A fond farewell...
Yes, one of the true innovators has left the building. Admittedly, I am a fairly new fan of the music of Don Van Vliet, better known as Captain Beefheart. However, upon discovering him in May, he instantly shot to the top of my favorite artists. No one did it quite like the Captain. His music resonated with me in a big way. He was music’s great surrealist, and a truly irreplaceable soul. His passing is very sad news, to say the least. To many, his works seem to be incoherent messes, and it’s understandable why many take his atonal, and just downright weird, musical sensibilities. To those of us who understood what he was doing, however, he was something special. He saw into the beauty and the art of chaos. If he was ever unlistenable, it wasn’t because he didn’t know what he was doing. Trout Mask Replica is a force of nature, something truly unique in the entire pop canon, and it bleeds with the same life as James Joyce’s Ulysses. He may never get into the Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame (well, maybe he will, in light of all this…but it’s their loss for not taking advantage of giving the man this paltry honor while he was still with us), his death may not be honored with a Rolling Stone cover, but none of that matters. Conversely, his death may bring him newfound recognition…that doesn’t matter either. The legend that is Captain Beefheart will withstand regardless, and his place among the small pantheon of musical greatness has been, and will be, cemented. Goodbye Captain, though you have departed this Frownland, you will not be soon forgotten. I mean it, sure nuff ‘n’ yes I do.
No more bridge from Tuesday t' Friday
Everybody's gone high society
Hope lost his head 'n got off on alligators
Somebodies leavin' peanuts on the curbins
For a white elephant escaped from the zoo with love
Goes t' show you what a moon can do
