The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)

"The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)" is a song written by Peter Green and recorded by Fleetwood Mac. It was released as a single in the UK in May 1970 and reached No. 10 on the British charts, a position it occupied for four consecutive weeks, and was the band`s last UK top 10 hit until "Tusk" reached No. 6 in 1979. "The Green Manalishi" was the last song Green made with Fleetwood Mac before leaving the band.[1]

Composition

The song was written during Green`s final months with the band, at a time when he was using LSD heavily. While there are several theories about the meaning of the title "Green Manalishi", Green always maintained that the song is about money, as represented by the devil.[2] Green was reportedly angered by the other band members` refusal to share their financial gains.[3]

Green has explained that he wrote the song after experiencing a drug-induced dream in which he was visited by a green dog which barked at him from the afterlife. He understood that the dog represented money. "It scared me because I knew the dog had been dead a long time. It was a stray and I was looking after it. But I was dead and had to fight to get back into my body, which I eventually did. When I woke up, the room was really black and I found myself writing the song." Green wrote the lyrics the following day, in Richmond Park.[2]

Producer Martin Birch recalled that Green was initially frustrated because he could not get the sound he wanted, but Danny Kirwan reassured him that they would stay in the studio all night until the band got it right.[4] Green said later that although the session left him exhausted, "Green Manalishi" was still one of his best musical memories. He recalled that the band recorded several instruments for "Green Manalishi", including a six-string bass and "lots of drums". Green was also fond of the "shrieking guitars" that he played with Kirwan and thought that the song would hit number one on the charts.[2]

The B-side of the single was an instrumental written by Green and Danny Kirwan, titled "World In Harmony". The two tracks were recorded at the same session in Warner/Reprise Studios, in Hollywood, California. The only track bearing a Kirwan/Green writing credit, the two had plans to collaborate further on a guitar-driven album, but the project never materialised.[2]

Live versions

A 16-minute live version of "The Green Manalishi" was recorded in February 1970, prior to the single`s recording in April, but it remained unreleased until 1985 when it was unofficially released on a number of records, such as Shanghai Records` Cerulean and Rattlesnake Shake. In 1998 it was issued (edited to 11:32) along with the entire set of recordings on the Live in Boston: Remastered three-CD boxed set.

The song was played live by subsequent versions of Fleetwood Mac with Bob Welch and then Lindsey Buckingham singing the vocal and taking on the song`s guitar parts.

Personnel

• Peter Green – guitar, vocals, six string bass
• Danny Kirwan – guitar
• John McVie – bass guitar
• Mick Fleetwood – drums, gong, maracas

Though he appeared in the photo on the single cover sleeve, Jeremy Spencer is thought not to have been present at the recording sessions, though he was present when Green was recording the eerie howling noises heard at the end of the song, according to an interview with Spencer on the BBC Peter Green documentary DVD, "Man of the World".

Chart positions

Judas Priest version

Heavy metal band Judas Priest covered the song on their 1979 album Hell Bent for Leather (the American version of Killing Machine). The first worldwide release was on the band`s live album, Unleashed in the East, released later that year. The band performed it on Live Aid at JFK Stadium, Pennsylvania in 1985.[11] This version features a dual guitar solo played by Glenn Tipton and K. K. Downing.

Adrien Begrand of PopMatters said the cover "succeeded in such a way that the Priest version is now far more famous than the original. They make it their own, accelerating the pace just enough to achieve a better balance of force and menace, and the groove created by drummer Les Binks cinches it. Priest’s towering version is nevertheless an all-time heavy metal classic."[12]

A re-recording of the song, subtitled the `98 version, was included as one of the B-sides to the single "Bullet Train,"[13] and later as a bonus track on the German and Australian versions of the band’s 2001 album Demolition.[14]