RushFanForever Posted August 6, 2021 Share Posted August 6, 2021 (edited) I'm aware that Max Webster lyricist Pye Dubois co-wrote the song 'Test For Echo' with Geddy, Alex, and Neil. Dubois also co-wrote 'Tom Sawyer', 'Force Ten' and 'Between Sun & Moon'. Last night, I was reading my out-of-print copy of Live Magnetic Air : The Unlikely Saga of the Superlative Max Webster. On page 139, Dubois is discussing the origins of the Max Webster song 'Beyond The Moon' from 1978. “There are Max Webster songs, then there is Beyond The Moon; there are many a Max Webster lyric, then there is the Beyond The Moon lyric. Beyond The Moon is diametrically opposed to any other Max songs. It stands apart because it has to stand as my political statement of the... the destruction of my culture. I believed computers would do us in, just as any other addiction, including cocaine; I knew pollution would do us in, and in our infancy as a planet, ‘acid' (rain or otherwise) was warping the foetus. I saw a culture vacuous and venal - a shoe culture! Yeah! Shoes! etc. etc. Cure: vitamin clouds—yeah! Sell us vitamins. Profit from placebos! The initial title was Test For Echo until I gave myself a slap and then slotted in another 'moon' song. Test For Echo was good. I like the "canary in the mine" potential/ambiguity, but..." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfD-6-VDzY4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHUCJblUcFA Edited August 6, 2021 by RushFanForever 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fridge Posted August 6, 2021 Share Posted August 6, 2021 There's a reason why the songs that Dubious Dubois collaborated on have shit lyrics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geddyleegenes Posted August 7, 2021 Share Posted August 7, 2021 (edited) Hey RushFanForever, does Dubois, in that book, by any chance explain what the hell the lyrics to "Battlescar" mean? Those lyrics are all over the place. "Found a Fist in an Empty Field." Gross. Always wondered what he did with it. Geddy does a pretty good job at making his parts sound cool. Edited August 7, 2021 by Geddyleegenes 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RushFanForever Posted August 7, 2021 Author Share Posted August 7, 2021 Hey RushFanForever, does Dubois, in that book, by any chance explain what the hell the lyrics to "Battlescar" mean? Those lyrics are all over the place. "Found a Fist in an Empty Field." Gross. Always wondered what he did with it. Geddy does a pretty good job at making his parts sound cool. Page 216-17 of the book. "It's just a very simple anti-American song," answers Pye asked about the lyric. “Uncle Sam's time is only to grease the wheel. I think that's self-explanatory. OK, forgive me—for me it's self-explanatory. Uncle Sam is the United States, and 'Uncle Sam's time is only a greased wheel...' I don't know how you used the term, a greased wheel, but you've heard people say grease the wheel? You grease the palm, yeah, grease the wheels of commerce—it's blatantly anti-American. And 'bust the busters, screw the feeders,' well, why bust me if I have dope? Let's go bust them. You know? You know, the people that feeds me this cultural crap, they're the ones that need to be fed. etc. I mean, don't be busting me!" 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YYZ Working Man Posted August 8, 2021 Share Posted August 8, 2021 great track for its time ..Love battlescar - great xmas Universal juveniles- excellent album and Bob and Doug Mackenzie xmas album- So Canadian . bless 1979-80 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geddyleegenes Posted August 9, 2021 Share Posted August 9, 2021 Hey RushFanForever, does Dubois, in that book, by any chance explain what the hell the lyrics to "Battlescar" mean? Those lyrics are all over the place. "Found a Fist in an Empty Field." Gross. Always wondered what he did with it. Geddy does a pretty good job at making his parts sound cool. Page 216-17 of the book. "It's just a very simple anti-American song," answers Pye asked about the lyric. “Uncle Sam's time is only to grease the wheel. I think that's self-explanatory. OK, forgive me—for me it's self-explanatory. Uncle Sam is the United States, and 'Uncle Sam's time is only a greased wheel...' I don't know how you used the term, a greased wheel, but you've heard people say grease the wheel? You grease the palm, yeah, grease the wheels of commerce—it's blatantly anti-American. And 'bust the busters, screw the feeders,' well, why bust me if I have dope? Let's go bust them. You know? You know, the people that feeds me this cultural crap, they're the ones that need to be fed. etc. I mean, don't be busting me!" Thank you, RushFanForever. That helped a bit. I always wondered what Buster Keaton and Buster Crabbe had ever done to Max Webster. And the the "screw the feeders" part: What's wrong with nice people trying to feed the starving? Now I know what he actually meant! I always knew the "Uncle Sam's time..." was a negative thing about the United States. I think Dubois would like real Americans. Not the politicians or the corporation jerks. I'd still like to know what he did with that fist though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fridge Posted August 9, 2021 Share Posted August 9, 2021 Hey RushFanForever, does Dubois, in that book, by any chance explain what the hell the lyrics to "Battlescar" mean? Those lyrics are all over the place. "Found a Fist in an Empty Field." Gross. Always wondered what he did with it. Geddy does a pretty good job at making his parts sound cool. Page 216-17 of the book. "It's just a very simple anti-American song," answers Pye asked about the lyric. “Uncle Sam's time is only to grease the wheel. I think that's self-explanatory. OK, forgive me—for me it's self-explanatory. Uncle Sam is the United States, and 'Uncle Sam's time is only a greased wheel...' I don't know how you used the term, a greased wheel, but you've heard people say grease the wheel? You grease the palm, yeah, grease the wheels of commerce—it's blatantly anti-American. And 'bust the busters, screw the feeders,' well, why bust me if I have dope? Let's go bust them. You know? You know, the people that feeds me this cultural crap, they're the ones that need to be fed. etc. I mean, don't be busting me!" I don't think Wordsworth or Keats have anything to worry about..