A collection of songs that have some connection to Beefheart but are not straight covers. See also some bands who've taken their name from Beefheart songs.

Anything missing? Let us know.

2003 Finland CD St Captain Freak Out & The Magic Bamboo Request on Ektro Records EKTRO-015

This Japanese collective have soaked up most forms of rock music and then blast them back filtered through their own strange consciousness in a bewildering melange of sound. Their song titles are often based on well known songs - on this one the Captain gets a mention, which also includes Beatles, Stones and Mothers references.

There is the obvious 'Captain' and 'Magic' in the album title, plus there are tracks called :-

A Bamboo is as Close as Miss Trout to Marshmallows
Sweet Lucille or Lick My Milk Off, Baby

The album cover is a parody of the Mothers parody of Sgt Pepper. Most of the people pictured are Japanese, although for some odd reason Abba, the 70's Charlies Angels and Starsky & Hutch are included; there is also lot of bare flesh (another AMT trademark! ).

"Peon in the Neck"

I used to have a copy but can't remember any details about it!

The Albertos were a very funny live act well known in the UK during the mid to late 70s, specialising in parodies of other bands. Their song 'Anadin', for example, was a spoof on the Velvet's 'Heroin'. But often the humour was not so evident on the studio product. This pathetic attempt at spoofing 'Hair Pie Bake 1' complete with chat at the end is just not funny.

"Electromagnetic North"
2000 US CD Zero Zen on Rubric Records RUB07

UK pyschmeisters include the line "the dust blows forward, and the dust blows back" on this track from a great album.

"Spotlight Kid"
2007 US CD Border of Reality on Caroline Records

German power metal band. This song has nothing to do with the Beefheart one of the same name. Written by Blackmore and Glover (Deep Purple?)

Thanks to David Van Auken for confirming the information on this one.

1993 US CD Trout on Silent Records SR9331
2000 US CDR Trout released by artist AD10

Arcane Device is/was the name used by electronics composer and performer David Lee Myers. On this CD he has named each track after some of Don's lyrics:-

1. navel to the moon
2. squid
3. drazy hoops
4. where bees go in
5. a tin teardrop
6. meate rose
7. through a fly's ear
8. the sun softly melts a nothing wheel

This is what David has to say about it:-

"Trout (Arcane Device 10) was created on the largest Feedback Machine, the 'Feedback Workstation'. Most of these pieces could be called 'industrial sound field' music--ambient beds of dense, churning, fizzy sound zones. The last cut is more reminiscent of earlier Arcane Device, based around a gritty circular loop

"Those in the know will recognize the title references; I was having a bit of fun by giving a nod to one of my favorite musicians, and I do feel that the titles are descriptive of the sounds here. The original release on Silent Records had niftier cover art, but at least the original inside pictures of the Feedback Machines are now viewable on the Pulsewidth music tech page.

"The title / track titles were a lark, but I dearly love Don's stuff and somehow his (okay, pirated) words said something about the sounds I was doing. Mostly just wanted to give a wink from a fan."

"Fallin' Ditch"
date? vinyl Stoner Classix Volume One on Artificial Records (?)

Described as a tribute to 30 years of psychedelic wobble-funk and Captain Beefheart. It samples Don reading Fallin' Ditch, from the Stand Up To Be Discontinued CD, mixed with a dreary mama-heartbeat funk backing which gradually drowns out his voice.

"Vertigo"
1993 UK CD Dreamland on ??

This track has the lyrics:-

"Now that her smile has stuck, I cannot go back to your frownland
Now that her sun is up I cannot go back to your downland"

A definite borrowing of Don's 'Frownland' lyric. At some point Aztec Camera mainman, Roddy Frame, nominated "My Head Is My Only House" among his favourite songs.

Thanks to Glyn Rogers for spotting this one.

"The Captain Beefheart Ceremonial Shuffle"

See info page on The Captain Beefheart Ceremonial Shuffle

2000 Swedish CD Music From The Other Side of the Fence

A two man dub/soundsystem - are they really quoting from "Sam With the Showing Scalp Flat Top"?

"85 Weeks"
1995 US CD Pistolero on ???

A song about going without sleep for a year and a half written by Frank Black based on stories about Don told to him by Eric Drew Feldman.

