Tuesday, May 15, 2012

The Jowls of Crime

And speaking as we were last week of the late and unlamented Richard Nixon -- and let us stipulate that I agree with Jules Feiffer, who referred to him as "a genuine pop genius," i.e. the guy may have been a monster, but he was also endlessly fascinating -- please enjoy, from 1996, the greatest American pop/rock band you've never heard of, the incomparable Something Fierce, and their brilliant ode to the Fall of the House of Nixon, the incomparable "Watergate."

Alert readers may recall that I've written about these guys on numerous occasions, including the release of their fabulous 2009 retrospective box set. Here's what I had to say about this particular song in a liner note essay I contributed to the project, and I stand by every word.

"One song [from the set] deserves particular mention...specifically, 'Watergate,' in which [they] posit -- over a hilariously overdramatic instrumental bed -- that A Girlfriend From Hell is the metaphorical equivalent of the Nixon scandals and sustain the conceit for more than five fricking minutes. If nothing else, this must be the first song in history to contemplate rhyming 'spill the beans' with 'Haldeman, Mitchell and Dean,' and I would like to go on record, at this juncture, as saying that this song remains for my money the most audacious conceptual masterstroke on any '90s rock album by anybody. So there."

Like I said, Nixon may have been a monster, but he was endlessly fascinating. I mean, can you imagine a comparably evil but otherwise uninteresting shithead like Dick Cheney inspiring such a great song? I think not.

9 comments:

buzzbabyjesus said...

I like "You were unfaithful and I was unsmart".
Nixon's the one all right.
When he was in office I liked surfing Trestles, and Cotton's, which was right in front of his house in San Clemente, and also next to Camp Pendleton and a lot of Marines. When he was home they made getting to the water especially problematic.

TMink said...

Endlessly fascinating indeed! Not all shmucks are so interesting.

Trey

Alex said...

I think we've all dated women like that...

steve simels said...

I think we've all dated women like that.

Heh indeedy.
:-)

steve simels said...

Incidentally, I am informed that Something Fierce is playing a Carlton College reunion Friday, June 15th at the new Weitz Center on campus.

They're also planning to do a few additional shows here and there over the summer as well, so if you're in the Minnesota area...

I'll keep you posted as these things develop.

Brooklyn Girl said...

Nixon had almost a Shakespearian quality about him. Nasty but conflicted.

Cheney is just your plain old garden variety evil son of a bitch.

buzzbabyjesus said...

Brooklyn Girl called it about right.

Cheney's one of the very few people I hope finds a terrible fate. Two pineapples a la "Little Nicky" would probably do it.

Anonymous said...

cheers to the man in the middle--the last of the Moe haircuts!!

DFH in Dalmatia said...

@Al Jardine Spoiler alert! http://www.examiner.com/article/that-s-why-god-made-the-radio