From the recording Bowlahoola
The Wolfman Whinesplains
Started as an experiment in Writing A Groove for my beloved Patreonistas. It could stand a bit of fast forwarding but may be of interest.
Barry Writes a New Tune
part 1 https://youtu.be/78HB5J86C10
part 2 https://youtu.be/pTV8Ads_ji8
part 3 https://youtu.be/e0Sa1O5xx1Q
The lyric here gets bare Magical Realist and I decided to Just Go With It. Thus we have a tricksy superman larva (!), a bellowing of coarse masculine self assertion: some bloke with his dick in the salad (to much applause, as, sadly, can often be the case), some ontological speculation, some riot footage and so on. The concept of 'whinesplaining' was a term, of course applied to the disgraced former US president, (it being one of his favourite modes) but I thought it was funnier (and therefore better) to make The Wolfman Whinesplains the name of a really cutting edge and brilliant band which we saw way down the bill at some festival but who, it was universally agreed, blew off the headliners.
This song is, uniquely for Shriekback, in three different time signatures which is proof of great musical sophistication, almost certainly.
Lyrics
THE WOLFMAN WHINESPLAINS
Came as the wolfman -
it was not a great look -
(a grisly beast
with all that shabby magic}
I’m gonna leave
the facts at the door
the chemical wand:
the scientific method
Wrote on the beermat of the
Visible world
the physical world
that stacked accumulation
He carved the monument
in Comic Sans
so read it and weep
his sizzling need
a triumph of imagination
What a revolution!
such convolutions would loosen a thing in a drain
I've said it for years, now I say it again.
It’s a revelation, the scintillations!
I will always maintain:
the best act of the day was 'The Wolfman Whinesplains'
here are my Boys - that’s what I’m
talking about
Le Crispy Sauvage
is here to entertain you
it really was an
intricate move
elatedly free
for all its limitations
That was the thing I think it all was about
the sheep from the chaff
the slimmest cherrypickings
there is a structure it's not easy to see
but fuck it sky high
a man has a Code
(his cock there in the salad)
What was so amazing: guns blazing,
cops tazing the Great and the Good.
not credible really
or well understood
what you cannot still have you will have to drag all the same
but we were all blown away by the Wolfman Whinesplains...
cheated on the test
stiffed you on the bill
will you miss him a little ?
i know that i will
in the chrysalis
there's a superman
i would say goodbye quickly
(let's see if you can)
all of this shit is a terrible sight
it's the last thing you need on a saturday night
god and the devil just get in the way
knowing this is half the battle i'd say
god and the devil just get in the way
knowing this is half the battle i'd say ...
god and the devil just get in the way
knowing this is half the battle i'd say ...