Comments: 20

• Theo from Uddevalla Sweden Hi! It just dawned upon that the melody in the beginning of Fools Overture has a striking resemblance with Gustav Holsts movement "Venus" (The Peacebringer) from The Planets. This can't possibly be a coincidence? Tell me if I'm wrong! If they decided to "borrow" the theme from Holst, then it's a ingenious move!! I've heard both pieces of music so many years but it hasn't really occured to be until just now... A small - but yet - a mindblowing experience.
• Ian from EdinburghA section of the instrumental part of the song was used by Channel 4 as the theme for their coverage of The Masters golf in the mid 80s
• Mary Anne from TexasI totally and completely agree with Allan from Canada. The song is ALL Winston Churshill. It fits well with Churchill's documented history - beginning with his reputation at the start of WW2 due to his experience in the Boer War and the Great War. This song is RICH with layers of meaning. A big THANK YOU to Winnie.
  
  During the first 2 to 3 minutes of Fool's Overture, we hear an excerpt of Churchill's famous speech to Parliament in May 1940: "We shall go on to the end...we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender...."
  
  By September 1940, Britons began sustaining something they call "The Blitz," which consisted of nightly bombing raids that occurred for 8 long months. Britons were keeping their children off of undetonated bombs buried in the streets near their houses after a raid. Some had nervous breakdowns. There were severe food shortages. There was in-fighting among the British leadership and there was the Fifth Column who supported Hitler. Churchill very bravely called for a vote of confidence in Parliament in the middle of the Blitz to see exactly how much support he might have for the hard decisions he was going to have to make ahead. Churchill lived on about 3 hours of sleep a day strategizing on how to win the war. He "took the sky" with the RAF after many battleships were sunk. "The island was sinking" in bombing raids, so a ship full of British children - many of them sent without their parents - to try to save them in case Britain fell - was headed for Canada, but it, too, was sunk by a German bomb and never arrived. No survivors.
  
  The US gave Britain a supportive but lackluster response during the 8 month Blitz and only got involved in the war in December 1941 because Pearl Harbor was bombed - which was 3 months after the Blitz bombings stopped. The US could not have won that war without Great Britain's resolve guided by Churchill's leadership.
  
  I think that the explosion movement of the Fool's Overture represents the chaos of a bombing raid. The search lights rotating through the air and the audience while this movement played are the searchlights used to find planes flying overhead in the dark during a raid (searchlights were used before radar was invented). The flames in the background on the stage was the aftermatch of such a raid. I often wonder what took the US so long to get involved - and I understood why John Helliwell sometimes played the Star Spangled Banner on his saxophone in the middle of the explosion movement of Fool's Overture. Churchill tried many times to get the US involved earlier as he watched his people suffer.
  
  I was a young American airman stationed on an RAF base when Fool's Overture was a hit and met many people who lived through the Blitz, which made this song so much more poignant for me - and still does today. I heard many of their stories....
  
  As Churchill once said, "One always measures friendships by how they show up in bad weather." We really do need to take better care of our allies....
• Chip from TexasI agree with Allan. All Churchill. Thought this from the moment I heard the song. One of my favorites of all time.
• Robert P. from White Rock, CanadaI've listened to this song, and album, since its initial release.
  I agree with Allen from Canada for the most part, except that I always thought the man 'Called a Fool' was Neville Chamberlain, mostly for his foreign policy of appeasement. After Hitler invaded Poland, he was mostly blamed for NOT preparing Britain for war, and was subsequently replaced by Churchill. The rest of course, is history...
• Allan from CanadaI think it's all Churchill. "Called the man a fool:" he was a "hero" in the Boer War (escaping capture), First Lord of the Admiralty in WW1, but in the inter-war years he was relegated to the back benches, basically with no influence. Why was he a fool? His was the lone voice warning about Germany's rearmement and encouraging Britain to build up arms, but was derided as a belligerent warmonger, an out-of-date old soldier looking for the action of an older time.
  
