'Rocky Raccoon' was a musical
Western, written by Paul while in India. Set in the
mountains of Dakota, it tells the tale of young Rocky whose
girl, Nancy Magill, runs off with Dan. Rocky pursues Dan and
attempts to shoot him down but is beaten to the draw.
Afterwards, Rocky is treated in his hotel room by a doctor
stinking of gin. "We were sitting on the roof at Maharishi's
just enjoying ourselves when I wrote this one," says Paul.
"I started laying the chords and originally the title was
'Rocky Sassoon'. Then me, John and Danovan started making up
the words and they came very quickly and eventually it
became Rocky Raccoon because it sounded more
cowboyish."
Apple Scruff, Margo Bird, heard
that the character of the doctor was drawn from real life.
"Paul had a moped which he came off one day in May 1966. He
was a bit stoned at the time and cut his mouth and chipped
his tooth," she says. " The doctor that came to treat him
was stinking of gin and because he was a bit worse for wear
he didn't make a very good job of the stitching which is why
Paul had a nasty lump on his lip for a while."
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