"As to his fame, well he has two claims, he is a Don and as well a Captain un-somnambulist................."

"Electricity"
1986 Swedish vinyl ThePsychedelic Sounds of ...

This Swedish boot was apparently limited to 480 copies and is the only live Blossom Toes performance in existence - recorded at Club Felix in Stockholm in 1967. If this date is correct then it's probably the earliest use of a Beefheart song by another band. It is not a cover of Don's song but is a ten minute rambling jam with the title being repeated throughout. However thre is an obvious attempt to copy Don's legendary phrasing of the word 'electricity'.

Blossom Toes were a quintessential British psychedelic band who recorded sessions for John Peel's radio show and released a couple of interesting and now much sought after albums. They played as support for the Magic Band on one of the 1968 European tours and loaned them their equipment too (it could be the equipment being used for the famous Cannes Beach performance).

"Trash Can Blues"
19?? Baboon Rising on ??

Is this a nod to "Safe As Milk"? Maybe?

"Ripple"
1992 CD Priest = Aura on Arista Records 18683-2

Includes the line "Your hairdo is full of diamonds and lice ...", which must be a nod towards "The Dust Blows Forward...".

"The Lost Weekend"
1985 LP Easy Pieces on

Includes the line "Ashtray heart on your sleeve..."

"My Wife Jan"
1996 CD EP Little Arithmetics on Island/Bang CID 643/854 719-2

Is it about Jan van Vliet? Maybe, here's some of the lyrics:-

"I sing you by the Big Eyed Beans
'Cause big-eyed girls are better left unsung
Do you get it ?
Do you get it ? All you little sweet dolphines
Adapt me, draw me and your culture scene
'Cause your niece said
But your niece said
And I just threw my harp away
I just threw my blues away
And I'll just throw my life away,
but keep my head on straight 'Cause my wife Jan - ain't gonna like it !
My wife Jan - ain't gonna like it ! (x2)
If I take it off today... no way"

The song also contains several samples from the song 'Wildlife'.

A further Beefheart connection is that Eric Drew Feldman produced and mixed the four songs on this EP and played on three of them (but not 'My Wife Jan').

"Roses"
1996 In A Bar, Under The Sea on Island/Bang 314-524 296-2

These Belgian rockers include the following line in this song:-

"Rose said quote it's time to make a mess
This one's yours and yours is self obsessed
She's painting on my back a green tom, the beefheart one
And she cuddles and she coos and she cuts the bullshit I confessed"

'Green Tom' is the name of the painting used on the cover of Shiny Beast. Another Beefheart connection is that Eric Drew Feldman produced the album as well as playing organ or piano on several tracks.

"Worst Case Scenario (First Draft)"
1994 CD Worst Case Scenario on Island

The bass line is taken from 'Hot Rats', but the lyrics include another Beefheart quote:-

"so if you're too busy but with too much to offer
and you can not decide where to go
do the low yo yo, take a swing at the dynamo
on a day like this it's hard to keep the animal from drifting away"

"Zea Intro Replica"
1993 Belgian CD single Zea on Bang Records

Includes a 30 second sample of Jeff Cotton's voice from 'The Blimp'.

"Deerpark"
1982 UK vinyl Hex Enduction Hour on Line Records
2000 UK CD Hex Enduction Hour on Cog Sinister COGVP119CD

"Spare a thought for the sleeping promo dept.
They haven't had an idea in two years
Dollars and deutchmarks keep the company on its feet
Say have you had a chance to meet
Fat Captain Beefheart imitators with zits?
Who is the King Shag Corpse?"

Thanks to Julian Ellis for reminding me of this one.

"Insult Song"
2007 UK CD Post Reformation TLC on Slogan Records B000IHY1E6

"We thought they wore masks
until we asked them to take them off
they took the trout replica a bit too far.."

"Scenario"
2007 UK CD Post Reformation TLC on Slogan Records B000IHY1E6

"It doesn't get me high,
it only makes me cry
the November day poppy"

Early live versions of the track had Mark E Smith clearly singing "Veteran's Day Poppy" but he's changed it to "November" for the album.

Thanks to Rob from the Fireparty for alerting us to these quotes.

"Captain Beefheart"
1997 US CD Belittle on IMI Records

A four piece alternative rock band from LA that recorded 3 albums in the 90s. Not sure if they're still active. This song tells of a visit to Don's trailer in the desert.

