The Moody Blues - nice to be here, 1971

"Nice to Be Here" is a whimsical Ray Thomas song where he imagines witnessing a concert performed by woodland creatures on makeshift instruments. The song was inspired by Thomas' lifelong admiration of nature with additional inspiration from the children's books by Beatrix Potter. Thomas recalls, "I've loved fishing ever since I was a little kid. I used to camp out by a lake a week at a time fishing. At first all the wildlife buggers off but after you've been there for a few days they realise that you're not any threat to them. They run all over your feet, I've even had kingfishers landing on the end of my rod. So I got a great kick out of writing 'Lovely weather must climb a tree.' I was a little kid again. And I just went through a band really, 'Silver minnows were devising water ballets so surprising'." He remembers the session fondly: "The song was great fun to record. Particularly trying to get Justin to play a guitar solo using only one string, like the frog in the lyrics. He actually managed to get it down to two strings!"