2nd track from "Holiday" (1974). Smooth folk-rock with rich melody and harmony to die for! Oh, and of course those beautifully cryptic lyrics—which, like dreams, help us escape the drudgery of everyday life and fill us with a sense of mystery, adventure, and hope.
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"Gibberish lyrics," I hear people say disparagingly of this top-ten hit song from the early '70s. But my response is always, "Yeah, so what?" Art isn't primarily a left-brain activity. You necessarily lose an enormous amount of truth and beauty if you insist on everything "making sense." Cryptic lyrics, like dreams, help us escape the drudgery of everyday life and fill us with a sense of mystery, adventure, and hope.
In any event, this will always be one of my favorite "gibberish lyric" songs, as the melody and harmony are to die for, while the lyrics not only reference one of the greatest movies of all time, but also speak obscurely about believing in yourself, and about taking the risk to ask someone special to believe in you too. In short—just like with the Tin Man—we must each find what no one else can give us: our heart!
~thatMimosaGrove
With "Tin Man"'s wonderfully polished soft pop ease...the band was able to recapture the same formula that put early hits like "A Horse with No Name," "I Need You," and "Ventura Highway" in the Top Ten... light and breezy melodies and attractive folk-rock sound...
~excerpt from AllMusic Review by Mike DeGagne
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The song's title and some of its lyrics refer to the Tin Woodman from The Wizard of Oz. Songwriter Bunnell was quoted describing the parallel: "My favorite movie, I guess. I always loved it as a kid. Very obscure lyrics. Great grammar - 'Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man.' It's sort of a poetic license."
Dan Peek - who describes "Tin Man" as "quintessential Dewey, easy stream of consciousness with a major seventh acoustic bed" - states that Bunnell "actually begged us not to record the song. Knowing Dewey it was probably reverse psychology; if it was, Gerry [Beckley] and I fell for it, insisting it was perfect for the album."
Released as the first single from Holiday, "Tin Man" became the band's fourth top-ten hit in the US, spending three weeks at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1974. The song reached number one on the Billboard easy listening chart in October of that year. In the UK, the song was relegated to the B-side of another album track, "Mad Dog", released in July, but both sides failed to chart.
~Wikipedia
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Album Personnel:
Gerry Beckley and Dan Peek - Bass, Keyboards, and Guitars
Dewey Bunnell - Guitars
Willie Leacox - Drums and Percussion
George Martin - Producer, Arranger and Keyboards
Geoff Emerick - Engineering
Peter Henderson - Tape Operator
Gary Burden - Art Direction
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Image Credits (other than album art and artists' publicity photos, in order of appearance) (note: all images have been posterized for this video): Jelle / Michael McGimpsey / Kelly Teague / Kelly Teague / anji barton / America-Facebook / Agnes / Silent Rain / Insomnia Cured Here / katesheets / Thomas Hawk / America-Facebook / SAM CHUANG / Thomas Hawk / Tim Difford / America-Facebook / America-Facebook / Niccolò Caranti / Insomnia Cured Here
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