10 Greatest T. Rex Songs Ever

10. Ride A White Swan

Ride A White Swan announced the arrival of a new Marc Bolan. Gone was the bleating, Donovan adjacent folky of early incarnation Tyrannosaurus Rex, and in his place emerged the frontman of T. Rex: a charismatic glam pixie dynamo who was too busy being sexy and cool to find time for those old extraneous syllables.

At barely more than two minutes long, T. Rex’s opening salvo was direct and to the point with no extraneous fat on its bones. The backing track consists of just some layered guitar, a short string section and a tambourine. It gave the band their first hit despite having no chorus to speak of.

It was only kept off the UK number one spot by Dad’s Army actor Clive Dunn and his novelty record Granddad. Bolan claimed to have written the song after being spiked with LSD at a magazine launch, which might might explain the sudden change in direction.