Captain Beefheart - Bat Chain Puller

[Umphreakful]

Could he shoot any more drugs?? Wow. he almost pulled a Trey Anastacio circa 96' - 04'

[littlecave]

sometimes people actually take music and do what they should be doing with it

[Honeysucklebommie]

Brothers n sisters of great n varied musical taste, I've just found this Japanese work of art from in and around the same era..

Osamu Kitajima - Tengu [1976] copy n paste n enjoy ;-)

[letresbeauchauve]

pas tout neuf!

mais pire que bon

[flaphead325]

The bat chain puller album is going to be released!

[treefingers68]

I like Justin Bieber, Miley Cirus, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Captain Beefheart. Go to hell if you think I'm wrong for what I like.

"duurrr why doesnt everyone just listen to noisy difficult music were all so enlightened and smarter than everyone aren't we"

[muskratbill]

Deliciously out of the mainstream!!!

[wayneiac1789]

goddam yes

[noodlesmealey]

sandwich au coeur de boeuf.....

[michaelstmark]

Dons (sic) shades halfway through the number.

 Cooler than cool was el capitain.

[blahblah2556]

Superlatives, much too shallow. A googolplex above the rest, chain puller,puller,puller,puller. A googolplex chain puller.

[wonnthree]

full brain music! beefheart was a fucking blast!

[magprob]

A bat chain refers to the chain that hangs down from a signal post on a train line. The signal device that was pulled down was called a bat and different bats had different colours to signal the train driver as to the condition of the track ahead, or whether the train could proceed,etc.

The bat chain puller was the person who set the signals for the approaching train according to track status reports recieved by telegraph.

Captain had amazing mind. Different = GOOD. This song GOOD

[noodlesmealey]

@magprob - wow, thanks for eliminating the stupid that hangs at the end of my chew chew.

[Sausahga]

Beefheart never sold well but look how music's hit the depth of the bottom: Lady Ga Ga sells 2 million in just a week followed by Bieber followed by Rihanna! What a tone-deaf world! You can't want for much if that shit satisfies you!

[MrLAGWD]

Don was just a giant dadaist, surrealist, avant garde Bob Dylan.

[MrBellender]

at 1:20 the Captain says: ah fuck it. RIP Captain Beefheart Sir.

[mokkshaa]

The only reason why I even know about Captain Beefheart is that PJ Harvey keeps mentioning him as her main influence. Finally curiosity got the better of me and I checked out this video. I'm glad I did. The world needs more weird music like this.

[videocanone]

No one makes righteous absurdist noise poetry music like the Cappin ' !

"I used to fiddle with my backfeed music with a black Onyx, the tarp paper absorbed every echo. Roll Skreak ! Roll Skreak ! Sam with the showing scalp flat top, particular about the point it made ...

SAM WAS A BASKET CASE !!! "

Capt Beefheart on 'Bongo Fury', a live Zappa album from the 70's. Still one of my favorites.

[sufinaga]

i am a beefheart freak. saw him live 5 times. greatest psychedelic musician of all time.

[jeffdeanable]

This is so refreshing. It truly brightened my morning. This is what art is all about.

[kingblee1]

My eyes are a blue million miles away...in a trance.

John French says " he probed the primal atomic structure of music"...

this video will not argue...RIP

[MuZontar]

Oh Don, oh how you are missed. Excellent performance of "Bat Chain P..."

[zosobudgie]

Organized Chaos best describes the Captain's music. 400 years from now, this music will be the in thing. At least we liked it before it gets popular.

[sufinaga]

@zosobudgie yes for ten thousand years we will be learning from him.

[Anthrocosmology]

Like windshield wipers. Just like 'em.

[hutley58]

FUCKIN BRILLIANT ,TWISTED AND POETIC ALL IN ONE.. DON VAN VLEIT WAS A GENIUS...R.I.P CAPTAIN

[Xcokedav096]

My children will grow up with Captain Beefheart and the Velvet Underground.

[xKronzx]

seriously this is maybe the best video I've seen on YT! <3

[RollingRecords]

baaaaaaat chain pulla (ding ding dong ding ding dong)

[SchoolessFilmMaker]

Love this song. It's sounds like the time traveling bastard offspring of Tom Waits and Primus.

[vollsticks]

@SchoolessFilmMaker Except The Captain did it all before those bands! Tom Waits himself said that Beefheart is like a bloodstain, once you've heard him he's hard to get out....

[sirorson]

Taken a back! Again.

[StrOcc]

I'm just getting into Captain Beefheart. I've known for some time that he was a big influence for Tom Waits... always meant to look into his stuff more. Then I heard that he passed away, and it gave me that final push to really check out his material. My word, I've been missing so much!!

[RollingRecords]

@StrOcc Im not disagreeing but interested arent the two artists kind of different. Peety sems more mainstream. Beefhearts music doesnt get much attention like tom petty. That they are both blues students I get but so are so many that sound nothing like Beefheart or tom Petty. Even this song sounds like a op attempt from so many years at progressively getting to some point at least.

[sheugh1]

this man's music is addictive, the more I listen to it the more I need it!

[kickback4me]

he died on my birthday .

[novaflo339]

they called that "tobacco juice"!

[huthut91]

Too good

[GelandnaleG]

2:04

[MrVisitor2]

Guitar tribute to the Great Captain by Ian Staples of power improv group Red Square worth a listen on RED SQUARE 33. Long live all rebel musicians:

[LondonDada]

I understand there are a few peyotes growing here and there out in the Mojave desert.

Salad for lunch, Captain? ;)

[pigmydmm]

this is a great rockin jam

[MrBluedingo]

Only just heard, a great influence on my musical direction

[MegaYoshitsune]

Leon Redbone looks like Captain Beefheart.

[hoppinonabronzeleg]

Rest in peace Captain!!

[MrVisitor2]

Awesome guitar tribute to the Captain on red square 33

[msa1985]

can anyone recommend a song of his showing this 5 octave range?

[flowerdoodle]

@msa1985 Ha! I think this was yet another instance of his wonderfully odd sense of humor. He was a dada comedian.

[CPRCRRSC]

@msa1985 ella guru

[kronosync]

RIP VAN VLIET....RIP

[Wankshaftsbury]

god bless you Don



[Wankshaftsbury]

god bless you don

[jackhillty]

thank you for your spirit which has infused mine.

some of what I've learned:

my smile is stuck, I cannot go back to your frownland. somebody's had too much to think. and I took off my pants and felt free. this train which houses people's thoughts, their very remains and belongings. bring me my scissors! don't you wish you never met dirty blue gene?

we don't have to suffer, we're the best batch yet.

[hulmey100]

@Johnny75416 ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha bat chain puller , stick to your drugs dude

[hulmey100]

@Johnny75416 HOW COME YOU REMOVED THESE COMMENTS , IS IT BECAUSE YOU COULD NOT SPELL THEM .... HA HA HA YOU THICK TWAT

[marvindrew]

genius. pure genius and an American original under-appreciated by the unwashed.

[12161euclid]

God bless your demented soul,captain. R.I.P.

[fecalfoetus]

i am very saddened by the news,,Don was a visionary in all senses of the word, his work, be it musical or art,,,is immeasurable, peerless, timeless (still way ahead of today) and his influence is beyond reasonable imagination...the rightful godfather of true punk (sorry Iggy, Zappa, Lou Reed, no disrespect to you guys) its a shame his work is so less known, (its a crime to use the word underrated here i believe) and virtually unheard of ..RIP Captain...there are many here who know the truth...

[DaDa2Phlux]

Looking around in his wake ....I can't wait to catch up to him on the highways of eternity & make us a sandwich !

[aqualash]

A true unadulterated genius...another legend falls

[psftrules]

saw frank many times, wish i had seen this and the captain live RIP

[psftrules]

saw frank many times, wish i had seen this the captain live RIP

[Israfvel]

MS is a fucking bitch. Takes away your every means of self-expression - everything to leaden stone, abounding with energy but without a way to release any.

At least he won't be in any more pain, but still. Fuck that bitch.

Rest in peace, the piss you do not deserve, but rest anyway.

[nachoisone]

R.I.P. Oh Captain my captain!

[pagdam]

'Beam in on me baby and we'll beam together... I know we've always been together... But theres MORE'

'Step outta a triangle into striped light... turn around... step back into striped light... everything's wrong at the same time it's right... I'm anywhere tonight'

...

'Those little golden birdies... look at them...'

the truth is that all of the good Captain's work is immortal and that's not just an opinion its a fact...

[sunra3000]

RIP CAPTAIN THUMBS UP 4 THE CAPN

[Harmonicajello]

The lucky ones are able to hear it. The unlucky ones cannot. We should pity them their empty souls. The Don's magic will soar forever without the unlucky ones' approval. Fly In Peace

[bigjoesaddle]

Is it REALLY genius? REALLY? Is it possible we are SUPPOSED to say it is genius, but in reality he put a bunch of sounds together and is making a fool out of you? Especially fron 2:00 on.... come on. Just admit you pissed away 5:06 of your life listening to it... the world will thank you and your soul will know you are fighting for it, for music that actually lifts and effects your inner self, not a bunch of cat-scratching! As Dan Rather said..."COURAGE"....ADMIT IT!!

[sunra3000]

@bigjoesaddle i smell stoopid or its thr horse ya rode in on

[addylewis]

@bigjoesaddle

Nope - the fact it IS abnormal is the appeal...some of it may not be that great or musically coherent, but at least he had the GUTS to do it, think of how many other Captain Beefhearts the music world MAY have had had record companies not got them to change their style simply because it may not have been commercial - then look at how many different labels it took Beefheart to release the material he did...he NEVER fully gave up on being true to himself...

[jackhillty]

@bigjoesaddle like to piss on yerslf, doncha?

[flowerdoodle]

@bigjoesaddle I personally like Capt Beefheart, but yet I can appreciate what you are saying here, especially " Is it REALLY genius? REALLY? Is it possible we are SUPPOSED to say it is genius, but in reality he put a bunch of sounds together".....THEN u lost me. I think it is sort of genius and also just a bunch of noise...but after repeated listening the "noise" starts to make since and you realize theres something there and it is musical--its funky and modern and arty. You start to crave it

[WW214412]

ik zal hem missen

[adfsghjn]

this sounds like a shreds video. 

[crimsonkng]

Possibly the wierdest song I've ever heard. A total masterpiece.

[tfoy60]

RIP Captain. Steal softly through sunshine, steal softly through snow.

[danollano]

Poetry from the swamp set out to dry on the beach, magnificent!

[SympatricMusic]

Seeya Don you magnificent bastard.

[captainscarrot]

RIP Captain, thanks for opening my ears so many times!

[jeremy1000100]

R.I.P. Capt. Nice to have known you

[orchislilaclips]

Captain Beefheart is not dead.. I´m going to raise my soon coming baby with this music! With love & blue butterflies as big as the cowboy's eyes, goodbey!

[Gerry50ify]

@orchislilaclips GOOD FOR YOU!!! Your child will have lotsa love and great music. Agreed-the good Captain will always be with us. The new sunrise I'm trustin'...

[Jethrofinger]

@orchislilaclips

Good for you. Please keep your baby away from Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber as far as possible.

[gammaGTgammajereste]

@Jethrofinger

my childrens know Captain beefheart, Zappa and others ... not Bieber or Cyrus

[Jethrofinger]

@gammaGTgammajereste

Good for you, as well. I'm 19 years old and I became into this classic rock, hard rock, heavy metal thing about a decade ago. I got into Zappa at 14 and Beefheart I only got into a year ago but I already had all of his albums before he died. Zappa and Beefheart are the godfathers of experimental rock. Tom Waits is a possible third but none come close to Zappa and Beefheart. Do your kids enjoy the music?

[raphater2000]

@Jethrofinger When I have kids, I bet the trend in current music will be even worse. I hate all this autotune crap. I am glad that there are still some people who appreciate good music like this.

[brucxevic]

@orchislilaclips Hurrah! A few more like yourself, and perhaps we can save a generation! Keep up the good work! ;)

[TheCrypticjosh]

Yr going to resurrect beefheart thru yr baby? gross! But I guess i can relate.

[estilonesplu]

Aquién no le gusta que lo cago a piñas!!!

Aguante Capitán!!!!!!

[SionedGoch]

RIP Don Van Vliet, we will never see the likes of you again.

[guttersnype00]

puller, puller!!!

Love ya, Captain!

[fastnbulbouss]

Catch you later Don.....

[tommyrock69]

Fucking genius! Long live Captain Beefheart!

[jjhouston4]

Thanks for opening the window while you were here Captain.

[fireblossom2u]

One night I was listening to KRAB out of Seattle. They were playing Monk chants, Zappa and Captain Beefheart. it was perfect. I thought I heard Don speak in whispers inside my head. Only years later did I realize this to be true. Goodbye my strange and wonderful Captain.

[rottenhubert]

Is that Martinez or Williams on drums... anyone know?

[terrbass]

@rottenhubert Robert Williams

[dane801]

Nobody like you Don! What a genius. Can you hear the windsheid wiper?

[dane801]

Nobody like you Don! What a genius.

[legendofschmoe]

RIP ...genius of genius

[michaelflanagansf]

Rest in Peace Captain!

[MadDogMolenaar]

RIP

[fenham01]

If Big-eyed beans was my favourite Beefheart track - Bat Chain puller was a very close second

[sitjar]

Thanks Don....nobody ever really managed to emulate you, no matter how hard they tried.

[shonazadog]

I'm going to miss knowing you were there.

[earinsound]

RIP Don!

on a side note: that's the stupidest looking drumset i've ever seen

[RedNietzsche]

Thanks for being a Genuine Original! and a True Artist. R.I.P

[sventoz]

Captain Beefheart made the ceiling come down at a party at my place such was the bouncing to the strange beat. I think it was this song.

[Drunkenmo]

R.I.P. You crazy genius.

[TReidization]

R.I.P. Don Van Vliet a.k.a. Captain Beefheart.

Truly one of god's own prototypes

[655treefrog]

R.I.P. Don, you made my life better.

[bobmonsen]

R.I.P.

[jajasoon]

RIP - and thanks for sharing your genius!

[InsomStudios]

RIP!

[abandonedvideos]

thanks for weirdness, cap'n.

[lukebourassa]

RIP

[UkuleleManDanks]

Im 15 years old and Beefheart crazy. This cant be good for my mental health.

[SidewalkFrequencies]

THIS SONG FUCKING RULES ON SO MANY LEVELS, WE LOVE YOU CAPTAIN !!!

[horseloverfatjr]

Brilliant.

[Ziplock74]

the drum beat was inspired by the sound of windshield wipers moving back and forth across a windshield as it rained. brilliant

[Decipher64]

This is where Dr. Seuss and Chuck Jones meet.

[Lpoolboy]

This is like ear sex.

[RonOrGina]

@Lpoolboy I like the way you word it. VERY fitting! ;)

[MrMonsterstiffy]

@Lpoolboy  I guess you've been fucked in the ear...

[SensoryOssuary]

sax solo is amazing

[snottydyck]

This was "The first dance" at my wedding.

[MrKrevlornswath]

@snottydyck

You must have had an awesome wedding.

[killuminati63]

my new artist of the month

:)

[snottydyck]

its the blimp!

[mannacler]

Hard to believe that this is now thirty years old. The Captain belongs to the ages.

[yelselgabor]

SO GOOD

[TheAncientfossil]

always been around...

[TheUniversalWoman]

Ummm...he is not for me.

[taariqtaariq]

"rubber dolphins with gold yawning  mouths" : surreal and amazing , great stuff. Imagine preferring 'The Carpenters' to this.

It is unhealthy to like Normality.

[MrRandomposter]

I never wanna go on that train with the grey tubes sounds like bad times.

[stevemangler1]

I would imagine after leaving the show one would not feel normal .

Whatever that is .

[snozwanger22]

Magic



[svecter]

I hear the Cap' used to go out shopping leaving his wife gagged & chained to the wall .. but dont quote me on that ;~)

[sheilapatrick1]

@svecter probably so

[wrongstring]

there is no sense in this song ,its a fucking incredible sound

[snodgrassish]

Don-Genius - most underestimated poet of the 20th Century!

[BigSwifty1st]

This my favorite Captain song

[naisammon]

He wanted the drums to sound like windshield wipers-hypnotic!

[snodgrassish]

I've noticed on a few clips that Don forgets the lines or gets in front of the band but it doesn't matter. Don rules. Bat Chain Puller HAS to be the best poem set to music yet!

[sherriffofhongkong]

Zoot Horn Rollo is on Drumbo's..(john french) new disc City Of Refuge.....

It's great NEW music if your a Magic Band fan..... Bulbs shoot from his snoot....

[HmsSulaco]

It´s Clapool´s dad :D

[bernhardsart]

Guess what!!!!!!??? I'm FUCKING There!!!!!!!

[velyogendra108]

I saw him live in Boston when "Doc At The Radar Station" was out. I really miss his music.

[xxdonaldqxx]

Where can I purchase a bat chain puller?

[plevyman]

Love this song!

[Bambiezbotron]

I don't know what the Captain had in mind talking about a bat chain puller, but those words sound like they should always be together

[videocanone]

Trout Mask Replica ! Where is Zoot Horn Rollo ?

The Blimp ! its the Blimp Frank, the Blimp! Babies stop your nursing !

and they call that tobacco juice.

I used to fiddle with my back-feed music for a black onyz. The tar paper absorbed every echo. The hallway rolled out into odd ball odd.

Roll Skreek ! Roll Skreek ! Sam with the showing scalp flat top, particular about the point it made. SAM WAS A BASKET CASE!

Saleable every day pencils ...I wish I had a pair of bongos ... Bongo Fury !!!

[asktunes]

I'm sure I've commented on this video before, but I keep returning to it. This is one of the most interesting, creative, fascinating songs ever! Gives me chills. The 1st time I heard it, my jaw dropped. Fresh & weird & wonderful, always...

[Bambiezbotron]

@asktunes you're damn right, when I first heard this song it kept me up at night for a week rolling around in my mind... made for a rough week but I kept feeling that windshield-wiper rhythm and walking around going: "BAAAaaaAAAAAGGGHHHT chain pullah... pullah, pullagghhh....". My friends thought I'd lost my mind, and they were Tom Waits fans.

[stupidwhitemanjesus]

times long ago, song sang by voice. the fears in the air, the trill in the arm, ready to fight, the spanking of the mind ready to die. cries in the womb left to spill heart in enemy full of brave destiny stories to tell no one till no none dies forget full of LIFE.

[RRaquello]

"you may think this is the finest pearl but it's just cardboard balls". You had to have guts to be a Capt. Beefheart fan back when I was a teenager & everyone else was listening to Styx & Foreigner. People thought there was something wrong with you when all the time there was something wrong with them.

[nonthere]

I remember that. It was bad enough being a Frank Zappa fan but when I went with this guy too some of my friends started treating me like a mental patient. You know, smiling, nodding their heads...

[MsPsychobunny]

@RRaquello PREACH IT, BROTHAH...PREACH IT...YESSIR YESSAH...

[rpennington9]

@RRaquello Hou are SOOO right...Heck I used to take crap for liking Emmerson,Lake and Palmer..never mind things like Beefhart,Zappa,andUtopia....

[Zeppelinrules94]

This man is a genius

[drqster]

it actually sounds like a bat chain puller

[sherriffofhongkong]

The man is unique...like the music....now let's think of the "radical" shit people like today.......I can't laugh hard enough......

[harriswa]

This is the kind of song you hate first time you hear it but you find yourself singing it to yourself later,i hate the song but he is a true genius.

[TheKeswickGallagher]

@harriswa i'd actually disagree with that most beefheart Stuff I have that problem with but I liked this song the first time I herd it

[IEatBubbleMan]

XD!!!

[themitchies]

satisfyingly demented