Ride My See-Saw
| "Ride My See-Saw" | |||||||||||||
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| Single by The Moody Blues | |||||||||||||
| from the album In Search of the Lost Chord | |||||||||||||
| B-side |
"A Simple Game" (UK) "Voices in the Sky" (US) | ||||||||||||
| Released | 12 October 1968 | ||||||||||||
| Recorded | 17 May 1968 | ||||||||||||
| Genre | Psychedelic Rock | ||||||||||||
| Length | 3:39 | ||||||||||||
| Label | Deram Records | ||||||||||||
| Writer(s) | John Lodge | ||||||||||||
| Producer(s) | Tony Clarke | ||||||||||||
| The Moody Blues singles chronology | |||||||||||||
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"Ride My See-Saw" is a hit 1968 single by the English progressive rock band The Moody Blues. It was written by the band's bassist John Lodge, and was first released on the Moody Blues' 1968 album In Search of the Lost Chord. It was the second of two singles from that album, the other being "Voices in the Sky". "Ride My See-Saw" is one of John Lodge's signature high-energy rock and roll songs, and is sometimes regarded as his most popular composition for the Moody Blues, along with "I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)".
The single was released later in October 1968, with Mike Pinder's "A Simple Game" on the B-side. "A Simple Game", the Four Tops' recording of this song went to #3 in the UK charts in 1972. "A Simple Game" was also sampled by Phi Life Cypher on the track "Free" on the album Higher Forces.
On the album, the song is preceded by the spoken-word piece "Departure", and laughter from the end of that track bleeds into the opening of "Ride My See-Saw" itself. This was removed for the single release.
At most of the Moody Blues' concerts, "Ride My See-Saw" is the encore presentation at the end of the shows. When performed live, it is usually opened by a lengthy keyboard and drum duet as the band members make their way back out to the stage for the encore.
"Ride My See-Saw" was also another piece of recording history made by the Moody Blues. It was one of the first UK rock singles ever to be recorded on 8-track tape multi-track recording. While 8-track had been used on rock albums before (notably on the Moodies' own Days of Future Passed), it was not really considered for a single until the time that "See-Saw" was recorded.
Personnel
- Justin Hayward: electric guitar, vocals
- John Lodge: bass guitar, vocals
- Mike Pinder: mellotron, vocals
- Ray Thomas: tambourine, vocals
- Graeme Edge: drums, percussion, vocals
Chart positions
| Chart (1968) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart | 42 |
| Billboard Hot 100 | 61 |
Use in popular media
An instrumental version of "Ride My See-Saw" was used as the theme music for the Canadian morning programme Canada AM on CTV during the 1970s. During this same period Canada AM's sister series, W5 was using Supertramp's "Fool's Overture" as its theme music.
This song is currently being used as the intro song to Art Bell's Dark Matter, Art Bell's new radio program, after several years of being used as bumper music for Coast to Coast AM.