Template:Cool stuff/album/Octopus

• The album name "Octopus" comes from "Octo" (eight) and "Opus" (works), as there are eight tracks on the album. (Thanks to Richard McCready.)
• The Advent Of Panurge features Pantagruel, the giant first mentioned in Pantagruel's Nativity on Acquiring The Taste.
• The nonsense syllables in The Advent Of Panurge describe what happens in the original story about the two giants. Pantagruel meets Panurge by a bridge, and Panurge answers his questions by speaking in every language under the sun... except French. (Thanks to Michael Beauvois.)
• During the chorus of Raconteur Troubadour, the violin plays the vocal melody from the verse. It is very strange how they fit together!
• Listen closely to the string solo in Raconteur Troubadour. The opening melody is almost the same as the vocal melody on the verse, but the rhythm is changed. (I listened to this piece for eight years without noticing the similarity. Those clever lads.) In addition, the trumpet lick shortly afterward plays those same six notes of the melody, in a different rhythm. (Thanks to Richard McCready.)
• The lyrics of Knots come from poetry by psychologist R. D. Laing. His book, Knots, was published in 1970 Pantheon Books, New York, ISBN 0-394-47215-2.
• The high-speed drums in Knots are higher-pitched than the drums on the rest of the album. This has lead some Gentle Giant fans to suspect that the Knots drums were actually played slower and then sped up (raising the pitch as an artifact).
• The swirling noise at the end of Knots seems to tie itself into a knot in space. It helps to listen with headphones. (Thanks to Keith Hyman.)
• In Knots, on one of the early "verses" where they are all singing out of sync, listen to the lowest vocalist. The melody is the basis for the Crimson-ish instrumental section later on in the song. (Thanks to Eric Wohnlich.)
• In The Boys In The Band, one of the keyboard parts at 1:38 is the same as the bass part that comes in 21 seconds later. (Thanks to "Cookie.")
• A lyric in Think Of Me With Kindness, "when we two parted in tears and silence," is a slightly paraphrased quote from a poem by Lord Byron, When we Two Parted. The original goes: "When we two parted in silence and tears, half-broken-hearted to sever for years, pale grew thy cheek and cold, colder thy kiss." (Thanks to Norman Hesford.)
• In Think Of Me With Kindness, about 50 seconds in, just after "When there's no tomorrow," the music is reminiscent of the "Marlboro Country" riff from the beginning of The Magnificent Seven. (Thanks to Maynard Peterson and others.)
• About halfway through the guitar solo in River, you can hear Derek singing along with the guitar for about five seconds. (Thanks to Jon Dharma Murphree.)