Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band

Sweet Sweet Bulbs

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Sweet Sweet Bulbs Lyrics

Sweet sweet sweet sweet bulbs grow in m' latest garden
Warm warm warm warm warm sun fingers wave
In m' latest garden
Flowers dance their faces brave
Come talk freely in the garden of m' lady
Her hominy smile her hominy snatch
Only uh crow would peck
n' uh chicken would scratch
Her lips turned up t' kiss
I see yuh Phoebe baby in yer bonnet
With the sunset written on it
'n the shadow of uh tree
Curled around yuh knee in color
n' just behind yuh was the sea of negativity
Tinklin' like mercury in the wind
Her feet kept by the ground her toes bare brown
Her carriage she'd abandoned like uh hand-me-down
She walked back into nature uh queen uncrowned
She had just recognised herself
To be an heir t' the throne
Her garden gate swings lightly without weight
Open t' most anyone that needs uh little freedom
For God's sake
O' come as many as you can
In dark or light you're free t' grow as flowers
Share her throne 'n use her toothbrush
'n spend some interesting hours

Submitted by

doncaballero On Apr 02, 2005

Big Eyed Beans from Venus

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DonCaballero

Submitter

2005-04-02 03:31:18

3 Meanings

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by Armitage Shanks

17y ago

I can't believe no one has commented yet. This is one of beefhearts best songs, in fact maybe the best???

The garden of the song represents eden or a similar paradise, and everything outside the garden is full of sin and anguish. The song is pleading that people join the narrator in the garden paradise, instead of residing in the "sea of negativity".

Beautiful song.

My Interpretation

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by iThinkMaybe

7y ago

A few notes:

The repetition throughout the first verse is very evocative. Not only the repeated words ("Sweet, sweet..." and "Warm, warm...") but also repeated vowels: the long 'a' in "latest," "wave," "latest," "faces," and "brave." Also the repeated consonant 'r,' especially 'ar': "grow," "garden," "warm," "fingers," "their," and "brave"-- nearly half of the words in the entire verse.
In the second verse "hominy" is a play on 'hominy,' meaning corn kernels prepared as food (traditionally eaten by native Americans of course, and maybe reminiscent of Thanksgiving) as well as 'homine' which is a variation of 'homo,' latin for 'man' or 'human.'
Phoebe is a Greek name meaning "radiant, shining one." It was an epithet used to refer to Artemis, goddess of wilderness, wild animals and the moon. It corresponds to the male name Phoebus, which was an epithet for Apollo, the god of light and also Artemis' twin brother. Phoebe was also an early Christian deacon known for being a 'prostatis' to early Christians (a female guardian, protectoress or patroness; generally one who cares for others and offers her resources for them to share).

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by iThinkMaybe 7y ago

I posted by accident before I was done writing.. somehow twice. Here's a few things I wanted to add.

A phoebe is a bird common to California and the wider US. “… only a crow would peck/ and a chicken would scratch/ her lips turned up to kiss/ I see ya Phoebe baby in your bonnet/ with the sunset written on it/ in the shadow of a tree.” Phoebe is contrasted with the pecking crow and the scratching chicken, perhaps with her “ lips turned up to kiss.” The sunset colored Says phoebe might have been particularly familiar for van Vliet: they are prevalent in the arid southwestern U.S., where van Vliet spent much of his life, and also are found seasonally in California. Also a phoebe baby bonnet is a popular type of bonnet that babies wear.

“I see ya Phoebe baby in your bonnet/ with the sunset written on it” is a striking and affective line A powerful way to introduce the darkness and drama which obsesses this part of the song. The first three verses are free from any hint of darkness or trouble. But the six consecutive lines that follow introduce and focus solely on looming darkness and negativity, an almost predatory, serpentine force, which endangers the sweet and innocent Phoebe baby. There are easy parallels to draw here to the garden of Eden: so far the song describes only a garden paradise, until the sudden introduction of “in the shadow of a tree/ curled around her knee in color/ just behind ya was a sea of negativity.”

Mercury is really toxic. It's also used for fuel in fluorescent light bulbs. Fluorescent lightbulbs are an antithesis to sweet, sweet bulbs, and everything else that is garden-like and decent about life.

“Lips turned up to kiss” also makes sense as the garden’s lips, turned up to kiss. This means that Phoebe is introduced more dramatically, in a place of uncertainty and endangered, totally passive. Not yet a “queen uncrowned.”

