Pynchon Music: Eric Blowtorch
- At January 10, 2021
- By Spermatikos Logos
- In Pynchon, The Modern Word
0
The Bruce Springsteen of Reggae
Eric Beaumont
Eric Beaumont a/k/a “Eric Blowtorch” of Milwaukee, WI, has put music to two Pynchon songs from Gravity’s Rainbow, one of which appears as the second of three ghost tracks at the end of a compilation CD called Workman’s Comp.
Tracks:
001 babyhead – beaver song
002 ka – gossamer
003 competitorr – why keep them happy?
004 the blue tips – untouchable
005 bamm bamm – surf song
006 the stranjah and dr. dig – the stranjah and dr. dig
007 eracism – big guy
008 killingtheoldman – idle handed
009 g13 – trolling for olives
010 box car – she thinks I hate her
011 tinker – chanukah begins at sundown
012 jeffrobinson starship – stacie on the stage
013 the no – flowers
014 dan hanrahan – life’s a lonely feeling
015 igloo – eternal grey
016 ablo diablos – shiphand
017 eric blowtorch and the revelation rockers – save your tears
018 the rev kings – instrumental #10
019 the virgins – hockey
020 highball holiday – ignorance
021 lee – instrumental
001 babyhead – beaver song
002 ka – gossamer
003 competitorr – why keep them happy?
004 the blue tips – untouchable
005 bamm bamm – surf song
006 the stranjah and dr. dig – the stranjah and dr. dig
007 eracism – big guy
008 killingtheoldman – idle handed
009 g13 – trolling for olives
010 box car – she thinks I hate her
011 tinker – chanukah begins at sundown
012 jeffrobinson starship – stacie on the stage
013 the no – flowers
014 dan hanrahan – life’s a lonely feeling
015 igloo – eternal grey
016 ablo diablos – shiphand
017 eric blowtorch and the revelation rockers – save your tears
018 the rev kings – instrumental #10
019 the virgins – hockey
020 highball holiday – ignorance
021 lee – instrumental
Describing the Pynchon sources of the songs, Eric says: “The one on Workman’s Comp I call ‘Now and Then.’ It’s the one that starts ‘Last week I threw a pie at someone’s momma, last night I threw a party for my mind…’ The one that’s not yet published I call ‘Song from the Saturation Zone.’ It starts, ‘Oh, don’t let it get you, it will if they let you, but there’s something I’ll bet you can’t see…'”
Opening his song ‘Now and Then,’ Eric sings in an almost childlike vocal style reminiscent of David Byrne at his most satirical, but his range of influences is broad and the song sounds almost like The Cure near the end of the first verse. The first verse does stand apart from the second one, but both end with similar guitar sounds. They are separated by what can only be described as a musical ‘crash,’ with Eric’s voice sounding quite sad before the transition occurs. As the second verse begins, there is a heavy discordant guitar backbeat which echoes a slightly out of tune vocal stylization at the start of the first verse. In the second verse, Eric’s vocal style is much warmer, and the guitar sounds remain consistent. Throughout the song they are vaguely Latin acoustic-electric and reminded me of some strains wafting out from a lost nightclub in a David Lynch film. And I mean that as a compliment… But in the end, Eric’s Pynchon song is stylistically unique and almost impossible to peg to one musical style. It shows great compositional skill and a tremendous sensitivity to what Pynchon was trying to say. It amplifies his meaning to a far greater extent than what one gets from just reading some printed words on a page.
Describing his career, Eric says:
I’ve played in Milwaukee, Madison, Chicago, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco, and London. Leading various bands I’ve opened for Billy Bragg, Paul Cebar and the Milwaukeeans, del amitri, Diblo Dibala and Matchatcha, Dr. Madd Vibe, and The Skatalites. Solo I’ve opened for Alternative TV, Dan Hicks, the Jazz Butcher, and, uh, the U.K. Subs, among others. In my recordings I’ve collaborated with Jamaican musicians like Duckie Simpson (Black Uhuru), Bagga Walker (Studio 1, Sound Dimension), Marcus ‘Rangatan’ Smith (Black Uhuru) Keith Sterling (everybody), Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd (Studio 1), and the late Roland Alphonso (Skatalites), and Milwaukee musicians including Shahanna McKinney (Highball Holiday), the Blue Tips, Dan Hanrahan, Paul Cebar, Paul Finger (Wild Kingdom), Danny Dan Fernandez (International Jet Set), the Thousandaires, Recycled Future, and others.
Pynchon Sources
Last week I threw a pie at someone’s Momma,
Last night I threw a party for my mind,
Last thing I knew that 6:02 was screamin’ over my head,
Or it might’ve been th’ 11:59…
[Refrain]:
Too many chain-link fences in the evening,
Too many people shiverin’ in the rain,
They tell me that you finally got around to have your baby,
And it don’t look like I’ll see your face again.
