The classic 1967 album "Disraeli Gears" by the British rock band Cream featured "Tales of Brave Ulysses", a true psychedelic masterpiece. Based on Homer's Odyssey, the lyric and arrangement combine to form an incredible and original song.  The Disraeli Gears cover art was created by Martin Sharp, who wrote the "Tales of Brave Ulysses" lyrics.  



                                                      

Song Lyrics  

You thought the leaden winter would bring you down forever,
But you rode upon a steamer to the violence of the sun.

And the colors of the sea blind your eyes with trembling mermaids,
And you touch the distant beaches with tales of brave Ulysses:
How his naked ears were tortured by the sirens sweetly singing,
For the sparkling waves are calling you to kiss their white-lace lips.

And you see a girl's brown body dancing through the turquoise,
And her footprints make you follow where the sky loves the sea.
And when your fingers find her, she drowns you in her body,
Carving deep blue ripples in the tissues of your mind.

The tiny purple fishes run laughing through your fingers,
And you want to take her with you to the hard land of the winter.

Her name is Aphrodite and she rides a crimson shell,
And you know you cannot leave her for you touched the distant sands
With the tales of brave Ulysses: how his naked ears were tortured
By the sirens sweetly singing.

The tiny purple fishes run laughing through your fingers,
And you want to take her with you to the hard land of the winter.

From Wikipedia

The lyrics were written by artist Martin Sharp, and the music was composed by Eric Clapton. Arranged by Robert Stigwood, the song is featured on Cream's album Disraeli Gears. Sharp had written the words on the back of a beer mat, which he gave to Clapton after a chance meeting. These lyrics were put to a melody inspired by Judy Collins' version of Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" and chords inspired by The Lovin' Spoonful's "Summer in the City". The music originated from bassist Jack Bruce's ability to match his vocals to the meter of the song to a riff, adding it with his vocals to what had previously been a poem but was then expanded by Clapton into a song.[1] The song is credited on the single to P. Brown, J. Bruce, and E. Clapton.[2] The day before writing the song, Clapton discovered the wah-wah pedal, which augmented the song.



Some live versions worth a listen


Live at the BBC version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tT1gVjDWos&index=1&list=FLR10m-ogDzQ2MrhyT5C3y1Q   

Great Live recording

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwJkY1KC9eM&index=3&list=FLR10m-ogDzQ2MrhyT5C3y1Q

This is a novelty patch from the closing period of the war.  U-Tapao is a large military air base in Thailand. The US Air force ran a lot of their Vietnam War air operations out of U-Tapao.  The famous B-52 aircraft was stationed here and participated in the Arc Light raids, Operation Linebacker and Linebacker II . 

This patch is locally made in Thailand - 4 1/2 inches round in size.  Pictured are syphilis and gonorrhea cartoon characters. The black character is syphilis and has a
spirochete machine embroidered in green.

Wheat pennies were made from 1909 thru 1958.  The Lincoln Memorial reverse started production in 1959. 

One of the more common 19th century American military swords is the 1860 pattern Staff and Field officer's sword.  Used through the Civil War into the Spanish American War.  A strange variation of this very model came into my shop with a whistle built into the crossguard.  Included was a period cabinet card photograph of the original owner holding this very same sword. 

This sword was made by the M.C. Lilley Company of Columbus, Ohio.  You can see the same sword 115 years later, and in color.

A picture taken from underneath the crossguard clearly shows the whistle. 

Armor was a new technology in World War One.  Introduced by the Germans, it took the allied French and British forces by surprise.  The Americans came into the world war in the spring of 1917 and had to play catch up.  US armored troops used the French Renault tank on the battlefield.  Enlisted ranks American Tank Corp personnel wore this collar badge (pictured right).  One inch round, die struck in bronze and darkened.  Artwork shows an early WW1 tank above the two dragons.  This insignia has a threaded post on the reverse side with a threaded keeper for attachment to the uniform. 

This is the Rare first pattern officer ranks collar badge.  It is an early style tank oriented as facing you.  1 inch tall by 1 1/4 inches across in size.  Pinback with a simple hook pin catch.  Made for wear on the officer's green wool field uniform. 

On August 26, 1903 George Keppler applied to have his newly invented stamping die patented. His method for stamping high relief images into flat metal was used to produce what are commonly referred to as pop-out coins. 

Also known as repoussé coins, the image of a face is stamped into the reverse of the coin making the obverse three-dimensional.

Several updated variations of this line taken from a Carl Sandburg poem were popular in the 1960s but the most common was "Suppose they gave a war and nobody came?"

Typically framed as a way to express opposition to the Vietnam War this phrase was used as a slogan on posters and patches that were sold in Hippie shops in the late Sixties.

In October 1966 Charlotte E. Keyes wrote an article for McCall's titled "Suppose They Gave a War and No One Came" which helped to further popularize this phrase and in 1970 it was used as the title for a movie making it more ubiquitous than ever. 

Like much of the Sixties, this once-popular slogan has become somewhat of a relic of the past and we were excited to find one of these patches as part of a recent acquisition of Vietnam-Era Protest Patches and memorabilia.

We'll be making some of the pieces from this collection available for purchase very soon.

Some other Hippie Protest Pins are available for purchase via my eBay store.

Some of the pieces from a recent acquisition of Vietnam-era protest memorabilia.