My old guitar buddy Skip was rummaging through his garage a few years back and found a bunch of Torques memorabilia from 1965, including some business cards, song lists, KWYK Top 40 lists, posters and the piece de resistance, a lyric/music sheet for a song written by "Fender Fletch" and completely forgotten by all humankind for the past 50 years.
There are some clues on the double-sided sheet as to when it was written. After "Nowhere Man" and the Yardbirds' "Shapes of Things", probably when Knees was in Las Cruces at NMSU and Skip was in the Navy. Late 1965. Fifty-five years ago.
The lyrics are on the other side.
Things
get done in Lizard Land
Girls
are just like grains of sand
The
key is always in your hand
To
Lizard Land
You
will know the things to say
But
words are useless anyway
You
will find it all someday
In
Lizard Land
Lizard
Land — Times are pressing
Lizard
Land — It’s a blessing
It’s
a land where you can lose yourself.
It’s
so dark it’s out of sight
But
lizards have no need for light
They
know just how to ease your fright
Of
Lizard Land
Things
are never out of line
Lizards
don’t like crude design
It’s
the place to cool your mind
It’s
Lizard Land
Lizard
Land — You breeze along
Lizard
Land — You’re never wrong
It’s
a land where you can see your mind.
So what does it mean? As I remember, in the summer of 65 the boys of Farmington called the girls "lizards". I'm sure the girls called us much worse. It didn't really catch on but apparently the idea of a place where lizards happily fulfilled the fantasies of teenage boys was apparently enough to inspire at least one song.
There are 5 or 6 other songs I wrote back in the 60s that have been lost. I remember only a verse and a few chords. But this song was completely forgotten for 50 years. I bet Paul McCartney wishes he had a song like this socked away in a chest.
