This may be the most obscure song unearthed and included in the nine volumes of 2017 "Best of...." compilations. Ehresman originally wrote and recorded the song in 1995 for inclusion on his solo album "The Blue Shoat Special!" (1996). The song was written about a scandal at the Texas Water Commission where business interests once again trumped the public interest, this time regarding farming of exotic shrimp infested with non-indigenous harmful nematodes. High-dollar influence brought to bear from Taiwan was reputedly behind the whole thing, according to the news stories.
Flash forward a few years to recording of the second Snipe Hunt album (and the last as a four-piece). One day in the studio, bassist Scott Brannock said he had always liked "The Alien Nematode" and wanted the band to try recording it using only cliche's associated with the Canadian band Rush. The idea sounded just weird enough to capture the disintegrating band's interests, and they started in on the recording that very night. "It should be noted", Ehresman recalls, "that the vocals would have been more Geddy Lee-like had there not been about 20 minutes of sound-checks to get the levels, etc. right in the studio. There's only so long one can sing like early Geddy (what with the Vise-Grips on the scrotum and all.....)." Enough of Ehresman's voice remained intact to do a credible version of mid-period Geddy for the song's break section. And, for no discernable reason, the song's coda is done using an ELP cliche'. Res ipsa loquitur.
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 The Best of.......Hard Rockers,
released May 1, 2017
Snipe Hunt--Walter Ehresman: Canadian vocals, 12-string acoustic guitar, mandolin, MIDI guitar, keyboards, electronic drum pads; Vic Ramirez: electric guitar; Scott Brannock--bass; Pat Devaney: kit drums.
Called "the quintessential Austin DIY artist" by famed local disc jockey Charlie Martin , Walter Ehresman was an eccentric
presence in the Austin music scene from the '80s until his 2015 move to Mexico. A prolific songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and recording artist...and a restless musical spirit, always looking for something new, expressed with fearlessly honest, socially-conscious lyrics....more
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