From a thread about A BIGGER BANG, I was urged by an answer to an earlier post to google on the suggested word "Gomping", so thank you, andrewt.

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andrewt

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Witness

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Silver Dagger

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DandelionPowderman
I don't hear "masses of shit" on any Stones album. Not even Streets Of Love or Suck On The Jugular are down there, imo

Nope and Gomper is an underrated classic!

Wow, eventually I get the possibility to express the view that I for one, in fact, consider "Gomper" to be a classic Rolling Stones track and, besides, an underrated one at that!

It's the perfect soundtrack to a night of Gomping.

Quite another content than the tongue-in-cheek suggestion was then revealed as one meaning. And indirectly an explanation to the word Gomper is introduced:

[www.urbandictionary.com]
"Someone who walks awkwardly, almost as if they were wearing an invisible deep sea diving suit. Similar to the 'lollop' that an elephant adopts when walking. A 'gomper' is also normally half a sleep while all those around them are awake."

The quoted in bold, I think, may throw some very interesting light on this song and track, which I love. Yes, I do.

What I found, made me seek for the track talk on "Gomper", which I had never read. Some excellent posts were there to be read. And I think the interpretation "A 'gomper' is also normally half a sleep while all those around them are awake" might inspire some new listening to the song and possibly thoughts about it. And this explanation gives some link to the snoring at the end of "In Another Land" and, consequently, to that song as well.

I've always liked this tune which is not a typical Stones track. Quite a feeling when listening to it and 2000 Light Years is a perfect song following it.

I LOVE Their Satanic Majesties Request. This and Sing This All Together (long version) are the only songs on the album I don't like. That album succeeds when they get weird, but not too weird. Gomper is fine for the first half (not great, but certainly nothing bad) and they ruin it in the second half. The same way Sing This All Together for 7 minutes is totally unnecessary. Gomper is the worst song on the album that could have actually been a decent song.

I don't know why this track is so maligned. In the context of the psychedelic era it's pretty magical. Puts the crap out of Gloom and Doom any day for my money.

OK, I'll say it - this track is as weak as it gets for the Stones. Had it been done by any other band, it would be a non-event and no one would praise it. The only reason y'all praise it is because it is different from most Stones' tracks.

But ask yourselves - if it was NOT a Stones' track, would you REALLY listen to it?

Just like we all listen to Revolution No. 9 in full, right?

stonesstein

Kick me like you did before
I can't even feel the pain no more
Rocks Off, 1972

If I had been made aware of this track and, besides, heard it enough times, I would have bought an album, where it was featured, much the same way a track on PHAEDRA, heard on the radio once, made me buy that album from Tangerine Dream.

To me the whole album THEIR SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST emerged different to me from when I started to appreciate "Gomper" highly. That is why "Gomper" became much like a key to me to love the album as a whole, not only certain major songs.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-09-23 07:55 by Witness.

The word "Gomper" sounds like it ought to mean someone chewing food after taking out their false teeth. Or alternately, something Phelge might leave stuck to the wall.

What I find very interesting about 'Gomper' is the sequence of tracks. That the main percussion, the Tabla was overdubbed, to hardly any other percussion or click on basic tracks.
I was listening to 'Satanic', and on many tracks, def. on "Lantern", you hear the overdubbed tracks on the right. Usually a lead guitar by Keith. Maybe horns. In 'Lantern' there is a beautiful Mellotron(?) or organ phrase that only shows up once.
So 'Gomper' has that feel too; where you get the whole pinged down basic tracks on the right side. And what has always bugged me about "Gomper' is that the Table sounds out of sync. I noticed that Charlie must have o/d his track to an implied rhythm in instruments. Or maybe there was a click track that they got rid of. Or something weak, that has been swallowed up
That would mean that Mick also tracked his percussion with Charlie,maybe he was the one counting, and then once they got rocking he started banging away too.
I really enjoyed listening to all of 'Satanic' yesterday.
The chord changes to 'On with the Show" are very clever.
And '2000 Man' is a pretty good song. Anyone ever heard Kiss doing it? With Ace singing? I liked it a lot.

I had to YouTube this "song".

It's worse than I recall. Their worst song? No. But it is awful. TSMR really should've been an EP.

What is a gomper, anyway? Aside from Urban Dictionary's version, that is.

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GasLightStreet
I had to YouTube this "song".

It's worse than I recall. Their worst song? No. But it is awful. TSMR really should've been an EP.

