Voyage of discovery
This brief article was written by Flea and was taken from the 19th March 1992 edition of The Independent newspaper.
Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers finds beauty in Captain Beefheart's 'Orange Claw Hammer'
This beautiful, beautiful song tells the story, with a beginning, a middle and an end, of a man who has been through a lot, and who then finds his daughter. (He sings) 'He ran into a high-hat beaver moustache man, and his pirate friend . . .', and after dealing with those guys, 'He woke up in vomit and beer in a banana bin, and a soft lass with brown skin bore him seven babies with snapping black eyes and beautiful ebony skin'. That's just a little part of it.
It's about going through life and seeing all sorts of things but then realising it all boils down to one little relationship of pure love which is the most beautiful thing in the world. It's just singing, there are no instruments. It's just a single voice into a mike. The phrasing and musicality are really heavy, like a John Coltrane solo or a Henry Rollins scream, and the melody is so pure it sounds like an Irish melody.
I don't know all the details of what happens, but this man goes away to sea and comes back and finds his daughter. 'Come little one with your dimpled fingers and give me one, And I'll buy you a cherry phosphate.'
'Orange Claw Hammer' always makes me cry.
