By:
On:
In: Lyrics, Safe As Milk
With: 0 Comments

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 →

By:
On:
In: Lyrics, Safe As Milk
With: 0 Comments

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 →

By:
On:
In: Safe As Milk, Song notes
With: 2 Comments

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 →

By:
On:
In: Music articles and interviews
With: 0 Comments

In this day of dubious miracles, when lucky new arrivals on the rock scene are spotted, slated for super-stardom, and hyped to oblivion, all in a matter of a year or so; when the ability of the American Kulture-Complex to absorb revolutionary ideas and turn them into profit reaches weird osmotic states, the enlightened listener tends to become somewhat cynical when confronted with the term ‘underground music.’ We all know what the underground is; we can read about it in ads for Columbia Records: The Man Can’t Bust Our Music or Know Who Your Friends Are. Who are our friends? Who is the man? AsRead More →

By:
On:
In: Mirror Man, Safe As Milk
With: 0 Comments

1977 UK SAM/MM Combination Re-issue as Beefheart File of SAM/MM on Pye FILD 008 Two inner sleeves contain “rare” photos and informative article by Connor McKnight First sleeve has real slot on front later sleeve front cover has Internal Memo artwork and no slot 1983 UK Re-issue as Music In Sea Minor Six tracks from SAM and two from MM on a 10″ Album with Cannes Beach publicity shot cover on Buddah PRT DOW 15. 1984 UK Re-issue as Top Secret – Breakaway BWY 66 Five tracks from SAM and two from MM. 1984 UK Re-issue as Top Secret on 12″ Picture Disc Design PIXLP4 HasRead More →

By:
On:
In: Safe As Milk
With: 12 Comments

1967 US Original on Buddah (Red) The US release has always been thought to have been in September 1967, but a ‘New Action Albums’ feature in the 19 August 1967 edition of Billboard lists Safe As Milk which may indicate an earlier release date. The inner has weird artwork and photos, along with the words “MAY THE BABY JESUS SHUT YOUR MOUTH AND OPEN YOU MIND” and “CAUTION: ELECTRICITY MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO HEALTH” – it also contained the 4″ x 15″ Bumper Sticker folded inside. Apart from the band, with Ry Cooder pictured separately in profile, Bob Krasnow (plus wife and kids), Hank Cicalo, D.J.Read More →

By:
On:
In: Safe As Milk
With: 0 Comments

Cheetah Magazine wrote on November 1967: ‘Safe As Milk is a total delight. It’s hard to characterise the group, because they are capable of sounding like anybody. But everything they do is permeated with a weird and fascinating sense of humor… There are some obvious parodies, like ‘I’m Glad’, which is like The Miracles’ ‘Baby, Baby’, but is ‘Sure Nuff N’ Yes I Do’ a take-off on one of the West Coast blues bands? Is ‘Zig Zag Wanderer’ a parody of The Grateful Dead? It doesn’t really matter: their sense of humor (and it’s musical as much as it is verbal) isn’t anything as pointed asRead More →

By:
On:
In: Safe As Milk
With: 0 Comments

Track list: Side 1: Sure ‘Nuff N Yes I Do Zig Zag Wanderer Call On Me Dropout Boogie I’m Glad Electricity Side 2 Yellow Brick Road Abba Zabba Plastic Factory Where There’s Woman Grown So Ugly Autumn’s Child Side 3 Safe As Milk (take 5) On Tomorrow Big Black Baby Shoes Flower Pot Side 4 Dirty Blue Gene Trust Us (take 9) Korn Ring Finger. Press release from Simply Vinyl: It has taken us ages to finally get a decent Captain Beefheart album together. So thank God we’ve finally managed to snag one of his greatest classics – the legendary “Safe As Milk”. For manyRead More →

By:
On:
In: Safe As Milk
With: 2 Comments

Track list As the original Safe As Milk, but also with: Safe As Milk (take 5) On Tomorrow Big Black Baby Shoes Flower pot Dirty Blue Gene Trust Us (take 9) Korn Ring Finger Notes: All of the above tunes, apart from Korn Ring Finger, were previously available on the now deleted I May Be Hungry But I Sure Ain’t Weird Sequel collection. The Safe As Milk album has been thoroughly re-mastered, bringing significant improvements in sound quality. Packaging is based upon the original vinyl release, with new sleevenotes by John Platt. A small press item appeared announcing this release. Released on 1st June 1999Read More →

By:
On:
In: Grow Fins, Mirror Man, Safe As Milk, The Dust Blows Forward
With: 2 Comments

Oh, the yin and yang of it all. At the exact moment the music industry is overrun with homogenized teen harmonisers, along comes a grizzled, determinedly weird voice from the deep vault, bellowing a sloppy counterattack to all that manufactured cheer. It’s Captain Beefheart, superhero of the surreal, right on cosmic cue. More than 35 years after Beefheart (the nom de rock of Don Van Vliet) and his Magic Band began sending psychotropic messages from the exotic outposts along rock’s fringe, his category-defying music is about to experience an unlikely rebirth, courtesy of catalogue projects on three different labels. The recordings – a five-disc boxRead More →

