Knockin' at your Back Door
I don’t do this often enough, breaking down the game film if you will. I don’t get into sports, so my wheel house is music. I’m not into indie rock for the most part, so don’t expect me to start writing for pitchforkmedia.com any time soon. Unfortunately, much to the chagrin of my former on-line writing home I don’t have a job where I can spend half the shift listening to music and writing about it anymore. Anyhow, enough of the obligatory preamble, I’m here to break it down.
I’ve had this song “knocking” around my head for a few days since it came up in random play on my iPod the other night. The song is “Knocking at Your Back Door” by Deep Purple. Deep Purple, who’ve I’ve talked about before here have had a maddeningly uneven output over their 40 some odd year career. This track came out in 1984 and despite coming in at the apex of awful digital production and massive over production it sounds pretty good. The track starts off with a low fade up of Jon Lord’s awesome Hammond Organ growl leading into ominous orchestral synth stabs at various intervals, teasing the main melodic theme. From there, thunderous drums courtesy of Ian Paice kick in and march things forward before the awesomeness that is Ritchie Blackmore comes in like a twenty guitar orchestra with the commanding theme of the piece. It’s a brilliant introduction and if the song ended right here you’d still have some of the best two minutes in all of rock history, but then Ian Gillian comes in the with lyrics. His voice sounds good and he hits all the right notes but these lyrics are the absolute worst dreck. This is what Spinal Tap was written to parody. And one can only assume that these lyrics were written with all sincerity. I’m not very big on lyrics. People ask me all the time what the lead singer in my band is saying. I have to admit that I generally have absolutely no idea. I don’t really care. I generally think of the big picture of the music and don’t nitpick, however - these lyrics are in dire need of some pickin’.
Sweet Lucy was a dancer
But none of us would chance her
Because she was a Samurai
She made electric shadows
Beyond our fingertips
And none of us could reach that high
She came on like a teaser
I had to touch and please her
Enjoy a little paradise
The log was in my pocket
When Lucy met the Rocket
And she never knew the reason why
Okay, so we’re talking about a stripper with a bad reputation. But, she’s irresistible to our protagonist! Things go wrong with the line “The log was in my pocket”. What? Is he talking about an erection or mess in his pants? So, I’m guessing the log is his penis which mysteriously transforms from a log into a rocket and Lucy, the dancer gets to meet the log/rocket.
I can't deny it
With that smile on her face
It's not the kill
It's the thrill of the chase
The first stanza of lyrics makes little to no sense, the pre-chorus doesn’t help, but it sounds fucking great.
Feel it coming
It's knocking at the door
The log/rocket is knocking at the door? Oh, you mean the back door? OH! Okay, now things are coming in to focus. Lucy, the dancer who has a bad reputation is meeting the log/rocket. Not only is she meeting it head on, but apparently she is also is having the log/rocket placed in her rear entry.
You know it's no good running
It's not against the law
The point of no return
And now you know the score
And now you're learning
What's knockin' at your back door
I think it is still technically illegal in some states, but Deep Purple is from the UK, so we’ll assume that anal sex is A-OK in the UK. I just don’t know how one arrives at these set of words to describe this particular sexual encounter.
Sweet Nancy was so fancy
To get into her pantry
Had to be the aristocracy
New girl. I see that Lucy has since moved on, none the worse for wear? Using the pantry as a euphemism for pants is brilliant, so big points to Ian on this one. And also big points to him for taking samples from polar sections of society and showing us just how much the women he writes about, from lowly Lucy the Dancer to Nancy the aristocrat both enjoy the subtle pleasure of anal sex.
The members that she toyed with
At her city club
Were something in diplomacy
So we put her on the hit list
Of a common cunning linguist
I’ve never been a big fan of the cunning linguist pun, so it just seems kind of lazy here. I suppose it works within the context. If you’re going to go low, you might as well go low.
A master of many tongues
And now she eases gently
From her Austin to her Bentley
Suddenly she feels so young
I’m not sure if he’s referring to the cars in the literal sense or if they are once again a pair of euphemisms for something more biological. I’m going to go off on a limb here and suggest that the Austin is the Vagnia and the Bentley is well, the Bentley.
In conclusion, this song really does encapsulate the career of Deep Purple quite well. The music is fantastically performed, recorded and arranged, but the lyrics are at best an after thought which ultimately destroys the effect of the music. If they’d of spent a few more minutes thinking of a better lyrical theme I’m sure that this song would be held in a much higher regard. I suspect that after as many years that these guys had been at it by the time this song was written and recorded a song about anal sex with a majestically composed and classically inspired theme sounded like an excellent idea. Maybe it’s Spinal Tap’s fault, but today it sounds like a joke that most people didn’t get or didn’t think was funny until a bunch of guys from Saturday Night Live got together and made it into a movie.
