Captain Beefheart: ‘Bob Dylan impresses me as much as a slug’
While Captain Beefheart and Bob Dylan may initially seem to hail from different musical realms, they share striking similarities. Don Van Vliet and Robert Zimmerman, despite their apparent differences, are cut from aesthetically similar cloth. United by a mutual appreciation for blues luminaries like Howlin’ Wolf, they are bound not only by their chosen aliases but also by an intricate fusion of audio and visual artistry.
On a more forensic level, you might even say that the two were kindred spirits. Both were born in the first half of 1941 and given their other similarities – including an overall dedication to surrealism – this wholly coincidental fact becomes more significant in light of our human propensity to find narratives when they’re not really there.
Given that both Beefheart and Dylan stand out as two of the most distinguished artists of their era, it’s unsurprising that they were attuned to each other’s work. Dylan, through his surreal broadcast Theme Time Radio Hour, demonstrated this awareness by featuring two tracks by Captain Beefheart. ‘Click Clack’ graced the ‘More Trains’ episode in season one, while ‘Ice Cream for Crow’ made its presence felt in season two’s instalment titled ‘Birds’.
After playing the latter, Dylan drafted in another prominent fan of Beefheart, The Simpsons creator Matt Groening, to describe the significance of the Glendale native. Before the famed cartoonist delved into exactly why Van Vliet is so exceptional, though, Dylan went on one of his customary monologues for Theme Time and explained why he picked the Captain Beefheart track and, in line with the episode’s theme, what a corvid is.
Dylan said: “Mel Blanc did a million voices, but our next artist just did one, but it’s heck of a voice. Don Van Vliet was born in Glendale, California. He stopped performing in the ’80s and focused on his painting. He was a really good painter, but I wish he made more records. This song is about a frozen treat and a corvid. Wanna know what a corvid is? It’s a type of bird. Crows, ravens, jays, and magpies are all corvids, and they are some of the most intelligent of all the birds. Here’s a song that goes as straight as the crow flies.”
On the other hand, Captain Beefheart’s appraisal of Dylan was more complicated. In 1974, he praised that year’s curious hit album Planet Waves and his earlier material: “I really like Dylan’s new album. I mean, I think that is the most representative Dylan album there is. You know that song ‘I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight’? Incredible. Really advanced music.”
However, in 1980, when Beefheart was asked what music he was listening to at the time, he went on a strange tangent about Dylan, where he said the Duluth troubadour impressed him as much as a “slug”.
Even by his peculiar standards, this was incomprehensible. The moustachioed musician said: “I don’t listen to nothin’ – I don’t need to. Bob Dylan impresses me about as much as.. well, I was gonna say a slug but I like slugs. ‘You gotta serve somebody’ – shit, trash poetry. Too much LSD. You know, they usually do that – they go right up to Jesus. What about Buddha? He seems like a lot more fun.”
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