was the B-side to Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love" single.{{efn|name="Release date"|Although several music writers, including Bobby Owsinski, Riley Haas, Chris Welch and Bob Leszczak, note a release in January 1968 or in that year, the single entered the Cash Box Looking Ahead chart on 30 December 1967. This precludes the possibility of its release the following month.
{{cite journal
| author = Cash Box
| date = 30 December 1967
| title = Looking Ahead
| journal = Cash Box
| volume = 29
| issue = 23
| issn =
| page = 18
}}}}
Background
The poet Pete Brown wrote the words and Cream's bassist Jack Bruce wrote the music. Bruce sings and plays bass guitar, with Eric Clapton on guitars and Ginger Baker on drums. The title is an initialism for "She Walks Like a Bearded Rainbow".
{{cite web
| url = http://www.jackbruce.com/2008/Words/album_lyrics/lyrics_disraeli_gears.htm
| title = Lyrics: Disraeli Gears
| website = JackBruce.com (official website)
| access-date = 9 August 2016
}} Bruce later said the W stood for "was" rather than "walks".Interview with disc jockey Steven Seaweed at San Francisco radio station KRQR in the mid-1990s"Cream: Disraeli Gears", Classic Albums on VH1, 3 November 2006
According to Brown's obituary in The Times, it was about a jilted lover "defacing pictures of his girlfriend, like painting a moustache on the Mona Lisa".
{{cite web
| url = https://www.thetimes.com/article/pete-brown-obituary-079h628q3
| title = Pete Brown obituary
| website = The Times
| access-date = 24 May 2023
}}
A live version of "SWLABR" was released on BBC Sessions and the Deluxe Edition of Disraeli Gears, which also includes a four-minute demo version. Several Cream compilation albums include the song, such as Best of Cream, Heavy Cream, Strange Brew: The Very Best of Cream, The Very Best of Cream, Those Were the Days and Gold.
Notes
{{Notelist}}
References
{{Reflist}}
Sources
- Clapton, Eric (2007). Clapton: The Autobiography. New York, United States: Broadway Books. pp. g. 74. {{ISBN|978-0-385-51851-2}}.
- Hjort, Christopher (2007). Strange Brew: Eric Clapton & the British Blues Boom, 1965–1970. London, UK: Jawbone Press. pp. g. 29. {{ISBN|978-1-906002-00-8}}.
- Ertegün, Ahmet (2006). Classic Albums: Cream – Disraeli Gears (DVD). Eagle Rock Entertainment.
{{Cream}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Song recordings produced by Felix Pappalardi
Category:Polydor Records singles