Fool's Overture is the epic closing track off of Supertramp's 1977 album Even in the Quietest Moments. Written and sung by guitarist, keyboard player, singer and songwriter Roger Hodgson, the song tells about World War II England and the lessons learned from it. The song, which is over 10 minutes long, is a collage of progressive instrumentation and sound samples. First there are excerpts of Winston Churchill's famous June 4, 1940 House of Commons speech regarding England's involvement in World War II ("Never Surrender"), and later sounds of police cars and church bells are heard. There is also a reading of the first verse of William Blake's poem "And did those feet in ancient time" (more commonly known as "Jerusalem"). Supertramp is a British progressive rock band that had a series of top-selling albums in the 1970s and 1980s. ... Also: 1977 (album) by Ash. ... Even in the Quietest Moments is the fifth album by progressive rock band Supertramp, released in 1977 (see 1977 in music). ... Roger Hodgson (born Charles Roger Pomfret Hodgson, 21 March 1950, in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England) is a British vocalist and musician, and he was one of the founding members of the progressive rock group Supertramp. ... “Churchill” redirects here. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... William Blake (November 28, 1757 – August 12, 1827) was an English poet, visionary, painter, and printmaker. ... “Jerusalem (song)” redirects here. ...

Fool's Overture was the closing song on Supertramp's 1977, 1979 and 1983 tours before the encore. When this song was played live, a video of World War II would be shown during the Winston Churchill speech and another film of bombs and houses exploding before the grand finale of the song. During the song's finale, the band decided to "go crazy" by bringing on stage Superman, a holy man, John in his Spider-Man glasses plus a conductor's jacket, dancing gorillas, cops, robbers, Indians, a banana and an Adolf Hitler look-alike. During the music explosion/Jerusalem section of the piece, when performed live from 1977 to 1983, John Helliwell would play a different saxophone solo each performance with some ranging from The Star Spangled Banner to When Johnny Comes Marching Home to just a plain saxophone doodle. Nicholson took the copy Key gave him to a printer, where it was published as a broadside on September 17 under the title The Defence of Fort McHenry, with an explanatory note explaining the circumstances of its writing. ... When Johnny Comes Marching Home (sometimes When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again) is a popular song of the American Civil War that expressed peoples longing for the return of their friends and relatives who were fighting in the war. ...

Personnel

• Roger Hodgson - piano, "Elka String" synthesizers, lead and backing vocals
• Dougie Thomson - bass guitar and additional backing vocals
• Bob Siebenberg - drums
• Rick Davies - synthesizers, piano, backing vocals
• John Helliwell - Oberheim synthesizers, tenor saxophone, clarinet, backing vocals

Roger Hodgson (born Charles Roger Pomfret Hodgson, 21 March 1950, in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England) is a British vocalist and musician, and he was one of the founding members of the progressive rock group Supertramp. ... A short grand piano, with the top up. ... In music a singer or vocalist is a type of musician who sings, i. ... Dougie Thomson (pronounced doogie) was born Douglas Thomson on March 24, 1951 in Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland. ... The electric bass guitar (or electric bass) is a bass string instrument played with the fingers by plucking, slapping,popping or using a pick. ... Bob Siebenberg, also known as C. Benberg, is a member of the so-called classic lineup of British progressive rock band Supertramp, playing drums and percussion and was the lone American in the Supertramp classic lineup. ... For other kinds of drums, see drum (disambiguation). ... Rick Davies, 2002 Rick Davies (born Richard Davies, 22 July 1944, Eastcott Hill, Swindon, Wiltshire, England) is a British musician, who is the founder and a member of the rock band Supertramp. ... The term synthesiser is also used to mean frequency synthesiser, an electronic system found in communications. ... A short grand piano, with the top up. ... John Anthony Helliwell is the saxophonist and occasional keyboardist for the rock band Supertramp John Helliwell was born in Todmorden, Yorkshire, England on February 15, 1945. ... Oberheim Electronics is a company, founded in 1973 by Tom Oberheim (a former design engineer at Maestro), which manufactured audio synthesizers and a variety of other electronic musical instruments. ... The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax. ... Two soprano clarinets: a Bâ™­ clarinet (left, with capped mouthpiece) and an A clarinet (right, with no mouthpiece). ...

External links

• Lyrics.
• Fool's Overture: live in Toronto on Youtube