June 9, 2025 • 50 mins
The hips of the record have arrived! This utterly accessible, catchy track doubles as a slice-of-life study of a commercial fisherman, whose solace is the sea, despite its diminishing economic returns. We weigh how officially unofficial this track stands as a Fisherman's Chronicle, and and explain why it's the most-performed track from the record, although that's fairly clear to aficionados.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Josh Freaky with a couple of dump shits.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hello Primates, you found Primus Tracks. Congratulations. There are so
many places to find Primus Tracks. This is one of them.
You can also find us at Primus Tracks on Instagram.
We are at Primus Tracks on threads. There's a Facebook
page called you Guessed at Primus Tracks, and we have
an email address. If you would like to send a
(00:36):
message that is based in text through some tubes, all
you have to do is email primustrackspod at gmail dot com.
I am Josh. I'm just rumbling right along. And he
is on the thirty ninth floor of Primus Tracks Towers.
He doesn't smell any diesel up there because the air
is clean, clear and delicious. This is Frankie Bearstein. Hey Josh,
(00:58):
Hey Frankie. But a day this has been already. We
are recording this on June third, twenty twenty five, thirty
years to the day that Prime has performed at RFK
Stadium as part of some kind of festival in Washington, DC,
and thirty years to the day that that took place.
A pro shot video is uploaded to YouTube and we
(01:21):
are enjoying the Bejesus out of it.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Incredible footage, so crisp, so clear, such a dry soundboard,
which I enjoyed tremendously. I just want to highlight what
a trip it was. Whatever they were doing with nut butter.
It almost gave me a see shirt, but it was
worth it because it's incredible to see this footage. Joe
(01:44):
Gore on tweakers. Yes, let's getting upset during Wainona.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I believe this set was not their greatest shining moment.
He certainly is annoyed at numerous spots throughout the set.
They had tech issues and people were throwing stuff on
the stage. I'm guessing they couldn't hear each other in
their monitors.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
We had enjoyed the audio for many years and never
thought that we would actually get the video. So yeah,
when that got uploaded, it was quite a surprise.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Credit to the uploader. The link is on the Primus
Tracks Facebook page and I will also put it in
the show notes. Great way to spend forty five minutes
today we are talking about Rumble of the Diesel. It
is tracked nine on your of Whales and Woe release.
Let's set the mood, Frankie, Let's get a little bit
(02:37):
of a typical fishing boat engine. Sound. Ah, that'll make
for some nice background noise today and or put the
listeners to sleep. So let's see what happens, Frankie. So
here we are. We're idling. I feel like I'm in
the boat with Captain Shiner actually on the enhanced CD.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Frankie, this is Is this the Bastard boat?
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yes, we're on the bastard boat. I feel it's quite
reminiscent of my ECD experience from punch Bowl. So we're
just gonna idle along, I think for a while today,
and as a of course what we do most episodes,
we have some miscellaneous debris. Today's miscellaneous debris is Iowen
(03:26):
Gal based, Frankie. First of all, I forgot to read
the Primates takes for Iowan Gal when we did that episode,
and I apologize profusely to our wonderful prime matrons. So
a double dose of Primates takes today. The first set
of Primeates takes is for Iowen Gal, and I will
(03:46):
read that here. Our good pal skullgan Val said, Iowan
Gal is the cutest thing Less has made. The paired
down instrumentals lend itself to the romance of the song.
Just a man in his band g telling his wife
how he likes to spanker round bottom. The banjie gives
me goosebumps. Brooks to light. Uh oh, Brooks is going
(04:11):
to break it down. Brooks breaks it down as follows Frankie,
I'm a sucker for a good love song, and they
are not plentiful in the Claypool catalog, so this is
a real treat. The bass banjo sounds great. Nobody could
have guessed how close it was to being retired. I
especially loved the solo performances of American Life in Iowan
(04:33):
Gal that Less would often do on the supporting tour. There.
Look at that in record time, Brooks has taken our jobs.
