Garden of Earthly Delights

"Garden of Earthly Delights" is a song written by Andy Partridge of the English rock band XTC, released as the opening track on their 1989 album Oranges & Lemons.

He intended it to sound "like this crazy tapestry of camels and elephants and belly dancers and all the Arabian Nights, interwoven -- a big ornate Eastern rug come to life.

[3] He said the song stemmed from "a little musical figure" he found playing a guitar's D string, which led to the lyrics and Arabic feel.

[3] In the liner notes to Fuzzy Warbles, he wrote that the theme's melody "was from a song I was working on [at the time] called 'Garden of Earthly Delights'.

[5] Partridge intended it to sound "like this crazy tapestry of camels and elephants and belly dancers and all the Arabian Nights, interwoven -- a big ornate Eastern rug come to life.

The 16th-century painting The Garden of Earthly Delights , from which the song derives its title
Russian playwright Anton Chekhov is given a passing reference in the song's lyric