Chords for Behind The Vinyl - "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" with Terry Draper from Klaatu

_ Okay, are we ready?
You guys ready?
Let's go.
Here we go. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [F] Calling occupants of interplanetary craft, we are your friends.
_ I'm Terry
Draper from Klaatu _ [G#] and I'm here to talk about our signature song, I [G] think it is.
_ _ John and I wrote this in 1975 and began recording it as Klaatu, John, Wallace,
Chuck, D.
Long and myself. _ _
[G#] And as luck would have it, I had a job at Sam the
Record Man at Yonge Dundas during those days [A#] _
and had access to quite a record
collection. _
[G#] I like to get sound effects records.
I still use them extensively.
This particular record for the beginning of this forest scene is from an album
called An Evening in Sapsucker Woods.
_ _ _ And _ you'll hear an owl here.
_ _ _ _ Somewhere in
there's an owl.
[G#] It's actually Terry Brown blowing across a _ half-consumed bottle of
the Bat's 50.
You'll know by the tone of it [Gm] that it's actually a stubby bottle. _ _
_ _ [C#] _ This is me singing.
[G#] I sing the intro and the outro.
_ John sings the body [D#] of the
song and we trade [C#] lines in the middle.
[G#] That whole intro that went on there was_
[D#] _
We were [G#] having a problem getting our songs [G#] played on the radio.
We'd had three
or four singles out and so we [Cm] decided to have this fellow wander through the
[C] forest, come upon [E] a turntable and play our [F#] record.
_ It [G#] was a little cheeky I
think but _ we were [C#] idealistic and we had some fun.
_ _ _ _ [G#] What's interesting [Cm] about this
recording is the bed [C#] track.
There was only three of us [G#] and I was on the drums.
John played the piano [A] and D played the [A] Mellotron.
The Mellotron, still one of my
favorite [D] sounds. _ _ _
[E] Strawberry [G#m] Fields, Lennon [A] used it and _ Bowie's Space Oddity.
[D] Lots of bands.
The Moody Blues [E] of course started [G#m] it all.
[A] But that was the bed
track.
The bass was added later _ [C#] along with all [Bm] the other things.
Those [E] horns at
the beginning aren't [F] actually horns.
They were a Moog Sonic 5 that D [Am] programmed.
He could make this thing a flute, a [C] trumpet.
I [F] could only make it do wee-wee
wah-wah for some reason.
_ [Am] _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ I haven't heard this in a while. _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ Those trumpets there is
what I'm talking about.
[C] _
_ _ I often get asked [A] about the drumming in this song.
I'm
obviously very much a [Am] Ringo [D] aficionado but there was another [E] influence in those
days [A] for me.
It was a fellow named Michael Giles [G#m] from King Crimson _ [E] and in
the Court of the Crimson King, [F] still one of my all-time favorite songs and
Calling [Am] Occupants.
I think smacks of that a little bit.
In particular some of the
[F] drum fills.
_ _ _ _ _ _ I went out of my [D] way to [D] emulate his style. _ _ _
_ Here comes around
again.
[G] _ _
It _ was _ [Bm] _ _
_ _ [C] _ interesting, _ [F#] about a year after [A] our first album came out, the
Carpenters got a hold of it and recorded this very [E] song and I'm much impressed
[F] with their version.
I really like it [F] and _ [C] not only [F#] did they do a great job [F] but it
was such a stretch for them.
They were really stepping [Am] outside of their comfort
zone [F#] and doing what [F] could possibly be described as prog rock.
[E] Although I like
to call it progressive pop myself.
_ _ This is the the [G#] bridge where John and I go
back and [F#] forth singing.
[F] _ _ _
That's me, _ [Em] _ that's John _ [F#] and here we go.
[D] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
_ [G] What else about this song [Em] would you find interesting?
[Am] _ _ [F] _ It wasn't particularly [D] this
song but some of the other songs on [E] this first album [Am] that are reminiscent of the
Beatles and there was actually a rumor started out of [F#] Providence, [F] Rhode Island,
some newspaper that this was the Beatles reincarnate [E] which was a very nice
compliment.
I mean to say [C] that we sound like the Beatles is a [C] very high
compliment.
To say [F] that we are in fact them is that compliment a [E]
hundredfold.
[G] We were [A] very impressed with that, it was very nice.
_ But we're not the Beatles.
_ This is me singing again here.
We're getting ready to go to the outro and
[E] that's where some of these Michael [D] Giles-esque drum fills [A] come in.
But I
wanted to talk about the artwork.
Ted Jones did most [E] of our album covers and
they're quite elaborate [E] and we [A] decided early on that we wouldn't put our
pictures [B] or our names on the records.
We wanted the [D] music to speak for itself [F] _ and
take away [A] from the _ _ _ individuals.
The three of us are not necessarily that
interesting [D] nor that handsome.
So we wanted to focus on the music.
So [A] we knew
we needed special artwork and [D] Ted delivered the goods.
The son, the giver of
all [A] life with the Mona Lisa face and the receivers the little [D] mouse.
The mouse
became [A] a mascot of ours.
He appears on all our record covers and _ [F] he's been a
faithful friend these 40 odd years.
[A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [F] _ _ _ _ _ [F] _
_ [A] _ It was a long time ago. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [C#m] _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ _ [F#m] _ _
_ _ [A] _ I'm trying to think of
something [C#m] else interesting to tell you [D] about. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [A] _ _ _ _ [C#m] This album was recorded [D] at Toronto
Sound.
Terry Brown [A]
produced it with us _ and Rush was in the same building at the
same time [F] doing Fly By [A] Night and 2112.
Very nice fellows.
We had a great time
when they were around.
[F] Max Webster was in [C#] the studio all at [A] the same time just over
here in Thorncliffe _ Park.
It was a great time back in the day. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [C#m] _
Is this gonna fade
[D] out soon? _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ [C#m] _ _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [A] _ _ _ _ [C#m] _ _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
[F#] _ _ [A] _ _ _ That's one of my favorite drum [A] fills that one with the we are your
friends at the end. _
Yeah.
_ Still holds water to this day. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[G#] And I said I think
Black Cars is not [C] about a car at all it's about this lady [F#] and so thus came
[F] you know her skin is cold China [E] white and she's a dark angel [D#] wearing dark
[A] glasses.
She leaves [B] and I said you know what [G#] it's a good time to do some writing.
[E] So I got my list of song titles because that's what I would walk work [G#] off of and
I rolled tape and in the [E] 45 minutes she was gone I wrote the [N] Stay Hungry album.