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{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2016}}
{{Infobox song
| name = SWLABR
| cover = Cream swlabr atco 45 1967.jpg
| cover_size = 180
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = [[Cream (band)|Cream]]
| album = [[Disraeli Gears]]
| A-side = [[Sunshine of Your Love]]
| released =
*{{Start date|df=yes|1967|11}} (album)
*December 1967{{efn|name="Release date"}} (US single)
*September 1968 (UK single)
| format =
| recorded = May 1967
| studio = [[Atlantic Studios|Atlantic]], New York City
| venue =
| genre =
*[[Psychedelic rock]]
*[[hard rock]]
| length = 2:30
| label =
*[[Reaction Records|Reaction]]/[[Polydor Records|Polydor]] (UK)
*[[Atco Records|Atco]] (US)
| composer = [[Jack Bruce]]
| lyricist = [[Pete Brown]]
| producer = [[Felix Pappalardi]]
| chronology = Cream US
| prev_title = [[Spoonful#Cream renditions|Spoonful]]
| prev_year = 1967
| next_title = [[Anyone for Tennis]]
| next_year = 1968
| misc = {{Extra chronology
| artist = Cream UK
| type = single
| prev_title = [[Anyone for Tennis]]
| prev_year = 1968
| title = SWLABR
| year = 1968
| next_title = [[White Room]]
| next_year = 1969
}}{{Audio sample
| type = single
| file = Disraeli Gears - SWLABR Cream clip.ogg
| description = 29-second verse segment
}}
}}

"'''SWLABR'''" is a song recorded by the British rock band [[Cream (band)|Cream]] in 1967. It first appeared on the album ''[[Disraeli Gears]]'' (1967). Later, the song was the [[B-side]] to Cream's "[[Sunshine of Your Love]]" single.{{efn|name="Release date"|Although several music writers, including Bobby Owsinski, Riley Haas, [[Chris Welch]] and Bob Leszczak, note a release in January 1968 or in that year, the single entered the ''Cash Box'' [[ Looking Ahead chart|Looking Ahead]] chart on 30 December 1967. This precludes the possibility of its release the following month.<ref name="Spotlight">
{{cite journal
| author = Cash Box
| date = 30 December 1967
| title = Looking Ahead
| journal = [[Cashbox (magazine)|Cash Box]]
| volume = 29
| issue = 23
| issn =
| page = 18
}}</ref>}}

==Background==
The poet [[Pete Brown]] wrote the words and Cream's bassist [[Jack Bruce]] wrote the music. Bruce sings and plays bass guitar, with [[Eric Clapton]] on guitars and [[Ginger Baker]] on drums. The title is an [[Acronym and initialism|initialism]] for "She Walks Like a Bearded Rainbow".<ref name=lyrics>
{{cite web
| url = http://www.jackbruce.com/2008/Words/album_lyrics/lyrics_disraeli_gears.htm
| title = Lyrics: Disraeli Gears
| website = JackBruce.com (official website)
| access-date = 9 August 2016
}}</ref> Bruce later said the W stood for "was" rather than "walks".<ref>Interview with disc jockey Steven Seaweed at San Francisco radio station KRQR in the mid-1990s</ref><ref>"Cream: Disraeli Gears", ''Classic Albums on VH1'', 3 November 2006</ref>

According to Brown's obituary in ''[[The Times]]'', it was about a jilted lover "defacing pictures of his girlfriend, like painting a moustache on the Mona Lisa".<ref name=obit>
{{cite web
| url = https://www.thetimes.com/article/pete-brown-obituary-079h628q3
| title = Pete Brown obituary
| website = [[The Times]]
| access-date = 24 May 2023
}}</ref>

A live version of "SWLABR" was released on ''[[BBC Sessions (Cream album)|BBC Sessions]]'' and the Deluxe Edition of ''Disraeli Gears'', which also includes a four-minute demo version. Several Cream compilation albums include the song, such as ''[[Best of Cream]]'', ''[[Heavy Cream]]'', ''[[Strange Brew: The Very Best of Cream]]'', ''[[The Very Best of Cream]]'', ''[[Those Were the Days (Cream album)|Those Were the Days]]'' and ''[[Gold (Cream album)|Gold]]''.

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*Clapton, Eric (2007). Clapton: The Autobiography. New York, United States: Broadway Books. pp. g. 74. {{ISBN|978-0-385-51851-2}}.
*Hjort, Christopher (2007). Strange Brew: Eric Clapton & the British Blues Boom, 1965–1970. London, UK: Jawbone Press. pp. g. 29. {{ISBN|978-1-906002-00-8}}.
*Ertegün, Ahmet (2006). Classic Albums: Cream – Disraeli Gears (DVD). Eagle Rock Entertainment.

{{Cream}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1968 singles]]
[[Category:Cream (band) songs]]
[[Category:Song recordings produced by Felix Pappalardi]]
[[Category:Atco Records singles]]
[[Category:Polydor Records singles]]
[[Category:Songs written by Jack Bruce]]
[[Category:1967 songs]]
[[Category:Songs with lyrics by Pete Brown]]

SWLABR - Revision history

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