  "Boats put out to sea" - Dunkirk? (catch the movie); "take to the skies" - Battle of Britain? "Up until the day he died" - despite his war service he was still thought of as a bit of a dinosaur, a throwback to a time gone by. So where has that spirit gone? Everyone's looking out for themselves; "live it up, let's go crazy." A series of unremarkable Prime Ministers (did Roger foresee the free-for-all Thatcher years?!), we need someone with backbone.
  
  I have played this album so many times, working all-nighters, and have had years to mull it over. Am I reading too much into this?
• Thierry from FranceI don't know if anyone ever noticed that the theme played at 1:00 in the video above was taken from Gustav Holst's Planets, and more precisely Venus, the Bringer of Peace ( a very appropriate use for this song) at 2:21 in this video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKvG0RU4_fI . Sorry if this has already been said. Roger is not only talented but has a real great knowledge of any kind of music.
• Joe from Toronto, OnNeo, you do realize that Neville Chamberlain was a conservative. And FDR was a liberal. You can't define everything with broad stroke labels. Or live your life in paranoia. I doubt that is what this song is about.
• Neo from Waterville, MnWhether this song was some attempt to paint Neville (the cowardly lion) Chamberlain as some sort of positive figure or not, I cannot say. What I will say is that Winston Churchill was a God send and savior to the western world, for if he had not wakened the Chamberlain's of the time, evil would not have been defeated.
  That same evil exists and grows yet today and it seeks the same end as Hitler did ....world power and annihilation of the Jewish people. Liberals need to awaken from their slumber, nobody likes war, but evil exists and if not confronted, 2/3 of the world population will be victims. I chose Winston Churchill.....and that's who I think of when I hear this song.
• Tom from Ottawa, OnI just wanted to add that the song was not meant to paint Chamerlain as fool, but to honor his memory. A noble man with noble intentions, he it was just in the wrong place and time in history
• Tom from Ottawa, OnThe song is about Neville Chamberlain, who was derided as a fool for trying to appease the Nazi's during to lead up to WWII. Camberlain resigned after the fall of France and the Battle of Britain was about to begin. Churchill took over as Prime Minister. Chamberlain was dead within a few months from cancer
• Roy from Milton, OnI think it's fairly obvious it's about Winston Churchill. In addition to his famous speech, a lot of the lyrics refer to the WWII struggle in England. "The island's sinking, let's take to the sky..." refers to London being heavily bombed and Churchill's fight using the RAF (which he was criticized for).
• E.j. from Corona, CaI love Fool's Overture. I think the song is about Jesus Christ. Roger Hodgson is still touring around the world. I saw him recently here in California. He still can sing. He plays with a guy named Aaron McDonald who is an outstanding musician.
• Steve from Ballwin, MoI always associated it with Jesus Christ as the Fool. "Called the man a fool, stripped him of his pride, everyone was laughing until the day he died. Though the wound went deep. Still he's calling us out of our sleep. We're not alone. He waits in silence to lead us all home..."
• Drdos from St Louis, MoThis song is about when you have had enough of this world and you ride the whipering wind to the dream world within each of us. You must blow up the world of what is precieved to be self reality to see true reality. Most of the people in the world are asleep and few of us see our island sinking and if you do you may take to the sky within. It will only happen in quietest of moments. Remember that you silly fool for you didn't live that golden rule for once your through with this world there is another waiting there for those that want to see their souls again.
  
  Zen Power Dreamer
• S.d. from Denver, CoJimbo, I can't say for certain, but I've always been convinced it's a metaphor the foolishness of war.
• Donna from Boston, FlOne of the best! Brings back memories of days gone by. The 1970's had some really talented musical compositions. Supertramp is highly qualified as one of the greats!
• Michael from Okla. City, OkAwesome song by Rodger Hojdson on acoustic guitar & vocals. Michael, OKC, OK, 4-24-08.
• Jimbo from Sequim, WaTo whom do they refer to in the song? Is it an actual person? I've heard Einstein, Billy Mitchell, etc. suggested. Or is it some sort of metaphorical person? Help!
  
• Rob from Vancouver, Canada'Crime of the Century' and 'Even in the Quietest Moments' were both big sellers in Canada. They didn't dent the American market until 'Breakfast in America'. Great Band. Put on a phenomenal live performance at Empire Stadium aroung '80 or '81.

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