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In: Lyrics, Trout Mask Replica
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Master master This is recorded thru uh flies ear ‘n you have t’ have uh flies eye t’ see it It’s the thing that’s gonna make Captain Beefheart And his magic band fat Frank it’s the big hit It’s the blimp It’s the blimp Frank It’s the blimp When I see you floatin’ down the gutter I’ll give you uh bottle uh wine Put me on the white hook Back in the fat rack Shad rack ee shack The sumptin’ hoop the sumptin’ hoop The blimp the blimp The drazy hoops the drazy hoops They’re camp they’re camp Tits tits the blimp the blimp TheRead More →

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In: Lyrics, The Spotlight Kid
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All you ever do is blabber ‘n smoke There’s ah big pain in your window ‘N all your waters turn t’ rope It gonna hang you all Dangle you all Dang you all If you don’t hurry there will be no hope Why don’t you quit actin’ like ah dope All you ever do is blabber ‘n smoke It don’t matter where you got your start Which side of your head you wear your heart Clean up the air ‘N treat the animals fair I can’t help but think you treat love like ah joke Time’s runnin’ out ‘N all you ever do is blabberRead More →

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In: Lyrics, Trout Mask Replica
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Quietly the rain played down on last of the ashes Quietly the light played down on her lashes She smiled ‘n twisted she smiled ‘n twisted Hideously looking back at what once was beautiful Playing naturally magically O’ her ragged hair was shinin’ red white n’ blue All ‘n all the children screamin’ Why surely madam you must be dreamin’ You couldn’t have done this if you knew what you were doin’ Well the gold fish ‘n the bowl lay upside down bloatin’ Full in the sky ‘n the plains were bleached white with skeletons Various species grouped together according To their past beliefs TheRead More →

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In: Lick My Decals Off Baby, Lyrics
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Come on down t’ the big dig Come on down t’ the big dig Come on t’ the big dig Singin’ the Smithsonian Institute blues Singin’ the Smithsonian Institute blues The way it’s goin’ La Brea tar pits I know you just can’t lose The new dinosaur is walkin’ in the old one’s shoes Come on down t’ the big dig Can’t get around the big dig This may be premature but if I’m wrong You can just say it’s the first time I was happy t’ be confused Singin’ the Smithsonian Institute blues Alll you new dinosaurs Now it’s up t’ you t’ chooseRead More →

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In: Clear Spot, Lyrics
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Distant cousins, there’s a limited supply. And we’re down to the dozens, and this is why: Big Eyed Beans from Venus! Oh my, oh my. Boys and girls, Earth people around the circle, Mixtures of man alive. Big eyed beans from Venus, Don’t let anything get in between us. Beam in on me baby, and we’ll beam together I know we always been together, but there’s more. Mister Zoot Horn Rollo, hit that long lunar note, and let it float. Men let your wallets flop out, and women open your purses, Cause a man or a woman without a big eyed bean from Venus IsRead More →

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In: Cartoons, Clear Spot
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A 50s B-movie horror called Big Eyed Beans From Venus? Could it be true? Well, no actually. Many thanks to Steve Bisette who conceived the cartoon for granting permission to feature it here. Steve writes: ‘That’s from a story I drew back in 1977 for Larry Shell’s underground comic 50’s FUNNIES; the art for the poster itself was by Joe Ragusa, a fellow cartooning school student, who collaborated with me on an overview of fake monster movies entitled “Forgotten Fears of the Fifties!”.’ Excerpted with the permission of SpiderBaby Grafix, from the comic book story “Forgotten Fears of the Fifties!” copyright 1978, 1999 Stephen R.Read More →

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In: Lick My Decals Off Baby, Lyrics
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Parapliers the willow dipped Rolled roots gnarled like rakers This hollow hole don’t hold no jokers or fakers Don’t fall by no jokers or fakers Puller down to the stirrin’ hay acres Parapliers pinches uh levy ‘n pulled way thru the toe Foothills, locomotives walked ‘n sugar beets rolled Down the tracks Sunburn bounce soot off the black smokestacks Parapliers pinched up slow down the sky Blue ‘o’ poured the engineer’s voice Whstlin’ down low ‘n piped like clacks By the ol’ scarecrow ‘n pots ‘n pans burn the fireman’s hands till the Kettle leaped fire round the belly ‘o’ The bayou boy bums withRead More →

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In: Lyrics, Strictly Personal
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Beatle bones ‘n’ smokin’ Stones The dry sands fall The strawberry mouth; strawberry moth; strawberry caterpillar Strawberry butterfly; strawberry fields The winged eel slither on the heels of today’s children Strawberry feels forever Yeah, roosters, ol’ glass roosters, stick to your race In a drag-queen, live-wood farmhouse Tractors are clawin’; the folks are crawlin’ Trees in a row climbing a coach and I blow rich Red, blue, yellow sunset Where I set and you set; and I’ve loved and you’ve loved And I’ve seen and you’ve seen Salt Man has just made his mark – and crumbled The dark – the light – the darkRead More →

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In: Lyrics, Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)
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Bat chain Puller Bat chain puller Puller, puller A chain with yellow lights That glistens like oil beads On its slick smooth trunk That trails behind on tracks, and thumps A wing hangs limp and retrieves Bat chain puller Puller puller Bulbs shoot from its snoot And vanish into darkness It whistles like a root snatched from dry earth Sodbustin’ rakes with grey dust claws Announces its coming into morning This train with grey tubes That houses people’s very thoughts and belongings. Bat chain puller Puller puller This train with grey tubes that houses people’s thoughts, Their very remains and belongings. A grey cloth patchRead More →

