Friday, December 18, 2015

Lizard Land

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.