I once did a web search for Talisman, and came across a curious link. It was a mention of a record that had used Talisman for it's inspiration. I couldn't find any more on the subject and gave up.

A while longer I did another search and found a whole page dedicated to The Tables at MP3.com, but this page has since disappeared. It was a nice find though, as not only was there a downloadable version of the track, but the words to it were there too.

I figured it would be nice to offer the visitors to Talisman Island the chance to listen to the track themselves, so I wrote to Perfect Pop Records and asked if I could put the track on the site. A very nice chap called Tom Stian Korsmo, the Manager of The Tables, mailed back and said that it was fine. He even sent me a copy of the Shady Whims and Obstacles CD. THANKS TOM :)

Perfect Pop Records is the home of The Tables and many other bands. Check them out at http://www.perfectpop.no.

Shady Whims is a huge 24 track CD filled to the brim with foot tapping music which you'll find yourself humming along to in no time! None more so than Track Four. Great Adventures in Wonderland is a tale of playing Talisman with someone who can't just play for the fun of it, and I think we've all been there!

Bartleby of The Tables recounts:

I used to play a board game called Talisman with Sandy and her brother. It was a very simple game, just the way I like it, nothing like chess, where you actually have to use your brains! You rolled the dice, moved your "person", drew some cards. There were cards with Shields and Lances which made you stronger, and Cursed by the Hag, Ghoul etc. which were setbacks. There were places on the board called The Valley of Fire and The Portal of Power, and the whole point was to get to the centre of the board with a talisman card. If you didn't have a talisman card when you got there, you had to start all over again.

Sandy's brother was what I call "a bad player", bad because he didn't seem to enjoy the game for it's own sake, he only thought about winning. I never took it that seriously, so when I got to the centre of the board it happened that I had forgotten to secure a Talisman card. Then Sandy's brother smiled triumphantly and gleefully and said in a low voice: "I think you need a Talisman."

Aaaargh! So what? I had had a good time imagining myself living in this fantasy world of dwarfs, giants and wizards, and I didn't care much if I lost or won the game. But Sandy's brother cared! He wasn't only a bad player, he was a bad loser. When he lost, it was always: "Just one more game, just one more game!" He was unable to leave the table without feeling like a champion.

So this song is about two things: The irritiating experience of playing board games with bad losers, and a tribute to this game called Talisman and to Baard Enoksen, the guy who first got me hooked on role playing games and all the new board games. Of course, I'm one of those guys who'd rather live in a fantasy world than in the real world. I'm a romantic dreamer.

An additional secret: I crammed in a couple of veiled allusions to 60's popsike in this song: "The jolly little dwarves" is an allusion to "Three Jolly Little Dwarfs" by Tomorrow. "Biff! Bang! Pow!" is of course from the Creation song by the same name.

It is said that a picture can paint a thousand words, so I have decided to present the lyrics to the song along with the relevent images from Talisman. Click on the purple play button if you want to have an online Karaoke session too! The music is only around 550KB, so it should even be good for those on a slower connection. A larger MP3 file is available in the Resources section under Downloads should you want to have a copy for your iPod!

Great Adventures In Wonderland
The Tables
Shady Whims & Obstacles (1992 & 1999)