Check out YouTube to see them perform it live:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYo3s1vfdX8

"Captain Beefheart
Written by Allen Keller and Scott Bennett

I wrote a letter to the new york rocker back in '82
About the cia and vatican's plan to silence you
I stole your address from a dealer at a soho gallery
And hitched a ride to the mojave
To find your silver argosy

Pleased to meet you
Captain beefheart
You're my hero
Captain beefheart

They dragged me out of my bed
Into an unmarked police car
They tortured me at the mount sinai
Memorial abbatoir
My mother tried to seduce me
To find out what I wrote
But I floated out of the window
On zoot horn's long lean note

Pleased to meet you
Captain beefheart
You're my hero
Captain beefheart

And if the music is a sin
Baptize me in the water
With the radio
Plugged in"

"I can dig you when I smoke my cigarette (a tribute to Don van Vliet)"
1990 Sweden CD Goodbye Sweden on Mistlur Records

Includes some lines from "I Love You You Big Dummy". This Swedish band included Morgan Agren (drums) and Freddie Wadling (vocals) who would get together in 1995 for the Beefheart tribute band that performed with the Swedish part of Don's 'Stand Up To Be Discontinued' art exhibition.

Thanks to Magnus Ekstrom for this information.

"Opaque Melodies"
2001 US CD Field Trip on ???

An eclectic progressive-agressive psychedelic jam band mixing rock, reggae, and funky grooves. Not to be confused with the Pink Floyd tribute band of the same name!

"The Captain's Fat Theresa Shoes"
1969 US vinyl Permanent Damage on Straight Records
198(?) US CD Permanent Damage on Enigma Records

Miss Pamela et al set us straight about Don's shoe fetish.

"Swerver"
1990 US CD Swerve on BMG/Restless

Briefly quotes 'Sue Egypt': "Boing pung! Hocus pocus idiom."

"Rid Of Me"
1993 UK CD Rid Of Me on Island Records
1993 UK CD 4-Track Demos on Island Records

In a section of the song Polly Jean sings/snarls "Don't you wish you never met her?" several times, a direct quote from 'Dirty Blue Gene'.

Thanks, George Shirley for pointing this one out.

"To Bring You My Love"
"Meet Za Monsta "
"Down By The Water"
"I Think I'm A Mother"
1995 CD To Bring You My Love on Island Records CID8035

Polly Jean grew up listening to Beefheart's music (her parents were fans) and talks to Don regularly on the phone. After listening to several albums of her music I found the songs rolling around in my head and changing into Beefheart songs - she's definitely influenced on a subliminal level.

'To Bring you My Love' begins with "I was born in the desert...".

'Meet Za Monsta' is a direct response to Don's invitation on 'Tropical Hot Dog Night' for 'all you young girls to come out n meet the monster tonight'

'Down By The Water' is melodically very similar to 'Zig Zag Wanderer' and 'I Think I'm A Mother' bears an uncanny resemblance to 'Dropout Boogie'.

Thanks to Toby Manning for pointing out 'Down By The Water' and 'I Think I'm A Mother'

2000 UK 7" A Place Called Home
In the notes on the back Polly dedicates this record to Don & Jan van Vliet

"Too Many Captain Beefhearts"
2000 Belgium 12" Tsunami (Inside My Soul) on Life Enhancing Audio

His music is described as downtempo, ambient, future jazz.

"Rotary Hop"
2003 UK CD 'Beet Maize & Corn on Duophonic Super 45s DS45-CD35

According to Hogh Llamas mainman, Sean O'Hagan, this song refers to Beefheart's problems with UK Customs on the 1968 tour.

The song begins:-

Take the Captain to the shore, flip the handle throw the door
Taken from a grey sky, what name are you known by
Shaken by a sense of play, these young men were led away
Captain of scandal, wicked words withstand all

The music has no discernible references though.

"Safe As Milk"
2001 7" Safe As Milk / Contact on Cutty Sark/R&S REL011
2001 CD Safe As Milk (radio edit) / The Curved Glass / Contact / Safe As Milk (original version) on Cutty Sark/R&S REL011CD
2001 CD The Curved Glass on Cutty Sark/R&S

Hopewell include a couple of members of Mercury Rev who are also listed on this page and in the covers section. The track bears no similarity to the Beefheart song of the same name.