Sometimes I wanna go back north, to Humboldt County–
Sometimes I think I’ll go back to east, to see my kin…
There’s times I think I almost could be happy,
If I knew you thought about me, now and then…
—Gravity’s Rainbow, p. 862, Bantam
Last night I threw a party for my mind,
Last thing I knew that 6:02 was screamin’ over my head,
Or it might’ve been th’ 11:59…
[Refrain]:
Too many chain-link fences in the evening,
Too many people shiverin’ in the rain,
They tell me that you finally got around to have your baby,
And it don’t look like I’ll see your face again.
Sometimes I wanna go back north, to Humboldt County–
Sometimes I think I’ll go back to east, to see my kin…
There’s times I think I almost could be happy,
If I knew you thought about me, now and then…
—Gravity’s Rainbow, p. 862, Bantam
Oh don’t let it get you,
It will if they let you, but there’s
Something I’ll bet you can’t see-
It’s big and it’s nasty and its right over there,
It’s waiting to get its sticky claws in your hair!
Oh, the greengrocer’s wishing on a rainbow today
And the dustman is tying his tie…
And it all goes along to the same jolly song,
With a peppermint face in the sky!
With a peppermint face in the sky-y.
And a withered old dream in your heart,
You’ll get hit with a piece of the pie-ie,
With the pantomime ready to start!
Oh, the Tommy is sleeping in a snowbank tonight,
And the Jerries are learning to fly-
We can fly to the moon, we’ll be higher than noon,
In our polythene home in the sky….
Pretty polythene home in the sky,
Pretty platinum pins in your hand-
Oh your mother’s a big fat machine gun,
And your father’s a dreary young man….
(Whispered and staccato):
Oh, the, man-a-ger’s suck-ing on a corn-cob pipe,
And the bank-ers are, eat-ing their, wives,
All the world’s in a daze, while the orchestra plays,
So turn your pockets and get your surprise-
Turn your pockets and get-your surpri-ise,
There was nobody there af-ter all!
And the lamps up the stairways are dying,
It’s the season just after the ball…
Oh the palm-trees whisper on the beach somewhere,
And the lifesaver’s heaving a sigh,
And those voices you hear, Boy and Girl of the Year,
Are of children who are learning to die….
—Gravity’s Rainbow p. 204, Bantam
It will if they let you, but there’s
Something I’ll bet you can’t see-
It’s big and it’s nasty and its right over there,
It’s waiting to get its sticky claws in your hair!
Oh, the greengrocer’s wishing on a rainbow today
And the dustman is tying his tie…
And it all goes along to the same jolly song,
With a peppermint face in the sky!
With a peppermint face in the sky-y.
And a withered old dream in your heart,
You’ll get hit with a piece of the pie-ie,
With the pantomime ready to start!
Oh, the Tommy is sleeping in a snowbank tonight,
And the Jerries are learning to fly-
We can fly to the moon, we’ll be higher than noon,
In our polythene home in the sky….
Pretty polythene home in the sky,
Pretty platinum pins in your hand-
Oh your mother’s a big fat machine gun,
And your father’s a dreary young man….
(Whispered and staccato):
Oh, the, man-a-ger’s suck-ing on a corn-cob pipe,
And the bank-ers are, eat-ing their, wives,
All the world’s in a daze, while the orchestra plays,
So turn your pockets and get your surprise-
Turn your pockets and get-your surpri-ise,
There was nobody there af-ter all!
And the lamps up the stairways are dying,
It’s the season just after the ball…
Oh the palm-trees whisper on the beach somewhere,
And the lifesaver’s heaving a sigh,
And those voices you hear, Boy and Girl of the Year,
Are of children who are learning to die….
—Gravity’s Rainbow p. 204, Bantam
Additional Information
Eric “Blowtorch” Beaumont’s Facebook Page — You can learn more about Eric’s music on his Facebook Page.
Eric “Blowtorch” Beaumont Discog Page — Collects album covers and information on Eric’s releases.
Interview with Eric “Blowtorch” Beaumont — From “Faces of Success” Radio
Books:
Brickboyz/Splunge Communications, 2017
Pynchon on Record
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Author: Dr Larry Daw
Last Modified: 31 August 2024
Back to: Pynchon on Record
Main Pynchon Page: Spermatikos Logos
Contact: quail(at)shipwrecklibrary(dot)com
Last Modified: 31 August 2024
Back to: Pynchon on Record
Main Pynchon Page: Spermatikos Logos
Contact: quail(at)shipwrecklibrary(dot)com