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 !
Coded Languages
Hawkwind Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
What is it telling you?
Where does it begin and where does it end?
Question the nature of your orders
Question the nature of your orders
Question the nature of your orders
What do they want from you?
A rendezvous upon the sound
The words are weapons of their will
Their words can hurt
Their words can kill
A burning phrase can burn a town
A syllable can bring you down
Their languages are coded
Your image is eroded
Listen to the sound you heard
Learn to fight against their word
Vocabularies of death
Destruction in their breath
They use the lie
They use the myth
Seek only to confuse
And liberty abuse
The lies they tell are pretty
And blow up another city
They steal away your freedom
And your love
Their sentimental calling signs
Are calculatingly designed
To rob you of your mind and time
And still you listen to
The lulling drone of reassuring voices
Tunes to take away your choices
Make you slaves to fancy words and phrases
Until you're pushing up the daisies
They steal away your freedom
And your love
Hawkwind's song "Coded Languages" is a warning against the power of words and how they can be manipulated to control and oppress people. The lyrics encourage the listener to be critical of the language and messages they receive, to question the motives and intentions behind them. The first verse encourages the listener to investigate the meaning of their own sentences and orders, implying that we may unconsciously perpetuate harmful language.
The second verse paints a picture of a society where language is used as a weapon, with the cars revving up and the words spreading like wildfire. The lyrics state that "words can hurt" and "words can kill," and that a single syllable can bring someone down. The chorus emphasizes the coded nature of these languages, which erode our sense of self and identity, while the bridge highlights the insidiousness of these tactics, with their "sentimental calling signs" that are "calculate designed" to manipulate us.
Line by Line Meaning
Investigate the meaning of your sentence
Take the time to reflect on the meaning behind the words you are being told.
What is it telling you?
Think about what the singer is trying to convey to you.
Where does it begin and where does it end?
Take a closer look at the message being delivered to you and consider its limits.
Question the nature of your orders
Doubt the authority that is giving you direction.
What do they want from you?
Consider the motivations behind the orders you are receiving.
A rendezvous upon the sound
A meeting place where plans are made.
The cars rev up the word goes round
The message is sent out quickly.
The words are weapons of their will
The words spoken are meant to control and manipulate.
Their words can hurt
What is being said to you can cause harm.
Their words can kill
The message being conveyed has the potential to cause great harm or danger.
A burning phrase can burn a town
Dangerous words can have far-reaching consequences.
A syllable can bring you down
Even the tiniest detail can cause great damage.
Their languages are coded
The message being delivered is not straightforward and may need to be decoded.
Your image is eroded
The singer is trying to break down your sense of self and your confidence.
Listen to the sound you heard
Pay careful attention to what is being said to you.
Learn to fight against their word
Take steps to combat the manipulation of those trying to control you.
Vocabularies of death
The words being used have a dangerous and deadly quality.
Destruction in their breath
The words being spoken are destructive and meant to cause harm.
They use the lie
The singer is not speaking the truth and is trying to manipulate those listening.
They use the myth
The artist is using falsehoods to control and manipulate.
Seek only to confuse
The artist's goal is to create chaos and uncertainty.
And liberty abuse
The artist wants to restrict your freedom and act without regard for your rights.
The lies they tell are pretty
The manipulation being used is disguised with pleasing language.
And blow up another city
The consequences of the manipulation could be disastrous.
They steal away your freedom
The singer wants to take away your autonomy and control your decisions.
And your love
The singer is trying to interfere with your emotions and relationships.
Their sentimental calling signs
The singer is using emotional manipulation tactics to control others.
Are calculatingly designed
The manipulation is very deliberate and designed for a certain outcome.
To rob you of your mind and time
The artist is using manipulation to take away your focus and free time.
And still you listen to
Despite the manipulation, a person may still be inclined to listen to the singer.
The lulling drone of reassuring voices
Those trying to control you may use a comforting tone to put you at ease.
Tunes to take away your choices
The artist is trying to take away your control and agency.
Make you slaves to fancy words and phrases
The artist is manipulating you by using sophisticated language and attempts to sound impressive.
Until you're pushing up the daisies
The manipulation may become so intense that it has the potential to be life-threatening.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: HARVEY BAINBRIDGE, MICHAEL MOORCOCK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Nick Cox
Great song. Lyrics are powerful and meaningful.
Scott brown
I was a teenager when rave scene was coming up big time. Heard h/w.the lyrics still stick it don't think they shall ever leave .you're language is coded. .to true to believe
Mark Harwood
One of Hawkwind's finest post-Lemmy albums.
Upstreamprovider
@Neil :)
Neil
Funny that, on a "post-Lemmy" album ...
Ulrik Jørgensen
no lemmy here.hehe
George Mathie
Michael Moorcock a genius and so ahead of his time he's the modern day George Orwell supremely intelligent and so accurate in his lyrics and literature
neil dear
The moorlock on the lyrics.. Read many books. good comment
Dominic Killworth
You are 100% spot on there... lol
jerry cornelius
Mike moorcock on the lyrics-
-More relevant nowadays than everwe need another Eternal Champion Avatar.......Vide MM books -Erekose(From warrior on the edge of time) Jerry Cornelius (The English assassin avatar) Corum, Dorian Hawkmoon.Death to the Lords of Order!!