"We were born to serve you all our bloody life"
"Art is not a mirror - it is a hammer"
— John Grierson, printed on the back cover.
In Praise of Learning is a 1975 studio album made by Henry Cow and Slapp Happy. It is both bands' 4th album and the 2nd to come out of this collaboration after Desperate Straights. Despite this, it's treated more as a Henry Cow album than a Slapp Happy album due to being more similar to the former's music and bearing the sock that was on Leg End and Unrest (which was absent on Desperate Straights).
To this day it is seen as a shining example of the Rock in Opposition movement, along with Univers Zero's Heresie as well as Henry Cow's later album Western Culture. "War" was covered by The Fall on Middle Class Revolt.
Tracklisting
Side One:
- 1. War (2:25)
- 2. Living in the Heart of the Beast (16:18note )
Side Two:
- 3. Beginning: The Long March (6:26)
- 4. Beautiful as the Moon – Terrible as an Army with Banners (7:02)
- 5. Morning Star (6:05)
Tell of the tropes...
- Epic Rocking: All tracks except "War" count. "Living in the Heart of the Beast" deserves special mention for being the longest they got in the studionote
- Uncommon Time: The central section of "Beautiful as the Moon" alternates between 7/4 and 13/8.
- War Is Glorious: The only lines in "War" that actually has to do with war seems to imply this."Tell of the birth Tell how war appeared on Earth""War does what she has to People get what they deserve"
- Word Salad Lyrics: While "War" does seem to have a meaning behind it, it's difficult to figure out exactly what it is. Nor what most of it has to do with war, either."Stacking the bones
On the empty aerodrome
Tinted turtle green
Haunts the slender submarine
She shakes her gory locks
Over the deserted docks"
