Lyrics & their meanings Part 15 -Ca plane pour moi

This continuing story of song lyrics and their meaning in some of the worlds best loved songs.

PART 15
CA PLANE POUR MOI (1977) PLASTIC BERTRAND

Plastic Bertrand was the name adopted by Belgian Roger Jouret.
Part of a musical family, Jouret made his first record in 1966 as part of a band named The Bisons in which he played drums; he was eight years old at the time. When things returned to normal again he settled down to classical studies and when finished school trained as a stage manager.
In 1975 Jouret formed Hubble Bubble the first Belgian Punk band and released one non- memorable album. During this period Jouret met producer Lou de Pryck and together they created the persona Plastic Bertrand, a satire on the safety- pin image of punk. (The name was derived from a punk journalist and singer popular in the Belgian music underground)
With Jouret’s good looks, ruffled hair and bright coloured pseudo punk clothes they had a huge hit in 1977 with “Ca Plane Pour Moi”. They did what many had failed to do by making Punk rock palatable to the unconverted.
With its big production, buzz saw guitars and frantic drumming it was perfect plastic pop. Having the song sung in French just added to the novelty value, (which is what this song was intended to be, a money making novelty song.) In actual fact Punks critics complained that the words sung by Johnny Rotten, Joe Strummer, Dave Vallum et al were unintelligible at the best of times.
The song itself translates very badly into English, which is understandable, as it has been described as nonsensical in French.
The title has been translated as meaning This life’s for me, All wells for Me and Come glide on Me but after my own investigations I believe it to be This Planes for Me. To see the English version of the lyrics is not a pretty sight and defiantly deserves to be sung in French much the same as Ninas 1980 hit 99 luft balloons sounded better sung in German.

A quick snippet of the words are as follows:

Go hop! The chick

What a Panard(?) What a vibration

To be sent, On the door mat

Filed, ruined, emptied, filled

“You are the king of the couch”

That she says to me in passing

Oooh-weee-ooh

I am the king of the couch

Contrary to rumours when it was realeased it is not a Belgian version of Elton Mortello’s UK hit “Jet Boy Jet Girl”. Mortello incidentally was a session player on the Bertrand Album.
Noted rock writer writes on the Trouser Press web site: “Ca Plane Pour Moi” is truly great dumbness – Bertrand singing verbose, seemingly nonsensical French lyrics over a classic three chord Ramones roar with Spectorish saxes and a winning falsetto “ oooh-weee-oooh” on toe chorus. It must have been truly inspiring dumbness because years later the Ramones did work with Phil Spector to record The End Of The Century album in 1980.
Described by one Pop music Encyclopaedia as “the laughing stock of the worlds Punk scene” (a tough ask that one.) The song ended up in Rolling Stone Magazines top 100 rock songs of all time.
As for Plastic Bertrand, he had minor hits in his native Belgium and Canada
In 1987 he was the Belgian entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest where he came second last.

© 2004 Shidot Prod.

Lyrics & their meaning Part 17- AHard Rain's A-gonna Fall

They sell by their millions, they become that special song for some people for the rest of their lives, and others are totally consumed by them; finding meanings and purpose that was never intentional. They are the Rock lyrics that accompany some of the biggest selling and best-known songs from the last three generations.

PART 17
A Hard Rains A-Gonna Fall (1963)

When Bob Dylan released The Free Wheelin’ Bob Dylan hot on the heels of the success of Peter, Paul & Mary’s huge selling version of his Blowin’ in the wind Everybody wanted a piece of Dylan, the new prophet of protest. Even though Dylan mixed his repertoire with country blues, folk as well as his so called protest songs.
Because A Hard Rains A -Gonna Fall was on an album which contained such hard hitting songs as Blowin’ In the Wind, Masters of War, Talkin’ World War III Blues and Oxford Town It was automatically considered a song full of visions of the coming atomic apocalypse


Comparisons were made that the song was a literal version of such great war paintings and sketches by the likes of Goya and Picasso. Most of these were made due to the song following hot on the heels of the Cuban missile crises and the implications if things had of turned out different.
Dylan himself is quoted as saying the imagery came so fast that “every line in it is actually the start of a whole song. I thought I wouldn’t have time alive to write all those songs so I put all I could into this one”. So did Dylan just have a lot of good lines to make a song? It wouldn’t be the first or last time he would fill a song with this Dada kind of nonsense. When asked if it was about nuclear fallout Dylan replied, “ It’s not atomic rain, it’s not fallout rain… I mean some sort of end that’s gonna happen” And later: “ It was a song of terror. Line after line after line, trying to capture the feeling of nothingness.’ Could it be Dylan was the Jerry Seinfeld of his time?
The songs simple construction but haunting drone like melody has lent itself to many interpretations, notably by Bryan Ferry and Leon Russel. Both whom have kept the basic structure of the song but discarded large chunks of the lyrics, which is strange considering Dylan’s early work relied heavily on his lyrics due to his simple arrangements and very ordinary voice. No one really knows and Dylan would be the last person to ask. On a depressing note, this song is responsible for Canadian Poet/Singer/Songwriter Leonard Cohen to take up writing songs.

