BILL MESNIK'S SUNNY SIDE OF MY STREET PRESENTS: LOW YO YO STUFF BY CAPTAIN BEEFHEART (WB, 1972)

SUNNY SONGS: LOW YO YO STUFF by Captain Beefheart (WB, 1972)We do what we gotta do to survive. We’ve got to activate our low yo yo stuff. Don Van Vliet, aka Captain Beefheart knew that better than most. Frank Zappa’s high school buddy and inspiration blew in from the desert fully formed as a cubist blues man. He reordered our mitochondria by breaking the order of music apart, and lyrically accessing a deeper realm of abstraction. But, this was always done with tongue in cheek, slightly, or at least with a wink. And, later, when the public outcry died down, he went back to the desert to paint and write poetry. I’m turning off the noise, he seemed to say, but never abandoning the low yo yo stuff. That’s the essential ingredient for the spice of life.Low Yo Yo Stuff is the opening track from the Clear Spot album - certainly his most accessible record, produced by Warner Brother’s maestro Ted Templeton. And, it was almost commercial! Someone said this is the album to initiate you to Don’s weirdness by inviting you to put your musical toe in the pool, before diving into the deep end of Trout Mask Replica. That’s how it worked for me, and I’m grateful for having had the experience.