I recently came across this sketch of Astronaut Sarah Magnus in an old lyric/sketchbook. It was part of the inspiration for Canyon of Heroes on the TSK?! EP.
This song began it’s life with Chris having a tough day in the studio, which at the time was our living room in a small flat in Brighton. He recorded loads of different ideas on the Teisco 110F and Roland SH-01, but none of them were quite working. Frustrated, he ended up playing them all at the same time and this is the sound you hear from about 26 seconds into the song.
We thought that sounded pretty cool so we built on it. It felt so completely joyful and chaotic it put me in mind of ticker tape parades with thousands of people bouncing up and down.
The Canyon of Heroes is the name of the route which ticker tape parades travel along in New York City. I wrote the words thinking about astronauts returning from space with their cosmic perspective for humanity and everybody celebrating. I remember an unused lyric I wrote was “ticker tape, ticker tape, tickling your face”.
This song is so high energy and celebratory it’s always loads of fun to perform live. Fun fact: it’s also Hearty White’s (of Hearty White’s Miracle Nutrition on WFMU) favourite BOO song.
Lyrics
Riding through the Canyon of Heroes
To the sound of a thousand radios
To the whistling of ships and tugboats
Brought home on a two-tonne pink rose
We stand on the shoulders of giants
Imagine yourself
Here with me
Uncounted points of light Sparkling
Staring at us
From up in the air
Are Felix the Cat
And Yogi Bear
Riding through the Canyon of Heroes
To the sound of a thousand radios
To the whistling of ships and tugboats
Brought home on a two-tonne pink rose
We stand on the shoulders of giants