A CHILD'S GARDEN OF BEEFHEART

from usa 15 march 1971 CHANGES vol.2 #23
by 'king leer'
is 27 january 1971 interview

notes:
* except front page reprinted in england 1 march 1972 ZIGZAG #24
* text reprinted as untitled 'captain beefheart alphabet' in england book THE LIVES AND TIMES OF CAPTAIN BEEFHEART
* pictures by jim anderson

part 1 - THIS is part 2

*

nature: the more you disconnect yourself from nature the more insane you are.

the bee takes the honey, then he sets the flower free. man takes the honey and gets stuck in it - either that or he refines the rice to such a degree that it looks clean.

there's more than one chord and it's made up of a lot of drops of water. then it turns into beads, then the beads explode and make rhinestone chains.

and new york: i haven't had any trouble. nobody's brushed off my shoulders or anything with whisk brooms since i've been here.

ornette coleman: the greatest.

his panacea: i have an explanation: if everybody would get a balloon in one hand and a kite in the other. blow up the balloon and go fly a kite. i think that would ease their worries.... (leer:) do you réally think so? (beefheart:) no, because after they did it and they let the air out of the balloon and breathed a little bit and felt the kite and the wind blowing it, they'd probably think: "well, edison...-" - what was his name? edison? - "well, edison did this, so it's already done."

physique: i'm pretty padded myself.

and politics: on the revolution: i think it's old hat.... i don't think there's óne, that's why i don't think there's a revolution, because i don't think there's óne, see what i mean?

i've got to buy shoes, a man's got to eat.

quantum: i guess i don't believe in three square meals.

and quarrel: i've had records used against me and i have had my art used against me by foolish people. for example? well, they're their own examples.

radicals: they remind me of a rabbit's foot on a key chain.

the revolutionary cinema: oh, that's wonderful. you mean, before their cameras weren't turning?

that's cute.

and reading: i don't read.

not to mention rolling stone: the one that gathered the moss?

safe as milk: anything that sounds this good five years later is a triumph. - king leer.

and strictly personal, and self: a lot of people say i'm just moving my fingers, which is an accurate description of what i'm really doing.

i'm just not as serious as the rest of these people.

also swine: beautiful sight to behold. they're very smart, they really have e.s.p..

and the switchman-self: i'm not interested in stopping any light. a lot of people play switchman. i did a composition called 'switchman with parkinson's disease', it'll be on the next album which i think you'll enjoy.

test-results: i tell you what i'm gonna do to clear this all up. i'm gonna offer myself to 'car and driver' and let them run a test on me, you know, and i'll run out with an unicycle - with a small baby wheel on the back of my fanny - and i'll run down the street and i'll let them go through all of their goodyears and voits.

and trout mask replica: i conceived 'trout mask replica' in eight and a half hours, and we didn't have much more than that to record it in. the group did the tracks in four hours and i put the voice on in four and a half.

time: there's two balls..., there's two balls up there and they have absolutely nothing to do with my coming or going. i'm talking about the sun and the moon.... put them together and you've got the daytime, put them apart and you've got the nighttime, but it's still the same, ask an eskimo.

and training: there are people who are trained and are willing to forget it and not do an animal act such as clyde beatty.

ungano's: should it be called the 'periscope' instead of 'ungano's'?

i don't have a thing for small clubs, nor do i have a thing for big clubs. i don't care that much about wee-wee.

values: you see, i've seen man's heart in a large filing cabinet. you know, like building. i've seen the smile of a buick riviera, i've seen the hand on the wheel of plastic rather than the wheel of life. and all of that's fine provided they don't overdo it. they seem to want to graduate, they keep graduating, you see? they graduate in the areas that seem to be so solitary instead of the kind areas. like dolphins graduating across the horizon, into the sun. man graduates his school of thought with no sand and no air and water in it: he mixes....

i think that more children should play with mud-pies. that's out now, you see? they play with plastic shovels, with gloves, the latest ray-gun and space ensemble. and toy tanks and things like that, war toys. think that táke life rather than gíve it. carving is out..., it's hard to find a hand carved thing, and even if you can find it, it's so totally expensive that it's easier to go get a plastic copy of it.

and van vliet, beefheart's previous incarnation: van vliet was a tremendous painter who could never finish anything.

warner brothers: i think if you have a marriage and the children are getting hurt by it, you should separate. but i'm enjoying this marriage right now. i don't have any plans for leaving.

weapons: the gun is an orgasm that stops the cycle. the penis is an orgasm that, if the circumstances are right, continues the cycle. i prefer thát to violence. i prefer not the gun, i prefer things that complete the cycle.

the wheel: i use the wheel..., i deal with the wheel.

as well as the world: well, the world is a record and... - the music that's out now in the world - you see, the world is a record.

beefheart's t.v. commercial [for 'lick my decals off, baby' - t.t.], rated 'x': metromedia refuses to air captain beefheart t.v. commercial - charges album title 'obscene'. - warner records press release.

yellow: see mellow.

zoot horn rollo: see dope.

also zappa: i can't understand, it seems that all frank zappa wanted to do was make anal noises which is one way of saying that everything you eat comes back, you see?.... he likes to work and i like to play, so we had to separate. the thing that i'm saying is that he seems to have been caught up in the fact that he didn't have musical training, seemed to worry him, that he hadn't had this musical training.

i don't know why he wanted to keep my group..., óur group, in check behind him. i don't understand that, a person says they want to create and do new things and then they hold back the group that i'm in, which obviously couldn't be held back. but only in the business, contracturally, to try to hamper our movement.

and also zen: are you into zen? i don't think anybody is. would you like to be? no, i prefer an overcoat.