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"Dance Of The King Of The World Of Maya" by Pegleg

This track is a combination of "The Dance Of Maya" which first appeared on the 1971 Mahavishnu Orchestra album, "The Inner Mounting Flame" and "King Of the World" which first appeared on the 1973 Steely Dan album, "Countdown To Ecstasy".


Pegleg are (left to right):
Allen Whitman - bass guitar, Henry Kaiser - guitars, John Hanes - drums and Scott Colby - bottleneck slide guitars

Additional guitars: Matt Swanson, Gary Brawer, and Michael Everett

Recorded at The Creation Lab in Turlock, California
Engineer: Michael Everett
Additional Engineering: Matt Garman and Stephen Hart
Production: Henry Kaiser

Scott Colby: "It's difficult for me to imagine anything farther removed from the traditional surf genre than John McLaughlin's legendary jazz-rock ensemble, the Mahavishnu Orchestra. I suggested that 'The Dance Of Maya' would make an improbable surf tune with its jagged, ominous-sounding arpeggios, and Henry suggested that we combine it with an equally unusual song that originally featured strong vocal melodies and interesting chords. We both thought it would be fun to cover a Steely Dan tune, and when Henry invited Allen and John to participate, Allen immediately proposed 'King Of The World'. That song's grim lyrics describe the immediate aftermath of some nuclear apocalypse -- so the mood was a perfect fit for the jaunty little medley we intended to conjure up."

"We could have just played the 10/8 'Dance Of Maya' melody lines at a peppy tempo over a simple 4/4 surf beat, and then seguéd into and back out of 'King Of The World'. However, we got inspired by the idea of superimposing, blending, and grafting parts of the two compositions together into more of a mutant hybrid than a plain vanilla medley. Our arrangement quickly took on a life of its own, starting out as a mild-mannered surf cover, but soon manifesting a multiple personality disorder with occasionally violent outbursts."