Album: Brain Salad Surgery (1973)

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Songfacts®:

• This ballad was written by ELP's lead singer/guitarist Greg Lake. The song is open for interpretation, and Lake wants to keep it that way, politely refusing to tell us who or what the song is about when we spoke in 2013. The "you" in the song could be a literal person, but it could also be the demands of touring - life on the road can be draining but the shows exhilarating. Lake did tell us: "Performing live is a great joy. That is the ultimate, because you're giving everything. It's physical, it's of the moment, you're communicating directly, you're getting the response back from the audience. It's everything all wrapped up into one right there, so that really is the pinnacle of it all." (Here's our full interview with Greg Lake.)

Comments: 10

• Cat from UsaI think this song is about a depressed partner of his. Do you want this? Do you want that you can be anything. Every day, a little madder a little sadder someone give me a ladder. She can’t see anything through the dark glass on her eyes. So give me a ladder. It’s so deep I gotta get up.
• Mg Durand from OregonI think it’s probably about girls coming on to him. I’m not what you think I am. Yes, you turn me on but that’s all it is. You want everything from me but your only going to get this little piece and nothing more.
• Ava from Martinsville VirginiaI just recently realized that this beautiful music was from a band I never followed until I watched the video Lucky Man. This beautiful man Greg Lake, I listened to ELP and King Crimson, wow amazing, wonderful, genius, I love it.
• Nick from New York, Ny“Somebody get me a ladder” refers to hitting rock bottom and wanting help to climb out.
• John Davis from Huntsville AlabamaI like the song with the exception of the line, "somebody get me a ladder." I have never seen the relevance of that line other than the fact that it rhymes with madder.
• George from Vancouver, CanadaI think the chorus began as a mini love song to a crush or fan, & they built it out into this full song with a touring motif tying it all together. Either way, so very pleasant to listen to while vegging. . .
• Raymo from NyAs I have sung this many times. The lyrics are basically what it's like to be a rockstar. That's why he said in the interview he loves playing live. Every lyrics has an opposite meaning. Example do you want to be the player or do you want to be my string. So you can go either way Rockstar or fan.
• Slcsf from UsaThe live version recorded at Royal Albert Hall in 1992 is brilliant. RIP Greg and Keith.
• Luis from Madrid, SpainNeil Peart once told a story about how he was riding a limo with Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, on their way to playing a Rush show, and this song came up on the radio. At that moment, he felt that they had finally made it as a rock band. (Source: Rush Visions: The Official Biography, by Bill Banasiewicz)
• Zabadak from London, EnglandBeautiful track from the Brain Salad Surgery album.

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