This is one of the first songs I ever wrote, nearly 30 years ago. Last year I re-recorded it with my MBR to share with my friends from my high-school band,
The Nutrients (http://www.myspace.com/thenutrientsaz).
Here's the story of the song:
QuoteThere was a large vacant lot separating my house from Rolling Stone Records on 35th Avenue and Northern [in Phoenix, AZ], which is where Ward Aycock worked. I frequently walked the half-mile in the dark, and I could sing or rant to myself if I wanted to, and usually nobody was there to hear me. I created the first verse to Dechromium Cob while on one of these walks, using a phrase from Frank Zappa ("Gimme de chromium cob!"). I sang it again and again and laughed to myself. I had learned the term from Ward and couldn't wait to present it for his approval. He was unimpressed. I was disappointed, but undeterred. A day or so later I hummed the riff to Ron and asked if he could play it on guitar. He said he'd recently learned the very riff.
When we were in high school, "dechromium cob" was our code word for how some of the weightlifters walked, if you get my drift. If you don't, then listen to the lyrics.
I've been told I sound like a Muppet in this song. My throat hurt for four days after I recorded the vocals. My stepdaughter helps with background vocals.
Update: March 13, 2021More than anyone should ever want to know about this song:
- A blog post about this song on my personal blog, explaining the inspiration (https://half-heartedfanatic.com/2009/05/19/dechromium-cob/)
- An excerpt of the original recording of the song – me as an underage drinker – March, 1980 (https://songcrafters.org/forum/index.php?topic=6533.msg83057)
- SongCrafters cover of the song by ORH and Geir – Mar. 2010 (https://songcrafters.org/forum/index.php?topic=6492.msg82607)
- Live Version (video) - Dec. 2014 (https://songcrafters.org/forum/index.php?topic=13456.msg175192)
- Live Version (video) - Oct. 2016 (https://songcrafters.org/forum/index.php?topic=25849.msg314415)
this is brilliant reminds me of the residents meets captain beefheart love it love, honey in your tea "doctor rottenheads orders for your throat". saying that i had similar experiences trying to sing in the style of tom waits on 48's noodle and osckilo's circus, but some brandy cured the rawness in my throat. love the squealing backing vox, this is pure gold.
Hysterical and adorable at the same time. Very Beefheart as ORH says. Love the backing vox, they just tip it over the edge into total insanity. Great stuff! Honey and hot lemon with a slug of whisky works fine for me BTW.
Cheers,
Nigel
Have You been drinking the same stuff as ORH?!?!
Crazy cool!!!
Screw the Honey and lemon...Sounds great.
T(Osckilo)
P.s
Where did the kids choir come from?
I dig it!! Got a big laugh from the muppets reference - All I can think of now is the two old hecklers in the balcony :D
Anything Zappa influenced is alright in my book!
Nice Post!
Mark
It's pretty funny that ORH and Ferryman are hearing a Captain Beefheart influence, when the title--and only the title--was influenced, second hand, by a Zappa song related to me by a record store clerk on whom I had a serious
mancrush (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=mancrush). But back when I wrote this, my listening diet didn't get any closer to this feel than
Nightclubbing by Iggy Pop. Beefheart was nowhere near my ears.
Quote from: osckilo on May 11, 2009, 03:52:09 PMWhere did the kids choir come from?
That was my stepdaughter. I recorded about six takes of that, and then mixed them together in pairs. I'm in the background too, but can't compete with the screeching of a nine-year-old girl.
This is great! Captain Beefheart on vocals with Ray Manzerak on keyboards. It may not have been a direct influence, but the vocal delivery is quite similar (and in a good way...). I love the squealy shouting thing going on as you whip yourself up into a cob frenzy. It's all rather brilliant and original, and I'm glad you posted it!
Wow Ted Excellent Blues 8) and Great Lyrics ;) ;D
Brilliant. Totally brilliant.
Ted, I think it's your vocal style that reminds us of Beefheart. there were many similarities in some aspects of their material so song wise it could have been either of them!
Nine year old girl screeching should be on more records. What does she think of the finished result? Hav you dared play it to her....?
Cheers,
Nigel
Oooohh there's definitively a Zappa heritage here!!! As I revealed in a couple of my previous posts I'm kinda "Zappad" myself so this is sweet music in my ears!
Geir
Cool and grungy singing! Reminds me a little George Thorogood at first - but then the end just totally cracked me up with those background voices! ...and then your comment about the muppets started ringing through my head...
I was entertained Ted - thanks for sharing!
Can't say anything that hasn't been said!!!! Takes me back a bit!
Great.
This was great!!
