Make you glad to see me!

March 9, 2009 12:12 PM

What song is this? In a song by the Butthole Surfers, there is an a capella break (with the eventual addition of a base drum) where Gibby is singing in a very rhythmic style reminiscent of an old blues number, and the lyrics at this point include "glory hallelujah" as the main refrain with an occasional rejoinder of "make you glad to see me" and possibly "Jesus is a monkey" or "the Lord is a monkey".

I remember the song vividly, it may be it is only on a live recording? but I don't think it is on the "double live" set they have for free on their website. Also, he uses a digital modulation effect on his voice, the song has been caught in my head since seeing and replying to This ask post. Anyway, google search is not helping me at all with this one.

posted by idiopath to media & arts (13 comments total)

Do you mean "The Lord is A Monkey", by any chance?
posted by dunkadunc at 12:20 PM on March 9

dunkadunc beat me to it, but I was going to say the same thing. It was from their Electriclarryland album.
posted by burnmp3s at 12:22 PM on March 9

There's another version here, but neither version has an a capella breakdown just as you described, although it's definitely the right song.
posted by dunkadunc at 12:33 PM on March 9

dunkadunc and burnmp3s: definitely not it, the "glory hallelujah" part, a capella or just with a bass drum is definitely part of the breakdown in the song I am looking for.
posted by idiopath at 12:35 PM on March 9

Just to clarify: the "lord is a monkey" part may not be in the song I am looking for, though they do reuse certain phrases between songs.
posted by idiopath at 12:36 PM on March 9

I don't know that it's definitely the right song because only one of 3 or 4 lines from the description actually occurs in the "The Lord is a Monkey," and it's completely missing(as dunkadunc mentions) an a capella segment.

Maybe you've mixed up two songs?
posted by owtytrof at 12:38 PM on March 9

Or, on non-preview, what idiopath said.
posted by owtytrof at 12:39 PM on March 9

The "old blues number" bit sounds like "Moving to Florida" ... none of those lyrics fit though.

If it's a live version, it could be anything as Gibby is prone to ad libbing.
posted by and hosted from Uranus at 1:24 PM on March 9

and hosted from Uranus: It is similar in style to Florida, but with a more emphatic rhythm, I am listening to double live now just in case it is a live ad lib on that album (and hell, it is worth listening to in it's own right anyway).
posted by idiopath at 1:59 PM on March 9

Well it isn't on Double Live. Some day I am sure I will hear the song again somewhere.

I am pretty sure it isn't on any of these albums because I know them pretty well:

• Hairway to Stephen
• Locust Abortion Technician
• Phioghd
• Brown Reason To Live
• Cream Corn From the Socket of Davis
• Rembrandt Pussyhorse
• PCPPEP

which leaves what? Psychic, Powerless, Another Man's Sac and all the major label stuff?
posted by idiopath at 10:34 AM on March 10

Since asking this question I have started listening to the radio stream at Butthole Radio, and I have yet to hear the song I remember so clearly. Either my imagination invented the song, or it is on one of the more recent albums, since their radio station mostly plays their old stuff.

Anyway, thanks to those who tried to help.
posted by idiopath at 3:12 PM on April 9

which leaves what? Psychic, Powerless, Another Man's Sac and all the major label stuff?

I stopped buying or listening to the Butts once Electric Larryland came out, but the song you're describing sounds very familiar.

Keep in mind that during the 80s, plenty of people were bootlegging their shows and releasing live albums of horrifyingly bad quality, such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (4 song live EP featuring a cover of the Beatle's Come Together). They also did one-off songs for compilations being put together by other labels under some heading or other ("Texas skaterock" or "psychedelic punk", for example).

I once had a conversation with Jeff Pinkus about the various and sundry songs from the Butthole Surfers floating around. I asked him about a couple compilation records they appeared on that he had no recollection of. "It was probably one of the ones we weren't paid for," was his reply.

So the song you're talking about might indeed have been from this earlier, foggier time in their history. Or it might be from their current, shitty incarnation. You don't happen to know around what year this appeared, do you?
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 2:41 PM on April 10

OK I found it. annoying song, from one of the later albums, independent worm saloon. Not all that bluesy in retrospect.
posted by idiopath at 11:47 PM on April 10