3-6-9, The Goose Drank Wine
Enter: The Devil, Radiohead, and Lil Jon
At some point in High School[1] on a car ride, my dearest Eddy, Eddy, showed me Tom Waits. I pretty much ignored this at the time. In those days, Eddy would often suggest things I wasn't ready for and it could take years for me to figure out what to do with any of it. He even tried to show me Bruce Springsteen, but I couldn't get by its gruff old-guy exterior and the music sounded old and dusty. He had also shown me The Dirty Projectors which at the time I rejected; That's like... what the hell, me?? That was like the most Chris music available in those days! And in the case of Tom Waits, my reaction was measured. From that car ride, I remember hearing "Anywhere I Lay My Head", the last track, which has nothing to do with the rest of this. Great song, though.
Years later when I finally wised up, I bought a copy of "Small Change" and "Rain Dogs" at Borders (RIP). This is not required reading for where we're going, but it feels important to say I was wrong and Eddy was right.
I was skeptical of Eddy's taste. The music that I wasn't skeptical about was (among other more distracting mars-volta-y things) Radiohead. I don't think I count as a super fan (I'd like to think I am one but I've seen my competition). For example, I don't know any song off "Pablo Honey" aside from "Creep". I really only know OK Computer onwards, which confirms I'm solidly a middle Millennial. Past OK Computer I won't NOT gush over any given track. In 2003, olds would refer to this as Radiohead's "bleeps and bloops" era and would say really dumb shit about computers and music: "There are no honest albums anymore", "It ruins the soul of the music", "Won't somebody please THINK of the children?" etc.
The olds of 2003 like the boring REM-guitar-band-stuff Radiohead was doing on The Bends. They also hated feeling old... as I hate it... kinda I guess? As a middle Millennial, I'm getting a taste of this. I hope to become irrelevant gracefully. Either way let's not forgive the Gen-Xers/Early Millennials for their now obvious sins against cross-over computer music for I was small and annoyed with them!! The other issue is the dads of 2003 liked guitar music; they liked it sooooo much that I almost don't like guitars and I especially get anxious around dads who like guitars[2]. Guitar dads can have a gate-keepy energy. I guess dads love nothing more than to correct your actions and pass down traditions, and other kid's dads were always telling me how to play and about how I should want to play the guitar. Neat; I get it. I was grateful that Radiohead could make so many dads unhappy at once. Challenge the guitar dads!! They exposed their weakness by caring about guitars too much and too publicly! The dads did it to themselves, just them, and that's why it really hurt[3]. And now we have a new era of non-guitar dads out there who def love Radiohead and are probably showing their kids Kid A and the cycle will begin anew. But enough about guitar dads.
The reason for all this setup is Track 2 off Amnesiac: Pyramid Song. Musically, it's so cool. It has this heavy Phrygian chord progression that makes it feel like the celestial sibling of Kid A's more claustrophobic Everything In Its Right Place. It has a lover-ly pulse to it: A lurching piano playing on counts of 3-3-4-3-3 which the drummer cuts straight across with a half-time triplet shuffle that's introduced in the crescendo of the song.
one measure??:
1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 1 2 3
two measures with chords:
F# F# GMaj7 A+13 A+13 A+13 GMaj7 GMaj7 G G
1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 1 2 3
tried to map out the drums but will do it later, promise
You'd play the chord on the one of each count. The chart isn't helping lol just go listen to it. Not to be (but to be) "goth" about it: The piano feels like a person trying to deliver an important message to you on their deathbed but they keep running out of breath mid-sentence and you desperately need to hear the end of what they are saying. Glued to every new word.
We actually aren't here to talk about the music though. We are hear for the lyrics[4]. Specifically this line:
"And we all went to heaven in a little row boat"
I'm not super lyrics-oriented, or I more mean it's fine by me if lyrics are secondary to the music. That said I do love the lyrics to this song and I love this line in particular. I'm also not a godly person, but rowing to heaven with 10-15 of my closest friends sounds like fun, even were it a one-way trip. [5] Thom Yorke's delivery is incredible to boot. He sings each line like he sees the full picture. He knows how to sell a lyric. This also feels true of the other Tom in this story: Mr. Waits. We should get back to him quick.
The song that unlocked the album "Rain Dogs" for me was the second track "Clap Hands". It is peak 80's Tom Waits. Tons of unconventional percussion; a guitar that sounds like it's at the far side of a warehouse being played by a rat-king[6]; and the smoky, diabolical sounding Tom W. right in your effing ear. Great song!! Again, we are here for the lyrics[7]:
"They all went to Heaven in a little row boat"
It's a creepy song. A quote of Mr. Waits taken from the Genius lyrics page:
"I just tried to imagine all these eh… these guys going up the A-train. All the millionaires in tuxedos shovelling all the coal into the… y'know? Everyone’s hanging out of the window, y'know? Just kind of a little… dark little… kind of a Ralph Steadman eh drawing."
But wait a second: Same lyric, two songs! What the hell is this reference? What am I not getting here? At this point should have googled the line like I did today, but instead I asked my mother what she thought of it. I remember playing her the songs, pointing out the lyrics, and she immediately recognized it from her childhood:
Shirley Ellis - The Clapping Song[8]
This song rules. It has instructions for a clap game you can do with your friends; a must-have resource for any introvert kid who finds time on the school bus excruciating. We need more songs with instructions for things in them. Throw in a recipe while you're at it!
