11/12: The penultimate song on the second side, '
A Legal Matter' was the first song that was sang entirely by Pete. There was an apocryphal story that Roger didn't sing it because he was getting divorced from his first wife at the time. [The divorce did not actually occur until five years after this album but they were separated at the time.]
A nagging riff underpins the song, which is very clearly influenced by '
The Last Time' by The Stones which was released 10 months previously
Pete:
"'Legal Matter' is about a guy on the run from a chick about to pin him down for breach of promise. What this song was screaming from behind lines like, 'It's a legal matter baby, marrying's no fun, it's a legal matter baby, you got me on the run,' was 'I'm lonely, I'm hungry, and the bed needs making.' I wanted a maid I suppose. It's terrible feeling like an eligible bachelor but with no women seeming to agree with you."
"I told you why I changed my mind
I got bored by playing with time
I know you thought you had me nailed
But I've freed my head from your garden rails
Now it's a legal matter, baby
You got me on the run
It's a legal matter, baby
A legal matter from now on
My mind's lost in a household fog
Wedding gowns and catalogs
Kitchen furnishings and houses
Maternity clothes and baby's trousers
Now it's a legal matter, baby
Marryin's no fun
It's a legal matter, baby
A legal matter from now on
I told you why I changed my mind
I got bored by playing with time
I know you thought you had me nailed
Well, I've freed my head from your garden rails
Now it's a legal matter, baby
You got me on the run
It's a legal matter, baby
A legal matter from now on
You ain't the first and you ain't the last
I gain and lose my women fast
I never want to make them cry
I just get bored, don't ask me why
Just wanna keep doing all the dirty little things I do
And not work all day in an office just to bring my money back to you
Sorry, baby"
12/12: The closing track on the album, '
The Ox', is an instrumental. However, it's a far cry from the 'melodic' tunes recorded by instrumental bands like The Shadows! Keith's relentless tom-tom assault carries the music throughout, but that's not taking anything away from Pete's guitar slashes; Nicky Hopkin's piano and John's menacing bass which is treated as the lead instrument here. Keith was a huge fan of surf music, and '
Wipeout' by The Safaris in particular, but this ain't no surfing song. Instead it's 12-bar blues, but it has no real melody in the accepted sense of the term - just a bass riff and a brutal onslaught which teeters on musical anarchy for most of the time
I have to admit that the song is not a favourite of mine
The title comes from one of John's nicknames
Pete:
"This is the last track on the LP. We all wrote it except Roger. In a way, I suppose it's a surfing sound. It's an American sound like something you get from the Wailers. I got out of this something I've always wanted to get out of a piece of music. I like that piano break. Actually it's John getting a piano sound out of his guitar. Nicky Hopkins is on this, he used to be with Cyril Davis. This session went on much longer and at the end we were all falling about."