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In: Lyrics, Safe As Milk
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Go back ten years ago, sunbeams dancin’ round Go back ten yeas ago, sunbeams dancin’ down Autumn’s child Autumn’s child Autumn’s child got a loophole ’round her finger, Halo rings her head, Corn husk hair makes me linger Her carriage fair meets my dare, A marraige share greets my stare Gonna be m’ wife, she sang, she said Gonna be m’ wife, gonna spice my life, she said Go back ten years ago, sunbeams everywhere Go back ten years ago, sunbeams fill the air Harvest moon be nimble Apple dunking tremble Fish pond streaks of kind Found the child I had t’ find Apple shine share t’gether GotRead More →

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In: Doc At The Radar Station, Lyrics
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You used me like an ashtray heart Case of the punks Right from the start I feel like a glass shrimp in a pink panty With a saccharine chaperone Make invalids out of supermen Call in a “shrink” And pick you up in a girdle You used me like an ashtray heart Right from the start Case of the punks Another day, another way Somebody’s had too much to think Open up another case of the punks Each pillow is touted like a rock The mother / father figure Somebody’s had too much to think Send your mother home your navel Case of the punksRead More →

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In: Lyrics, Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)
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Apes-Ma, Apes-Ma Remember when you were young Apes-Ma? And you used to break out of your cage? Well you know that you’re not Strong enough to do that anymore now And Apes-Ma… The little girl that Named you years ago died now And you’re older Apes-Ma Remember when she named you And it was in the paper Apes-Ma? Apes-Ma, Apes-Ma You’re eating too much And going to the bathroom too much Apes-Ma And Apes-Ma, your cage isn’t getting any bigger Apes-Ma (1976) Originally made available at Justin Sherill’s Home Page Replica.Read More →

Ant Man Bee as imagined by OpenAI

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In: Lyrics, Trout Mask Replica
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Originally appeared on Trout Mask Replica White ants runnin’ Black ants crawlin’ Yella ants dreamin’ Brown ants longin’ All those people longin’ to be free Uhuru ant man bee uhuru ant man bee All the ants in God’s garden they can’t get along War still runnin’ on It’s that one lump uh sugar That they won’t leave each other ‘lone Why do yuh have t’ do this You’ve got t’ let us free Why do yuh have t’ do this You’ve got t’ set us free Why do yuh have t’ do this You’ve got t’ set us free Why do yuh have t’ doRead More →

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In: Lyrics, Safe As Milk
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Long before song before song blues Babbette baboon [repeat] abba zaba zoom Two shadows at Noon, Babbette baboon [repeat] Comin’ over pretty soon, Babbette baboon Run, run, catch her soon, draft of dawn, sunshine on Babbette baboon Mother say son, she say son, you can’t lose, with the stuff you use Abba Zaba go-zoom Babbette baboon [repeat both] Run, run, morning soon, Indian dream, tiger moon Yellow bird fly high, tabacco sky, two shadows at noon Babbette baboon gonna catch her soon Babbette baboon Song before song before song blues Babbette baboon abba zaba zoom [repeat both] Two shadows at noon, abba zaba zoom GonnaRead More →

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In: Safe As Milk, Song notes
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My musings on the meaning of the lyrics for that particular song aren’t my personal interpretation, I’m merely relaying what Don Van Vliet told me that the lyrics are all about. So, it’s the author/composer’s own interpretation of what the words mean, not mine. Meaning The words are about human evolution, which Don somehow seemed to feel took place on the Indian subcontinent – not Eastern Africa. He apparently wasn’t familiar with L.S.B. Leakey and his various progeny and kin – or their discoveries at Olduvai Gorge. “Babbette Baboon” is an ape-like creature on the brink of “comin’ over pretty soon” to a more humanoid existence – if she canRead More →

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In: The Dust Blows Forward
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Rhino’s Captain Beefheart career retrospective. Track list Disc one: Diddy Wah Diddy Frying Pan Electricity Abba Zaba Beatle Bones ‘ N’ Smokin’ Stones Safe As Milk Moonlight On Vermont Ella Guru Old Fart At Play Sugar ‘N’ Spikes Orange Claw Hammer My Human Gets Me Blues China Pig Lick My Decals Off Baby Woe Is Uh Me Bop I Wanna Find Me A Woman That’ll Hold My Big Toe Till I Have To Go The Smithsonian Institute Blues I’m Gonna Booglarize You Baby Click Clack Grow Fins When It Blows Its Stacks Little Scratch Big Eyed Beans From Venus Golden Birdies Disc two: Nowadays ARead More →

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In: Grow Fins
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4/9/98 Update From Dean Blackwood at Revenant: Hey guys. Things are still coming together nicely. John French is busy on the bulk of the notes and I am attempting to wrap up the recordings end of things. Some cool surprises in the works. We are looking for good quality versions of the following live performances from any era: Suction Prints Pompadour Swamp Peon Dali’s Car Old Fart Well Dust Blows Apes Ma Odd Jobs Best Batch Yet Owed T’Alex And, since the BBC has erased its tapes and Peel himself has no tapes, we are auditioning versions of the Peel Sessions (all 8 tracks) toRead More →

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In: Grow Fins
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My primal memories involve Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, whose difficult masterpiece Trout Mask Replica came out the same year I did. My father was (and is) a Beefheart fan, and I vividly recall my response to that record. With its eruptions and churnings, its stops and starts, its self-interruptions and declamations, its epic unrelentingness-right down to the idiot stare of that top-hatted dead fish on the cover-it represented a chaotically phantasmal grown-up Wonderland, and my failure to understand it drove me to tears. It had none of the form or logic or triumph of order that my Disneyfied fairy tales did; no reassuringRead More →