2:54
Wheels Of Fire, 1968
Written by Ginger Baker and Mike Taylor
Showcasing everything that made Cream more than just a blues-rock power trio, jazz, psychedelia, and hard rock all mingle here. Each member has room to shine without showboating. The lyrics drift through a haze of psychedelic hippie mysticism ("Tie your painted shoes and dance, blue daylight in your hair / Overhead a noiseless eagle fans a flame / Wonder everywhere"), though the title and mood hint at nostalgia (for Atlantis?) beneath the acid-colored surface. Jack Bruce sings the verses in an unusually high, almost fragile register; Clapton lays down one of his fiercest guitar solos, while Baker pummels out a series of restless fills that propel the song forward. Despite the opaque lyrics, it's hard not to hear a trace of melancholy in its title, knowing the band would splinter only months later.