"One Jack Rose (That I Mean)"
2004 US CD This Is The Wind That Blows It Out on Strange Attractors Audio House SAAH024

Guitarist from Cul De Sac pays homage to another guitarist, Jack Rose, while adapting the title of one of Don's guitar pieces.

"Eller Guru"
1996 German CD Keit on Keit Records

Two guys from Dusseldorf who play a variety of instruments. This CD contains "two dozen of miniatures a la van Vliet". There are definitely some angular, fractured rhythms here that are reminiscent of the Magic Band. Apparently, Eller is the name of a quarter in Dusseldorf.

You can listen to short samples of their work here - www.onoma.to/hoerproben.html

"Bessie Mae"
1972 LP Evil Wind Is Blowing on Speciality SPS5003

This has a slide guitar riff lifted straight out of 'Tarotplane'. Which is not so surprising when you know it's Alex St Clair playing it, although he doesn't get any writing credit on this track. There are a number of other Beefheart connections to this rare album - more information here.

"Wild"
2000 UK CD Various Artists : The Hospital Radio Request List on Sink & Stove Records #2

This track 'Wild' is by Eric Drew Feldman. It has the 'Gimme Dat Harp Boy' riff appearing throughout. The compilation also includes a track by Bristol band, Big Joan, and by Terry Edwards (who has covered a Beefheart song elsewhere).

2001 CD Plays Well on Crank Automotive CAR09

A sample from 'Well' used on the 12 minute track called 'The Old Victrola'. This is how the track is described in one review:-

"'The Old Victrola' is the disc's comedy track, and really does need to approached with an open-ended conceptual mindset in order to achieve anything remotely resembling full appreciation. It splices together performances from 1995 and 2000, beginning and concluding with covers of Beefheart's 'Well' - the first a choppily climactic rock instrumental, the second a vocal set against chord organ - and its bulk is taken up with a breathtakingly cheeky disco flirtation. Five minutes in, Licht cuts from droning noise to a loop of, yes, a disco beat and generic disco diva wailing, surely the first time the genre's made any appearance on a "noise" record and definitely one of the more startling contextual reconfigurations any avant-guitarist's dared attempt in recent years."

In the same piece Alan Licht is descibed as a "post-hardcore pre-apocalyptic science-fiction drone-lovin' renaissance man." Lick that decal off!

"Rollercoasting"
1994 UK 10" Summer Pop Punk Pop on 500 fluorescent pink vinyl Damaged Goods Records DAMGOOD24
1997 UK vinyl Summer Pop Punk Pop on 1000 yellow glitter vinyl Damaged Goods Records
1997 UK CD Summer Pop Punk Pop on Damaged Goods Records

The first two lines of Helen Love's "Rollercoasting" refer to what she's listening to in her car:-

"I got the MC5, Suicide, Nancy Sinatra and Neil Young live, I got Heavenly, Peggy Lee, Captain Beefheart and the Vaselines"

"Well Well Well"
1997 UK CD Trysome Eatone on ???

Includes the line "Mirror Man Mirror Me"

"Ah Feel Lik Ah Syd"
1997 US CD Evangeline on Paradigm Records

Lucas manages to acknowledge two of his musical passions - Beefheart and Syd Barrett - in one title. Neat!

"Hard Werkin' Fucked Over Man"
1990 US CD Skeleton At The Feast on Enemy Records EMY126-2

Some amazing solo guitar work which sounds nothing like 'Hard Workin' Man' but the title seems to nod in its direction.

"Man With The Woman Head"
1999 UK 7" Little Feet on Gold Hole Recordings GOLE003

This might have been one of the more obscure Beefheart covers except that it's not a cover at all. Just the same title for an instrumental (reminiscent of Tortoise).

1999 UK CD Big Dig on Pure Records 94CDPURE

Album title with maybe a nod to Beefheart?

"The Dust Blows Forward And The Dust Blows Back"
1997 UK CD Food For The Moon on ???

The track is apparently a "short ambient meditation" in an album of "sculptural ambiences" from an ambient-industrial duo. I guess it must be ambient music then?