[Note: In another topic (https://songcrafters.org/forum/micro-br/bass-drum-only-drum-pattern/0/), Nigel A.K.A. "Ferryman_1957" A.K.A. "Horny Harold" and I have been discussing how to thwart the limitations of the MBR drum machine.]Nigel, you may be interested to know that this song also posed a drum arrangement challenge that turned into a math problem: How to put in that break near the beginning that lasts nine beats.
I figured out that nine beats at 75 bpm lasts 7.2 seconds, then (after much calculating) I figured out that one measure of pattern "327 Break" at 40 bmp plus a second measure at 200 bpm equal exactly the same number of seconds.
Quote from: Ferryman_1957 on May 12, 2009, 10:40:19 AMNine year old girl screeching should be on more records. What does she think of the finished result? Hav you dared play it to her....?
She was proud and embarrassed in the way only a nine-year-old can be. She loved it, but made me promise not to play it for any of her friends.
Ahh, I love it, Ted!! You do sound like "Animal", the Muppet....hahahha~ Good stuff, man!!
Quote from: Ted on May 12, 2009, 11:09:37 PMI figured out that nine beats at 75 bpm lasts 7.2 seconds, then (after much calculating) I figured out that one measure pattern "327 Break" at 40 bmp plus a second measure at 200 bpm equal exactly the same number of seconds.
Ted, you are turning into the drum wizard here. This is all good advice, I'll have to keep pushing the boundaries of the MBR drums a bit more.
Quote from: Ted on May 12, 2009, 11:09:37 PM
She was proud and embarrassed in the way only a nine-year-old can be. She loved it, but made me promise not to play it for any of her friends.
LOL! I bet when she's a bit older and into Zappa/Beefheart then she'll think it's cool. Make sure you play her the right kind of music. My son used to love Unconditionally Guaranteed at the age of 10, but I don't think he was ready for Trout Mask Replica.
BTW, I just LOVE this track. It's a real grower and gets inside your head. I just keep playing it again and again. Can we have a whole album of this stuff please?
Cheers,
Nigel
Great slide lead guitar!
Lovely lyrics too! :D Great job Ted! :)
Excellent,eccentric, wonderfull enjoyed it very much indeed.
Quote from: Ferryman_1957 on May 13, 2009, 02:09:40 AMBTW, I just LOVE this track. It's a real grower and gets inside your head. I just keep playing it again and again. Can we have a whole album of this stuff please?
Thank you, but
No! I don't ever want to inflict that on my throat again, even it does give me an excuse to drink medicinal whiskey.
But feel free to check out
The Nutrients (http://www.myspace.com/thenutrientsaz), my high school band featuring songs written around the same time, recorded on a
Ross 4x4 (http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/8831/rossfrontqr6.png), with a
Roland TR 505 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_TR-505) for drums.
Quote from: 0jimihendrix0 on May 13, 2009, 08:05:37 AMGreat slide lead guitar!
Lovely lyrics too! :D Great job Ted! :)
Thanks again. I was probably your age or younger when I wrote those lyrics. I'm no slide guitarist. That solo was patched together from the best bits of three takes.
How far is it from AZ to NH to Norway ?? I wanna start a Zappa tribute band - you'll do the Bongo Fury Stuff, I'll do Montana and YAWYI !!!
QuoteI wanna start a Zappa tribute band - you'll do the Bongo Fury Stuff, I'll do Montana and YAWYI !!!
can i help out i make lovely lumpy gravy
Quote from: oldrottenhead on May 14, 2009, 03:28:31 PMQuoteI wanna start a Zappa tribute band - you'll do the Bongo Fury Stuff, I'll do Montana and YAWYI !!!
can i help out i make lovely lumpy gravy
Please do 8) !!!
Who'll do the Thing-Fish??
Quote from: Geir on May 14, 2009, 03:42:26 PMQuote from: oldrottenhead on May 14, 2009, 03:28:31 PMQuoteI wanna start a Zappa tribute band - you'll do the Bongo Fury Stuff, I'll do Montana and YAWYI !!!
can i help out i make lovely lumpy gravy
Who'll do the Thing-Fish??
Maybe we could do a
Boss BR Zappa Cover Festival. Anyone want to spearhead the thing?
I could try to get my stepdaughter to do the vocals for
Valley Girl--if her mother will let her say, "Were talking lord God king bu-fu"
Yeah, and book recording time at Studio Z! That would be awesome. He was the true guardian of censorship in the U.S. (And well respected abroad).
I might be good enough to play the tone block or something.....
Mark
Just found this one----excellent----excellent----excellent , played it over and over , nice one Ted
Facemask93
How did I miss this? Genius.
Give me dichromium cob. Pure inspiration. Love it love it love it. Just so wrong, and yet so right.
QuoteHow did I miss this? Genius.
dont say a didnae tell ye
Quote from: Flash Harry on May 17, 2009, 04:43:12 PMGive me dichromium cob. Pure inspiration. Love it love it love it. Just so wrong, and yet so right.
