Quite a few lazy thinkers when it comes to Beefheart, I've noticed. His lyrics are not abstract meanderings. That's like saying his music doesn't make sense. It all makes sense, it just requires a small degree of effort, like much of the best poetry.
This particular song sounds like it's about one of the many "free thinking" cults that were prevalent in Los Angeles in the sixties. I wouldn't be surprised if this was about scientology, but it could be about any number of free love cults that were floating around back then.
Google "yellow brick road" and "mind control" and see what you come up with. The 1-2-3-4-5 is significant as well. After doing some reading on that stuff, go back and re-read the lyrics and consider that it was written in 1966 by a guy who had conversations with every kind of wacko in Cali that you can imagine ..
Quite a few lazy thinkers when it comes to Beefheart, I've noticed. His lyrics are not abstract meanderings. That's like saying his music doesn't make sense. It all makes sense, it just requires a small degree of effort, like much of the best poetry.
This particular song sounds like it's about one of the many "free thinking" cults that were prevalent in Los Angeles in the sixties. I wouldn't be surprised if this was about scientology, but it could be about any number of free love cults that were floating around back then.
Google "yellow brick road" and "mind control" and see what you come up with. The 1-2-3-4-5 is significant as well. After doing some reading on that stuff, go back and re-read the lyrics and consider that it was written in 1966 by a guy who had conversations with every kind of wacko in Cali that you can imagine ..