When the Witch Doctor Life
throws his silent bones
some are crowned kings
while others lose their thrones
When the Witch Doctor Life
throws his silent bones
small “O” mouths scream
and run to Mama Kangaroo
insecure pouches wherein hide
beggars and drones
and babies and bums and buzzards
Mama crouches and smiles
her old useful smile
and old ego roars – laughs yesterday’s gasses
while children and angels gasp
and follow a shepherd on crutches
When the Witch Doctor Life
throws his silent bones
some flee the dream
some turn to stone
and the children sing
and the heavens ring
worn by the shepherd with the folded wings
and the bones that sing of silence
(1982)
Sent in by Lloyd Veerman, and originally from Vladimir Sovetov and Mark Erdman. Originally made available at Justin Sherill’s Home Page Replica.
Hi–I don’t know who runs this website though I have appreciated its existence for many years. I was just looking for the lyrics to Witch Doctor Life when my two eyes were violated by some sort of auto-generated AI monstrosities, apparently an “imagining” of the lyrics. This is in such bad taste that I’m appalled to wonder how a fellow Beefheart fan could have for a second thought this was a good idea. If Beefheart was purely a musician then it would be one thing, but not only is he also a visual artist, but from what I gather he even saw himself as an artist first, though one pushed into a musical career by outside pressures. Generative AI is basically against everything our trusty Captain stood for. To recognize AI-generated “art” as art is to drag the highest forms of human expression into the condemned wastes of base materialism. I don’t usually comment on the internet but seeing this really did break my heart, because I had always seen this as one of the best and most useful sites out there. I truly hope you consider removing this “feature” from the website. And, if it was somehow some sort of joke, well then I guess the joke’s on me…
Thanks for your comment. A couple of us post content to the site (or have done over the years) although nowadays it’s just me. The AI generated artwork was a surprise as it wasn’t something I had posted. Sorry you’re upset about it but I think it’s an interesting exercise to see what images Don’s amazing lyrics can generate.