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December 07, 2005

In the Middle of a Life or Death Struggle

...with a Christmas Tree entirely too boffo for his stand, I hear...

'Cause the man from Mars
Stopped eatin' cars
And eatin' bars
And now he only eats guitars

...and stop dead in my tracks. Wondering, as I have for the past 20 some-odd years, just what the Sam hell that means.

Posted by tree hugging sister at December 7, 2005 01:47 PM

Comments

Last I heard my guitar wanted to kill somebody's momma.

Posted by: Cullen at December 7, 2005 02:00 PM

Mine wants to find watermelons in easter hay.

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at December 7, 2005 02:02 PM

If I had a guitar, it would be a member of a "cabal of criminal cronies".

Posted by: The_Real_JeffS at December 7, 2005 03:13 PM

Well, after all those Cadillacs (Lincolns too!), Mercuries, and Subarus, there's not a lot of room in the stomach from Mars. What's to understand?

Posted by: Nightfly at December 7, 2005 03:19 PM

I have absolutely no idea what anybody is talking about.

Posted by: Ken Summers at December 7, 2005 03:20 PM

I'm with you Ken. Not a clue.

Posted by: Crusader at December 7, 2005 03:38 PM

My point exactly. Bugs the schnoodles out of me.

Posted by: tree hugging sister at December 7, 2005 03:53 PM

Must be a bunch of youngin's here, who can't remember the great Blondie and the first mainstream rap song in 1980. Rap never got better, and it wasn't even good then.

The only good rap song is the one about the hot rod Lincoln.

Lyrics for: Rapture

Toe to toe
Dancing very slow
Barely breathing
Almost comatose
Wall to wall
People hypnotised
And they're stepping lightly
Hang each night in Rapture

Back to back
Sacrailiac
Spineless movement
And a wild attack

Face to face
Sadly solitude
And it's finger popping
Twenty-four hour shopping in Rapture

Fab Five Freddie told me everybody's high
DJ's spinnin' are savin' my mind
Flash is fast, Flash is cool
Francois sez fas, Flashe' no do
And you don't stop, sure shot
Go out to the parking lot
And you get in your car and you drive real far
And you drive all night and then you see a light
And it comes right down and lands on the ground
And out comes a man from Mars
And you try to run but he's got a gun
And he shoots you dead and he eats your head
And then you're in the man from Mars
You go out at night, eatin' cars
You eat Cadillacs, Lincolns too
Mercurys and Subarus
And you don't stop, you keep on eatin' cars
Then, when there's no more cars
You go out at night and eat up bars where the people meet
Face to face, dance cheek to cheek
One to one, man to man
Dance toe to toe
Don't move to slow, 'cause the man from Mars
Is through with cars, he's eatin' bars
Yeah, wall to wall, door to door, hall to hall
He's gonna eat 'em all
Rapture, be pure
Take a tour, through the sewer
Don't strain your brain, paint a train
You'll be singin' in the rain
I said don't stop, do punk rock

Well now you see what you wanna be
Just have your party on TV
'Cause the man from Mars won't eat up bars when the TV's on
And now he's gone back up to space
Where he won't have a hassle with the human race
And you hip-hop, and you don't stop
Just blast off, sure shot
'Cause the man from Mars stopped eatin' cars and eatin' bars
And now he only eats guitars, get up!

Posted by: Mike Rentner at December 7, 2005 04:24 PM

but of course, I have no more idea what it means than anyone else does.

Posted by: Mike Rentner at December 7, 2005 04:28 PM

MIke ya beat me to it - and I think thats why I like that song cause it is nonsensical...much more preferable than the abhorrent filth that is coming out of what they call rap nowadays...

Posted by: Sharon Ferguson at December 7, 2005 04:30 PM

Funny, never paid any attention to the lyrics of that song.....must have been Blinded by the Light...

Posted by: Crusader at December 7, 2005 04:42 PM

Does this mean I get to give Ken grief for making such a fuss over people not knowing who Jimmy Durante was?

Posted by: Emily at December 7, 2005 05:04 PM

It certainly has staying power.

Oh, and you are SO right, Sharon. I spend a lot of time cringing as it's tres warm here and car windows are open all the time. The putricity that spills forth is stunning.

Posted by: tree hugging sister at December 7, 2005 05:04 PM

Emily: No

You may give me grief for a lot of things but this is not one of them. (For pete's sake, Jimmy Durante vs. forgotten pop song? Might as well compare Bob Hope with... um... some other 80s pop song I've thankfully forgotten)

Posted by: Ken Summers at December 7, 2005 05:24 PM

On a related note, Sis, what's the oddest song you've ever heard from a passing car? I disqualify my own, as I've been known to blast everything from Abba to ZZ Top (alphabetically and musically).

My topper is the convertible (top-down) that cruised past me on Wellwood Avenue in Lindenhurst, Long Island, proudly cranking Kansas' "Song for America".

Posted by: Nightfly at December 7, 2005 05:26 PM

Forgotten? Not quite, Ken! This post wouldn't even exist if it was...

Posted by: Emily at December 7, 2005 06:47 PM

I had forgotten it (assuming I had ever actually heard it in the first place; I'm really not sure because I spent a lot of time in the 80s actively avoiding pop music)

Posted by: Ken Summers at December 7, 2005 07:41 PM

Now, my guitar gently weeps.

Posted by: Cullen at December 7, 2005 07:44 PM

Okay, now THAT rocks, Cullen.

Posted by: Ken Summers at December 7, 2005 10:03 PM

"...just what the Sam hell that means."

I'm going to take a guess that, among other things, it means that circa 1979-81, Debbie Harry was completely stoned out of her mind. And I mean that in the kindest possible way, of course.

Seriously, Ken, I truly can't believe Blondie doesn't ring any bells for you: I believe they were (are?) the only American group to have had a number one single in the UK in each of the 70's, 80's and 90's. You must at least remember "Call Me" from American Gigolo.

Posted by: Dave J at December 7, 2005 11:21 PM

Debbie Harry was completely stoned out of her mind.

Concur. It's the only explanation. And as drugs never agreed with me, I was never able to bond with a good number of my peers. I also never got the Cheech and Chong movies. On the bright side, it meant I had money for my expensive make-up habit.

Posted by: tree hugging sister at December 8, 2005 12:16 AM

Not that you need make up.

Posted by: Cullen at December 8, 2005 06:32 AM

Kiss ass.

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at December 8, 2005 08:11 AM

Dave, I remember Blondie (and I actually like some of their stuff), but I don't think I ever heard that particular song. But it is true that I tried to avoid most pop music in the 80s (more accurately, from about 1975 on)

Posted by: Ken Summers at December 8, 2005 08:44 AM

What did you listen to...Mantovani?

(Cullen is a gentleman, you cretinous puddle of rudeness.)

Posted by: tree hugging sister at December 8, 2005 09:00 AM

Mostly I listened to stuff from before 1975 (with rare exceptions)

Posted by: Ken Summers at December 8, 2005 11:11 AM