Mutilated Lips
| "Mutilated Lips" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Ween | ||||
| from the album The Mollusk | ||||
| Released | 1997 | |||
| Recorded | c. 1996 | |||
| Length | 3:48 | |||
| Label | Elektra Records | |||
| Ween singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Mutilated Lips" is a song by Ween from the 1997 album The Mollusk.
Song Details[edit | edit source]
Recording and Composition[edit | edit source]
The studio version of "Mutilated Lips" is mostly in the key of F minor, with live performances transposing it down to E minor.
The lead vocals of are sung by Gene Ween, who is also the primary author of the music and lyrics of the song.[1][2] The song was written in the fall of 1995, within the first two weeks of the first beach house recording sessions for The Mollusk[2]; an early demo recording from this period, which can be found on the semi-official The Mollusk Sessions, shows the song in largely completed form, and most of this recording was used as is for the final album, differing mostly in some production details.
Instrumentation[edit | edit source]
"Mutilated Lips" uses a Moog synthesizer.[2] The drums were played by Claude Coleman with his hands, which he usually replicates live. According to Dean Ween, "it’s this really interesting sound. It’s impossible unless you know the tuning of that song. It’ll never sound right if you try. It’s not playable, unless you know the tuning."[2] In 2015, Deaner revealed the tuning was in EGDGbe.[3]
Live Performances[edit | edit source]
Ween first played the song live as a duo with DAT-deck accompaniment at a show in the spring of 1996, over a year before the release of The Mollusk.
The full live band debut of "Mutilated Lips" was on a 1997 television appearance on the show Oddville, MTV, two weeks before the release of The Mollusk.[4] The song was actually not played live very often in its first few years, but starting in 1999 Ween began playing the song more commonly; it has been a common live Ween song ever since.[5] A 11/7-8/2003 recording from the Quebec tour can be heard on the Live in Chicago album.
In addition, Gene Ween has played "Mutilated Lips" numerous times at solo-acoustic shows, and the Dean Ween Group has even played it a few times.[5]
Single Release[edit | edit source]
Dean Ween disagreed with Elektra's decision to release "Mutilated Lips" as the lead single from the album:
They finally got back to us and said, “Uh, we think ‘Mutilated Lips’ would be a good single.” I’m like, “What? Are you fucking nuts?” Don’t get me wrong... it’s one of the best songs we have, but it’s not a single! It’s fucking weird! It’s basically got a chant and no chorus. I knew we were fucked yet again.[2]
Lyrics[edit | edit source]
Official lyrics were printed in the liner notes of The Mollusk album:
I lick my brain in silence
Rather squeeze my head instead
Midget man provoking violence
Listen not to what I said
I said please calm it down
Everything is turning brown
Mutilated lips give a kiss on the wrist
Of the worm-like tips of tentacles expanding
In my mind, I'm fine, accepting only fresh brine
You can get another drop of this, yeah you wish
Laughing lady, living lover
Ooo, you sassy frassy lassie
Find me the skull of Haile Sellase[sic], I...
Give me shoes so I can tapsy
Tap all over this big world
Take my hand, you ugly girl[6]
Song Themes[edit | edit source]
Brown, Love, Sung by Gene Ween
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ https://old.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1gz17c/hi_i_am_claude_coleman_jr_the_drummer_for_ween/caq3it4/
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 https://www.stereogum.com/1951136/weens-the-mollusk-turns-20-an-oral-history-by-mickey-melchiondo/reviews/the-anniversary/
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFMTFXrzVXc
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgvY-SFmtPQ
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 https://brownbase.org/every_time_played.php?band=all%20bands&song_id=130
- ↑ From the Mollusk liner notes