We're only a few minutes into the episode, and I
also wanted to play this, and I think I'll play
it again later in the episode when Ween of our
primeatestakes for Rumble of the Diesel. Brooks, You're so good
(04:54):
at breaking it down. Our pal Ko played a little
baslick for you, and and this is your new jingle.
Brooks breaks it down, so now you know it's coming
every time, moving along with our primemates takes for iowin
Gal left over from last time. John Shreeve says, iowin
(05:14):
Gal seems like an apology song for lustings.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Edwin Allen Richards, the fourth our Landed Gentry says I
miss when Iowan Gal used to be the encore for
fancy band Fungi ensemble shows. Somewhere in the depths of storage,
I have a mini DV tape from a handheld sony cam.
I smuggled into a show and the only thing I
filmed that night was the encore of Iowan Gal. Because
I thought I'd get into trouble for unauthorized filming. Eric
(05:46):
and Australia are regident. Curmudgeon is softening up a little
bit for iowan Gal. Frankie, He says, this is such
a sweet thing. Cheney is a lucky gal.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yes, absolutely, and we'll close.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
This part of Primates takes with with Adrian Porter, who says,
longtime Prime matron, first time caller, iowen Gal used to
be a skip for me. Actually, I'm not sure what
turned me off, but over the years I've warmed up
to it, especially the part where it just takes off.
I wonder if he made this because Cheney mentioned you
didn't like lustings or it just worked out like that.
(06:20):
I'm pretty sure it just worked out like that. But
what a nice way to balance it out in an
inadvertent way. So, speaking of Iowan Gal, we have some
further miscellaneous debris in that we received word from an
anonymous listener, Frankie, that a piece of information from last
(06:42):
from that episode, excuse me, is not entirely accurate.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Please go ahead.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
So I believe you had cited an interview in which
Les said he had been asked by his spouse when
a you're going to write a song about me? And
Iowan Gal was the event result of that request. But
we've heard from people in positions of knowledge that that's
not the case, and that it was a total surprise.
(07:14):
That's what we've been told.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Yes, I'll keep searching for the quote. Unfortunately, the RAM
website has has gotten lots of dead ends nowadays a
lot of those interviews lead to that. I mean, the
links are dead now. It's impossible to retrieve the interviews.
And back in twenty sixteen or twenty fifteen, when I
(07:38):
was dedicated to reading every single interview I could find online,
I'm almost certain it was there on ram on a
late nineties interview where I read that quote, and it
stood out because of the context, because in hindsight, by
the time I read it, I knew that Iowa Gal
had been created, So it was kind of interesting to
(08:01):
read that perspective. But until I'm able to unearth the quote, yes,
I guess we'll have to leave it at that. However,
I do have two interesting quotes that I was able
to discover during my hunt. Here's an interview where they
ask Les about the bass banjo and he said, oh,
(08:21):
the banjo bass. I played the banjo bass a lot lately.
I had it made for me many years ago by
a friend of mine that actually was the older brother
of one of my good friends from high school. He
had made me a couple of instruments and I just said, hey,
can you make me a bass with a banjo body?
And so he did. It kind of sat around for
a long time. It was on a couple of Primus records,
(08:42):
but then I just started busting it out. Lately. I've
really been playing it quite a bit. Obviously, there's a
song on the record, Iowa Gal, which is a dedication
to my lovely wife. So now I played that quite
a bit. In fact, I'm playing a festival later this
summer where it's just me, So I'm going to play
a predominantly bass beanj base banjo set, So I'm going
to get my woody goodyter on. So there's a little
(09:09):
bit of background regarding that instrument. And we didn't mention
at some point that Let's said, there, remember that quote
where he said there would be no keyboards in Primus. Yeah, okay,
so I got that right here. To sell half a
million copies of an album in the United States, it
(09:30):
is not a small thing. That's a lot of fans,
to which Let's replied, that's true, I'll take it. And
then the interviewer asked, how has it affected you, and
Let's replied, well, I bought a house in the country.
