If you know that line from this post's title, then I know something about you: you're most likely of the same generation as I, and back in the day you listened to sonically adventurous music like Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band. And if you did listen to the Captain, especially his definitive Trout Mask Replica, you probably never forgot that titular line.
Generally speaking, I tend to look forward with regard to music, listening to what's new and what's happening now, but sometimes it's rewarding to look back and recall the foundations of what came before, especially for an old man like me (the old fart at play), who's lived through rock music from the very beginning. When Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica came out in 1969, it was so experimental and so far ahead of its time, it was considered unlistenable by most people, and at the time I approached it more like a comedy or a party album for all of its weirdness, but in retrospect, after three decades of punk and lo-fi and a half century of rock experimentalism, the album's delta blues and dadaist influences are more readily apparent and the music now sounds simultaneously retrogressive and futuristic, at least to my ears.
Anyhow, after listening this morning to Trout Mask Replica and other classic Beefheart albums like Safe As Milk and Mirror Man, I found these televised performances by Beefheart and the Magic Band on YouTube. The songs from the German television appearance are Steal Softly Thru The Snow from Trout Mask Replica, Click Clack (starting at 3:26) from The Spotlight Kid, Golden Birdies (7:06) from Clear Spot, and I'm Gonna Booglarize You, Baby (9:03) from The Spotlight Kid. In addition to the Captain on vocals, sax, and harmonica, the musicians are ex-Zappa sidemen Zoot Horn Rollo (Bill Harkleroad) on slide guitar, Rockette Morton (Mark Boston) on rhythm guitar and bass, Art Tripp on drums, Winged Eel Fingerling (Elliot Ingber) on guitar, and on bass, Roy Estrada (who is deservedly now serving a long prison sentence for a third conviction for sexual molestation of a minor).
The camerawork is horrible on the German video (how high do you think that cameraman was at the time?), but it's still an amazing document of the band, and if you ever thought that their music was random and haphazard and not carefully written and rehearsed, listen to how closely they capture the precise timing and notes from their albums in the live performance.
It's amazing that the set was even televised in Germany - it would never have happened here (it can't happen here). But what's even more mind-blowing is that back in 1966, Captain Beefheart was actually featured on American television on Dick Clark's American Bandstand. According to AllMusic, "In their original incarnation, the Magic Band were a blues-rock outfit who became staples of the teen dance circuit; they quickly signed to A&M Records, where the success of the single Diddy Wah Diddy earned them the opportunity to record a full-length album. Comprised of Van Vliet compositions like Frying Pan, Electricity, and Zig Zag Wanderer, label president Jerry Moss rejected the completed record as "too negative," and a crushed Beefheart went into seclusion." Although the Captain later recut the songs for the 1967 album Safe as Milk, this video is a rare document of the band's earliest days.
Just to give you a little perspective on the times, the Top 10 songs at the time of this June 18, 1966 broadcast were 1) Strangers In The Night by Frank Sinatra, 2) Paperback Writer by The Beatles, 3) Paint It, Black by The Rolling Stones, 4) I Am A Rock by Simon & Garfunkel, 5) Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind? by The Lovin' Spoonful 6) Cool Jerk by The Capitols, 7) Younger Girl by The Critters, 8) Opus 17 (Don't Worry 'Bout Me) by The 4 Seasons, 9) Red Rubber Ball by The Cyrkle, and 10) Ain't Too Proud To Beg by The Temptations. I would turn 12 years old later that summer.
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