"Beefhearts and Bones"
1996 UK CD Pax Vobiscum (In Concert) on ECL CD9616

Recorded live in 1984. Marra is a singer/songwriter from Dundee in Scotland who also produced the Saint Andrew album (see below). In this song about divorce the important question of custody of the record collection is examined:-

"He gets the Beefheart, she gets the Stones
they're willing to fight through every court in the land
For the Hearts and the Bones
They split the Motown, she sheds a tear
All the way down, and he sings the same old song
If you think you're walking out that door with Loudon Wainwright
You're wrong, baby, you're wrong."

Thanks to Derek Laskie for the information on this one.

"Radio Waves From Russia"
2004 CD Groove on the Mania! on Top Scrap Recordings TS0002

Thundering drums and bass with slashes of guitar, this is mainly an instrumental but sampled voices are mixed in towards the end including Don from 'Dachau Blues'

A dance track that samples heavily from the vocals of "Ah Feel Like Ahcid". It has actually been played on BBC Radio One's breakfast show - probably a first for any of Don's music!

You can listen to Blue Song here - www.faithandhope.co.uk/artists/mintroyale/discography.shtml

To coincide with the release of the single version (27 January 2003) Mint Royale put different mixes of the song on their website - www.mint-royale.com

Thanks to Martin Webb for telling me about this one.

Thanks to Derek Laskie, again, for this one.

Also, give Beefheart a mention on their website

Mooney composes and performs "computer music". It would be easier for you to visit his Opaque Melodies website if you want to know more. He does quote Don's "Opaque melodies that would bug most people."

2003 Sweden CD Guide To Good And Evil on Trust Me Records

The bass player, Morton Lunde, has the cheek to call himself Rockette Morton!

Their record company describes their music as "World War Three in a telephone booth". There are further tenuous Beefheart connections in the song titles "That's It, I'm Calling The Mothership" and "GTO Society".

1998 Norway CD Trust Us on Columbia 4897382

The cover includes a quote from the song - "You gotta hear without fear"

"We All Float Down Here"
1992 Norway 7"ep Soothe on VOW 027

This track is a 'sound scape' based on Captain's "Fast & Bulbous" routine and 'other weird shit'.

"The Skies are full of...Wine"
1998 Norway ep Ozone on Columbia 6656442

"Captain Geebheart"
2000 Norway ep Walkin' With J on Columbia 6991492

This is a Beefheartesque song with the band's drummer, Haakon Gebhardt on vocals.

Thanks to Morten Lier for sending me these details.

This song uses some of the 'Pachuco Cadaver' lyrics, but not the music. Ninewood are a Bay Area band, two basses, no guitar, "drumbo", and vocals.

Nigel Ayres (aka Nocturnal Emissions) contacted the Radar Station to give to the backgound to this track:-

Captain Beefheart’s music was my favourite all the time I was growing up. I was lucky enough to see Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band perform live several times during the 70s and early 80s; at the Bickershaw Festival, Sheffield City Hall, Bristol Colston Hall and the Venue in London.

The night of the Beefheart show at Bristol Colston Hall, while the support act was playing, I went for a pee. A scruffy middle-aged man shuffled into the urinal beside me and said in an American accent- "real keen place this, man". To my surprise it turned out that it was Don Van Vliet himself. Later outside on the steps we talked for a while and he drew me a little picture on a scrap of paper and offered me a Woodbine cigarette. Woodbine was a cheap and high-tar brand of plain tipped cigarette. I didn’t smoke at the time, but seeing as it was Beefheart, I made an exception, took his offer and smoked the thing.

Years later, I was making records myself.
Although Beefheart was a great influence on my music, I took a very different route in my compositions. Whereas he’s spoken out against repetition and hypnotic effects in music, I’ve tended to use a lot of loops and subliminal effects. I’ve also tended to use tapes, music concrete and computer–sequenced sounds; rather than live musicians. But I think my music shares the same kind of primal concerns to do with a relationship with nature and a playful freedom of expression. I’ll juxtapose instruments in an "outsider" way - there’s often the kind of mood you’ll find on Trout Mask Replica , as mutant jazz and blues themes seem to bubble beneath the surface of something absurd.

Well in 1996, on FRICTION AND DIRT I thought I’d like to dedicate something to the Captain. In the track THE WOODBINE I SMOKED, rather than to make a pastiche of the Beefheart sound, I attempted to record a musical impression of the sound that cigarette smoke had made all those years ago. It was about the effect it had on my consciousness - as its toxins tore through my young and delicate lungs.

