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The lyrics are a twist on Jonathan Swift’s oft-tributed (copied and parodied) GULLIVER'S TRAVELS, where the man Lemuel Gulliver is storm-tossed and knocked unconscious, only to awaken as a prisoner on an island populated by eccentric little people.

In my song, I turned it around so the island is populated by marooned humans who, after a dark and stormy night, find a Giant on the beach, but they can’t wake him up from his peaceful slumber. They’re compelled to awaken him because they think he has solutions, that he is friendly. The Giant is a metaphor for love and, as it turns out, the islanders have simply forgotten how to love, so the Giant keeps sleeping.

“The Giant’s gonna get us…” sounds like a “scary monster” line, but it’s really about the Giant waking us up to start loving and living again.

Musically, I set out to do a Dennis Wilson/Beach Boys-style drum pattern, layered with chords and guitar figures (emphasizing augmented 4ths and harmonics) learned from David Bowie, Mick Ronson, early Genesis, and Split Enz (in fact, at the time I was re-studying the happy, eccentric records of New Zealand’s Split Enz). It’s closed out with a keyboard solo on a primitive Casio keyboard, made to sound like a distorted RMI from progressive rock of the 70s. It all turned out to be “pop music.”

Initial tracks were recorded on lo-fi instruments and lo-fi gear in a lo-fi loft studio in San Francisco, then released on a demo album in 1991, SUSPENSION BRITCHES IN SAN FRANCISCO (cover art by Joe Sloan). A remix appeared in 2007 on the GRATEFUL CD, expertly digitized and redubbed by Scott Francis at Mind’s Eye Studios.

lyrics

THE SLEEPING GIANT (OF LOVE) Words & Music by Johnny J Blair copyright 1991, 2007 Word2Soul Music BMI

Last night there was an awful storm
We were so scared and quite alarmed
Next day we found him quite unharmed
A sleeping giant on the sand
A face so gentle and so grand
What is he doing in our land?
We used to thank the Lord above
We used to dance the songs of love
Have we forgotten how?

CHORUS: Now the giant's sleeping on the beach
A bigger one can be within your reach
Rejoice respond to what can overcome us when
The giant's gonna get us
The giant's gonna wake up
The giant's gonna get us
The giant's gonna wake up soon

We send our shuttles to the moon
We send each other funny runes
But then we forget all the tunes
And when the giant comes around
He'll have the biggest laugh in town (ha ha ha)
Yes we've forgotten how

(Repeat Chorus out)

credits

from PICASSO​’​S GLAM BAROQUE PSYCHEDELIC SUNSHINE (A collection of 12 way​-​out pop songs), released January 4, 2017
JJB: bass, drums, guitars, keyboards, percussion, production, & all vocals
Scott Francis: remixing & remastering

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Johnny J Blair "Singer at Large" San Francisco, California

"Johnny is a virtuoso"--Brian Wilson
"Pop music with a conscience.”--Goldmine
“the Harry Houdini of rock and roll.”-- Spotlight. Listen to Johnny's fast-paced mix of old school soul, psychedelia, punk/new wave, & classic pop/rock. Singer-songwriter in his own right, he was also a sideman for Davy Jones and The Monkees + performed with David Cassidy, Al Stewart, Buddy & Julie Miller, & others. ... more

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