Fegmaniax Digest Volume 4 Number 80 Send posts to fegmaniax@ecto.org Send subscribe/unsubscribe commands to majordomo@ecto.org Send comments, etc. to the listowner at owner-fegmaniax@ecto.org FegMANIAX! Web Page: http://remus.rutgers.edu/~woj/fegmaniax/ Archives are available at http://archive.uwp.edu/pub/music/lists/fegmaniax/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's Topics: ------- ------- How Do You Intrepret This Thing? Their Satanic Majesties Request (five Robyn influencees)... trinity Queen of Eyes message breaks off when boss enters room-more follows Re: Queen of Eyes Second part , not same as the first Re: message breaks off when boss enters room-more follows paging Tom ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 00:37:54 -0500 From: JH3 Subject: How Do You Intrepret This Thing? Fegs. It's interesting how these threads develop sometimes, and how they can change your thinking. I always assumed that "How Do You Work This Thing" was about the struggle of the under-class against the oppressive forces of ideological and religious determinism, coupled with a basic analogy regarding the philosophical dialectic of international economic anti-humanism; in fact I used to consider it a brilliant example of post-Keynesian modernist social thinking, perhaps even vaguely reminiscent of the concept of the "logos" as espoused by Heraclitus of Ephesus in 6th-century B.C. pre-Socratic Greek philosophy. The "vegetarian cat," of course, would represent the oppressed worker in a society ruled by forces bent on destroying the very social fabric upon which their own values of economic determinism are based... But now I see it was just about jerking off. Oh well, live and learn. --John H. ------------ P.S. The cat still won't eat non-meat items. Cantaloupes are a no-go, and rubbing kidney beans with tuna has no effect. I fear I will soon give up hope... ------------------------------ From: RxBroome@aol.com Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 03:59:00 -0400 Subject: Their Satanic Majesties Request (five Robyn influencees)... 1) Tom Clark suggets this theory (to someone named "Dennis"): ""How Do You Work This Thing" is a story about our hero relieving himself of his manly pressures. Apparently his female companion is "out of commission" ("Who's been feeding tomatoes to the cat?"), so he his left to pleasure himself. Yet, poor Robyn is unfamiliar with the art of self love. Finally, he gets it right, but is shocked at the outcome (excuse the pun): "How do you turn it off quick? It's spraying your feet and it's spraying my face. And it's making the customers sick!" Rex sez: yikes! In this case, I sincerely hope it isn't what's being pointed at Gran. And Tom, I don't even want to know what you think is going on in "The Man Who Invented Himself" when "you can't work it with your fingers / So you try it with an axe.." (And no, "The axe is a guitar" is not an acceptable answer.) 2) "Afraid/ a frame"-- the fact that I put "sic" after this phrase indicates that I was quoting something which I knew to be in error. A joke, y'know... but if you didn't get it, then I guess the follow-through was lost, too. Sorry. 3) Kristin, Tanya: No essay, Woj, BUT... Yes, they ARE different, but the difference is only notable from "Ramona" onwards-- up to that point, Tanya's songs are either barely distinguishable from Kristin's or notably weaker; when Tanya's true identity asserted itself, I guess it was just a little more conventional and "cuter" than I'd hoped for from the Muse always (erroneously, I think) considered the "cuter one". She DOES rule in power pop, which I hold in QUITE high esteem, but power pop is a crowded field these days, and Kristin still does that thing that puts her alone, Empress Supreme, in a field of one. You're right, though-- "Red Heaven" does uniquely and inexplicably suck. 4) The Father, Son, etc... If we need to assign an identity to Doc Van Vliet, and since the acronym almost spells out "FiSH", we could call him "the Trout", for a quadrinity of "FSHT"... which, okay, looks really nasty, and kinda subverts the whole concept of a "trinity", unless we add Robyn himself, for a sort of pentagon-- thus symbolizing both the US Pentagon and the basis of the Satanic Pentagram-- both symbols of Eternal Evil (YES!!! Now we're talkin')!!! Okay, I can accept this (although the chronology that places Robyn with these guys is a little odd)... but we now need to pick five NEW artists to represent the POINTS of the Satanic Pentagram. People who have been, preferably as a matter of public record, influenced by ROBYN. The obvious one is Peter Buck (who has been known to wear a VERY scary, possibly evil, skull-shaped earring). That leaves four points four the rest of you Fegs to fill in. Rex (PS-- alternately, each point of the Pentagram could belong to an artist who represents the CONFLUENCE of the influnces on its two corners of the Pentagon-- e.g.the Robyn / Beefheart point might beget Pavement, while the Dylan / Beefheart point might beget... well, Pavement, too, but you get the idea. The trouble here is that someone would have to sequence our five "seminal" (pun intended in Robyn's case (and van Vliet's (and Barrett's, I guess))) artists in a specific order around the Pentagon to decide who has a confluence with whom... and quoth one of the artists therein, "It ain't me , Babe...") ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Apr 96 7:46:18 CDT From: Truman Peyote Subject: trinity First off.........where does that leave the wondrous Ray Davies? If he's not in the holy trinity, he's certainly one of the major figures. St. Paul, perhaps? I was thinking that perhaps instead of the Father, Son, Holy Ghost thing, a more apt Biblical comparison might be one of those infinite "and so and so begat so and so, who begat so and so......(and on and on)". Because if you're going to think of Dylan as the father and Lennon as the son, you must acknowledge that R. Zimmerman did not spontaneously arise, but was begat by Guthrie, Robert Johnson, and a host of others, who were also begat by other artists too numerous to list here. And in turn, Dylanlennonbarrett begat Robyn Hitchcock who begat REM (add Roger McGuinn here as well, I think, as another begetter of both Robyn and REM). THis family tree stuff can get really ornate :). The mind reels (although this early in the morning almost anything can make my mind reel, so go figure). Susan P.S. Does REM really have to be part of the evil pentagram? There are many bands out and about today who deserve the bashing much more than M. Stipe and company, who seem to me to have done a fairly decent job of maintaining their musical integrity. P.P.S. what's a fnarple? is it like a fnord? or more like a feg? or perhaps it is like a fren (a dear friend of mine's definition of the evil anti-Nerf (tm) represented by fake Nerf products)? I am eagerly awaiting enlightenment on this question. ------------------------------ From: msandonato@kpmg.com Date: Mon, 29 Apr 96 09:47:38 EST Subject: Queen of Eyes Hi y'all I'm sure that these have all ready been posted but I would really appreciate it if some one could post the lyrics to "Queen of Eyes". I worked out the chords over the weekend but the lyrics...well that's another issue. Thanks very much. Also is there an on-line archive of RH's lyrics anywhere. I'd love to check it out if there is. Matt ------------------------------ From: LORDK@FLP.LIB.PA.US Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 10:03:16 -0400 (EDT) Subject: message breaks off when boss enters room-more follows From: FLPSYS::LORDK 29-APR-1996 09:46:46.72 To: SMTP%"tclark@apple.com" CC: LORDK Subj: Re: Working this thing... Yes, I agree --but oviously--with taking most of Robyns symbology as sexual--to be gleamed from chaff by either visulaizing *exactly* what hes describing--or going the pun root(route if your not really into puns). Which isnt to say, that its only sexual. Nothing in life is only sexual, especially sex. And believe it or not, I actually censored my last remark abit. I actually agree with , how was it delicatly put(I could use lessons in delicate putting),? -out of commission. As in, time of month. But I didnt want to gross out any innocent and flower like young males out there. especially since I would have followed up with the rejoinder of--but why does that put her out of commission? Hhhmmm. OK, --is it possible that, alot of the time, Robyns also dealing with that little bugaboo known as premature ejaculation. the sort of "problem" men take so much more seriously than females(like--there only one way to skin a cat?) Perhaps thats why he does sing so much about alternative methods(as in--negatively--Cave of Clint and that awefull, pointless journey, to--positively--When the son goes down on her. So beautiful my heart just stops.) I know there are menmbers of the list who dont want to admitt they are pretty obsessed with a guy who has alot of sexual content in his stuff, but isnt that just prudety? Robyns stuff(now I get really pretentious, is like Dante's or the Kaballa. We're talking more than one world--which usually means atleast 4. the literal, mundane, earthly level. The moral(or psychological level, the symbolic level( ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 08:52:54 -0700 (PDT) From: Glen Uber Subject: Re: Queen of Eyes On Mon, 29 Apr 1996 msandonato@kpmg.com, unaware of the raging debate amongst the members of this list concerning