Take A Pebble

Album: Emerson, Lake & Palmer (1970)
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Songfacts®:

  • A Greg Lake composition, "Take A Pebble" finds the ELP singer/guitarist in a reflective mood as he sings:

    Just take a pebble and cast it to the sea,
    Then watch the ripples that unfold into me


    It's the second track on the group's first album, providing a mild counterpoint to the brutal first cut, "The Barbarian."
  • In the 2016 reissue of the album, Keith Emerson wrote about recording this song: "'Take A Pebble' was quite amazing. There's a lot of piano work in there and improvisation. I remember Carl [Palmer, drummer] had his brushes out. He wasn't painting at the time, but he did a lot of brush work on the snare drum, while I played an ostinato figure. I played one theme with the right hand and we took it from there. At the beginning of the piece I scrape the piano strings. I'd hold down various notes on the grand piano while strumming the strings. It's a technique Keith Jarrett first used and makes a great effect."

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