Dairymaid's Lament (single)

Dairymaid's Lament is an unreleased 1967 single by The Red Crayola.

Background

Record producer Bob Steffek approached The Red Crayola for a single when he saw them perform their early song “Mother” at a club in early 1967. Steffek brought the group to Walt Andrus's studio for their first ever recording session that February. The recording session resulted in a potential single: "Dairymaid's Lament" backed with an improvised "Free Piece". The single was likely intended for Steffek's short-lived label Steffek Records which released a handful of singles by other Houston groups in 1967.

However, when producer Lelan Rogers approached The Red Crayola in late March at the KNUZ Battle of the Bands, Steffek allowed the group to sign to International Artists to make an album instead (The Parable of Arable Land) and the single was never released.^[1] The Red Crayola continued to use Walt Andrus's studio for all of their International Artists recordings. In 1968, a new recording of the song "Dairymaid's Lament" appeared on The Red Crayola's second album, God Bless the Red Krayola and All Who Sail With It. One of the group improvisations on the album is also titled "Free Piece".

It is unknown if any material for the single was preserved. They did not appear on the band's Singles compilation in 2004 (which contained a track from another unreleased single recorded in 1970, "Woof").