Phoebe’s bonnet is suggestive of a baby bonnet. The sunset written on it symbolizes mortality, foreshadowing, creating conflict, drama. Every image prior has only suggested fertility, germination and growth. Phoebe under the shadow of the tree is reminiscent of Eve, beneath the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Like Eve, she's presented with, or confronted by, evil (in the shadow of the tree “wrapped” serpent-like around her knee) and she must make a choice. Unlike Eve, though, who’s fate was exile from the garden, Phoebe's is a return, triumphant, back to the garden. Nature’s queen uncrowned. The “gate swings lightly without weight;/ open to most any one that needs a little freedom,/ for God’s sake, come/ as many as you can.” Eve's hand-me-down to humanity was more or less shame and sin for all eternity. Phoebe's a beacon and a queen of freedom. Phoebe Baby is more ore less anti-Eve.

I posted by accident before I was done writing.. somehow twice. Here's a few things I wanted to add.

- A phoebe is a bird common to California and the wider US.
“… only a crow would peck/ and a chicken would scratch/ her lips turned up to kiss/ I see ya Phoebe baby in your bonnet/ with the sunset written on it/ in the shadow of a tree.”  Phoebe is contrasted with the pecking crow and the scratching chicken, perhaps with her “ lips turned up to kiss.”  The sunset colored Says phoebe might have been particularly familiar for van Vliet: they are prevalent in the arid southwestern U.S., where van Vliet spent much of his life, and also are found seasonally in California. 
   Also a phoebe baby bonnet is a popular type of bonnet that babies wear.

- “I see ya Phoebe baby in your bonnet/ with the sunset written on it” is a striking and affective line A powerful way to introduce the darkness and drama which obsesses this part of the song. The first three verses are free from any hint of darkness or trouble.
   But the six consecutive lines that follow introduce and focus solely on looming darkness and negativity, an almost predatory, serpentine force, which endangers the sweet and innocent Phoebe baby. There are easy parallels to draw here to the garden of Eden: so far the song describes only a garden paradise, until the sudden introduction of “in the shadow of a tree/ curled around her knee in color/ just behind ya was a sea of negativity.”

- Mercury is really toxic. It's also used for fuel in fluorescent light bulbs. Fluorescent lightbulbs are an antithesis to sweet, sweet bulbs, and everything else that is garden-like and decent about life.

- “Lips turned up to kiss” also makes sense as the garden’s lips, turned up to kiss. This means that Phoebe is introduced more dramatically, in a place of uncertainty and endangered, totally passive. Not yet a “queen uncrowned.”

- Phoebe’s bonnet is suggestive of a baby bonnet. The sunset written on it symbolizes mortality, foreshadowing, creating conflict, drama. Every image prior has only suggested fertility, germination and growth. 
   Phoebe under the shadow of the tree is reminiscent of Eve, beneath the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Like Eve, she's presented with, or confronted by, evil (in the shadow of the tree “wrapped” serpent-like around her knee) and she must make a choice.
   Unlike Eve, though, who’s fate was exile from the garden, Phoebe's is a return, triumphant, back to the garden. Nature’s queen uncrowned. The “gate swings lightly without weight;/ open to most any one that needs a little freedom,/ for God’s sake, come/ as many as you can.” Eve's hand-me-down to humanity was more or less shame and sin for all eternity. Phoebe's a beacon and a queen of freedom. Phoebe Baby is more ore less anti-Eve.

Reason:

by iThinkMaybe

7y ago

A few notes:

The repetition throughout the first verse is very evocative. Not only the repeated words ("Sweet, sweet..." and "Warm, warm...") but also repeated vowels: the long 'a' in "latest," "wave," "latest," "faces," and "brave." Also the repeated consonant 'r,' especially 'ar': "grow," "garden," "warm," "fingers," "their," and "brave"-- nearly half of the words in the entire verse.
In the second verse "hominy" is a play on 'hominy,' meaning corn kernels prepared as food (traditionally eaten by native Americans of course, and maybe reminiscent of Thanksgiving) as well as 'homine' which is a variation of 'homo,' latin for 'man' or 'human.'
Phoebe is a Greek name meaning "radiant, shining one." It was an epithet used to refer to Artemis, goddess of wilderness, wild animals and the moon. It corresponds to the male name Phoebus, which was an epithet for Apollo, the god of light and also Artemis' twin brother. Phoebe was also an early Christian deacon known for being a 'prostatis' to early Christians (a female guardian, protectoress or patroness; generally one who cares for others and offers her resources for them to share).

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