Known for its slashing wah-wah guitar solo, pounding drums and halting drug-inspired lyrics, “White Room” remains one of Cream’s heavily trafficked songs.
Although the wah-wah pedal effect on Eric Clapton’s guitar marks it as a product of the late 1960s, “White Room” feels as contemporary as anything in the Cream catalog. The rock song is marked by an unusual sophistication in the lyrics and musical structure. It also expresses the psychedelic aesthetic in a radio-friendly serving, and audiences of the day ate it up.
Lyricist Pete Brown wrote “White Room” with bassist/singer Jack Bruce. Brown’s carefully measured poetry (doled out in four-syllable phrases) lifts this above so many trippy-nonsense lyrics of the era:
In the white room, with black curtains, near the station/
Black roof country, no gold pavements, tired starlings
The “White Room” was a new flat (apartment) inhabited by Brown, a place where “the shadows run from themselves.” Before long, Brown must confront “the station,” perhaps the London Tube, where pain awaits as a lover departs:
You said no strings could secure you at the station/
Platform ticket, restless diesels, goodbye windows
Brown said years later: “It was a miracle it worked, considering it was me writing a monologue about a new flat.”
While drugs reportedly came into play in the song’s creation, this is a fine example of a psychedelic song working within the temporal confines of a rock single. In the U.S., a 3-minute single version spent several weeks in the top 10 during the fall of 1968. The full 5-minute song provided a dramatic opening to Cream’s “Wheels of Fire” double album.
Despite Clapton’s brilliant solo (and celebrity), “White Room” also serves as evidence that vocalist Bruce was very much Cream’s front man.
“White Room” remained a can’t-miss concert staple for both Bruce and Clapton in their solo careers, although Clapton did resist playing it for many years. It was the penultimate song performed at Cream’s 2005 reunion shows.
Further reading on Cream’s “White Room”:
White Room isn’t even Creams best psychedelic song, Tales of Brave Ulysses is there best one.
Cream hands down is the Best three peice band of all time if not the best band period
The Band being a close second.
Thank you
I thought that the wah-wah made that song and was disappointed when GOD did not use it in the 2005 reunion.
I never understood why people say that Cream were psychedelic. Oh yes, they wore paisley shirts.
Some folks call it “Tales Of Brave Ulysses Part II.” If one wants to get persnickety about meter, tempo and bass lines, it could even be called “Summer In The City Part III.”
A high-water mark of 60s psychedelica — Clapton’s wah-wah is front and foremost, of course, but Bruce and Baker are not just back-up musicians. As always, the bass, vocals, and drum work contribute brilliantly to the experience. (I love the way that the drum kicks are ‘miked-up’ toward the end of the song.) And there is no overlooking Papalardi’s viola, either. There may be some similarities with ‘Ulysses’ but the sonic density and texture of ‘White Room’ place it in a category all its own. A brilliant choice to kick off ‘Wheels of Fire’.
Lyrics by Pete Brown. One of the greatest poems in rock, in my judgment.
Love the song, lived through the psychedelic era with good stuff and bad stuff but White Room (like many in this list) doesn’t conform to ‘psychedelic’ for me. Mind bending, exotic, implausible lyrics and the feeling you might be tripping without the aid of pills, are the trademarks- often combining new or unlikely instruments and sound effects. But, do like many of the tracks here even though they don’t fit the bill!
Thanks for the comment, Kevin. I see you are a psychedelic music purist. I get it. This site is about the underground music of the 1960s and a bit of what came after. Most of it of a certain alternative bent. You know it when you hear it. A list of vintage music seeking to duplicate the LSD experience would be short and populated by a lot of unlistenable stuff (with some ace exceptions). If it were a playlist … I’d probably subscribe.
To me, limiting the genre to its drug roots is like saying all rock ‘n’ roll songs had to mimic the sex act (since that’s where the term originated). I can’t think of a single psychedelic music compilation that restricts itself in the way you suggest.
“White Room” to me is a great example of the psychedelic aesthetic (with trippy impressionistic lyrics) expressed in the confines of the pop song. There were more than a few of these, as I’m sure you recall, and I think they are an important part of the mix. And while “White Room’s” wah-wah guitar effects and African-inspired drumming remain common enough now, they certainly presented a “new or unlikely” buzz at the time.
“where the shadows run from themselves…” (top lyric! )