the lyrics of this song, wrote: : Hi y'all : : I'm sure that these have all ready been posted but I would : really appreciate it if some one could post the lyrics to "Queen : of Eyes". I worked out the chords over the weekend but the : lyrics...well that's another issue. Thanks very much. No matter what anyone may tell you, it's "Mucky the Pig". ;) --g Glen E. Uber Email: hirsute@u.washington.edu WWW: http://weber.u.washington.edu/d83/hirsute ------------------------------------------------- | "Heaven and Hell are now. The rest is silence" | | --Robyn Hitchcock | ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ From: LORDK@FLP.LIB.PA.US Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 13:09:07 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Second part , not same as the first From: FLPSYS::LORDK 29-APR-1996 10:25:37.10 To: FLPSYS::LORDK CC: LORDK Subj: Re: Working this thing... Sorry for the interruption--my boss appeared and I had to pretendto be doing something useful. Anyway level 4 can be called spiritual, or anagogical, and thats where, for me, Robyn blows the top of myhead off (and giving that word-play there a sexual resonanec, for me, in no way takes away from the invisable glory Im talking about). I hope Im notsounding too obsessive myself(actually, what the hey, Robyns an obbsessive, most fegs are--)so let me be obbsessive abut this. there is a strongcurrnet of sexuality in Robyn--hes got Venus and Mars in Aries for Christs sake-- and ignoring it in favor of his wimsey, his wit, his tenderness,hiscompassion his grouchyness,his melancholy. or even, yes, his wisdom, is notbeing honest about his work--or--(and this is the uncomfortable making point, for some)--being honest about us, and why each one of us, out of all the vibrations wafting round the planet--have picked thisone, Hitchcocks,as a sort of touch stone for our own lives). Bsides, he admires the devine, the impossible, the skinnely-volumptious mother of them all, yes, my other fave rave, the Kali-like, just dont let her talk about politics, wondereous Ms Hyde(alright--Hynde, but now I get to make a butt pun before I put this all behind me). And she, darlings, has perfected the art of vagination. Kay, the , I cant help it, Im an earth sign, Cap. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 19:35:56 -0400 (EDT) From: Terry Marks Subject: Re: message breaks off when boss enters room-more follows > Perhaps thats why he does sing so much about alternative > methods(as in--negatively--Cave of Clint and that awefull, > pointless journey, to--positively--When the son goes down on > her. So beautiful my heart just stops.) I think that you're just bending things to fit your interpretations, honestly. At least these examples, I mean. > I know there are menmbers of the list who dont want to > admitt they are pretty obsessed with a guy who has alot > of sexual content in his stuff, but isnt that just prudety? I've got a sneaking feeling that a portion of this comment was directed at me. I'm not trying to deny that there's a lot of sexual content in his work. I'm just trying to keep a certain level of decency. The tendency to point at any line and say "it's sex" is even stronger than the tendency to say "it's trains" or "it's fish". How about some new interpretations of songs. Like "Wax Doll" [Interpretations of the line "If I was man enough I'd come on your stump" done repeatedly. What about the rest of the song?] or "The Devil's Coachman" or "Madonna of the Wasps"? > Robyns stuff(now I get really pretentious, is like Dante's > or the Kaballa. We're talking more than one world--which > usually means atleast 4. the literal, mundane, earthly level. > The moral(or psychological level, the symbolic level( Hmm...Robyn's stuff on more than one world? [A hasty guess that you are an English major. English majors seem to have nasty tendencies to divide things into 'multiple worlds'] There are multiple interpretations, and so on, as there is with everything. And many of those interpretations are probably wrong. But this English-Psychology mix of everything meaning something and something meaning everything, well, I have big trouble believing it. ------------------------------ From: firstcat@lsli.com Date: Mon, 29 Apr 96 09:38:28 Subject: paging Tom Tom I tried forwarding the mail with your work number to the office and it never made it....Call and leave it at my office number, k? Neurotic Records here I come.... jay ------------------------------------- Jay Lyall Channel Sales Director Livermore Software Laboratories, Intl. 2825 Wilcrest, Suite 160 Houston, Texas 77042-3358 1-713-974-3274 jay@lsli.com Date: 4/29/96 ------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The End of this Fegmaniax Digest.