The band was formed in 1969 by visionary Dave Brock and although it has been subject to numerous line-up changes it is still led by him. The early line-up featured Dave Brock on vocals and rhythm guitar, Huw Lloyd-Langton on lead guitar, Terry Ollis on drums, Thomas Crimble on bass, Nik Turner on Saxophone and Dik Mik on synthesizer.
The band became established as a space-rock underground band with their renowned concert at the Glastonbury Rock Festival 1970 when they set up in an alternative field and played a free concert, pulling crowds away from the main event. Their debut album, the self titled ‘HAWKWIND’, was released by EMI and to this day still sells steadily. In 1970 they appeared at the Isle of Wight Festival where Jimi Hendrix was spotted in the audience. He was asked to get up and join the band and he replied ‘No I don’t want to spoil it!’ Huw Lloyd-Langton remained with them until late 1971. The band shot to fame in 1972 with their hit record ‘Silver Machine’ featuring Lemmy (now of Motörhead fame) on vocals. (This record featured in the soundtrack of a recent TV Mazda advert in the UK). In 1973 Simon House (Electric Violin) joined, and throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s, the renowned World famous Sci-fi author, Michael Moorcock often recorded and appeared with them.
Lemmy was sacked from the band in 1975 after a drugs bust in USA, and went on to form ‘MOTORHEAD’, named after the last track he wrote for the band, a slang term for speed freak. Huw Lloyd-Langton joined Leo Sayer in 1974 and then in 1975 went on to form supergroup ‘WIDOWMAKER’ WITH Steve Ellis (Love Affair), Luther Grosvenor (Mott The Hoople), Paul Nicholls (Lindisfarne) and Bob Daisley (Ozzy Osborne). In 1977, Simon House joined David Bowie. Dave Brock and poet Bob Calvert tour as ‘HAWKLORDS’, performing the stage show ‘METROPOLIS’. Throughout the 70's, Hawkwind released a series of classic albums; ‘IN SEARCH OF SPACE’, ‘DOREMI FASOL LATIDO’, ‘SPACE RITUAL’,
‘HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN GRILL’, ‘WARRIOR ON THE EDGE OF TIME’, ‘ASTOUNDING SOUNDS, AMAZING MUSIC’, ‘QUARK STRANGENESS & CHARM’ and ‘PXR 5’. In 1979, Dave formed another nucleus with Huw Lloyd-Langton on lead guitar, Simon King on drums, Harvey Bainbridge (from Hawklords) on bass and Tim Blake from ‘Gong’ on keyboards.
Their live album ‘LIVE 79’ went straight into the national top ten charts chart. In 1980 Ginger Baker replaced Simon King on drums and they recorded their classic album ‘LEVITATION’. Once again, the release went straight into national top ten album chart. Tim Blake and Ginger Baker remaied with the band until after the Christmas Tour 1980. From 1979 to 1985 the band’s singles and albums were never out of the national, independent and heavy metal charts, with albums such as ‘SONIC ATTACK, ‘CHURCH OF HAWKWIND', 'CHRONICLE OF THE BLACK SWORD, 'LIVE CHRONICLES' AND 'XENON CODEX'. Nik Turner who left the band in 1975 briefly rejoined the band 1982-1983 for the ‘CHOOSE YOUR MASQUES’ tour. In 1984 Alan Davey replaces Harvey Bainbridge on bass and Harvey moved over to keyboards and synths. In 1985 the band tour with the spectacular ‘CHRONICLES OF THE BLACK SWORD’, a stageshow portraying music and images based on Michael Moorcock’s epic saga, ‘ELRIC’. During this period the band reached a new audience with the emergence of ambient acts such as The Orb openly acknowledging Hawkwind’s influence.
