The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
Pressed Rat and Warthog have closed down their shop.
They didn't want to, 'twas all they had got.
Selling atonal apples, amplified heat,
And Pressed Rat's collection of dog legs and feet.
Sadly they left, telling no one goodbye.
Pressed Rat wre red jodhpurs, Warthog a striped tie.
Between them they carried a three-legged sack,
Went straight round the corner and never came back.
The bad captain madman had ordered their fate.
He laughed and stomped off with a nautical gate.
The gate turned into a deroga tree,
And his peg-leg got woodworm and broke into three.
Pressed Rat and Warthog have closed down their shop.
They didn't want to, 'twas all they had got.
Selling atonal apples, amplified heat,
And Pressed Rats collection of dog legs and feet.
They didn't want to, 'twas all they had got.
Selling atonal apples, amplified heat,
And Pressed Rat's collection of dog legs and feet.
Sadly they left, telling no one goodbye.
Pressed Rat wre red jodhpurs, Warthog a striped tie.
Between them they carried a three-legged sack,
Went straight round the corner and never came back.
The bad captain madman had ordered their fate.
He laughed and stomped off with a nautical gate.
The gate turned into a deroga tree,
And his peg-leg got woodworm and broke into three.
Pressed Rat and Warthog have closed down their shop.
They didn't want to, 'twas all they had got.
Selling atonal apples, amplified heat,
And Pressed Rats collection of dog legs and feet.
Lyrics submitted by weezerific:cutlery, edited by Wadehorse, dzenizo, artymowski
Pressed Rat and Warthog Lyrics as written by Peter Edward Baker
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Yes, CuteSparkina, I actually think you're close! This Cream tune was written by the drummer, Ginger Baker. Baker started playing in jazz bands before deciding to form Cream with Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce (the BEST idea Ginger ever had in his life!!!). Baker has been considered one of the greatest drummers of all-time (along with Buddy Rich, Keith Moon and John Bonham)... but definitely THE weirdest (yes, even stranger than Keith Moon!). Baker had a penchant for the BIZARRE, particularily when expressed in both ancient and foreign cultures. He wrote songs about Atlantis and stuff like that. I once watched a BBC documentary of his, filmed in the early 1970's. He was touring North Africa in a Jeep with a few buddies. They actually drove right across the Sahara Desert on a long trek from Algiers through Algeria, Niger and Nigeria. In the background, the soundtrack of the film featured the horns playing that "Pressed Rat and Warthog" tune over and over again. They eventually stopped in Lagos where they played an outdoor concert in the pouring rain. I can still picture the red-haired Baker, massive spliff hanging from the corner of his mouth, hammering out a lengthly drum solo with several half-naked African dancers shaking their hips to the rapid trip-pul-ette beat of the percussion. Yup, that's Ginger!
This song at first seems like an amuusing fairy tale type of thing. like many great songs, i suppose it could have many meanings to many different people. the main characters are pressed rat and warthog. two fanciful creatures to be sure. it's preceded by "as you said" and followed by "politician" on the Wheels of Fire album. here's what i think...
Pressed Rat and Warthog have closed down their shop, They didn't want to - 'twas all they had got. pressed rat conjures an image of a flat evil rat that was squished under the tires of a passing vehicle (a tank maybe) or something. he might be a creature that represents the media. don't you feel sorry for him? they will do anything for money you know and look quite disgusting to anyone that bothers to look at them. rat's partner warthog might represent colonialsim or possibly the nobility or the finacial establishment (dipshit bankers). regardless, they are friends and in business together and are being forced (they didn't want to) to close down their shop (boo hoo). not sure if they are sleeping together in the same bed, but they might have been.
Selling atonal apples, amplified heat, And Pressed Rat's collection of dog legs and feet. apples are the biblical fruit of knowledge and any noble, banker or churchman will know that. atonal means (i think) church dogma or some kind of monotone fruit of knowledge - whatever they want you to belive. amplified heat -- i take to mean something that is hot that is made even hotter -- hell for example - what they want you to believe. dog legs -- not sure about you, but i pity those poor dogs that ended up having their legs ripped off by the press. feet, well not quite so bad but still painful in the extreme.
