Will Chatham

I’m gonna start some­thing ambi­tious here, and fea­ture a Song Of The Week. The songs I’m pick­ing will likely be from way off the beaten path, but are songs that I think need to be heard for one rea­son or another.

The first song I am going to fea­ture is by a band called The Did­jits (more at Wikipedia), who were a Chicago-based trio from the late 80’s to the early 90’s. I was way into their first two albums, Fiz­zjob and Hey Jud­ester. My first expo­sure to The Did­jits was when the band I was play­ing in at the time, Cere­bel­lum, opened up for them and Squir­rel Bait on new years eve, 1988.

This tune pretty much sum­ma­rizes their almost rock-a-billy, but still punk-ish, and a wee bit surf-ish, style of insan­ity. What­ever the case, they were all about rock­ing. I had the plea­sure of see­ing them two more times, once in Louisville when I was asked to come up and sing a song on stage with them, and once in Lex­ing­ton, Ky. Wish these guys were still around.

King Carp — from the album “Hey, Jud­ester” (1988)
Right-click and “Save As” to down­load, or press blue arrow to stream it.

Lyrics:

Pull my line, pull my line
I dive the deep­est, I’m King Carp
And you know I really dig your sexy legs

Yeah I’m the fish with the bad drug prob­lem
I’m the fish with the brand new car
It’s a 1964 ‘Cuda, I think

I am the king of the fish King Carp, King Carp
I am the bad­dest dude, King Carp
And you know what my fins can do
I’m dri­ving just for you

On my way back to land and I have to reach out my hand
To cush­ion my fall as I hit the fine, warm sand
(some­thing some­thing) baboon
And a fish joins in on basoon
And he sports a styl­ish hairdo, like Vidal Sasoon

I am the king of the fish King Carp, King Carp
I am the bad­dest dude, King Carp
And you know what my fins can do
I’m dri­ving just for you

Big bad fish goin down to the bot­tom
(repeat first verse, chorus)