There's always the paranoia that they're all going to go
away before you put out your next project, or when
you put out your next project, they'll go So how
(09:53):
has it affected us as far as creating or anything.
It hasn't really affected us. If anything, we're just trying
to keep being Primus as opposed to incorporating horn sections
and keyboards, trying to be true to what we have
made so far and not altering it for pepsi commercials
or anything. So there you go. That's the keyboard quote.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Ah all right, speaking of pepsi commercials. I was dinking
around with some old interviews as well, and I think
Leftkwoodz had mentioned that they were offered by Toyota an
ad campaign using one of their songs, and in one
of those older interviews they mentioned that it was here
(10:36):
come the Bastards that would have been the tune in
the Toyota ad. How bizarre. What did you, oh, Toyota,
I'm glad they said, no, well that's the miscellaneous debrie. Gosh,
there's corn all over the place. After this, Iowa and
Gal rehashing. So let's move forward with Rumble of the Diesel.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
It is of the record, the hip that we've.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Already established that Yeah, Less helped us out with that,
so we don't have to debate it today. It's track
nine on your of Wales and Woe disc checks in
it four minutes and three seconds. Credits are as follows.
Les Claypool based vocals, guitar, percussion, Mike Dylon or Jazz
Dad on drums and marimba. I think this is the
(11:26):
only track on the record that someone other than Less
plays drums. Interestingly, uncredited in the liner notes is Sceric
on Saxophone, so he's He's not credited in the original
CD release liner notes for this track Frankie, and he's
also not credited on the vinyl reissue in the box set.
(11:47):
I don't own an original vinyl, so I'm not certain
if he's credited appropriately on there. I am one hundred
percent sure it's just an oversight.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Yeah, most likely.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
You usually do the track history, but I wanted to
look up some numbers about this record. I'm not too
surprised by what I found. Frankie, which is Rumble of
the Diesel, has been performed over two hundred times, and
it is by far the most performed track from this record.
Over two hundred performances of this one one Better has
(12:23):
been performed one hundred and sixty three times. These numbers
are courtesy of Toasterland, and because this record was released
in two thousand and six, we have pretty complete set
lists from two thousand and six on, so those numbers
pretty darn accurate. No other track on this record has
been performed over one hundred times, so Diesel Far and
(12:44):
Away the most common live track from this record. Does
that surprise you at all?
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Not at all, because Liz has a blest whenever he
performs this song life, the cavins, the structure, it's just
really fun for him to play, and there's even space
for improvisation and a bass solo in each rendition. We
(13:17):
do have two studio recordings of Wilson Woe and Do
the Twank, and you have an official live version available
on the Fancy DVD Romolo. The Diesel was performed extensively
by the Fancy Band. It was also performed by the
Fungi Band. The torch was then passed on to do
(13:39):
the Twank. The song was resurrected by the Frog Brigate
for their Summer of Green tour. It was also performed
in the fall. It was also performed on New Year's
Eve the last year, and it has also been performed
at assorted wine parties. So it's definitely a staple Claypool
solo number.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
That's right, Claypool Gold New Year's Eve.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
And in Less's own words, he has described this song
as a song about a laugh chasing tuna.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
It's about the most literal, matter of fact summary of
these lyrics one could create. Well, he's not wrong, and
of course he's literally chasing tuna. He may metaphorically be
chasing something else. Yeah, this track is of interest to
(14:40):
me because it is so widely performed and more common
than all the others. And of course we just got
it on New Year's Eve at the Claypool Gold Show
or show's excuse me, which was of great interest because
Larry played guitar on it, yes, which of course first
time ever that's happened, so that was a special performance
(15:03):
in and of itself. The track itself has a really
cool groove to it, and as you said, and it
is the hips of the record because it certainly is
a dance number when you see it on the fancy
DVD or any other live footage, this is when people
are really getting down in the audience. And of course
(15:24):
it has solo turns from Mike d and Scerrik. I
do want to mention Sceric's brief sax solo because that one, Frankie,
when people pretend when they're miming playing saxophone and pretending
to do it. What Scaic plays is what I imagine
I'm playing when I play the air saxophone. It just
(15:47):
sounds like something an air saxophone would play. It makes
no sense, but it does in my head. We get
really cool parts in this one, and it's super catchy.