The CD Friction and Dirt came out on the Staalplaat label in Amsterdam. It’s now deleted, but you can find further information on my work at:

www.earthlydelights.co.uk

"Rockette Morton pt.1 & pt.2 "
199? CD Sucked An Orange 79-88

A seemingly endless repeating of "Rockette Morton" until you wish he'd answer and maybe they'd stop.

"Strain, crack, break "
2001 UK CD Chance Meeting On A Dissecting Table on United Dairies

Included in this material from 1979 is a bonus 15 minute track of Steven Stapleton's list of influences - a bizarre, multi-layered and repeated recitation. So, you get to hear "John Cage, Captain Beefheart" over n' over again.

Thanks to Brainpang for the heads up on these.

"Right Hand Man"
1995 CD Relish on Blue Gorilla/Mercury

Joan Osborne had already covered one Beefheart song before this second album. The introduction to this song is based on the guitar intro to 'Clear Spot'.

Gary Lucas plays guitar on some tracks.

"Feel n Good"
2007 CD Mary Jane on Mary Jane Productions

PAIN, aka D-Pain aka DeWayne PAIN labeled the Prince of Daytona Beach, is a rapper based in Florida. This track off his album samples the opening riff from 'Low Yo Yo Stuff' and uses it as the backing throughout the song..

"Electricity"
"Mirror Man"

David Thomas has cited Beefheart as a major influence (along with Brian Wilson). His way of acknowledging this is to 'borrow' song titles without actually covering the song.

19?? US CD Fast and Bulbous on Altenburgh 0009

This bunch really are a blues band, but not alien - they're based in Wausau, Wisconsin. Don't know if they cover any Beef songs though.

"Brick Shithouse"
1998 UK CD Without You I'm Nothing on Virgin Records 46531

The song 'Brick Shithouse' quotes the line from Dirty Blue Gene - "don't you wish you never met her".

An early incarnation of this band were known as Ashtray Heart, so Doc At the Radar Station seems to have made an impression on them.

Thanks to Rik Green for the info about this.

"Långt ut på landet"
1975 Swedish LP Ett Steg Till on ???

"Långt ut på landet" (Far into the country) is credited to Rogefeldt and Van Vliet. The song is in Swedish and uses the backing from "Peaches".

Ett Steg Till (One step) is a live album by Pugh Rogefeldt and the band Rain Rock, recorded in Kristianstad. Rogefeldt is a pioneer in Swedish underground rock playing folk, acid rock and blues but singing in Swedish. He is still going strong in 2009.

"Come Out"
1987 Early Works on Elektra/Asylum/Nonesuch 979 1692
1997 Works 1965 -1995 (10 CD set) on Nonesuch 79451-2

This looped and treated recording of a guy saying 'come out to show them' was originally released in 1966 and was the inspiration for the final section of 'Moonlight on Vermont'.

From Steve Reich's sleeve notes to EARLY WORKS CD 979 1692:-

"....Come Out. Composed in 1966, it was originally part of a benefit .... for the retrial, with lawyers of their own choosing, of the six boys arrested for murder during the Harlem riots of 1964. The voice is that of Daniel Hamm, now aquitted and then 19, describing a beating he took in Harlem's 28th precinct station. The police were about to take the boys out to be "cleaned up" and were only taking those that were visibly bleeding. Since Hamm had no actual open bleeding he proceeded to squeeze open a bruise on his leg so that he would be taken to the hospital. "I had to like open the bruise up and let some of the bruise blood come out to show them."

"Deodah"

I don't know if this has been officially released. The song is based, apparently, on the Beefheart poem "I like the way the doodads fly". So it's not quite a cover is it?

"Ah Peeked In Duh Devil's Secret Hell Files"
1987 US vinyl Water II: At Safe Distance on SST Records SST137

Zoogz Rift (aka The Liquid Moamo) is another eccentric Californian musician, artist and former professional wrestler who with his band The Shitheads and other musicians has issued a large number of albums over the past 20-25 years. His primary influence would appear to be Frank Zappa but his work could do with better quality control as he has a tendency to indulge in too many adolescent fantasies.

