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I Have The Body Of John Wilkes Booth Lyrics
Like Marlon Brando, but bigger.
You'll find that creature at the bottom of the deep down Susquehanna River.
This one I had stood right on up to me,
Tore out his hook and declared himself a prodigy.
But oh no, fishing ain't what it used to be.
I've seen some bad years, but this one is just killing me.
One little nibble in thirteen years,
I really pack 'em in.
This one I had, I seen it in dreams,
All shacked up with lightning and horizon beams.
Well I bring 'em on up, and then I pack 'em on in
In all the places I've been,
And I swear it's never been like this before,
Least not since 19 and 44.
But today, I made a sick discovery,
Lead box in Sassafras Cove.
Well I brought him on up and then I packed him on in, oh yes,
Now I'm really cashing in.
Wash of the Chesapeake and Appalachian Blue Range,
I have discovered the body of John Wilkes Booth.
Yes, it's true, I have Mr. Booth.
Everybody got to make a living somehow.
Do I hear a million?
Well I bring 'em on up and then I pack 'em on in.
You'll find that creature at the bottom of the deep down Susquehanna River.
This one I had stood right on up to me,
Tore out his hook and declared himself a prodigy.
But oh no, fishing ain't what it used to be.
I've seen some bad years, but this one is just killing me.
One little nibble in thirteen years,
I really pack 'em in.
This one I had, I seen it in dreams,
All shacked up with lightning and horizon beams.
In all the places I've been,
And I swear it's never been like this before,
Least not since 19 and 44.
But today, I made a sick discovery,
Lead box in Sassafras Cove.
Well I brought him on up and then I packed him on in, oh yes,
Now I'm really cashing in.
I have discovered the body of John Wilkes Booth.
Yes, it's true, I have Mr. Booth.
Everybody got to make a living somehow.
Do I hear a million?
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The overall meaning to this song seems to me to be someone learning how to profit from a past, shamful action, something that person may not be responsible for, yet still carrys guilt/shame from. I say this because Clutch, especially on the Elephant Riders album, but also on the S/T, play extensivly on North/South dynamics. This is effective because, as marylanders, they reside on the border of America's traditional divide ("in the north they call us rebels, in the south they call us yankees"). I think the fisherman finding Booth's body and selling it symbolizes the south taking a hold of it's greatest shame (in the person of Booth, America's most famous assasian) and saying 'fuck it, I'm not going to keep saying sorry for the past.' It also seems fairly typical of neil that Booth was found on the Susquehanna, part of the traditional south, but not part of the old confederacy.
From Wikipedia...
An early popularizer of "Booth Escaped" theories was Finis L. Bates who claimed to have met Booth in Granbury, Texas in the 1870s and later to have taken possession of Booth's body after his suicide in Enid, Oklahoma in 1903. He toured the mummified body in carnival sideshows and wrote The Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth (1908) in order to authenticate the mummy.
I love this fucking song!!! This is very possibly my favorite Clutch song. I laughed my ass off the first time I heard the part about Marlon Brando...classic! As far as I can tell this song is about desparation. The guy in the song has been having extremely bad luck and he happens to stumble across something of potential value, in this case the corpse of a notorious assassin. Even though he knows it's fucked up, he puts the body up for auction, knowing that someone will pay good money for it. How wonderfully morbid. I'm sure this song is probably a stab at the music industry or possibly just society in general. It doesn't matter what it's really about anyway because this song just rocks. That's all I have to say about that.
This songs is obviously about this song being bigger then Marlon Brando.
Fuck me... This is Stoner Rock at its highest with a glass of mushroom tea. The song is bigger then Marlon Brando s fat ass... Lol
i think about this song when i'm doing really good drugs
a fisherman who discovers the corpse of Lincoln's assassin in the Susquehanna River, and puts it on Ebay (lol)
HAAHAAAAAHHHAAAHAAA. holy ing hell this is a realy funny song i up almost every time i hear it.
Great song, but the lyrics posted are incomplete.
Like Marlon Brando, but bigger You'll find that creature at the bottom of the deep down Susquehanna River. This one I had, it stood right on up to me, Tore out its hook and declared itself a prodigy. This one I had, it turned bright like the sun Twirled (turned?) around three times, and departed with the dove
But oh, no, fishing ain't what it used to be. I seen some bad years, but this one is just killing me. One little nibble in thirteen years, I really pack 'em in. This one I had, I seen it in dreams, All shacked up with lightning and horizon beams.
Well I bring 'em on up, and then I pack 'em all in, In all the places I been. And I swear, it's never been like this before, 'least not since 19-and-44. But today, I made a sick discovery, Lead box in Sassafras cove. Well I bring 'em on up, and then I pack 'em all in Oh yeah, I'm really cashing in.
Wash of the Chesapeake and Appalachian Blue Range, I have discovered the body of John Wilkes Booth! Yes, it's true, I have Mr. Booth. Everybody gotta make a livin' somehow...
Do I hear a million?
Yeah
Well, I bring 'em on up, and then I pack 'em all in And then I bring 'em on up, and then I pack 'em all in Well, I bring 'em on up, and then I pack 'em all in And then I bring 'em on up, and then I pack 'em all in
And then I pack 'em all in And then I pack 'em all in
Am I the only one who pictures Less Claypool as the fisherman in this song?