Covering Covers # 6

You betcha, this album cover is a damn mystery to me...

So many questions...

Why the hell would the baboon take a bite out of a book before tasting the cake? Even a baboon isn't that stupid. They may be omnivores, but hardcovers, or even trade paperbacks, never figured into their diets. Not even Olive Baboons, and they'll eat just about anything.

And why is the baboon crying? Does the cake taste nasty? Maybe the book actually tastes better than the cake. That would probably make me cry, and I'm a higher primate.

And I might be wrong, but it sure does look like the eyes, and the area around the eyes, are human. They certainly don't have the same color as the rest of the baboon's face. What's that all about, or am I just imagining things?

But back to the crying...Do baboons actually shed tears?

The best I can figure is that by eating the book, the baboon is feeding on knowledge, kinda like Adam and Eve and the apple in Eden, plucked from The Tree Of Knowledge Of Good and Evil, and this loss of innocence, well, it makes the monkey cry...It's his party, after all, he can if he wants to.

And what's better than cake when one is sad? What's better than some baked goods when we realize we've sealed our fate by giving up everlasting life? A seemingly melting cake, although it isn't raining, and that ain't MacArthur Park.

Which begs another question, and don't ask me why I think this is important enough to ask, but - What body of water is that? Is it the Atlantic Ocean? Indian Ocean? Lake Chad?

Are there baboons in Chad?

So many questions, but perhaps the most important of all - How does this surreal, seemingly religious, but possibly nonsensical painting reflect and/or represent this 1973 Fleetwood Mac album, Mystery To Me?

This was the Bob Welch era (1971-1974), whom I believe was the first non-Brit in the band. He was/is a southern California showbiz kid who wrote fairly glossy rock songs and lyrics about mystical love and other decidedly southern Californian mumbo jumbo. This wasn't the original Fleetwood Mac, ye olde British Blues band fronted by Peter Green.

How does a baboon eating books and desserts reflect Bob Welch's suave Southern California, radio-ready rock style? I suppose, if we agree this album cover is all some sort of metaphor for innocence and experience, the knowledge of good and evil, well then, isn't LOVE and even SEX all about such things?

Mystery solved!!

But it's still a ridiculous album cover.

Hotcha! Hank