However this particular song, with it's nod to Beefheart in the title, is pretty funny with him musing on why he's ended up with a particular job:-

"Oh why, God?
Oh why did those assholes at the employment agency
get me this job cleaning up this office?
Why? Somebody tell me already...
Was this the best they could do at short notice?
Am I being punished for over-eating and using
too many cuss words?
Or is it for sounding too much like some pale,
cheap imitation of Captain Beefheart?
[instrumental break with marimba, guitar and drums a la Magic Band]
Or am I too much like Frank Zappa?
['Hot Rats' era Zappa style break]"

The answer is probably 'yes'.

1995 US CD Safe As Milk on Via Records

The song is not covered and there is no other obvious Beefheart connection. Michael Roe is the lead singer of the alternative Christian band The 77's

"Beefheart"
2001 UK CD Short Staffed at the Gene Pool on Wichita WEBB006
2001 on a CD given away free with German music magazine 'Musikexpress'
2001 UK CD Beefheart (four mixes) on Wichita WEBB019

What is the point of this song?

"Wullie Thon Mink"
1999 UK CD The Word On The Pavey on MINK3

'Willie The Pimp' with alternative lyrics drawn from the Dundee (in Scotland) dialect and sung in a Dundonian accent. The last verse pays homage to 'Big Eyed Beans' too.

"Eh'm a little mink wi m'hair gassed forrit
You're a specky geht and they roar him Horace
Tattoos on m'knee caps
Tide mark on m'hoop la
You're a bra loon and you got eau levels
[...snip...]
Distant cousins lets git merried
Kreist knows thurs enough o' it about."

Thanks to Derek Laskie again for this little gem.

"Bone Crazy"
"Can Fever"
1998 UK CD English Meltdown on Mouthy Records Mouthy008CD

These two songs have been bugging us here at The Radar Station for some time. They are both listed on the BMI website as being composed by Don van Vliet and Herb Bermann. No mention could be found of them elsewhere, they've not appeared on any out-takes tapes that circulate and Herb Bermann himself had never heard of the songs or the co-writers, Coffin and Jones.

But some detective work by Radar Station sleuth, Derek Laskie, has finally solve the puzzle.

It seems that a band called Screeper simply sampled 'Sure 'Nuff 'N Yes I Do' on their song 'Can Fever' and used part of Beefheart's song, 'Electricity', on 'Bone Crazy'.

Being conscientious about the use of other people's property, Screeper then spent a year in complicated legal negotiations before they could release a CD with these tracks on it. NME called it, "the best album ever by a Portsmouth band."

Screeper eventually morphed into a band called Autons. In June 2005 The Autons supported The Magic Band in Portsmouth. For this concert they reprised their old hit, 'Can Fever', complete with Captain Beefheart sample.

There's a great write up about the band and their support gig for the Magic Band here.

"Snake Attack"
2008 unreleased

A drums and guitar two piece based in Sheffield who described themselves as experimental, blues, grindcore. This particular track has Don's vocals from 'Old Black Snake' with the band supplying the backing which references 'Click Clack' at times.

Check them out at http://www.myspace.com/16hooves

"Peony"
1998 US CD Despina By Land on Squealer Records Squealer025

Ptolemaic Terrascope editor, Phil McMullen reviewed the album thus, "pieces such as 'Snake of One Hundred Paces' are guided by slide guitar, backbeats and anti-rythms through a magical museum of Magic Band miscellany ('Lasko' and 'Peony' likewise throw distant shadows onto post-Magic Band works in progress by Mallard)"

"23 Skinner"
1991 UK CD Pish In Your Sleazebag on Blast First

This Glasgow based 'spazz-punk' band are described by Trouser Press as 'a band that's instantly diagnosable as hyperactive, hungry and completely strange'.

On '23 Skinner' they've used many samples from Trout Mask Replica plus a few from Strictly Personal

Thanks to Marcin Siehankiewicz for aleting us to this one

"Last Blues"
2001 US CD Electricity on Slowburn Records

As well as taking their name from the 'Clear Spot' song (see band names connections) the band have sampled Don saying 'Sun Zoom Spark' and repeated it a number of times on this track.

Grow Fins
2001 Australia CD Grow Fins on Fryup Records T41

Described as "an exciting mix of surf inspired slackobilly tunes" this mini album is titled after and includes a song called 'Grow Fins' but is not a cover.

