portrait of this blog's author - by Stephen Blackman 2008

Friday, March 16, 2018



Old Fart At Play
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
Old Fart At Play

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band- Old Fart at Play
not entirely sure why this is picture credited to Frank Zappa although I guess he did produce 'Trout Mask Replica' from which this comes but hey, it's the Captain through and through! And yes. I did buy it when it came out and the guys I hung around with then could play the whole album pretty much note for note and we collectively memorised the entire lyrics! Yup, 
as I can't get the post above to play here it is on Youtube

Pappy with the Khaki sweatband
Bowed goat & potbellied barnyard 
that only he noticed
The old fart was smart
The old gold cloth madonna
Dancin’ t’ the fiddle ‘n saw
He ran down behind the knoll
‘n slipped on his wooden fishhead
The mouth worked ‘n snapped all the bees
Back t’ the bungalow
Momma was flatten’n lard
With her red enamel rollin’ pin
When the fishhead broke the window
Rubber eye erect ‘n precisely detailed
Airholes from which breath should come
Is now closely fit
With the chatter of the old fart inside
An assortment of observations took place
Momma licked ‘er lips like uh cat
Pecked the ground like uh rooster
Pivoted like uh duck
Her stockings down caught dust ‘n doughballs
She cracked ‘er mouth glaze caught one eyelash
Rubbed ‘er hands on ‘er gorgeous gingham
Her hand grasped sticky metal intricate latchwork
Open t’ the room uh smell cold mixed with bologna
Rubber bands crumpled wax paper bonnets
Fat goose legs ‘n special jellies
Ignited by the warmth of the room
The old fart smelled this thru his important breather holes
Cleverly he dialed from within from the outside we observed
That the nose of the wooden mask
Where the holes had just been uh moment ago
Was now smooth amazingly blended camouflaged in
With the very intricate rainbow trout replica
The old fart inside was now breathin’ freely
From his perfume bottle atomizer air bulb invention
His excited eyes from within the dark interior glazed;
watered in appreciation of his thoughtful preparation.


 . . . . . oh man that's so heavy . . . . . . . 
(1969) Don Van Vliet {Captain Beefheart}

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