What is a gomper, anyway? Aside from Urban Dictionary's version, that is.

Somewhere, sometime I read something about a lake in the Himalayas, or like it..

Gomper doesn't mean Chomper or Mars bars or whatever, it means Quimper. Quimper is a town in Brittany (France) with an ancient castle and a fairy tale lake with lillies and water roses.
It is often regarded as a place of inspiration for King Arthur sagas and the like that are common folklore in many European countries.
Besides the mentioned Tao book English folklore books, Sagas, Tolkien etc. was also Mick's reading stuff at the time (David Dalton, unauthorized biography).
This was the suggestion I could make the most of brought to me by a fellow German Stones fan.

..I like it..!

Mick and Keith would later deny it, but for a good while there they were really into the hippie/psychedelic scene.
Mick later called Satanic Majesty a comedy album but they took it seriously at the time.

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stonesstein
OK, I'll say it - this track is as weak as it gets for the Stones. Had it been done by any other band, it would be a non-event and no one would praise it. The only reason y'all praise it is because it is different from most Stones' tracks.

But ask yourselves - if it was NOT a Stones' track, would you REALLY listen to it?

Just like we all listen to Revolution No. 9 in full, right?

I do listen to the nine every now and then but Gomper, also underrated, is an spheric track. I dont get the hate.

Basement News #10 -- May 1994



ROCKMAN

Thank you Rockman for Dirk's great revelation.

Thak you Rockman, thank you Dirk, that's exactly what I meant!!! (I am the mentioned JJH Michael Franz by the way).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018-01-21 04:25 by JJHMick.

.....hhhhhhaaa small world ain't it JJH.....Michael ...^^^^^^^^^^^




Basement News #8 -- October 1993



ROCKMAN

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Rockman
.....hhhhhhaaa small world ain't it JJH.....Michael ...^^^^^^^^^^^




Basement News #8 -- October 1993

Oh my God, there is an Australian who keeps my archive better than me!!! (Actually it's right at my feet but I have to bow and search through some cartons).
I wrote for Dieter Hoffmann's Basement News a review of that Sandford biography . A few days later Dieter Hoffmann called me and said somebody (Dirk, where are you? Or: What's your alias here?) called him who had read my article and was asking whether I meant that question seriously. Indeed, I do, I answered! I have no idea at all!
Actually, I had even asked the Oxford Dictionary Editors board in England!!! They had aswered We have not the slightest idea what's meant with Gomper! That meant it wasn't neither some Early Modern or Viking English word long lost before Queen Victoria! So here we are: Brian is dead and Mick and Keith won't tell me.
Dieter gave me Dirk's number and we chatted over the phone and that's Dirk Hinrich's article. I am sure he has given us the right answer to that song!

Nicholas Shaffner --------- Lifted from Gary Simon's -- Their Sonic Majesties Bequest



ROCKMAN

Robert Palmer 1983 ----- --------- Lifted from Gary Simon's -- Their Sonic Majesties Bequest



ROCKMAN

..... Old Gomper talk ------>>>>>> [iorr.org]



ROCKMAN

Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon...........



ROCKMAN

Frank Kofsky --- Jazz & Pop magazine 1968 ......

Lifted from Gary Simon -- Their Sonic Majesties Bequest



ROCKMAN

Cool stuff Rockman, Thank you

ROCKMAN CSI SSI SONG SCENE INVESTIGATOR

Pleasure Leonioid .... total pleasure ..... keep laughin' won't ya ....



ROCKMAN

Lifted from Gary Simon -- Their Sonic Majesties Bequest



ROCKMAN

I know for sure I have all these publications and books, but in no way can I come close to the organization and focus that Rockman shows when these are called for. This isn't the first time an obscure fact, or picture needed to be substantiated or realized. Rockman, you always come through with style. Awesome.

Hhhhaaaa .... fanks Palace

Contrary to fake rumours .... I'm a generous prick ....
They claim Phar Lap's heart is almost as big as mine .....hhaaa Hew Haw



ROCKMAN

Thanks Rockman
It’s fun to see the Forét de Palmpont map, a place I visited years ago with some local friends.



“The freakiness continues with ‘Gomper’, at one time known as ‘The Lillies And The Lake’. Brian explained the title as the term for the amazing journey undertaken by hypnotised Tibetan monks and strives to catch its essence using his electric dulcimer and flaring recorder aboard Charlie’s tabla and Hopkins’ floating organ pads. The drone could be enhanced by Mick’s new modular Moog synthesizer