Huw Lloyd-Langton remained with the band throughout the end of the 80s, departing in 1989 followed
shortly after by Harvey Bainbridge. The band continued to perform live throughout the nineties, and had
some noteable album releases such as, 'SPACE BANDITS', 'PALACE SPRINGS', 'ELECTRIC TEPEE',
'IT IS THE BUSINESS OF THE FUTURE TO BE DANGEROUS', 'THE BUSINESS TRIP', 'ALIEN 4',
'LOVE IN SPACE' and 'DISTANT HORIZONS'. During their entire existence the band have performed numerous free concerts, notably STONEHENGE and have supported various charities, which include SHELTER, when in 1977 at the Blackheath Concert Halls they raised thousands of pounds for the homeless, and even released a charity single version of the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" with Samantha Fox guesting on vocals. N.A.S.A. in the USA have also used sound tracks from the ‘LOVE IN SPACE release. In 1997 they headlined the ‘1ST SPACEROCK FESTIVAL USA’. In 2000, the band staged the highly successful ‘HAWKESTRA’ event at the London Brixton Academy, which saw many past members reunited on stage with a nucleus of Dave Brock, Ron Tree, Jerry Richards, Hugh Lloyd-Langton, Simon House, Richard Chadwick, Alan Davey and Tim Blake. In 2001 they were voted the 8th top progressive band in the country on Channel 4 TV. The band have recently released a double live cd recording of their Xmas 2000 'Yule Ritual' show at the London Astoria, as well as the Arthur Brown helmed 'Out of the Shadows' in 2007.The concept of a Hawkestra, a reunion event featuring appearances from all past and present members, had originally been intended to coincide with the band's 30th anniversary and the release of the career spanning Epocheclipse – 30 Year Anthology set, but logistical problems delayed it until 21 October 2000. It took place at the Brixton Academy with about 20 members taking part in a 3+ hour set which was filmed and recorded. Guests included Samantha Fox who sang Master of the Universe. However, arguments and disputes over financial recompense and musical input resulted in the prospect of the event being restaged unlikely, and any album or DVD release being indefinitely shelved.The Hawkestra had set a template for Brock to assemble a core band of Tree, Brock, Richards, Davey, Chadwick and for the use of former members as guests on live shows and studio recordings. The 2000 Christmas Astoria show was recorded with contributions from House, Blake, Rizz, Moorcock, Jez Huggett and Keith Kniveton and released as Yule Ritual the following year.
In 2001, Davey agreed to rejoin the band permanently, but only afiter the departure of Tree and Richards.
Meanwhile, having rekindled relationships with old friends at the Hawkestra, Turner organised further Hawkestra gigs resulting in the formation of xhawkwind.com, a band consisting mainly of ex-Hawkwind members and playing old Hawkwind songs. An appearance at Guilfest in 2002 led to confusion as to whether this actually was Hawkwind, sufficiently irking Brock into taking legal action to prohibit Turner from trading under the name Hawkwind. Turner lost the case and the band now perform as Space Ritual.
An appearance at the Canterbury Sound Festival in August 2001, resulting in another live album Canterbury Fayre 2001, saw guest appearances from Lloyd-Langton, House, Kniveton with Arthur Brown on "Silver Machine". The band organised the first of their own weekend festivals, named Hawkfest, in Devon in the summer of 2002. Brown joined the band in 2002 for a Winter tour which featured some Kingdom Come songs and saw appearances from Blake and Lloyd-Langton, the Newcastle show being released on DVD as Out of the Shadows and the London show on CD as Spaced Out in London.
In 2005 the long anticipated new album Take Me to Your Leader was released. Recorded by the core band of Brock/Davey/Chadwick, contributors included new keyboardist Jason Stuart, Arthur Brown, tabloid writer and TV personality Matthew Wright, 1970s New Wave singer Lene Lovich, Simon House and Jez Huggett. This was followed in 2006 by the CD/DVD disc Take Me to Your Future.
The band were the subject of an hour-long television documentary entitled Hawkwind: Do Not Panic that aired on BBC Four as part of the Originals series. It was broadcast on 30 March 2007 and repeated on 10 August 2007. Although Brock participated in its making he did not appear in the programme, it is alleged that he requested all footage of himself be removed after he was denied any artistic control over the documentary.. In one of the documentary's opening narratives regarding Brock, it is stated that he declined to be interviewed for the programme because of Nik Turner's involvement, indicating that the two men have still not been reconciled over the xhawkwind.com incident.
June 2007 saw the departure of Alan Davey, who left to perform and record with two new bands: Gunslinger and Thunor. He was replaced by "Mr Dibs", a long-standing member of the road crew and bassist for the bands Spacehead and Krel (who had supported Hawkwind during 1992). The band performed at their annual Hawkfest festival and headlined the US festival NEARfest and played gigs in PA and NY. At the end of 2007, Tim Blake once again joined the band filling the lead role playing keyboards and theremin. The band played 5 Christmas dates, the London show being released as an audio CD and video DVD under the title Knights of Space.
The band's official Website is to be found at www.hawkwind.com
HAWKWIND and solo projects: Dave Brock, Nik Turner, Inner City Unit, Lemmy, Motorhead, Huw Lloyd Langton Group, Robert Calvert, Alan Davey, Bedouin, Michael Moorcock Deep Fix, Harvey Bainbridge, Agents Of Chaos ,Space Ritual, Spiral Realms,ect.A truly prolific act !