© 2004 Shidot Prod.

Lyrics & their meaning Part 16- Riders of the storm

Ever wondered what your favorite song was about? Probably not, which is good because a nice melody and tune are far more enticing than words. Church hymns have truly inspiring lyrics and meaningful messages but don’t really jump out of the record stores. At last a biased attempt is being made to determine what some of the best-loved tunes are really about. We will have a look at the background of these songs and see if history can tell us if any light can be shed on these cryptic verses, poignant prose or just Grade Two poetry.

PART 16
Riders On The Storm (1971) The Doors

The Doors and in particular Jim Morrison have for unknown reasons established Godhead status in some quarters, but since the majority of these people still think it’s the sixties explains a good chunk of that reasoning.
Riders on the storm was the second single lifted from the L.A Woman album in 1971.It was the last studio album the band would record together prior to Morrison’s death in Paris in July 1971.
Riders of the Storm is also believed to be the last song recorded by Morrison.
Riders on the Storm is a moody piece of music with sinister overtones mixed with thunderclaps and heavy reverb guitar passages. Then the cabaret brooding of Morrison with his inane lyrics add a touch of stupidity to an atmosphere that begs something dire.
 ‘There’s a killer on the road, his mind is squirming like a toad’.
It’s almost as if the band thought of a good line to start the song  and then totally lost interest.
There doesn’t seem to be anyone game enough of Morrisons fan base to stop praising his so called genius and explain what the hell he was singing about.
In fairness to Morrison, the song was created as a group composition and compared to the way Morrison was writing, it would be probably more apt to lay the blame on Robby Krieger, the one who stated the song was originally inspired by Ghost Riders in the Sky.
If we compare lyrics from the Doors first single from 1967 Light my Fire from their debut album The Doors with lyrics from “Riders”:

Light My Fire
You know that it would be untrue,
You that I would be a liar,
 If I were to say to you,
Girl we couldn’t get much higher.

Riders Of The Storm
Riders on the Storm, Riders on the Storm,
Into this house we’re born, Into this world we’re thrown,
Like a dog without a bone an actor out on loan ,
Riders on the storm

Typical Moon, Spoon, June drivel Kreiger had written before.

By the time LA Women was released Jim had had enough of the adulation of fans and being hassled by authorities he had moved to Paris to be in an artistic environment, not realising they all left decades ago.

Morrison’s early death made him a mythical figure as stories got twisted and the need for the devoted to keep the memory of their hero alive. The rumours that Morrison hadn’t died but had gone into hiding to concentrate on his art started before he was cold on the slab.

Thus starting a Morrison sighting spree that predated Elvis by 6 years. (One wonders if these people would spend as much time searching for their Nanna if they didn’t see her in the coffin) This in turn created a demand for more Morrison scribbles and the search for meaning in words that added up to nothing. Morrison was a good looking, passable singer with great charisma who believed his own publicity and it killed him. At the end of his career he was reduced to flashing his dick and ruining performances for the band. He wasn’t a mad genius he was just mad at the end and it reflects in his words, even the ones he probably didn't write..
© 2004 Shidot Prod.

Cartoon Band update - Dethklok

Dethklok from the series Metalocalypse are another addition to the top 5 all time great cartoon bands.


In the Metalocalypse series, Dethklok is depicted as an extremely popular and successful death metal band, described by their adversaries, the Tribunal, as the "world's greatest cultural force." The band's fan base includes thousands of metal fanatics, who frequently endanger themselves to watch the band perform live. With their widespread commercial success and lucrative sponsorship contracts, Dethklok is ranked as the world's twelfth largest economy in the series.
In addition to their uncanny ability to command worldwide attention and effortlessly persuade masses of people, the band members indirectly cause death and bad luck to those near them. It is hinted that this is related to an as-of-yet unexplained curse beyond the members' awareness or control. They also frequently summon natural disasters, severe weather phenomena, and paranormal anomalies through the live performance of their music. As a result of this, the band's concerts are notoriously violent, often resulting in the physical injury and fatality of many or all of the crowd. Even their attempts at charity result in tens of thousands of deaths, such as when a laser light show, which was actually a Soviet laser-based weapon, butchered the entire London Philharmonic Orchestra during a benefit concert, and an attack on an entire island population by "wayward kitties."
The members of Dethklok are often portrayed as incompetent at almost everything not related to their profession. The band struggles to perform everyday tasks, including shopping for groceries, preparing food, and maintaining proper social relationships. They are often assisted by their manager and lawyer, Charles Ofdensen, who frequently attempts to prevent the band from making poor decisions. The band's actions, including the bad luck situations which comprise many plots, have caught the attention of an Illuminati-style council, known as The Tribunal. The Council is portrayed as Dethklok's antagonist throughout the series, and secretly monitor their actions in almost every episode.