Sadly they left, telling no one goodbye. yes, of course they didn't tell anyone goodbye. that would raise quite a few questions i should think. no doubt they were sad, giving up their profits.
Pressed Rat wore red jodhpurs - Warthog a striped tie. these strange creatures dressed like humans! how wierd is that? jodhpurs are from the colony of india or se asia i think and the media was making people think whatever the financial folks wanted them to... striped tie is a very normal thing for a banker or person of nobility might wear.
Between them, they carried a three-legged sack, this is a very heavy sack (containing gonads and all) and obviously needs three legs to even be carried. could be a huge pile of dough (gold, bootie, whatever).
Went straight round the corner and never came back. they are still there though. you just might not be able to see them. oh don't worry though -- they are truly gone for good children (cough)
Pressed Rat and Warthog have closed down their shop. yeah, they are gone for sure so don't even worry for a minute.
The bad captain madman had told them to stop the people won't put up with them, so it doesn't make financial sense to stay in business. so this evil military man made them stop. even though your cousin is in the army, they are still evil snicker and made the two cute lil animals close up their shop. nothing wrong with that unless you are a banker/noble or child of a banker/noble..
Selling atonal apples, amplified heat, And pressed rat's collection of dog legs and feet. oh that again.
The bad captain madman had ordered their fate. yep, it's all that bad captain madman's fault -- also part of the big plan (we are in good hands). He laughed and stomped off with a nautical gate. sailed off he did. i can just picture him laughing all the way to the bank on his yacht.
The gate turned into a deroga tree well no one likes this typo, but so what?! we are only human after all...
And his pegleg got woodworm and broke into three. oh no! whatever shall the captain do now. not to worry, he's got three legs now (see above). woodworm is just what happens if you don't take care of business properly after all...
Pressed Rat and Warthog have closed down their shop, They didn't want to - 'twas all they had got. Selling atonal apples, amplified heat, And Pressed Rat's collection of dog legs and feet. yeppers, same ol same ol...
great song that was composed during the late 60's - vietnam era -- and i think hit home with lots of folks. vietnam wasn't an isolated case of colonialism. still going on in africa -- home of the ugly warthog...
this song inspired me to open an account on this forum. just putting my thoughts out there and exercising my freedom of speech you kinow. typical heavy cream...
been thinking about the pressed rat some more. pressed indicates that he was carefully squished. as in firmly with a hot iron.
great song, although i doubt it has much of a deep meaning. sounds a little too crazy to me to be meaningful.
Much Credit to kush64 for the interpretation of Pressed Rat and Warthog. It's certainly plausable but I think Cutesparkina and RayMan are on target. The "Wind in the Willows on acid" is great and comes very close to my impression of the song. When you add the great stories about Ginger Baker (never knew a lot about him but had heard about him roaming in Africa) it helps give some context to a narration about the demise of a very strange and surrealistic business venture.
Someone comment on what the hell this song means, because I have no idea.
@ClicK
@ClicK Well worthog and pressed rat were pressured by the bad captain madman to close down their shop, remember he told them to stop selling atonal apples and amplified heat and the collection of dog legs and feet. The bad captain madman stomped off after telling them to close down shop. Remember the gate became a deroga tree (which deroga trees do not exist) and his peg leg got woodworm from the deroga tree and broke into three. Now going back to the beginning of the song when pressed rat and worthog walked off with a three legged sack. One can only assume that pressed rat and worthog murdered the bad captain madman , put him in a sack that looked like it had three legs hense the leg that broke into three.... they went straight round the corner and never came back. So i think pressed rat and worthog murdered the bad captain madman for making them shut down their business. All this was written and composed by Ginger Baker while he apparently was tripping out on LSD or a combination of LSD and cocaine, which was a concoction he was known to inject from time to time. That in itself would make anyone hallucinate a rat wearing a striped tie and a hog wearing red jodhpurs.
No idea either but I love it! Nice bit of fantasy / craziness.
I think it's a parody of nursery songs or children's stories. Children's fantasy with a psychedelic twist. Think THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS on acid
ever wonder why artists have to speak in riddles?
@kush64 No. <br /> If they spoke in plain language and explained everything it wouldn't be very artsy.
@kush64 They don\'t always - Rush have sometimes written pretty clear lyrics, for example.
yes of course. mindless babbling...