Song · T. Rex
“Ride a White Swan” by T. Rex
From the EP The Peel Sessions (1989)
“Ride a White Swan” by T. Rex appears on 1 radio countdown from 1 station in 2005. It was first released in 1989 on the EP The Peel Sessions. Its best result is #355 on the Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2005). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #6,127 alternative song of all time.
With "Ride a White Swan", Marc Bolan's band stepped out as T. Rex. Fly put it out on 9 October 1970 as a single with no album attached, the first record under the new name, and Bolan, the group's founder, singer and guitarist, wrote it alone, with Tony Visconti producing. Three acoustic Tyrannosaurus Rex albums and as many singles had found only a small audience, so from the spring of 1969 Bolan began trading his acoustic guitar for an electric and swapped percussionist Steve Peregrin Took for Mickey Finn.
It became the band's first real hit, and AllMusic's Ned Raggett reckons it accidentally lit the fuse on glam rock mania, even though Bolan didn't dress the part until "Hot Love" came along. The song later turned up on the American edition of the T. Rex album and on The Peel Sessions EP.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 355 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) | 500 |
Comments
Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about "Ride a White Swan" by T. Rex.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.