Nathan Explosion
Nathan Explosion (voiced by Brendon Small) is the frontman, lead vocalist and "lyrical visionary" of Dethklok. Portrayed as a tall figure, with long black hair and black fingernails, Nathan always speaks in a deep, gravelly voice, even when not singing. He is apparently the lead songwriting force in Dethklok, and uses violent imagery or plot elements when writing and composing song material.
Small described Nathan as a "quarterback", and based his character on Cannibal Corpse vocalist George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher.
Skwisgaar Skwigelf
Skwisgaar Skwigelf (voiced by Brendon Small) is Dethklok's lead guitarist. He is described as, "a handsome guy who thinks he's the greatest thing in the world, with a little bit of Yngwie Malmsteen in his attitude." He plays a Gibson Explorer, which he often carries even when not playing. Hailing from Sweden, Skwisgaar possesses a heavy Swedish accent. He is responsible for the majority of the arrangement of Dethklok's songs, writing both the guitar lines as well as Murderface's bass lines.
Toki Wartooth
Toki Wartooth (voiced by Tommy Blacha) is Dethklok's rhythm guitarist. He typically plays a Gibson Flying V. A native of Norway, he has a distinct whisker-like style of mustache known as the Fu Manchu, long brown hair and very pale blue eyes. Small explained Toki's relationship with Skwisgaar thusly: "Toki is Norwegian to Skwisgaar's Swedish, pompous attitude. And, again, a second-class citizen in the same band."
Pickles
Pickles (voiced by Brendon Small) is Dethklok's drummer. He was raised in Tomahawk, Wisconsin and speaks with a Yooper dialect. He refers to himself as "very Irish American" and has red hair, styled into dreadlocks and a comb-over skullet. He is depicted as having an average build with a slight beer belly. According to Brendon Small, Pickles was originally conceived as "the jerk of the group."Describing the character, Small said, "I thought the drummer should be able to do a bunch of stuff, like Roger Taylor in Queen. Even though it's not based on his personality, it's what he can do in the band and what parts of the songs he does contribute to."
William Murderface
William Murderface (voiced by Tommy Blacha) is Dethklok's bassist. He plays a Gibson Thunderbird Studio 5-string. He has brown hair, lime green eyes, a heavy lateral lisp and a diastema. Murderface's father killed his wife with a chainsaw before turning it upon himself in a grisly murder-suicide. Murderface is "a self-hating bass player who's always trying to act like he's more important than he is," in part because his bass playing is usually mixed out completely. Brendon Small describes Murderface as "thin-skinned and incredibly sensitive and just wants to be accepted constantly but can’t get that because he’s such a dick and pushes people away"
Source: Wikipedia

Here are some highlights.

Dead Rock Stars

I collect dead rock stars.

No, not their ashes or body bits but their dolls.

Yes. In short I collect dolls.

I have provided a link to witty and concise collection of Rock Star deaths by the brilliant Jack Marx

JACK MARX & DEAD ROCK STARS

This is a peek at my collection, I have included some of my wishlist items as well.

Morrison............... Elvis............ ..................Randy Rhodes ..............Sid

Sid..................... Johnny Cash......... Hendrix .......Joplin

Kurt Cobain ........Dimebag ..Harrison ............Garcia ............Lennon

Joey Ramone........................... Freddy......... Buddy........... Elvis

Zappa ................Eric Carr

Lyrics & their meaning Part 14 - In-A-Gadda-Da-Viida

This continuing story of song lyrics and their meaning in some of the worlds best loved songs.

PART 14
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (1968) - Iron Butterfly

Many people may have heard of the band and the song In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida but not many people would realise how big this band was. Like bands such as Vanilla Fudge and The Rascals. Iron Butterfly sold a lot of records while they were popular but just seemed to dissolve into obscurity as the seventies progressed. The 17-minute song that was one side of the album of the same name sold 8 million copies and stayed in the U.S charts for 3 years. It was the very first Platinum Record recipient. Most people these days would have heard it on the Simpsons, when Bart changed the sheet music at church and every one thought they were singing ‘In The Garden Of Eden’. Which by the way is what the song was originally going to be called. As history recalls, Band members Lee Dorman and Ron Bushy were paying a visit to song-writer Doug Ingle they discovered he was in the middle of a typical sixties binge and hadn’t slept for over 36 hours. When he played the others the new song he had written, he was so shattered when he tried to say In the Garden of Eden as was intentioned it came out In-A Gadda-Da-Vida. Bushy thinking this strange wrote it down phonetically and when the band met again the name stuck. As you may have guessed by now Ingle having written the song in such a state and agreeing to the wacky title the song doesn’t exactly reveal the Dead Sea Scroll secrets. Now you are probably wondering how a song that is 17 minutes long and has a drum solo in it got air play to sell so many records. The answer to that is it coincided with the birth of F.M radio who embraced it as thinking mans rock. The same F.M radio that evolved into the horrid Classic radio stations of today, who strangely don’t have In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida on their play lists.
© 2005 Shidot Prod.

Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band

This link is a lot of fun and tells the history and associated trivia relating to this classsic album.

WHO'S WHO?