Simon Finn's Pass the Distance is a legendary acid folk recording from the psychedelic era. Originally issued on the Mushroom label in 1970, the LP was embroiled in legal hassles and withdrawn from circulation. David Tibet of Current 93 became obsessed with it upon hearing a bootleg copy in 1995, and along with Simon and the Canadian Jnana imprint, has reissued it on Durtro as a CD. Finn, a Canadian native, made the record in 1969 in Vic Keary's Chalk Farm Studios with some new jamming mates including David Toop and Paul Burwell!Pass the Distance is not a drippy peace and love record. It is a nocturnal, nightmarish album full of extremes as well as aesthetically beautiful textures and subtleties. Finn was obsessed with Christian themes (both redemptive and apocalyptic), history, the environment, and strange, oblique love songs. The centerpiece is the epic Jerusalem. With maniacally strummed acoustic guitars, a swirling church organ, hand drums, and a muddy bassline, Finn iterates the vision of Christ as he walked through the city and was crucified by the very people who praised his name, and he equates Christ with the 1960s counterculture ideals. The crux of the song is the terror and rage that Christ would feel were he to return and be crucified in the current millennium by those who profess his name. Finn begins softly, sadly, and soon begins ranting and screaming as the music gathers in intensity and menace until it becomes utterly frightening.
Jerusalem
The smell of newly-cut corn
came sifting through the palm trees
My eyes they were blinded
by the sun reflecting on the seas
One hundred dozen mermaids smiled
as I passed through the haze
The sound of familiar voices
of yonder days
Jerusalem Jerusalem Jerusalem oh no
Jerusalem was made by a guy
Oh I forget his name
And Jesus was a drop-out
A king who bore no crown
Only his long hair
flowing and blowing in the wind
And Jesus was a fisherman
That's all he had to say
Oh yeah, said "Now follow me disciples.
Lead your lives a different way."
And he rode into Jerusalem
on a donkey both bedraggled and lame
And his Pharisees cursed
his every word but did not laugh
That made a change
And Jesus was a good guy
who lived on figs and wine
A political revolutionary
out to let you have a good time
Jerusalem Jerusalem Jerusalem oh no
The sun it was rising
just to christen his cross of fame
Did he imagine at that moment
two hundred million hypocrites
would praise his name?
And were he now to come down those
hypocrites would crucify him again
And through the sweating crowds
tears streaming down my face
till I'm going insane
I'm crying
Jerusalem Jerusalem Jerusalem oh no
The smell of newly-cut corn
came sifting through the palm trees
My eyes they were blinded
by the sun reflecting on the seas
Well that same sun was rising
just to christen his cross of fame
Did he imagine at that moment
two hundred million hypocrites
would praise his name?
And were he now to come down those
hypocrites would crucify him again
And through the sweating crowds
tears streaming down my face
till I'm going insane
I'm crying
Jerusalem Jerusalem Jerusalem oh no
They're gonna put him inside
And I'm yelling all I can
Can't you see he's the Christ? oh no no
And they don't understand
a single word I say
But I'm crying just the same
Jerusalem Jerusalem Jerusalem oh no
Gonna put him inside
I'm yelling all I can
Can't you see he's the Christ
Jerusalem Jerusalem Jerusalem oh no
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