# The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)

"The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)" is a song written by Peter Green and recorded by Fleetwood Mac. It was released as a single in the UK in May 1970 and reached No. 10 on the British charts, a position it occupied for four consecutive weeks, and was the band's last UK top 10 hit until "Tusk" reached No. 6 in 1979. "The Green Manalishi" was the last song Green made with Fleetwood Mac before leaving the band.

## Composition

The song was written during Green's final months with the band, at a time when he was using LSD heavily. While there are several theories about the meaning of the title "Green Manalishi", Green always maintained that the song is about money, as represented by the devil. Green was reportedly angered by the other band members' refusal to share their financial gains.
Green has explained that he wrote the song after experiencing a drug-induced dream in which he was visited by a green dog which barked at him from the afterlife. He understood that the dog represented money. "It scared me because I knew the dog had been dead a long time. It was a stray and I was looking after it. But I was dead and had to fight to get back into my body, which I eventually did. When I woke up, the room was really black and I found myself writing the song." Green wrote the lyrics the following day in Richmond Park.

## Recording

Fleetwood Mac played "Green Manalishi" live on a few occasions before they began work on the song in the recording studio. They recorded parts of the song in Warner/Reprise Studios, which was situated in Hollywood, California during a break in touring. The band returned to the song on 14 April 1970 at De Lane Lea Studios in London. One of the band's guitarists, Jeremy Spencer, elected not to attend either recording session. Spencer had also been absent for most of the recording sessions for the band's Then Play On album that was released the previous year.
Martin Birch, who served as the producer for these recording sessions, recalled that Green was initially frustrated because he could not get the sound he wanted, but Danny Kirwan reassured him that they would stay in the studio all night until the band achieved a satisfactory take. Green had played the band a demo of "Green Manalishi" and expected the rest of the band to replicate the parts that he had recorded. The band recorded several instruments for "Green Manalishi", including a six-string bass and "lots of drums". They recorded 27 different takes of the song, of which seven were false starts. The 27 takes were recorded on three different spools of tape, with take seven on the third spool being designated as the master. Once the master was established, the band commenced with overdubs.
To achieve the guitar tone found on the intro, Birch placed large monitor speakers in an underground concrete car park and captured the guitar sounds emanating from the speakers with microphones at the end of the car park. This technique allowed Birch to attain natural reverb from the acoustics in the car park. Green later said that the session left him exhausted and singled out the recording session for "Green Manalishi" as one of his favourite musical memories. He was also fond of the "shrieking guitars" that he played with Kirwan and had expected the song to reach number one.

## Live versions

A 16-minute live version of "The Green Manalishi" was recorded in February 1970, prior to the single's recording in April, but it initially remained unreleased until 1985, when it was issued on the Live in Boston: Remastered album.
On 25 February 2020, Fleetwood performed the song at a tribute concert for Peter Green. Kirk Hammett handled the song's lead vocals and also played the song on the 1959 Les Paul guitar that once belonged to Green.

## B-side

The B-side of the single was an instrumental written by Green and Danny Kirwan, titled "World In Harmony". The song was recorded at De Lane Studios beginning on 16 April 1970. At the time of the song's recording, "World in Harmony" carried the working title "Danny's One". The only track bearing a Kirwan/Green writing credit, the two had plans to collaborate further on a guitar-driven album, but the project never materialised. Kirwan was responsible for the majority of the composition with the exception of the middle section, which was created by Green. Kirwan gave him a co-writing credit for this contribution.
Similar to the recording sessions for "Green Manalishi", Spencer did not participate in the studio for "World in Harmony". During the sessions, which took place over two days, Green, McVie, and Kirwan engaged in a verbal altercation over the intro. Parts of this altercation were captured on an alternate recording of "World in Harmony" that was later released on The Vaudeville Years compilation album. Of the twelve takes that were recored on 16 April, four of them were completed, with the remaining eight comprising false starts and incomplete takes. The following day, work resumed on "World in Harmony", with the band recording five additional takes. The band selected take six from the previous day as the master, with take 12 from that same session appearing on The Vaudeville Years.

## Personnel

* Peter Green – guitar, vocals, six string bass
* Danny Kirwan – guitar
* John McVie – bass guitar
* Mick Fleetwood – drums, gong, maracas

## Chart positions

| Chart (1969) | Peak position |
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders) | 16 |
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia) | 44 |
| Ireland (IRMA) | 14 |
| Netherlands (Single Top 100) | 6 |
| UK Singles Chart | 10 |
| West Germany (GfK) | 16 |

## Judas Priest version

Heavy metal band Judas Priest covered the song on their 1979 album Hell Bent for Leather (the American version of Killing Machine). The first worldwide release was on the band's live album, Unleashed in the East, released later that year. The band performed it on Live Aid at JFK Stadium, Pennsylvania in 1985. This version features a dual guitar solo played by Glenn Tipton and K. K. Downing.
Adrien Begrand of PopMatters said the cover "succeeded in such a way that the Priest version is now far more famous than the original. They make it their own, accelerating the pace just enough to achieve a better balance of force and menace, and the groove created by drummer Les Binks cinches it. Priest’s towering version is nevertheless an all-time heavy metal classic."
A re-recording of the song, subtitled the '98 version, was included as one of the B-sides to the single "Bullet Train," and later as a bonus track on the German and Australian versions of the band’s 2001 album Demolition.