(--unreleased--)
Del Kacher's Studio
c. May, 1965
Florence Marly--vocals
Del Kacher--guitar, bass
FZ--drums, orchestration
Cosmonaut Sean, Space Boy, beware
Velarna is waiting for you out there
Don't cross the parallel of time and space
Or you'll die of love in a cruel embrace
Velarna is the queen and fate is her cold (?)
Velarna the lover, sex without soul
Sean! Space Boy, Space Boy.
Laughing at the danger in amorous jest
He soared through the space on his gallant quest
But there in ambush behind heaven's gate
Mysterious Velarna was lying in wait
Spellbound he looked into her blazing green eyes
She smiled and stirred her enticing thighs
Sean! Space Boy, Space Boy.
A thousand fires pierced his flesh
He pledged his love with tender caress
Fireballs and sunbursts showered them delights
Then the two lovers held a sacred rite
Her kisses were deadly, the cosmic night grew dark
She tightened her green arms around his heart
A sob of sorrow echoed to the sky
He sighed "I love you," then he died
Oh, Sean! Sean! Space Boy, Space Boy.
Then he was buried among the stars
The legend says wherever you are
You can hear on certain nights
A young man's calling from the heights
Velarna, Velarna, come back to me, my love,
Velarna, Velarna, Velarna, mon amour!
Oh, Sean! Space Boy, Space Boy.
"Space Boy" is a rare track indeed. My knowledge of its origins are limited to the liner notes of the Mystery Box bootleg, of which it is disc three. It also appears separately, on the bootleg Beyond The Fringe Of Audience Comprehension.
The notes say:
"'Space Boy' is the rarest track in this entire box. It was recorded for the Curtis Harrington film 'Queen Of Blood,' words, music and vocals by Florence Marley. Orchestration and additional instruments by FZ and Del Kacher."
It's got lots of super-spooky electronics--in fact, it would be perfect for the Halloween music thread--and the singer sounds like a poor man's Dagmar Krause or Lene Lovich. Here are the lyrics as best I can make them out . . . there are a few gaps, and a little of what's here is undoubtedly wrong; the spellings of the names Sean and Velana are my best guess.
The film "Queen Of Blood" required a vocal track, so writer/director Curtis Harrington tapped Frank and Del Kacher for the orchestration and additional instrumentation on the song "Space Boy." Produced by George Edwards, "Queen Of Blood" was about an expedition to Venus and Mars in the year 1990, and it starred Basil Rathbone, Dennis Hopper, John Saxon and Judi Meredith. "Space Boy" was written by Florence Marly (playing the title character) and utilized her vocals, and Ackerman and Cole provided its sound effects. It was not used in the film, as Leonard Moran supplied the entire soundtrack. The theme melody of "Queen Of Blood" would be used many years later in Zappa's song "Planet Of My Dreams."
Frank Zappa was from Cucumonga; he came by one day, said he'd heard about me, and said he wanted to record something for a singer who had a song about a Russian cosmonaut who was lost in space (chuckles). I used to get these strange requests all the time, and Frank's request was no different. In those days he wasn't a guitar player, so he asked me to play guitar and bass, laying down tracks using the Ecco-Fonic to get the spacey sounds, while he played on a snare drum I had in the studio. I think this was one of the first recordings Frank did when he arrived in L.A. He was very pleasant, and he looked as weird as the sounds we created, but boy, was he talented! When he played the drum, I knew something great was going on, and we enjoyed that session so much he asked me to join his new group. I politely declined because my studio schedule was beginning to happen.
I produced the Florence Marly Space Boy with Frank in my Hollywood garage studio and then played guitar with the Mothers at the Shrine and the Whiskey in 1966. Later that year I developed and promoted the first wah wah ever with Vox for a 1967 release demo record and films at Universal Pictures...
The imdb lists a 1973 short entitled Space Boy, written by and starring Florence Marly.
The sole user comment says:
This is without a doubt one of the most bizarre movies I've ever had the misfortune to view. I've seen it several times at the Ohio Science Fiction 24-hour movie marathons in Columbus, and it never fails to elicit laughs and groans from the audience. The plot is pretty basic: big-hair space-babe Velana(?) has the hots for Space Boy, who eventually dies/floats away/or something. Velana wears a nude-colored body stocking (which for a split-second gives the shock effect of total nudity) and the biggest blond fright-wig I've ever seen. I think of this film as a vanity piece for the aging star, singer and glamour-queen Florence Marly von Wurmbrand. (According to the database, she made this film only a few years before her death.) And you know the most amazing fact of all? This film was nominated for Best Short Film at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival. Unbelievable!!
That sounds more like the song.
Except for the fact that the song's Velarna "tightened her green arms around his heart", whereas the short film's Velarna is "nude-colored". Queen Of Blood's (apparently unnamed) alien has green skin like the song's Velarna.
Today I watched Queen Of Blood (...). Florence Marly's character is never called by any name--Velarna or otherwise. There is no character called Sean.
I don't believe the song Space Boy was ever intended for Queen Of Blood. (...)
I didn't notice the melody of Planet Of My Dreams anywhere in the film. I watched the opening sequence a second time, and it wasn't there.
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