Thursday, January 8, 2009
Implements of Vengeful Deities
Gods, in general, seem to have bad tempers. Seriously, mythology old and new, monotheistic or polytheistic, seems to be filled with countless tales of pestilence, death, and destruction, and for what? Some poor guy somewhere forgot to slaughter a goat? The nerve. One little slip up, and instead of thinking, "Well, they're not gods after all, I should expect a transgression here and there," they're all, "Release the Kraken!" or "I'm gonna dump my frog collection all over their asses!" They act more like little children than all-knowing deities. "It's my ball and I'm going home, and oh, by the way, I'm gonna kill the first born child in every house. Oops."
Why do I bring this up? Because one of my favorite songs for this week's show (1/10/09) deals with an angry god and his desire to rain down fire. It'll get stuck in your head. You'll listen to it over and over and over and over. Ask my wife. She'll verify my claims.
The song: "Fire," by Arthur Brown, off the album The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.
You'll recognize this song on one level or another. It's been sampled and re-sampled. It's been covered and uncovered, and for good reason--it's a great tune. Let's call it, "catchy psychedelic lounge." I donno. Call it whatever you want, just make sure to listen to it. While you're at it, the rest of the album is worth a listen, too.
Now watch your ass, deities have bad tempers. (And frog collections.)
-La Barba Rossa
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"Fire" is a great song--and it's one of those sparse few oldies that is occasionally played among classic rock setups, though it's probably more or less the nostalgia of the DJ than it belonging their properly. I remember my mother telling me about buying this single-release vinyl, and she'd listen to it with her girlfriends and it was essentially a scary song at the time. They'd slow down the record by pinning the needle and it would get a few scares.
ReplyDeleteThe picture you posted with this blog reminds me more of Procol Harum's "A Salty Dog" than anything, though.
-BSB
Thanks for writing. That's a great story.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how campy the song "Fire" or the movie "The Blob" seem to us, but how scary they seemed whey they were released.
I hear what you're saying about the photo. I was going for general wrath of the gods stuff. (It depicts a Kracken.) I guess I should have had something for the song too.
I'll consider your mentioning "Salty Dog" a song request. There will be an interview for most of the show this coming week, but I'll play it the following week.
Cheers.
-La Barba Rossa