Fool's Overture

Running 10:58, this epic track was written by Supertramp's primary songwriters, Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson, and Hodgson sang lead. The song started as a collage of musical ideas that Hodgson came up with, which they put together into a song about the fall of mankind. Says Hodgson: "History recalls how great the fall can be, while everybody's sleeping, the boats put out to sea. It was very much the way I was perceiving life, that people were in denial of the way we were heading and the way the planet was heading."

Hodgson has said that when he wrote the song, he could hear all the parts of an orchestra in his head. When he did start playing with orchestras in the '90s, it was a thrill for him to play this song. He has commented that he gets goose bumps each time he plays it in his symphony concerts.

On the Even In The Quietest Moments album cover there is a grand piano with sheet music opened above the keyboard. The title on the music is "Fools Overture," but the notes play "The Star Spangled Banner."