Earth Opera was an American psychedelic rock group, active during 1967-1969 and featuring Peter Rowan and David Grisman.
Both Rowan and Grisman were virtuoso folk and bluegrass performers in Boston clubs, who became caught up in the changes in the music scene in the mid 1960s. They formed Earth Opera in 1967 in Boston, Massachusetts, and were joined by John Nagy on bass, Paul Dillon on drums, and Bill Stevenson on keyboards and vibraphone.[1][2]
The group was signed by Jac Holzman to Elektra Records. Their self-titled debut album, produced by Grisman's ex-bandmate Peter Siegel, and including veteran drummer (and Mothers of Invention alumnus) Billy Mundi, was a mixture of folk and psychedelic influences. The group frequently opened for The Doors, who were also on Elektra Records.[3]
Although the first album never charted, Elektra was willing to record a second LP, "The Great American Eagle Tragedy". By this time, Stevenson had left. The second album featured an array of eminent guests including John Cale (viola) and Bill Keith (pedal steel).
“The Great American Eagle Tragedy” managed to reach the lower end of the national charts, the cover featuring a parody of the US presidential seal with a superimposed death skull and what looks like blood stains. However, the band’s relative lack of success caused Earth Opera to break up in 1969. Rowan, Grisman, Nagy[4] and Stevenson[5] all continued their careers in the music business.[6]
In 2002, both of Earth Opera's LPs were reissued on CD.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Opera
Home to You
It's tired and I'm getting late
I try to speak but I can't relate
The DJ says I need my rest
Like a storm lost bird
I can't find my nest
I gotta get home to you
I gotta get home to you
I gotta get home to you
A strangers smokes
And smiles and wants to speak
Says do you remember
The cold earth on Beacon Street
And the glimpse of life
That I have seen
Fading faintly in my dream
I gotta get home to you
Bring it on home to you
I gotta get it home to you
I lie on the bed
Can't get to sleep
I've been on the road
About three weeks
She says, you're not smiling
You must be sad
Yes, this lonesomeness
Is the worst I've had
I gotta get home to you
Home to you
I gotta get home to you
The truth, the lies, the alibis
Every day we do and die
But the path was lost
In the falling snow
As we dance our days
Out there below
I gotta get home to you
Got to bring it home to you
I gotta get home to you
It's tired and I'm getting late
I try to speak but I can't relate
The DJ says I need my rest
Like a storm lost bird
I can't find my nest, oh
I gotta get home to you
Gotta get home to you
Bring it on home to you
-- song written by Peter Rowan
1969. The year I graduated high school. Freedom! Then what? I was classified 1A. Right on the cusp of the draft lottery. Uncle Sam wouldn't take an only child, would he? But I wanted to enlist. Then I could prove my manhood & get enough combat experience to write the great American Vietnam War novel. If I didn't get my head blown off, that is. Turns out the U.S. military wasn't ready for me...
BTW -- The first line of the song supposedly goes: "It's tired and I'm getting late" but I'd swear on a stack of Das Kapital the vocalist sings: It's tired and I'm getting laid...!!! Not that it matters a smatter.