Black Elk Speaks
Hawkwind Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Grandfather, Great Mysterious One, you have been always, and before you nothing
has been. There is nothing to pray to but you. The star nations all over the
universe are yours. And yours are the grasses of the earth. Day in Day out,
you are the light of things. You are older than all weeds. Older than all
things on Earth.
Grandfather, all over the world the faces of living things are all alike. In
tenderness they have come above the ground. Look upon your children with
the day of quiet.
Teach me to walk the soft earth, a relative to all that is! Sweeten my heart
and fill me with life. Give me the strength to understand, and the eyes
to see. Help me for without you I am nothing. Hetchetu aloh!
In your throat is a living song
A living spirit song
His name is long life maker
Yes, I'm here to heal
With the healing ways
Of the magic of the ground
And the magic of the earth
So go on my friend
And sing with the healing spirit
With the magic of the ground
With the magic of the earth
And you will spring to life
Through the power of the words
Through the magic of the ground
Through the magic of the earth
________________________________________________________________________
The lyrics of the song Black Elk Speaks by Hawkwind start with a prayer to Grandfather, the Great Mysterious One, who has been there since time immemorial. The singer acknowledges that there is nothing to pray to except the Grandfather, who owns everything in the universe, including the star nations and the grasses of the earth. The Grandfather is the light of everything, and he is older than all the things on earth. The singer then observes that all living things have the same face across the world, and in tenderness, they have come above the ground, a reference to the birth of all life.
After that, the singer makes a humble request to the Grandfather to teach them how to walk the earth softly and have a relationship with all things. The request is for the Grandfather to sweeten their heart and give them the strength to understand and see the world. Without the Grandfather, they acknowledge that they are nothing. The song then concludes by invoking the healing spirit to sing with the magic of the ground and earth to spring to life through the power of words.
One of the interesting facts about the song Black Elk Speaks is that it is a cover of a traditional Native American song written by John G. Neihardt in 1932. The poem is a transcription of a narrative by Black Elk, an Oglala Lakota medicine man, from visions he had seen in his youth. The poem was later translated into various languages, including French, Japanese, and German.
Another interesting fact is that the song was later covered by many other artists, including Neil Young and Crazy Horse. Additionally, the song's message of harmony with nature and the desire to understand and appreciate the world's indigenous cultures has resonated with many people globally.
The chords used in this song are not available as the song is predominantly an a cappella sung not accompanied by any musical instruments. However, some artists who have covered the song may use basic chords or variations of it for their rendition of the song.
Line by Line Meaning
Grandfather, Great Mysterious One, you have been always, and before you nothing has been. There is nothing to pray to but you. The star nations all over the universe are yours. And yours are the grasses of the earth. Day in Day out, you are the light of things. You are older than all weeds. Older than all things on Earth.
Oh great and mysterious Creator of all, you have always existed and nothing came before you. There is no other being to which I can pray, for you own all the star formations in this vast universe and all the green growing plants on this planet. You are the illumination of all that exists and have roamed this Earth before any other living thing.
Grandfather, all over the world the faces of living things are all alike. In tenderness they have come above the ground. Look upon your children with children in their arms, that they may face the winds and walk the good road to the day of quiet.
The faces of living creatures are all the same, all over the world. They come tenderly above the ground. Look upon your offspring as they hold their own children, and may they find courage and follow the path that leads to inner peace and tranquility.
Teach me to walk the soft earth, a relative to all that is! Sweeten my heart and fill me with life. Give me the strength to understand, and the eyes to see. Help me for without you I am nothing. Hetchetu aloh!
Show me how to walk gently on this fragile earth, as a member of the same family as all other living beings. Fill my heart with love and passion for life. Grant me clarity to appreciate and comprehend the universe and the ability to perceive all things. I need your help, for I am nothing without you. I gratefully ask for your blessings.
In your throat is a living song
A living spirit song
His name is long life maker
Within you is a living song, a spirit melody that flows from your throat. This sacred chant is called long life maker and is a source of vitality and longevity.
Yes, I'm here to heal
With the healing ways
Of the magic of the ground
And the magic of the earth
So go on my friend
And sing with the healing spirit
With the magic of the ground
With the magic of the earth
And you will spring to life
Through the power of the words
Through the magic of the ground
Through the magic of the earth
I have come to be a healer, using the natural healing energy of the earth and the sacred power of nature. So please, my friend, join me in singing and invoking this healing spirit, fueled by the energy and magic of the earth. As you do so, you will feel your life force increase, through the power of our words and the power of the earth's magic.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: DAVE BROCK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind