Ducks on a Pond - The Incredible String Band

The band of my childhood - went to see you at every opportunity!

I bought Wee Tam and The Big Huge when I lived in Edinburgh: these guys were always wandering around.

Actually incredibly good musicians, many of these songs have lovely stories rooted in local words and history. We put on Caravan in concert and they and their entourage rocked up and enjoyed.

This is very hard to play - but we did it!

The list of paradoxes is clever and touching: “peacocks…” etc. Followed by an old street kids’ song: then Woody Guthrie!

Nice! 😁

Very pretty swimming round x

Joe Boyd seems to think that the jewel in the crown of his roster of artists was Nick Drake. Don't want to diss Nick- he created an exquisite poetic and musical world and by the nature of their different creativity, he certainly had higher quality control than the ISB but for those with ears to hear, Robin and Mike created something much more intensely original, genuinely spiritual and powerfully expanding the possibilities of pop and folk music.

This was always my favourite ISB song- maybe still is. The childlike opening, the developing mystical, surrealist, slightly ominous notes, the abrupt shifts to playful nursery rhyme and then to rousing, rootsy finale comprises as fine an example of what made them unique as I can think of. It hangs together effortlessly, it takes the listener on a trip into a realm of true magic, revelation, mind expansion. For a few years at the end of the 60s the ISB opened a portal that pop /folk music had never known existed.

It was great 55 years ago, I loved it to bits. Now it's just silly. So maybe it always was just silly? And I hadn't realised just how silly it was? Who knows, or cares...

My dad said once or twice to me.. ducks on the pond.. he had a shotgun..few birds down. 30 years later I type in here 'ducks on the pond' BEAUTIFUL SONG ON

I wish I could give this song more than one LIKE.

It’s been my favourite for around 50 years

Rachel had this album, turned me on to watercolours and vegetarianism, then Forest got promoted and won the European Cup.

All within a couple of years. Those were the days!

i saw these guys at WOODSTOCK 69

I miss you Lenny. I love you brother. Thank you for what you did for me, miss the Bates motel