I saw an iterview with the guy who wrote / sang this song. He said he was on his way to an audition to join a band and he scribbled out this song quickly so he’d be able to show them that he could contribute songs too. He didn’t really have any before. When it was done he decided it was too good to give away and he just started his own band instead.
I’m pretty sure I know what the song is about...musical theory if it? Interesting.
Great song.
This was one of my favorite bands for about 15 minutes in the mid 1980s. Seriously, I did not know what "Blister In The Sun" was actually about until years later. But I did like that entire first album by Violent Femmes. I had it on cassette and it mostly played in my 1976 AMC Pacer as I drove the streets in and around Boston.
I remember back when I was at UF, driving to the beach with my friends with this tape blasting in the car. Good times.
Now we need an explanation of King Missile’s Detachable Penis
It was a good analysis. The riff is the hook and without it, it’s meaningless. The riff is, to my understanding, a takeoff of the “Pretty Woman” and “Day Tripper” riff. It has the essential notes of 1, 3, and b7 but with swing and fill in notes to give it a quick energy. To think of this song is to hear the riff. So mush of rock is like that.