Here’s a link to the you tube video, which is awful in its own way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIZpF111Ojw
I’ve had this song “knocking” around my head for a few days since it came up in random play on my iPod the other night. The song is “Knocking at Your Back Door” by Deep Purple. Deep Purple, who’ve I’ve talked about before here have had a maddeningly uneven output over their 40 some odd year career. This track came out in 1984 and despite coming in at the apex of awful digital production and massive over production it sounds pretty good. The track starts off with a low fade up of Jon Lord’s awesome Hammond Organ growl leading into ominous orchestral synth stabs at various intervals, teasing the main melodic theme. From there, thunderous drums courtesy of Ian Paice kick in and march things forward before the awesomeness that is Ritchie Blackmore comes in like a twenty guitar orchestra with the commanding theme of the piece. It’s a brilliant introduction and if the song ended right here you’d still have some of the best two minutes in all of rock history, but then Ian Gillian comes in the with lyrics. His voice sounds good and he hits all the right notes but these lyrics are the absolute worst dreck. This is what Spinal Tap was written to parody. And one can only assume that these lyrics were written with all sincerity. I’m not very big on lyrics. People ask me all the time what the lead singer in my band is saying. I have to admit that I generally have absolutely no idea. I don’t really care. I generally think of the big picture of the music and don’t nitpick, however - these lyrics are in dire need of some pickin’.
Sweet Lucy was a dancer
But none of us would chance her
Because she was a Samurai
She made electric shadows
Beyond our fingertips
And none of us could reach that high
She came on like a teaser
I had to touch and please her
Enjoy a little paradise
The log was in my pocket
When Lucy met the Rocket
And she never knew the reason why
Okay, so we’re talking about a stripper with a bad reputation. But, she’s irresistible to our protagonist! Things go wrong with the line “The log was in my pocket”. What? Is he talking about an erection or mess in his pants? So, I’m guessing the log is his penis which mysteriously transforms from a log into a rocket and Lucy, the dancer gets to meet the log/rocket.
I can't deny it
With that smile on her face
It's not the kill
It's the thrill of the chase
The first stanza of lyrics makes little to no sense, the pre-chorus doesn’t help, but it sounds fucking great.
Feel it coming
It's knocking at the door
The log/rocket is knocking at the door? Oh, you mean the back door? OH! Okay, now things are coming in to focus. Lucy, the dancer who has a bad reputation is meeting the log/rocket. Not only is she meeting it head on, but apparently she is also is having the log/rocket placed in her rear entry.
You know it's no good running
It's not against the law
The point of no return
And now you know the score
And now you're learning
What's knockin' at your back door
I think it is still technically illegal in some states, but Deep Purple is from the UK, so we’ll assume that anal sex is A-OK in the UK. I just don’t know how one arrives at these set of words to describe this particular sexual encounter.
Sweet Nancy was so fancy
To get into her pantry
Had to be the aristocracy
New girl. I see that Lucy has since moved on, none the worse for wear? Using the pantry as a euphemism for pants is brilliant, so big points to Ian on this one. And also big points to him for taking samples from polar sections of society and showing us just how much the women he writes about, from lowly Lucy the Dancer to Nancy the aristocrat both enjoy the subtle pleasure of anal sex.
The members that she toyed with
At her city club
Were something in diplomacy
So we put her on the hit list
Of a common cunning linguist
I’ve never been a big fan of the cunning linguist pun, so it just seems kind of lazy here. I suppose it works within the context. If you’re going to go low, you might as well go low.
A master of many tongues
And now she eases gently
From her Austin to her Bentley
Suddenly she feels so young
I’m not sure if he’s referring to the cars in the literal sense or if they are once again a pair of euphemisms for something more biological. I’m going to go off on a limb here and suggest that the Austin is the Vagnia and the Bentley is well, the Bentley.
In conclusion, this song really does encapsulate the career of Deep Purple quite well. The music is fantastically performed, recorded and arranged, but the lyrics are at best an after thought which ultimately destroys the effect of the music. If they’d of spent a few more minutes thinking of a better lyrical theme I’m sure that this song would be held in a much higher regard. I suspect that after as many years that these guys had been at it by the time this song was written and recorded a song about anal sex with a majestically composed and classically inspired theme sounded like an excellent idea. Maybe it’s Spinal Tap’s fault, but today it sounds like a joke that most people didn’t get or didn’t think was funny until a bunch of guys from Saturday Night Live got together and made it into a movie.
Here’s a link to the you tube video, which is awful in its own way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIZpF111Ojw