THE PALANQUIN

Delmar DeWilde on vocals; Dean Taba on bass; Lopaka Colon on dumbek; Noel Okimoto on Djembe; Rockford Holmes on alto flute; Sharene Lum on harp; Perry Coma on piano and organ.

A set-up song acting as a preamble to "Pagan Lust", q.v. 

You as listener are tasked to make yourself well-oiled, inside and out, beforehand.  Then, allow us to deposit your fancy smackdab in the middle of a bustling "generic" mideast village, complete with an ex-bebopper beggar manically adlibbing on the duduk.  All the while you clandestinely sidle toward that Certain Secret Staircase.  The ambience that starts the song will then make some sort of sense.

"The Palanquin" is named as such because, in my most favorite dream sequence, the turbanned and hookah-puffing Delmar makes his entrance from the back of the club, being carried therefrom through the audience and onto the stage in an open palanquin.  My dream continues: the processional entourage consists of giggling harem-girls dressed in hot-colored semitransparent variants of Barbara "I Dream Of Jeannie" Edenʻs wardrobe, rhythmically fanning the curly-toed Delmar fore and aft.  But hey, thatʻs just me.  It might help you to include well-oiled ʻnʻ buff palanquin-bearer guys.  Or mincing court-jesters.  For my part, the wicked thoughts canʻt get past them harem pants.

Take me away
Down flights of sandalworn stairs
To that fabled location
A certain grotto somewhere
To an old catacomb
Built before ancient Rome
Or the first Babylonian bazaar
Before oil or Koran
This bistro began --
Don Tikiʻs Bedouin Bar

Take me away
To that oasis unique
To the grand hidey-hole
Of which Baghdaddy-oʻs seldom speak
To the tavern below
Where intoxicants flow
Down each infidelʻs quivering lips
To that liquid invention
The fables all mention
Whose delights
youʻre hereby advised
not to sip....