“Dying Butterfly”
by Fast Planet
1994 song
The CD case of the 1994 album Down The Nile by Sky Saxon’s band Fast Planet lists "Dying Butterfly" as the final song. But it isn’t; no such song appeared on the CD itself, nor is it even mentioned elsewhere. But it did exist, and was added to downloads of the live album Rockin' The Croc/West Coast when that obscure cassette release became available as an MP3 download in the 2010s.
"Dying Butterfly" (done in the studio, not live) is well-recorded and mixes heavy rawk with some pure-toned sixties organ peeps and swooping slide guitar. As did so many Sky Saxon songs from the 1980s on, "Dying Butterfly" ultimately serves as a platform for his angry protests about man’s propensity for war and the loss of personal freedom he sensed in America. “War is hell from down below,” he grunts loudly, sickened by it all. So moved is he that he quickly forgets about the butterfly and just riffs on the word “dying” for most of the song instead. (Why he found room to suddenly mention, apropos of nothing, Guns ‘N’ Roses may never be understood.)
Unfolding unhurriedly over seven minutes, "Dying Butterfly" features a lot of nice slide guitar-created air raid siren effects. The song is classic Fast Planet, with a feverish denseness and thudding, masculine power surrounding Sky’s fire-hot finger-wagging.
