Original lyrics by Grace Slick. These lyrics are undoubtably inaccurate, but are just as accurate as the lyrics usually found on the web, which, if my information is correct, come from the lyric sheet of the original After Bathing at Baxter's LP. This version of the lyrics corrects some errors of that lyric sheet and perhaps introduces others. I'll update whenever I have what seems to be a more accurate version of such and such a line in the song. I welcome all comments.
Alternate lyrics: 1)The phrase I render as "Animal eyes" is usually rendered as "Amber light". This seems just as likely. 2) "The only Jew"...I always heard this as "The only two in the room", which I assumed meant Bloom and Molly, but "Jew" is too apt and provocative a lyric to be doubted.
Notes on the song: As most people know, the song is based on the novel Ulysses by James Joyce, with what looks like personal and political commentary by Slick. (Leopold) Bloom, his wife Molly, Stephen (Dedalus) and Blazes Boylan (a crush of Molly's) are characters from the novel. (Not having read the novel, I have no idea whose arm Stephen's got...or is it Molly who's got it?)
Saxon-sick: as sick as a Saxon, a Saxon or Sassanach being the epitome of crudeness to a Celt. The verse reputedly refers to Bloom's fondness for cunnilingus, the "holy dregs" being menstrual fluid.
"War's good business" : short form of a popular antiwar bumpersticker slogan that had just come into vogue at the time the song was written (1967?):" War is good business: invest your son." Exactly how this ties in with Ulysses is unclear, but Slick nails it to the wall and makes it sing.
@kirwar4face Saxon probably refers to Haines
"How long is Haines going to stay in this tower?
Buck Mulligan showed a shaven cheek over his right shoulder.
—God, isn’t he dreadful? he said frankly. A ponderous Saxon."
@kirwar4face Saxon probably refers to Haines
"How long is Haines going to stay in this tower?
Buck Mulligan showed a shaven cheek over his right shoulder.
—God, isn’t he dreadful? he said frankly. A ponderous Saxon."
Original lyrics by Grace Slick. These lyrics are undoubtably inaccurate, but are just as accurate as the lyrics usually found on the web, which, if my information is correct, come from the lyric sheet of the original After Bathing at Baxter's LP. This version of the lyrics corrects some errors of that lyric sheet and perhaps introduces others. I'll update whenever I have what seems to be a more accurate version of such and such a line in the song. I welcome all comments.
Alternate lyrics: 1)The phrase I render as "Animal eyes" is usually rendered as "Amber light". This seems just as likely. 2) "The only Jew"...I always heard this as "The only two in the room", which I assumed meant Bloom and Molly, but "Jew" is too apt and provocative a lyric to be doubted.
Notes on the song: As most people know, the song is based on the novel Ulysses by James Joyce, with what looks like personal and political commentary by Slick. (Leopold) Bloom, his wife Molly, Stephen (Dedalus) and Blazes Boylan (a crush of Molly's) are characters from the novel. (Not having read the novel, I have no idea whose arm Stephen's got...or is it Molly who's got it?)
Saxon-sick: as sick as a Saxon, a Saxon or Sassanach being the epitome of crudeness to a Celt. The verse reputedly refers to Bloom's fondness for cunnilingus, the "holy dregs" being menstrual fluid.
"War's good business" : short form of a popular antiwar bumpersticker slogan that had just come into vogue at the time the song was written (1967?):" War is good business: invest your son." Exactly how this ties in with Ulysses is unclear, but Slick nails it to the wall and makes it sing.
That's all I know about this song right now.
@kirwar4face Saxon probably refers to Haines "How long is Haines going to stay in this tower? Buck Mulligan showed a shaven cheek over his right shoulder. —God, isn’t he dreadful? he said frankly. A ponderous Saxon."
@kirwar4face Saxon probably refers to Haines "How long is Haines going to stay in this tower? Buck Mulligan showed a shaven cheek over his right shoulder. —God, isn’t he dreadful? he said frankly. A ponderous Saxon."