Brickbats were a word for insults or slanders. It is a metaphorical use of earlier brickbats which were brick bits or chipped off parts of bricks that people would throw in riots, etc. No doubt the innovator and bohemian Beefheart had faced his share of slander and hard insults. Here he plays with the word to turn them into bats flying about the interior of a Gothic landscape. While playful, it may also show that insults and rumors take on a life of their own, and can become a veritable horror.
Brickbats were a word for insults or slanders. It is a metaphorical use of earlier brickbats which were brick bits or chipped off parts of bricks that people would throw in riots, etc. No doubt the innovator and bohemian Beefheart had faced his share of slander and hard insults. Here he plays with the word to turn them into bats flying about the interior of a Gothic landscape. While playful, it may also show that insults and rumors take on a life of their own, and can become a veritable horror.