The band was brand new, and it had just begun writing and recording material for the first album. One of the executives from the band's record company decided to drop in the studio and see how the LP was wrapping up. It was discovered that the band didn't have enough material for the album.

" The story behind 'Lucky Man' is interesting," says Lake. " I actually wrote the song when I was 12 years old! We had just finished recording the first album and we had like, one day left in the studio. And back in those days you needed 21 minutes per side, because we were recording for vinyl records. And we were three minutes short on one side.

" And the record company listened to the record and said: 'Hey, you need another three minutes; you'll have to record another song.' But we didn't have any more songs because we were a brand new group. So, we all looked at each other and these vacant stares went around the room. I asked Keith and Carl if they had anything else, and both of them said no.

" So I said, 'Hey, I've got this little folk song that I wrote when I was 12 years old.' And so I pulled out my acoustic guitar and I started playing 'Lucky Man'. And, of course, everyone looked back at me as if to say, 'What is the matter with him?' Because, up to this point, ELP hadn't done anything that sounded like this; we were all about this powerful progressive rock music we had been playing. " But, we decided to try it anyway. So, we started out recording the song with just Carl and me on acoustic guitar and drums, and it sounded pretty dreadful. I added the bass guitar, and it sounded a little bit better. Then, we added the vocals and it started to sound OK. "

Eventually it was time to put down Emerson's part. " They were playing the song in the studio," says Emerson. " and I started folloing around. I did a run through, a rehearsal of my solo. And I looked up at Greg in the control room, and I said, ' OK, let's take it...' And he looked at me and said, ' Take it? That was great. We've got it!'

" I didn't realize it at the time, but Greg had let the tape roll and they recorded my run through. As it turned out, that was the one we kept."

" Keith came in and started fooling around with the MOOG," adds Lake. " He came up with that famous MOOG line in the song. And finally, we had the song as you know it.

" And, I guess, as time went on, it became pretty popular."