Can you or anyone tell me the name of the Zappa song with the line "Give me dichromium cob?"
I'm not sure I've ever actually heard it.I have now--after 30 years! The song is
Sy Borg (http://www.lyricstime.com/frank-zappa-sy-borg-lyrics.html) from
Joe's Garage in which Joe inadvertently destroys a "model XOJ-37 Nuclear Powered Pan-Sexual Roto-Plooker."
Here is the seminal song that inspired my songwriting career 30 years ago, even though I heard it for the first time four days ago.
The audio is NSFW (Not safe for work). The video is just one still image of the album cover.
I sincerely hope that you have listened to the whole of the album, or all three parts of the Opera.
I just love it and I have been listening to it so much recently. It's not very kind to Catholic Girls (with a tiny little moustache!) either, which pushes my buttons.
and remember:
the white zone is for loading and unloading only
Quote from: Geir on May 21, 2009, 01:39:05 PMand remember:
the white zone is for loading and unloading only
Lol! :) :D :)
BUMP
Great bump, always loved this slice of Tedinsanity. But Monsters, Inc may have trumped it......
Cheers,
Nigel
Great song, great bump, but I don't remember a chain smoking muppet? I dig the vocals, sound great, but that "muppet voice" would have scared me as a kid. Even oscar had a brighter, cheerier voice than that! I guess I'd have to hear him sing the blues now.
Thanks Ted, so funny and great:it seems to me to have lived in those years!!!
...but I don't know how much your throat enjoyed it :D :D :D
I'm bump humbled. Humbumpled? (I doubt that one will catch on.)
Thanks all.
I just love that ending where your stepdaughter starts screaming her lungs off, brilliant stuff Ted. So great to listen to this gem again. This is why we love the Bump, this one is bump-worthy for sure.
bump you new guys dont know wot you missing this is braw tell yer maw, love it ted
I had to listen to this again, before the cover of it.
Fantastic. Great to hear this one. All parts of it done really well. Got to hear this again.
ORH and Geir's cover version got some love today, so I'm just going to masterbump this.
Folks, if you've missed me, I'll be back. I promise. My music space in my new home is coming together. I'll be able to join the Vampire Club without disturbing the slumber of my family.
yeah baby
Good the hear from you Ted, I'm sure you have a song or two's worth of material in all your turmoil of late. It is really good to have a dedicated music room, you are going to love it, a place where a man can be a man and all that.
Quote from: Bluesberry on September 20, 2010, 11:48:48 AMIt is really good to have a dedicated music room, you are going to love it, a place where a man can be a man and all that.
There are some very delicate negotiations still in progress. The Mrs. keeps trying to refer to it as "the guest room"--which is what it will be about 2% of the time. My argument is that it shouldn't have to look like a bedroom 100% of the time. It's been revealed that the
real issue is that The Mrs.
also wants to have some space in the new home to call her own. A resolution is in sight.
Good to hear from you Ted, this is still one of my all time faves. Hope you will be back in the fold soon, goatee and all......
Quote from: Ted on September 20, 2010, 12:03:23 PMIt's been revealed that the real issue is that The Mrs. also wants to have some space in the new home to call her own. A resolution is in sight.
Aha! The Mrs is going to join the band and becopme the new Mrs Gringo!
Cheers,
Nigel
Quote from: Ferryman on September 20, 2010, 01:55:24 PMAha! The Mrs is going to join the band and become the new Mrs Gringo!
She doesn't have quite that level of mischief in her. However, she did offer to contribute to a very late contribution to the Zappa Fest.
If you read back in this topic, you'll see that this is where the hard-won Zappa fest was first suggested.
bump
Thanks for the bump, ORH!
I swear to Frog, I'm trying to make more time for music, but it just ain't happening these days.
From another topic:
Quote from: Ferryman on March 12, 2021, 02:56:45 AMNow will you also please fix the link to Dechromium Cob? I was going to point some of the new folks on here to that one and the link is dead.
"New folks," eh? God bless 'em.
There's even a little more history behind this song on this blog post (https://half-heartedfanatic.com/2009/05/19/dechromium-cob/), and this SongCrafters post (https://songcrafters.org/forum/index.php?topic=6533.msg83057), and a SongCrafters cover of the song here (https://songcrafters.org/forum/index.php?topic=6492.msg82607).
Thanks for reposting the link. This is still one of my fave songs of all time. Mad, bad and totally off the scale in so many directions.
I hope it's discovered by many of our newer listeners.......
Oooh this one is pure madness and I love it. The screeching 9 year old girl puts it over the top from merely damn cool, to freekin' awesome.
She must be what, over 20 now. Play her the song again, she's probably love to hear this.