Another track on the album is called 'Nowhere Round' which seems to echo the line 'When it blows its stacks he ain't nowhere around'.

1972 UK vinyl Live on Decca Records

I've been told this song quotes 'Dropout Boogie', but as I've not heard the album I can't confirm this.

"Gasoline"
19?? UK [no further details available]

This band from Lancashire in the UK play 'total sonic mayhem'. The song "Gasoline" includes the line 'Lick My Decals Honey, Burn Me Down"

2001 US CD She's Too Much For My Mirror on Scarlet A Records

A four piece punk outfit from Philadelphia with a wild girl singer. They've named their first album after this song as a nod to Beefheart but they admit themselves that they're not up to covering any of his stuff.

"Kandy Korn Rituals"
1992 US 7" Kandy Korn Rituals on Kill RockStars KRS205

Apart from it being a 3 track vinyl single - the other tracks being Against and Hiding in D - I know nothing else.

"The Devil"
1989 German CD Mental Floss For The Globe on ARIOLA 260.325

This hip-hop/rock collective from Holland use a sample from 'Orange Claw Hammer' - "...come little one with yer little old dimpled fingers/.../'n show you the wooden tits on the Goddess/.../'n here it is I'm with you my daughter/Thirty years...".

Thanks to Werner Ahrensfeld for info on this one

Ashtray Heart - a Sorted label compilation
2000(?) UK CD on Sorted Records SRCD1
Frownland - the second Sorted EP
2000(?) UK 7" on Sorted Records SRS005
Suction Prints
UK vinyl on Sorted Records SRLP04

Here are three compilations from the UK indie label which are all named after Beefheart songs. There are no cover versions or any other Beefheart connection on these as far as I can see!

"Willie The Wimp"
1986 CD Live Alive on Sony
1999 CD Vol. 2 - Real Deal Greatest Hits on Sony
2000 3CD Box Set SRV on Sony

I haven't heard this so I don't know if there is any similarity apart the obvious wordplay on the title.

"Rain Gutter Teasing Rusty Cat Sneezing"
2005 Norway 7" Rain Gutter Teasing Rusty Cat Sneezing on Safe As Milk Records

The title is a quote from the song Safe As Milk and it was released in connection with the annual Norwegian music festival also called Safe As Milk. It is described as a great wash of electronic/acoustic surge. The other side of the single is a track by a band called Phonophani which has no Beef connection.

Thanks to Daniel Payne for spotting this one.

"Beefheartmania"
199? UK CD The Emerald Sessions on ?

A 'skunk groove' band who write their own material. The bass player, Tom Prine, is known as 'High Voltage Man'.

"The George Song"
2008 CD I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too on Drowned in Sound

This song from Loudon's daughter includes the following:-

"And I will never understand
Why you love the Beefheart
More than you could love the common man"

"1nce Upon A Time"
1993 UK CD Witch on Transglobal Records GLOBAL 1CD

The introductory riff from 'Clear Spot' is sampled, looped and used as the backing track along with added drum and dub bass (probably Jah Wobble) while Leslie Winer whisperingly recites lyrics over it.

Winer used to be a fashion model with attitude, had some relationship with William Burroughs, recorded in the UK and then practically disappeared.

"Achy Breaky Beefheart"
1996 US 7" Achy Breaky Beefheart / Wild Up on Destroy All Music/Sunship DAM68/SunOne
1995 US CD Various Artists : When I'm Hungry I Eat on Courmandizer Records 001.

Two distorted guitars and some drums on a crash and burn course in the key of R#. Wrong are from Minneapolis and they share the 7" with a band called Tranquil. The various artists CD compilation consists of other bands from Minneapolis and 31 songs about food(!)

"Vliet"
1994 US CD Heretic on Avant

Thanks to Steven LaCombe for pointing this one out which he describes thus:-

'Vliet' is a guitar-and-bass duet, with the bass pacing out a
semi-Seinfeldian pluck and pop while the guitar grinds and sears out a Hendrix quaalude trip. Ironically, "Vliet" is one of the least Beefheart-esque tracks on a disc that is otherwise packed with wonderful avante-garde weirdness bound to appeal to any fan of TMR and Decals.

If anyone is able to complete or update any of the information above, then please do get in touch.