White Room

"White Room"
Italian single picture sleeve
Single by Cream
from the album Wheels of Fire
B-side "Those Were the Days"
Released
  • August 1968 (1968-08) (album)
  • September 1968 (US single)
  • January 1969 (UK single)
Recorded July 1967 – April 1968
Studio Atlantic, New York City
Genre Psychedelic rock
Length 3:04 (single)
4:58 (album)
Label
Composer(s) Jack Bruce
Lyricist(s) Pete Brown
Producer(s) Felix Pappalardi
Cream US singles chronology
"Anyone for Tennis"
(1968)		 "White Room"
(1968)		 "Crossroads"
(1969)
Cream UK singles chronology
"Sunshine of Your Love"
(1967)		 "White Room"
(1969)		 "Badge"
(1969)

"White Room" is a song by British rock band Cream, composed by bassist Jack Bruce with lyrics by poet Pete Brown.[1] They recorded it for the studio half of the 1968 double album Wheels of Fire. In September, a shorter single edit (without the third verse) was released for AM radio stations,[2] although album-oriented FM radio stations played the full album version.

Recording and composition

Recording for "White Room" reportedly began in July 1967 in London at the initial session for Cream's as-yet-unnamed third album. Work continued at Atlantic Studios in New York City in December and was completed during three sessions in February, April and June 1968, also at Atlantic.[3][4]

Jack Bruce sang and played bass on the song, Eric Clapton overdubbed guitar parts, Ginger Baker played drums and timpani, and Felix Pappalardi – the group's producer – contributed violas.[5] Clapton played his guitar through a wah-wah pedal to achieve a "talking-effect".[6] Baker claims to have added the distinctive 5
4 or quintuple metre opening to what had been a 4
4 or common time composition.[7]

Chart history

Personnel

Cream
Other personnel

Recognition and other recordings

Rolling Stone magazine ranked "White Room" at number 376 on the 2004 "List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" (as well as its 2010 update). In 1990, Clapton performed the song at his Royal Albert Hall concert series and in 1999 with Sheryl Crow at Crow's Sheryl Crow and Friends: Live from Central Park concert.

"White Room" has been covered by a variety of artists: Helloween, Jeff Healey, Waylon Jennings, Joel Grey, Ace Frehley, Frank Gambale (in a jazz fusion style), Iron Butterfly, jazz guitarist Jimmy Ponder, Flower Travellin' Band on the album Challenge, Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band, Ring of Fire, Jimmy Barnes, The Bobs, The Guess Who, The Vines, The Stranglers, Hugh Cornwell and Robert Williams on the album Nosferatu, Vassar Clements and BBM.

References

  1. ↑ Gilliland, John (1969). "Show 53 - String Man. : UNT Digital Library" (audio). Pop Chronicles. University of North Texas Libraries.
  2. ↑ "Spotlight Singles". Billboard. Cincinnati, Ohio: Billboard Publications, Inc. 21 September 1968. p. 72.
  3. ↑ Hjort, Christopher (2007). Strange Brew: Eric Clapton & the British Blues Boom, 1965-1970. London, UK: Jawbone Press. pp. g. 126, 148, 159, 181. ISBN 978-1-906002-00-8.
  4. ↑ Felix Pappalardi interview, Hit Parader # 55, February 1969
  5. ↑ Wheels of Fire (CD liner). Cream. Polydor Records. 1997. 531 812-2.
  6. ↑ Bacon, Tony (1990). "Guitar Madness". The Marshall Cavendish Illustrated History of Popular Music. 11 (Reference ed.). Marshall Cavendish. p. 1079. ISBN 978-1-8543-5015-2.
  7. ↑ "Classic Rock Magazine, March 2010". Archived from the original on 13 November 2013.
  8. ↑ "Go-Set Australian charts - 1 January 1969". poparchives.com.
  9. ↑ Austrian Charts
  10. ↑ "The RPM 100" (PHP). RPM Weekly. 10 (12): 5. 18 November 1968. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
  11. ↑ "Cream – Billboard Singles". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  12. ↑ Hoffmann, Frank (1983). The Cash Box Singles Charts, 1950-1981. Metuchen, NJ & London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. p. 135.
  13. ↑ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". collectionscanada.gc.ca.
  14. ↑ Musicoutfitters.com
  15. ↑ Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 28, 1968
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