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taurus Posted August 9, 2021 Share Posted August 9, 2021 I love Pye Dubious' lyrics. Reminds me a lot like Beefheart lyrics/poetry. On the roadThe heart is slowThe mind is not clockedThe feet are soreThe hands and eyes are quickTo stop the world On the roadConfirms something about yourselfConfirms something about your mold--some say it's freedomFreedom some sayIs when you get back home Fights and rightsEmbassies and fantasiesOne street towns with stop lightsOne stop streets with no towns--I don't need the patterI don't need assistanceTo review the show... I want to keep my pearly whitesI don't want my shirts to keep a fitI want a good steak once in a whileA checkered cab to go once in style--Freedom some sayIs when you get back home Howls of laughterSights and soundsMovies and groupiesOne day loverNext day down--I'd like to keep my pearly whitesAnd have a little stride in life... I'd be sometimes lateI'd be sometimes earlyAnd surely once in a while I'd like to be alone One day aggressiveOne day shyOne day permissiveOne day sly... On the road confirms something about myselfConfirms something about my storm--Some say it needs freedomFreedom some sayIs after the storm 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RushFanForever Posted August 9, 2021 Author Share Posted August 9, 2021 Captain Beefheart was an influence on Max Webster. Both Kim Mitchell and Pye Dubois have admitted this in interviews. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toymaker Posted August 9, 2021 Share Posted August 9, 2021 Hey RushFanForever, does Dubois, in that book, by any chance explain what the hell the lyrics to "Battlescar" mean? Those lyrics are all over the place. "Found a Fist in an Empty Field." Gross. Always wondered what he did with it. Geddy does a pretty good job at making his parts sound cool. Page 216-17 of the book. "It's just a very simple anti-American song," answers Pye asked about the lyric. “Uncle Sam's time is only to grease the wheel. I think that's self-explanatory. OK, forgive me—for me it's self-explanatory. Uncle Sam is the United States, and 'Uncle Sam's time is only a greased wheel...' I don't know how you used the term, a greased wheel, but you've heard people say grease the wheel? You grease the palm, yeah, grease the wheels of commerce—it's blatantly anti-American. And 'bust the busters, screw the feeders,' well, why bust me if I have dope? Let's go bust them. You know? You know, the people that feeds me this cultural crap, they're the ones that need to be fed. etc. I mean, don't be busting me!" Thank you, RushFanForever. That helped a bit. I always wondered what Buster Keaton and Buster Crabbe had ever done to Max Webster. And the the "screw the feeders" part: What's wrong with nice people trying to feed the starving? Now I know what he actually meant! I always knew the "Uncle Sam's time..." was a negative thing about the United States. I think Dubois would like real Americans. Not the politicians or the corporation jerks. I'd still like to know what he did with that fist though. It's possible the fist in an empty field refers to those solidarity posters, like black power, that show a fist against an empty background, or "field" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geddyleegenes Posted August 10, 2021 Share Posted August 10, 2021 Hey RushFanForever, does Dubois, in that book, by any chance explain what the hell the lyrics to "Battlescar" mean? Those lyrics are all over the place. "Found a Fist in an Empty Field." Gross. Always wondered what he did with it. Geddy does a pretty good job at making his parts sound cool. Page 216-17 of the book. "It's just a very simple anti-American song," answers Pye asked about the lyric. “Uncle Sam's time is only to grease the wheel. I think that's self-explanatory. OK, forgive me—for me it's self-explanatory. Uncle Sam is the United States, and 'Uncle Sam's time is only a greased wheel...' I don't know how you used the term, a greased wheel, but you've heard people say grease the wheel? You grease the palm, yeah, grease the wheels of commerce—it's blatantly anti-American. And 'bust the busters, screw the feeders,' well, why bust me if I have dope? Let's go bust them. You know? You know, the people that feeds me this cultural crap, they're the ones that need to be fed. etc. I mean, don't be busting me!" Thank you, RushFanForever. That helped a bit. I always wondered what Buster Keaton and Buster Crabbe had ever done to Max Webster. And the the "screw the feeders" part: What's wrong with nice people trying to feed the starving? Now I know what he actually meant! I always knew the "Uncle Sam's time..." was a negative thing about the United States. I think Dubois would like real Americans. Not the politicians or the corporation jerks. I'd still like to know what he did with that fist though. It's possible the fist in an empty field refers to those solidarity posters, like black power, that show a fist against an empty background, or "field" Now that's a thought! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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