LIGHTNING TIDE [live & improvised]

from GREEN GIRL by The Ophelias

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

$1 USD or more
Buy the Full Digital Album

about

Track: 2
Title: LIGHTNING TIDE [improvisation]
Authorship: Medford/Babbitt/Ferrari
Publishing: BrowBeat Music, BMI
Recording date: November 1984
Recording place: The G-Spot, 503 Frederick Street, San Francisco, CA
A cassette recording made with a portable device.
Remastered by Carl Salbacka & Leslie Medford
Running Time: 03:34
First appeared on: Green Girl
First released 23 April 2017
[via multiple streaming services]

Leslie Medford : vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, trumpet
Sam Babbitt : electric guitar
Martin Ferrari : bass guitar

Particulars: Medford: “Marty Ferrari, called Thomas, was a friend of mine who two or three times came to SF with me from the East Bay and played bass with Sam and I just for kicks, right when the band was starting and the Oafs were just Sam and me. It wasn’t unusual to be very high and just launch into things without warning. I’m sure this was right at the beginning of a rehearsal, and Sam is just plugging in. Marty picked right up on the little figure I began to play on the 12-string and clattered away. Sam, in his innocence, made the flower open. Beautiful.”

lyrics

LIGHTNING TIDE

In this dream we were riding along
Between the borders of right and wrong.
'Twas there I understood a man
Who came betwixt the golden hand
And went upstream.
O so cheap it was!

And did the diamond skylight fall?!
Or like the trees that grew so tall.
Like it was our time and we would never make it like it was before.
Gross eye taking our time.

We stood as objects made so tall.
Our space was full like a lightning tide.
And like a true word we were taking away a live soul, taking a tide.
I see you before like a doll.

And is the goddess like a sun?
The abacus was on the wending finger snapping time to tide
When we were round
I see you before and it's like a tide when we, once streaming away,
I see you before like a toy.

Sam: "What's that?!"

credits

from GREEN GIRL, released April 23, 2019

license

about

The Ophelias San Francisco, California

The Ophelias are a psychedelic rock band formed in San Francisco in 1984.

contact / help

Contact The Ophelias

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like The Ophelias, you may also like:

Voyage of the Dark-Eyed Sailor
by LESLIE MEDFORD

supported by 4 fans who also own “LIGHTNING TIDE [live & improvised]”

to hear such delicious sausage being made pyrolysis_likes
go to album
Blown Youth
by LESLIE MEDFORD

supported by 4 fans who also own “LIGHTNING TIDE [live & improvised]”

It's a tough thing to choose a top track from a set that includes such exquisite gems as the mysterious folk-blues of "Red Boat," and Medford's beautiful rendition of "Janine." But it's the crystalline version of (the usually nervy) "the Big (Myopian)" that takes the cake in the end. Carl Salbacka
go to album
Each Dot and Each Line
by Shredded Sun

A scorching rock record from this Chicago group conjures the energy of ’90s alt-rock with a 2023 attitude. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 25, 2023
go to album
Not Getting What You Want, One Step at a Time
by Imp of Perverse

Getting some serious Dean Wareham vibes from this Texas bedroom project that’s anything but lo-fi. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 10, 2017
go to album
No Guitar
by Curling

Don't believe the name of their latest album; jangle-pop hooks and stacked grunge guitars are two of the Bay Area band's greatest gifts. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 16, 2023
go to album
Definitely Band
by Curling

Indie rock with sunny psych-pop harmonies and guitar work that alternately chimes and crashes. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 22, 2018
go to album
IT WON/T BE LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME LIVE
by The Twilight Sad

Twilight Sad present a collection of songs recorded across their 2019 tour which perfectly capture the band’s volcanic live presence. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 18, 2020
go to album