"Roamin' Thru' the Gloamin' with 40,000 Headmen" (album title: "Forty Thousand Headmen"), written by

Steve Winwood Stephen Lawrence Winwood (born 12 May 1948) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter whose genres include blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock, and pop rock. Though primarily a keyboard player and vocalist prominent for his disti ...

and

Jim Capaldi Nicola James Capaldi (2 August 1944 – 28 January 2005) was an English singer-songwriter and drummer. His musical career spanned more than four decades. He co-founded the progressive rock band Traffic in 1967 with Steve Winwood with whom he co ...

, was first recorded by

Traffic Traffic comprises pedestrians, vehicles, ridden or herded animals, trains, and other conveyances that use public ways (roads) for travel and transportation. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic ...

in 1967 or 1968. It was initially released as B-side to the "No Face, No Name and No Number" single in 1968 and also appears on their second album ''

''.

Blood, Sweat & Tears Blood, Sweat & Tears (also known as "BS&T") is a jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. In addition to original music, the group has performed popular songs by Laura Ny ...

also recorded it on their 1970 album, ''

Blood, Sweat & Tears 3 ''Blood, Sweat & Tears 3'' is the third album by the band Blood, Sweat & Tears, released in June 1970. History After the huge success of the previous album, ''Blood, Sweat & Tears 3'' was highly anticipated and it rose quickly to the top of the ...

''. The protagonist of the song, a profane demi-god, follows the eponymous headmen across the sea, on foot, to a hidden cave where they have stored up a large treasure. Taking as much as he can carry, he travels to a shrine only to find that the headmen have followed him; they open fire, wounding the protagonist but not killing him, and he decides to flee. The dream-like story seems to start ''and'' end with his confrontation with the headmen, as if he's experiencing his life in a closed loop. The lyrics were inspired by what Capaldi refers to as "a hash-fueled dream."(2011) In ''Dear Mr Fantasy: The Jim Capaldi Story'' (pp.32-43) D booklet London: Freedom Songs Ltd. He also described them as "a loon". They have been described as being "an evocation of a dream state".Reviewed at allmusic.com

Dave Mason David Thomas Mason (born 10 May 1946) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist from Worcester, who first found fame with the rock band Traffic. Over the course of his career, Mason has played and recorded with many notable pop and rock mu ...

and Jim Capaldi's 1998-99 "40,000 Headmen" reunion tour took its name from this song, despite the fact that Mason had no involvement in the original recording of the song. An album of highlights from this tour has been released.. Jim Capaldi's 2011 box set, ''Dear Mr Fantasy'', includes a reggae version of the song. The song also appears as the third song on the first side of the live album "Welcome to the Canteen" which features Winwood and Capaldi. The Chicago band "40,000 Headmen", who play the music of Traffic, Blind Faith and Spencer Davis Group, get their name from this song. The Blood, Sweat and Tears version begins and ends with a music box playing Bela Bartok's Hungarian Folk Song.

Personnel

– vocals, guitar, organ, bass guitar * Chris Wood – flute, Coke tin, sleigh bells *

– drums

References

External links

* 1968 songs Songs written by Steve Winwood Songs written by Jim Capaldi Traffic (band) songs Song recordings produced by Jimmy Miller {{1960s-rock-song-stub