about
Also included is a final bonus track that is a real rarity by the four-piece version of the band. I had written and recorded a song called "The Alien Nematode" for my 1996 solo album The Blue Shoat Special!, and Snipe Hunt had performed it live once or twice. The song was about an incident I had read about concerning a Taiwanese company that wanted to farm eels on the Texas coast and allegedly used political influence to ram the environmental permit through when it was reported that the eels were infested with nematodes that were non-native to Texas waters and would become a problematic invasive species.
Yeah, I know, a weird subject for a song......
The first verse is a reference to that ugly moment when Shrub was elected governor of Texas, thus (of course) making it much easier for business interests to get what they wanted on environmental matters.
As we were recording the Dirty Ditties album, the bass player unexpectedly said one night "let's record a new version of 'The Alien Nematode', but using all Rush cliche's." That was such an off-the-wall idea that we set aside the other song we were going to record that night and instead dove into doing a radical reinvention of my song using what we considered to be the trademark elements of the Canadian band Rush throughout their long career.
We finished the whole song that night, and I can testify that my early-period Geddy Lee vocals might have been more persuasive had we not done so many re-takes. That's an awfully high falsetto......I had more luck with the mid-period Geddy vocals that I emulated in the middle section of the song. The outro steals from ELP for reasons that escape me now.
lyrics
The Alien Nematode
(© 1995 Walter Ehresman)
Well an ugly thing it happened,
last November 'round this block:
the soundbyte worked its miracle, and
we took it in the jock.
And the men who smile when others sweat
would surely do it without pay;
to strut the halls and pull the strings
and make us look the other way.
[chorus]
"A petition comes before us now"
The ecology will explode!
"But I think we're gonna have to let in the alien nematode."
"At 70 years old, I feel, that
my company and me
only need 8 years, no more than 10,
to ensure my pedigree."
"And when my snout raise from the trough,
and the spacious skies are gone--
I will sing 'My Country Tis of Thee'
and leave you to the things I've done."
[chorus]
The experts say it shouldn't come in:
parasitical overload!
"But I think we're gonna choose to let in the alien nematode."
It seems like its been centuries
since 2 and 2 made 4;
decision-maker kneepads crouch
at the foot of the gilded whore.
And if we can't distinguish
what it is from what it seems,
then we all deserve an iron lung
on this orbiting latrine.
[chorus]
The fish, the Gulf, the boats will die;
"But the check is in escrow."
So I think we better learn to love the alien nematode.
[break]
Well I look for spark behind their eyes, humanity or guilt or soul;
But their lizard lids, they do not blink--just two quicksand vacant holes.
Well, the critters they are here now,
and it seems that we'll adjust:
to play the gracious hosts for them
as we sit at the back of the bus;
And the Chairman and the nematodes
have no regrets, you see--they've
formed a symbiosis, and are
steaming for the China Sea.
[chorus]
The creatures swam right up inside
and made a comfy home;
Of the two of them, I pity most the alien nematode.
credits
from
9/99-2/00,
released March 1, 2000
Snipe Hunt:
Scott Brannock: bass; Walter Ehresman: Canadian vocals, 12-string acoustic guitar, mandolin, MIDI guitar, keyboards, electronic drum pads; Vic Ramirez: electric guitars; Pat Devaney: kit drums.
p. 2000 Brannock/Devaney/Ehresman/Ramirez
license
all rights reserved
