The Wheel and The Maypole by X T C : REMASTERED

This I remastered directly from the audio CD version of WASP STAR (Apple Venus Volume 2), released in 2000 on Idea Records.

[chrismannion]

I was young, and a friend said, I off to see a band in Liverpool, wanna come?
It was XTC, it was 1978. Huge fan ever since. Magical, no other words for it

[bellabecks]

mesmerized since 2018... new fan. rock on. 🤙

[DougPerry-dcgj]

What a fuggin way to go out! Just deliver one of the best entries in the entire XTC catalogue!

[edlawn]

Last song on the last album, XTC went out still at the top of their game.

[richdelgado]

I'm close to 60 years old. I have listened to all sorts of bands and singers. Bread, Fugazi, Sammy Davis Jr., The Fall, Elton John, The Carpenters.

But this song is easily one of the most finely crafted swan songs ever written.

How can you hear "Planets fall apart just to feed the stars and stuff their larders" and not hear the genius in this song?

[wereleeroads]

Utterly stunning. The way the Wheel and Maypole parts come together at the end is really artful writing.

[MagicJacket]

Who else could have written this? No one. Masterfully creative and unique. I miss XTC!

[absolutelypositively]

XTC hold a very special place in my soul

[psychinthevalleys]

This is just a great song that sits at the end of the record like a hidden gift. A song that never fails to make me smile. Life affirming and brilliant.

[laurence]

I know embarrassingly little about pop and rock music, having spent the last 40 years lecturing in Classical, but I'm always delighted by XTC. Please excuse any crass un-coolnesses in what follows, but I cannot listen to this song without tapping my feet and grinning like a Cheshire cat. Album after album by this band is just wall-to-wall terrific and I love the fact that the harmonies are so un-corny (some of them are really difficult to pitch but Andy Partridge's tuning is bullseye accurate each time). Songs like "Garden of Earthly Delights", "That's Really Super, Supergirl", "Stupidly Happy", "Another Satellite" and "Chalkhills and Children" are genuinely fine compositions by any standards. The montage at the end of "Chalkhills and Children" is incredibly ambitious (and rather beautiful). I wholeheartedly agree with all contributors who say this band is unfairly neglected.

[garrystanton]

One of my absolute favourite pieces of music...ever!!

[Cloud-wpwc]

Although everything decays, this song never will. Let's dance.

[psychinthevalleys]

Just a fantastic song. I can’t stop playing it. Hidden away on Wasp Star just waiting to be discovered. Beautiful.

[guyedgerton]

The second half of the song just slays me, every time I hear it. I love the whole thing, but wow, that second half...

[richdelgado]

I haven't heard this song for about 10 years. I crying now, it's just such a beautiful song.

[brianparker]

The greatest end to a career since Abbey Road.

[juanluiszarzuela]

Wonderful song that keeps moving me every time I hear it!

[ericmalone]

XTC surpassed The Beatles in the Sublime Pop Song Department. Yet their work exists, somehow, at an odd angle outside popular culture; it seems to be music for initiates/those-in-the-know. And XTC's music only gets better with time. VOILA! CHEERS!

[smithfield]

amazing especially the 2nd part, partridege manages to combine english folk with jazz and 60s pop but he has been doing that for his whole songwriting career

[kiwimax]

"The pot won't hold our love." 😂❤