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White Room

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For other uses, see White Room (disambiguation).

"White Room"
Song
B-side"Those Were the Days"

"White Room" is a song by British rock band Cream, written by bassist Jack Bruce and poet Pete Brown.[2] Drummer Ginger Baker claims to have added the distinctive 5/4 opening to what had been a 4/4 composition.[3] It originally appeared on the US release of their double album Wheels of Fire in July 1968 and was released as a single in September 1968. It is one of their most famous songs, along with Sunshine of Your Love.

The single reached the top 30 in seven countries, including Australia, where it topped the Go-Set National Top 40 singles chart.[4] The song was edited for the single release on AM radio stations, although album-oriented FM radio stations would play the full album version.

Background and recording

The recording of "White Room" reportedly began in July 1967 in London at the initial session for Cream’s as-yet-unnamed third album and work continued at Atlantic Studios in New York in December and finished during three separate sessions to complete the studio part of Wheels of Fire; February, April and June 1968, all at Atlantic Studios.[5][6]

Jack Bruce sang and played bass on the song, Eric Clapton played overdubbed guitars, Ginger Baker played drums and a timpani, and Felix Pappalardi – the group's producer – contributed by playing violas.[7] Clapton played his guitar through a wah-wah pedal to achieve a "talking-effect".[8]

Charts

Charts (1968–1969) Peak
position
Australian Go-Set Chart 1[9]
Austrian Singles Chart 19[10]
Canadian RPM Top Singles 2[11]
Dutch Top 40 4[12]
French Singles Chart 73
German Media Control Chart 28
New Zealand Singles Chart 2
U.K. Singles Chart 26
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 6[13]
US Cashbox Top Singles[14] 5

Year-End Chart

Chart (1968) Peak
position
Canadian RPM Top Singles 39
Dutch Top 40 51
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 81
Chart (1969) Peak
position
Australian Kent Music Report 13

Recognition and other recordings

Rolling Stone magazine ranked "White Room" at number 376 on the 2004 (and its 2010 update) "List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". 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: Jeff Healey, Waylon Jennings, Joel Grey, 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 (with Jack Bruce, Peter Frampton on guitar, Gary Brooker on keyboard, Mark Rivera on saxophone and tambourine and two drummers (Ringo and Simon Kirke) doing the triplets in unison), Helloween, Demons and Wizards (Iced Earth/Blind Guardian), Ring of Fire, Jimmy Barnes, The Bobs, The Guess Who, The Vines, The Stranglers, Hugh Cornwell and Robert Williams (drummer) on the album Nosferatu, Vassar Clements, BBM, Mostly Harmless and Lana Lane on the album Gemini.

References

  1. ^ a b c Welch, Chris (2000). Cream: The Legendary Sixties Supergroup. Backbeat Books. p. eBook. ISBN 978-1476851501. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  2. ^ Gilliland, John (1969). "Show 53 - String Man. : UNT Digital Library" (audio). Pop Chronicles. University of North Texas Libraries.
  3. ^ "Classic Rock Magazine, March 2010".
  4. ^ "Go-Set Number One Singles". Pop Archives. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ Felix Pappalardi interview, Hit Parader # 55, February 1969
  7. ^ Wheels of Fire (CD liner). Cream. Polydor Records. 1997. 531 812-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  8. ^ Bacon, Tony (1990). "Guitar Madness". The Marshall Cavendish Illustrated History of Popular Music. Vol. 11 (Reference ed.). Marshall Cavendish. p. 1079. ISBN 978-1-8543-5015-2.
  9. ^ "Go-Set Australian charts - 1 January 1969". poparchives.com.
  10. ^ http://austriancharts.at/showitem.asp?interpret=Cream&titel=White+Room&cat=s
  11. ^ "The RPM 100" (PHP). RPM Weekly. 10 (12): 5. 18 November 1968. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
  12. ^ Stichting Nederlandse Top 40. "Top 40". Top40.nl.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ "Cream – Billboard Singles". Allmusic. United States: Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  14. ^ Hoffmann, Frank (1983). The Cash Box Singles Charts, 1950-1981. Metuchen, NJ & London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. p. 135.
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