These three post-punk songs dabble in surrealism, absurdity, and avant-garde spoken word performance art. But they’re also great for a low-brow laugh about barking husbands and madman tortoises and East German rabbits.
“The Devil Lives In My Husband’s Body” by Pulsallama
Pulsallama was a short-lived all-female, 12-piece percussion post-punk/no wave band that only released two singles in their three years together. “The Devil Lives in My Husband’s Body” released in 1982, and the music video was in heavy rotation on MTV. Pulsallama’s performance art style came from the fact that many of its members were performance artists, such as Ann Magnuson and Wendy Wild. As a whole, the band was a well-known presence in the New York scene.
“The Devil Lives in My Husband’s Body” is primarily a spoken word track interspersed with a haunting chorus. Told from the perspective of a housewife, she describes her husband’s sudden habit of barking in the basement. He has an episode during a neighborhood cook out, and his wife sends him to an institution. But not before consulting with the witch who lives next door. Still, in the end, it turns out her husband isn’t possessed by the devil. Instead he has a neurological disorder that’ll make him bark for the rest of his life. Tragically, as the wife exclaims, “Our insurance doesn’t cover it!”
“My Pal the Tortoise” by Thinking Fellers Union Local 282
“My Pal the Tortoise” was released on Thinking Fellers Union Local 282’s 1994 album Strangers From the Universe. The track opens the album with a burst of energy, much like the titular and unconventional tortoise. This song describes the most bada** tortoise that ever lived. Here’s a guy who “goes like crazy” and has “hot tarts swinging under painted umbrellas” falling to his mouth from the trees.
Lyrically, “My Pal the Tortoise” is structured as questions and answers. Questions like “how fast does he go?”, “What about the cut of his jib?”, and “Who does he see on nights by the river?”. The most important question comes in the chorus, asking “Does he live the life of a madman?”. In short, “Yes, he lives the life of a madman.”
“What About Us?” by The Fall
English post-punk band The Fall released “What About Us?” on their 2005 album Fall Heads Roll. The band has gone through numerous lineup changes since its inception in 1976, but their substantial discography reflects the influences of each iteration. “What About Us?” is an energetic post-punk track that contrasts with Mark E. Smith’s drawling vocals.
Lyrically, “What About Us?” features some surreal images studded with nonsensical vocalizations. However, lines like “I am a rabbit from East Germany” and “What about us, Shipman?” refer to actual historical moments. What makes the song interesting is how these two things, which had no actual relation to each other as far as we know, create a complete story.
Photo by Patrick Ford/Redferns/Getty Images
The post 3 Nonsensical Post-Punk Songs to Put On When You Need a Good Laugh appeared first on VICE.
