Little Fluffy Clouds
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Little Fluffy Clouds" is a single released by the ambient house group The Orb. It was originally released in 1990 on the record label Big Life. The Orb also included it on their 1991 double album The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld.
Samples
"Little Fluffy Clouds" is centered around clips from an interview with Rickie Lee Jones in which she recalls picturesque images of her childhood. Critics and fans sometimes attribute the odd nasal tonality of Rickie Lee Jones' voice to drug use, though Jones later claimed that it was the result of a heavy cold. The sample comes from "A Conversation with Rickie Lee Jones", an interview featured on a promotional 2-CD edition of the Flying Cowboys album.
- Interviewer: "What were the skies like when you were young?"
- Jones: "They went on forever – They - When I w- We lived in Arizona, and the skies always had little fluffy clouds in 'em, and, uh... they were long... and clear and... there were lots of stars at night. And, uh, when it would rain, it would all turn - it- They were beautiful, the most beautiful skies as a matter of fact. Um, the sunsets were purple and red and yellow and on fire, and the clouds would catch the colors everywhere. That's uh, neat cause I used to look at them all the time, when I was little. You don't see that. You might still see them in the desert."
Jones was upset at the unauthorized use of her voice and pursued the issue in the legal system. Big Life chose to settle out of court for an undisclosed sum of money for use of her voice on The Orb's recording.
The song also uses a harmonica sample from Ennio Morricone's The Man With The Harmonica (from the film Once Upon a Time in the West) and parts of Electric Counterpoint ,a piece for multitracked guitars composed by Steve Reich and recorded by Pat Metheny. Reich, unlike Jones, was "genuinely flattered" by The Orb's use of his work and instructed his record company not to sue. Alex Paterson has also mentioned that fans would "die" if they discovered where the drums on "Little Fluffy Clouds" originated from.