Jumping back a step armed with this new information, we can now imagine Tom Waits's song being a gritty Edward-Gorey-like mashup of an innocent, though disturbing in its own right (poor dead monkey!), children's song with a bleak sending of how fucked New York City was in... whatever time period Mr. Waits thinks he's from. The street-car even gets a mention. Neat! Though we will deduct points for the lack of clapping game instructions.
Jumping further back, it seems obvious the lyrics must have been borrowed for the Radiohead song, whether from Waits or Ellis I cannot say. Apparently line is used here in reference to instructions from the Egyptian Book Of The Dead which mentions crossing a river when traveling to the Land Of The Dead. Cute! Turns out Pyramid Song was also largely influenced by Charles Mingus's "Freedom". Also neat! While the Book Of The Dead has instructions, this song doesn't so again, points off.
The inciting event that sent me down this rabbit hole: my friend V made me aware of the lyrics to Get Low by Lil Jon. A classic. I have heard this song many many times and I straight up never connected the "3-6-9, damn you fine" lyric with the rest of these songs. I started connecting dots aloud and V encouraged me to try to write it down.
The original draft of this was dripping with my insecurity regarding writing. I've made some mercy/tone edits now that sit better with me, but even with the original's cringe factor, I'm glad I wrote it as it had been as it got me on my way. There's even some edges I left in this that I don't know why they are there. I guess a year ago I was just anticipating the world coming at me. That is to say: thank you, V.
It was fun spotting this pattern. It was fun remembering spotting this pattern. It was nice to recall each link of the chain. I visited a lot of eras of myself in writing this. The first node on this graph pops into my awareness 20 years ago when I first heard "Pyramid Song" as a teen. Then 10 years after with Tom Waits and Shirley Ellis. Until now, when a friend gave me fresh eyes on "Get Low". I still have no idea what the 3-6-9 is about. If you know please tell me, because if left to my own devices I probably won't look into it for another 10 years.
~c
I didn't go to high school but everyone else did so it's simpler to say it that way. ↩︎
Quick note to Dad: Thank you for not particularly liking guitars. ↩︎
This is feeling more and more like a Xanga post circa a long time ago: Just By Radiohead ↩︎
↩︎I jumped in the river and what did I see? Black-eyed angels swam with me A moon full of stars and astral cars And all the figures I used to see All my lovers were there with me All my past and futures And we all went to heaven in a little row boat There was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt I jumped into the river Black-eyed angels swam with me A moon full of stars and astral cars And all the figures I used to see All my lovers were there with me All my past and futures And we all went to heaven in a little row boat There was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt There was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt There was nothing to fear and nothing to doubtI like my peeps; think "Millhouse is jumping off a bridge?! I'm there!" ↩︎
If you don't know what this is, I wouldn't google it. Just imagine something. ↩︎
↩︎Sane, sane, they're all insane The fireman's blind, the conductor's lame A Cincinnati jacket and a sad luck dame Hanging out the window with a bottle full of rain Clap hands Clap hands Clap hands Clap hands Said roar, roar the thunder and the roar Son of a bitch is never comin' back here no more Moon in the window and a bird on the pole We can always find a millionaire to shovel all the coal Clap hands Clap hands Clap hands Clap hands Said steam, steam, a hundred bad dreams Goin' up to Harlem with a pistol in his jeans A fifty dollar bill inside of Paladin's hat And nobody's sure where Mr. Knickerbocker's at Said roar, roar the thunder and the roar Son of a bitch is never comin' back here no more Moon in the window and a bird on the pole Always find a millionaire to shovel all the coal Clap hands Clap hands Clap hands Clap hands I said steam, steam, a hundred bad dreams Goin' up to Harlem with a pistol in his jeans A fifty dollar bill inside of Paladin's hat And nobody's sure where Mr. Knickerbocker's at Shine, shine a Roosevelt dime All the way to Baltimore and runnin' out of time The Salvation Army seemed to wind up in the hole They all went to Heaven in a little row boat Clap hands Clap hands Clap hands Clap hands Clap hands Clap hands Clap hands Clap hands Oh, clap hands Oh, clap hands Oh, clap hands Clap hands
↩︎Three, six, nine, the goose drank wine The monkey chewed tobacco on the streetcar line The line broke, the monkey got choked They all went to heaven in a little row-boat Clap-Pat Clap-Pat Clap-Pat Clap-Slap Clap-Pat: Clap your hand, pat it on your partner's hand (right hand) Clap-Pat: Clap your hand, cross it with your left arm, pat your partner's left palm Clap-Pat: Clap your hand, pat your partner's right palm with your right palm again Clap-Slap: Clap your hands, slap your thighs, and sing a little song; go: My mother told me If I was good-ee That she would buy me A rubber dolly My aunty told her I kissed a soldier Now she won't buy me A rubber dolly Three, six, nine, the goose drank wine The monkey chewed tobacco on the streetcar line The line broke, the monkey got choked They all went to heaven in a little row-boat Clap-clap: Clap you hands and prepare to pat Pat: Take your right arm pat your partner's right palm with your right palm Clap: Take your hands back and clap Pat: Take you right arm cross your right arm with your left arm pat your partner's left palm with your left palm Clap: Take your hands back and clap Pat: Take your right arm cross your left arm and pat your partner's right palm with your right palm Clap: Now back, with a clap Take the flats of your palms and slap your thighs and watch the fun materialize as you sing this little song: My mother told me If I was good-ee That she would buy me A rubber dolly My aunty told her I kissed a soldier Now she won't buy me A rubber dolly Clap-Pat Clap-Pat Clap-Pat Clap-Slap Clap-Pat Clap-Pat Clap-Pat Clap-Slap