This song was written by Ken Hensley and Mark Clarke, who was Uriah Heep's bassist for a short period, during a 1971 tour and the early stages of the recording of Demons & Wizards. This song was Clarke's only writing contribution, as he got tired of touring and left the band as soon as they had found a replacement, Gary Thain. Clarke would later play with bands like Rainbow, Mountain and Billy Squier.
In a Songfacts interview, Ken Hensley addressed the identity of the wizard in the song. "Actually, this song came from a dream that I had persistently over a week and, when I decided to write it, I just followed what I had seen in the dream, along with a little amateur philosophy!" Hensley said. "The dream came to life in the song and, although I always dream a lot, I never had that particular dream again."
Mark Clarke got to sing a couple of lines in the middle part of the song, as the melody was deemed too high for Heep's main lead vocalist David Byron. It has also been disputed whether Clarke or his replacement Gary Thain is playing bass on the song, but it is indeed Clarke playing.
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