Kings of Speed
"Kings of Speed" is a 1975 song by the British space rock group Hawkwind. It was originally released as a single in the UK (UP35808) on 7 March 1975 and was subsequently included on the album "Warrior on the Edge of Time", although its B-side, "Motorhead", was not. Although failing the chart in both the U.S. and the U.K., the track became an underground success, particularly with significant play in dance clubs. The parent album also did well, climbing up the Billboard album chart in the U.S. Kings of Speed. The lyrics for this song were  written by Michael Moorcock, "Frank and Beasley" refer to characters from Moorcock's Cornelius books. Simon King stated that it was originally intended for inclusion of the Deep Fix album "New Worlds Fair". Motorhead. The b-side has become one of Hawkwind's best-known songs, in large part because Lemmy, who wrote it, named his subsequent band after it. It is notable that the song title does not have an umlaut in it; that was added to the band name at a later stage. The lyrics "Sun rise wrong side of another day, sky high and six thousand miles  away" are explained as: Other versions. Neither song made it into the live set. It would be years until "King of Speed" would surface for a 1989 tour, while "Motorhead" has only recently been added to the band's current retro-show, with Alan Davey playing the part of Lemmy. Outtake. The original backing tracks were taken by Brock from this Olympic Studio session, and he later added overdubs and released them through independent record companies. "Kings of Speed" was released as an instrumental (and claimed to be 'live') on the "Hawkwind Zoo" 12" EP (Flicknife Records, FLEP100, 1-May-1981 ). "Motorhead" was released as the A-side to a 7" and 12" single (Flicknife Records, FLS205, 2-July-1981), this time having a Brock vocal and synthesizer overdubs. Covers. Motörhead released their version of "Motorhead" in 1977 as a single and on their debut "Motörhead" album, and a live version in 1981 as a single (reaching number 6 in the UK charts) and on the "No Sleep 'til Hammersmith" album. Cover versions of "Motorhead" have been recorded by Corduroy in 1993 as a single and on their "Out Of Here" album, by Primal Scream on their 1997 "Vanishing Point" album, and  by Lawnmower Deth on their 1990 album "Ooh Crikey...It's Lawnmower Deth".