The Incredible String Band was formed in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK by folk musicians Robin Williamson, Mike Heron, and Clive Palmer (1943 - 2014). They recorded their eponymous debut album in 1966, a lighthearted affair which revealed only the merest hint of the psychedelic adventures to come. After that, the band broke up. Palmer decamped for the Trail to Afghanistan and Williamson visited Morocco from where he returned laden with exotic instruments like the famous gimbri, which was, much later, eaten by rats. In 1967 Heron and Williamson recorded 'The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion', an audaciously eclectic mix of bookish folk music, hippy love songs and Eastern modalities. They soon became the-name-to-drop-in-interviews for luminaries such as Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan, and in their annum mirabilis of 1968 they practically defined the hippy counterculture in the extraordinary albums 'The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter' and 'Wee Tam and the Big Huge'. By then the group consisted of Williamson, Heron, Rose Simpson and Licorice McKechnie - the same line up played at Woodstock in 1969 at the wrong time, having refused to play in the pouring rain the previous day (seen by manager Joe Boyd as a great missed opportunity).
In 1970 Robin Williamson attempted to fuse the music with his theatrical fantasies in a quixotic multi-media spectacular at London's Roundhouse called 'U'. It was "a surreal parable in dance and song" and highlighted the fact that they were never destined to make much money out of things. After that they lasted another four years. By 1974 tension between Williamson and Heron, who was pushing the band into prog-rock territory, had become unbearable and they split up.
Williamson soon formed "Robin Williamson and His Merry Band" which toured and released three albums of eclectic music with a Celtic emphasis. Within a few years, he went on to a solo career, moving increasingly into traditional Celtic styles. He also produced several recordings of humorous stories. Heron formed the rock group "Heron" and later released occasional solo albums. Responding to a comment by Joe Boyd in 1997 that they hadn't spoken since the breakup in 1974, the pair got back together for two concerts. This was followed by a full reunion of the original three members plus Williamson's wife Bina and Lawson Dando in 1999. By 2001 both Robin and Bina Williamson had left. Heron, Palmer and Lawson, and new member Fluff toured regularly around the United Kingdom and internationally until an end to the tour was announced in 2006.
The music of the ISB ranges from quite conventional folk songs to innovative “art song” and hybrid forms that were a precursor to World Music. In 1967-8 they were sometimes described as part of pop music's "avant-garde", which had emerged in the wake of the more adventurous work of The Beatles, with whom they were often compared. Although they lacked the Beatles' broad pop appeal, the ISB showed a similar interest in extending the boundaries of their music. Both Mike Heron and Robin Williamson would break apart a traditional song structure, inserting seemingly unrelated sections in a way that has been described as "always surprising, laughably inventive, lyrically prodigious". While at times this resulted in a lack of conventional unity, it also opened up the song musically and thematically to allow greater depth and exploration. This aspect of their music, combined with Williamson’s soaring melismatic vocal ornamentation (perhaps influenced by Islamic chanters heard during his visit to Morocco, as well as by the Scots-Irish traditional singing with which he had grown up) made for music that still sounds fresh forty years later.
My Name Is Death
The Incredible String Band Lyrics
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I am the lover that cannot be lost
Yet small are the gifts of my servant the soldier
For time is my offspring, pray what is my name?
My name is death, cannot you see?
All life must turn to me
Oh, cannot you see?
You must come with me
I'll give you gold and jewels rare
And all my wealth in store
All pleasure's fair
If I may live but a few short years more
Oh lady, lay your jewels aside
No more to glory in your pride
Tarrying here there is no way
Your time has come that you must away
And you must come to clay
The Incredible String Band's song My Name Is Death is a haunting and mysterious exploration of the inevitability of death. The lyrics present Death as a question that cannot be answered, an enigma that is present in all of our lives whether we like it or not. Death is also portrayed as a lover that cannot be lost, a universal force that will always be waiting for us at the end of our journey.
The opening lines invite us to consider the smallness of human existence in the grand scheme of things. The gifts of a soldier are nothing compared to the power and longevity of Death, who is the offspring of time itself. The song then reveals the identity of the figure speaking: it is Death itself. Death laments how people fail to see the inevitability of their own mortality, and how life must always come to an end. But Death is also matter-of-fact about his/her/its role: everyone must come with him/her/it, sooner or later.
The song's mood intensifies when Death offers to trade gold, jewels, and pleasure for a few more years of life. The Lady who is being addressed recognizes the futility of hoarding material wealth and thereby defying Death, and instead chooses to accept her fate. The final line "And you must come to clay" emphasizes one of the core themes of the song: no matter how much we may strive for power, wealth, or glory in life, in the end we are all reduced to the same elemental substance.
Overall, The Incredible String Band's My Name Is Death serves as a reminder that life is brief and precious, and that the inevitability of death is what gives life its meaning and urgency.
Line by Line Meaning
I am the question that cannot be answered
I represent the unfathomable mystery that cannot be explained
I am the lover that cannot be lost
I am the one who loves and never forgets
Yet small are the gifts of my servant the soldier
Although my servant who takes lives is revered in society, the rewards of their efforts are insignificant
For time is my offspring, pray what is my name?
As the ultimate truth of life's impermanence, time is my creation, and my identity is death
My name is death, cannot you see?
My name is Death, it's the only truth that we can see
All life must turn to me
Everything that is born must eventually come to an end through me
And you must come with me
No one can escape me, everyone must die
I'll give you gold and jewels rare
I tempt the living with the allure of material wealth and possessions
And all my wealth in store
I offer all the luxuries imaginable, which are meaningless in the face of death
All pleasure's fair
I promise pleasure and enjoyment, but it's temporary and brief
If I may live but a few short years more
I plead to stay and have a little more time, which is futile because Death is inevitable
Oh lady, lay your jewels aside
I warn the lady to let go of her worldly possessions and prepare for her end
No more to glory in your pride
No more indulgence in vanity or ego, for Death makes everyone equal
Tarrying here there is no way
There's no escape, Death is coming for her soon
Your time has come that you must away
Her time has ended, and she has to leave everything behind and go away
And you must come to clay
Her body will become part of the earth and turn to dust, just like everyone else
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: ROBIN WILLIAMSON, ROBIN D.H. WILLIAMSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind