Woe-Is-Uh-Me-Bop - Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band

Song: Woe-Is-Uh-Me-Bop (6/15)
Album: Lick My Decals Off, Baby (1970)
Artist: Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
Lick My Decals Off, Baby (Straight, 1970), Beefheart is the sole composer. In a way this is his most intellectual work, because the album takes the traditional topics of blues, eroticism, freedom, trains and nostalgia, and sets them in a modern context of city alienation. Percussionist Artie Tripp (aka Ed Marimba), is added as a formidable complement to French, while Cotton is gone to play in Merrell Fankhauser's MU.
The sound is still fragmented in a myriad of surrealistic miniatures, employing celebrations of Dolphyesque clarinets (Japan In A Dish-plan), of convulsed false notes (Ballerin Plain), of street rallies (The Smithsonian Institute Blues), of absurd guitar solos (One Rose That I Mean). The best of his chamber jazz-blues is found in I Love You Big Dummy, with splendid confrontations between the pirouettes of the clarinet and the gargles of the voice, and in Flash Gordon's Ape, a revolting chaos of anti-rhythms, breath dissonances and free declamations. Beefheart reaches surrealistic heights in The Buggy Boogie Woogie, a meditation in muted tones. Ethnic cues peek through in Peon, a Mexican serenade, and from Woe-is-uh-me-bop and Lick My Decals Off, both with Caribbean flavors.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Woe
• Is
• Uh
• Me
• Bop
• Captain
• Beefheart
• &
• His
• Magic
• Band

[JakeLechuga]

maybe too hard hitting, son.

[joshula13]

Damn this song is hard hitting as fuck!

[JimmyPage97]

@MoralNihilism maybe the attitude is what is happening not what was being said.

[godfreyhowatchin]

@MoralNihilism or, maybe you're just one of those people who can't make lateral connections between ideas in their brain. Nothing wrong with being a linear man, but don't go assuming you know best.

[godfreyhowatchin]

@MoralNihilism I think we just disagree on this,man. How are The Thousand And Tenth Day of The Human Totem Pole; 81 Poop Hatch; Bill's Corpse; Hey Garland, I Dig Your Tweed Coat; Seam Crooked Sam; Ice Cream for Crow, etc "all about primal urges and immediacy rather than deep reflective thought"?

Beefheart interprets whole broad carbon-sooted sections of life in america and compresses them into Joycean diamonds. I can't tell if you're being dismissive or just haven't actually listened to him.

[MoralNihilism]

@godfreyhowatchin His lyrics sound good in a sort of visceral way, they are enjoyable as stream-of conciousness, free-form poetry. But I don't think they have any sort of deep meaning, they don't aim at making any deep philosophical points, because his music is all about primal urges and immediacy rather than deep reflective thought.

[godfreyhowatchin]

@MoralNihilism you might not have, uh, actually read into his lyrics enough. They're pretty great poetry taken on their own. Beefheart is kind of a legitimate artist. Read "Orange Claw Hammer" again and tell me Beefheart isn't one of the great modern poets worthy of a place alongside Pinsky or whoever the fuck has more critical acclaim but isn't actually as good as Don

[FunkMan53]

Great Beefheart!!! One of his best albums!

[FastANDBulbous117]

@DonVanVliet83 Beefheart is one of Tom Waits' biggest inspirations! He based his vocal style off the good captain. :] Both very brilliant musicians.

[Mordock999]

@MoralNihilism

Not trying to be 'funny' at all, just expressing My opinion, so chill out. And by the way I agree with you that Beefheart IS a genius. A man 500 years AHEAD of his time!

[MoralNihilism]

@Mordock999 The lyrics make no sense, how can they sum up an attitude? Or maybe you were trying to be funny.

Beefheart was a goddam genius, but his lyrics weren't exactly great poetry taken on their own.