By:
On:
In: Mirror Man, Safe As Milk
With: 0 Comments

It was with some excitement that I first heard about these re-releases, perfectly timed to coincide with what appears to be a significant increase in interest in the magic music of the Magic Band from both music consumers and the industry itself. Just as we are all about to Grow Fins and feast upon a host of previously unreleased music from Revenant, here are two Magic Band classics which, although hardly wilting anyway, have benefited from having a serious breath of fresh air breathed into them. Buddha’s Safe As Milk and The Mirror Man Sessions boast a brand new mastering of two magnificent albums, anRead More →

By:
On:
In: Mirror Man, Safe As Milk
With: 0 Comments

BMG-owned Buddha Records will debut in the spring with expanded, newly remastered reissues of such out-of-print works as Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band’s Safe as Milk and Mirror Man, Nilsson’s John Lennon-produced Pussy Cats, Graham Parker’s The Mona Lisa’s Sister and Daryl Hall’s Sacred Songs. All will be fleshed out with CD bonus tracks, some of them previously unreleased. Like Sony’s Legacy imprint, Buddha – with a new spelling to boot – will have access to its parent company’s vaults, but will focus on artists whose significance is measured by more than chart numbers. The inaugural batch, which also includes compilations of previously unreleasedRead More →

By:
On:
In: Safe As Milk
With: 4 Comments

Compiled by Jasper Leach. Jasper acknowledges that this listing contains inacuracies. If you can help with any further info or corrections, please let us know. All songs (unless noted differently): Produced by Richard Perry and Robert Krasnow Engineered by Hank Cicalo/Gary Marker Arranged by Don Van Vliet “Sure ‘Nuff” and “Grown So Ugly” arranged by Ry Cooder Recorded at RCA Studios, Hollywood, CA, April 1967 All words and music by Don Van Vliet and Herb Bermann Note from Jasper: This is probably one of the most inaccurate lists I’ve compliled. It has been reported by many band members that studio musicians were brought in byRead More →

By:
On:
In: Safe As Milk
With: 0 Comments

Recording details Date – April 1967 Studio – Sunset Sound, Hollywood; RCA Studios, Hollywood Producer – Richard Perry, Bob Krasnow Engineer – Hank Cicalo, Gary Marker Musicians Don Van Vliet – vocals, harmonica, bass marimba Ry Cooder – guitar, bass Alex St Clair Snouffer – guitar, backing vocals Jerry Handley – bass John French – drums, backing vocals Doug Moon – guitar (Sure Nuff only) Milt Holland – percussion Russ Titelman – guitar Taj Mahal – percussion Sam Hoffman – theremin unknown horn players, harpsichord player and harpist. See Leach’s Listings for a thorough guide to who did what on Safe As Milk, compiled for theRead More →

By:
On:
In: Safe As Milk
With: 1 Comment

Captain Beefheart Under the philosophy that “life is art and art is life” (CREAM), DON VAN VLIET alias CAPTAIN BEEFHEART went down as one of the most dazzling personalities in rock history. This stubborn musician, painter and sculptor, whose voice ranged seven and a half octaves, allowed his extraordinary creativity run totally free, to the extent that categorisation attempts of any kind simply bounced off his productive genius. “Delta blues, avantgarde jazz and rock & roll” (ROLLING STONE) entwined themselves to become a twentieth-century music style that had lasting influences on american bands such as “The Residents”, “Pere Ubu” and “Devo”. BEEFHEART’S chaotic “Magic Band”,Read More →

By:
On:
In: Your stories and tributes
With: 0 Comments

Why do I like Beefheart? Hmmm……. not easy to answer. Maybe I should start with ‘how’… I think my story will be echoed by other fans in the UK. In 1966/67 the music scene exploded. Although those years are parodied or ridiculed by many they were critical in the freeing of music and it is difficult to explain how radically things were changed. The frontrunners – The Beatles and The Stones – were experimenting with new sounds, but the most exciting music seemed to be coming from the American West Coast. Weird music played by bands with strange sounding names. The only way many ofRead More →

Safe As Milk: Pye

By:
On:
In: Magic Band people, Music
With: 0 Comments

The graphic designer and photographer Tom Wilkes died on 28 June from a heart attack. He was 69. Most well known to Beefheart fans for his work on the Safe As Milk album he was involved in the design of many, many others. For more detailed obituaries check out the LA Times and the Independent. Thanks to ‘anonymous’ for the heads up about this sad news.Read More →

Safe As Milk promobox

By:
On:
In: Music, New releases
With: 17 Comments

Two of Beefheart’s earliest albums have been given the Japanese mini LP treatment. You can now get exact copies of the original Safe As Milk and Mirror Man vinyl albums but as compact discs. These are exquisite … you even get a mini version of the SAM bumper sticker and MM comes complete with the gatefold die-cut shattered mirror effect cover. Although the packaging replicates the original album the tracks on them are the remastered versions with the extra songs that were released in 1999.- so the sound quality is excellent. In fact, SAM sounds even better than the 1999 copy I have. These areRead More →