Manhattan Neurotica

manhattan neurotica volume 2 no. 4

as I mentioned in the download of the song dust
it's rare for me to have a krimson piece to offer,
most of that material is lovingly cared for by DGM.
I'm not sure why I even have this particular musical version,
perhaps it's what I worked to while writing the lyrics.
the unusual thing about this take is the absence of robert.
this is tony, bill, and adrian
(an early P3?).

as with most krimson pieces this began as an all-out
musical assault which we would
test drive in front of numb audiences.
it was given the working title manhattan.
right on the heels of making our "honeymoon"
record discipline
we were already hard at work on new material.
we played manhattan as an instrumental piece
for most of a tour while I tried to wrap my mind
around the idea of singing something over this maelstrom.

in the dark heart of the off-broadway theatre district
on 45th street between 7th and 8th
is the Milford Plaza Hotel.
in the early 80's I always seemed to be housed there
during my frequent visits to the big apple,
despite my numerous protests.
the Milford Plaza might be a great place nowadays,
but back then it was a glitzy pit
trying hard to look respectable
in a neighborhood of porn palaces.
once you got past the doorman
and the neon lit marquee
and settled into your monochromatic cell,
I mean, room,
the truth didn't quite match the TV ads
of glittery dancers on their way to a hot new play.

bill bruford once found a dead rat in his room.

new york city has always puzzled me.
with all its hectic passion and random energy
it can at times seem like the loneliest place on earth.
one such night I had no where to go and no one to talk to.
I sat in my room on the fifth floor of the Plaza
looking down at the busy intersection
filled with people in their theatre duds,
the taxi cab horns blaring,
the constant tide of odd-looking people
from around the globe,
and new york really did seem like
the asphalt jungle.

I saw a lady in a leopard coat.
then someone with an astonishing peacock hat.
I began assigning animal attributes to the people I saw,
writing the results on my spiral notepad.
doing my best "beat poet"
stream-of-consciousness bit.
by the time I had finished it was 3 A.M.
but I had my lyrics to neurotica.

chapman stick: tony levin
drums: bill bruford
guitar: adrian
spoken word: adrian
engineer: rhett davies
recorded at Odyssey Studio, London on march 17, 1982
length: 5:37