This is probably one of the more accessible Less Claypoble
Slash Primus songs you will ever hear.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
When people are pretending to play air saxophone. I hear
careless whisper in my mind. But yes, it's one of
the most compelling tracks on the record, and I particularly
like the part where Less modifies the riff to build
a crescendo. The first time is very short, but the
(16:25):
second time, after the final verse where he doubles that,
it's fantastic. It's one of my favorite moments when they
perform the song live.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Yes, and I believe I know what part you're talking about,
because I have it noted excellent in my notes as well.
Let's kill the engine and let's hear some excerpts from
the tune. I do want to point to a couple
of spots here. Let's of course play the intro so
we can understand what.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
It is that we're dealing with here.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Really great start. I will say I was faked out
by him starting the basic clean and then moving to
the envelope filter and yes, uh for for some that
is glorious. It certainly is catchy. Frankie and it and
it gets me moving.
Speaker 4 (17:43):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Mike D's playing a pretty understated drum part and he
uh is just holding it down back there, and I
I can't remember. Luke passed along some things Mike D
said about being on this record, and he did mention
playing drums on Rumble, but I don't remember if he
(18:04):
gave a reason as to why he played drums on
this unless didn't. But I want to move forward to
about a minute and a half into the tune because
we get some really solid grooving. I love that inverted
(18:38):
line that Less does underneath the end of Mike's solo
there and then get your air saxophones ready. Pretend you're
playing Rumble of the Diesel or Baker Street or something
like that. Who cares. I love that for the last
(19:06):
few bars he's just hitting that same note that the
percussion is there.
Speaker 5 (19:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (19:26):
I love this lad, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Man. So they're giving us all kinds of good stuff
throughout this. Uh. Now let's get to Frankie's favorite party
ascending line that gets his hips moving. I love that
(20:15):
d and then it releases to the chorus.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
And it's worth pointing out in the due of the
Twang version that Les did some layering with the vocals
at this point. He's very masterful in doing that. We
talked about the three vocals coming at you at the
same time on Sinister Exaggerator, and if you listen to
(20:40):
the due of the Twang version, he will do one
vocal take which is very reminiscent of his usual voice,
but there's another layer of vocals which are like really ominous,
and it really adds different flavor to the song. I think,
besides the fact that, of course it's an acoustic rendition.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
For sure, there's a lot of great vocalizations on this
one as well. And my favorite is the high pitched
like that at that disco near the very end. So
that's that's a little earworm, just that that's it.
Speaker 6 (21:18):
It's great.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
I do have some background you mentioned, Mike, I have
some background regarding the musicians. This comes from Rock World.
They ask Liz, you have several different guest musicians on
the record, How and why did you decide to have
who on which track? And let's reply. I didn't have
(21:42):
as many on this record as I normally have. I
had sort of my usual cast of characters, Skerriy, Mike,
and Gabby, my kids is leaving there on a tune
because this sort of just happened to be in the
studio banging on something one day and it kind of
sounded cool. I have these skeletons of songs, Lena, and
I'll bring them in. Mike will be touring through town
(22:03):
and I'll say, hey, come up to the house for
a day or so, and he'll come up and we'll
just hang out in the studio and I'll put something
up and say, I bet this might sound good. Well,
a little marimba, Oh, it might sound good with little
vibes on this song. And he'll bang something out and
it either works or it doesn't. Most of the time.
It does the same with Gabby. I brought Gabby over.
(22:25):
I could use a little guitar on this song, and
Scary he played on almost the entire record. It's hard
to keep him off for my stuff. He adds a
lot of flavor. He's like tabasco, and I tend to
put Tabasco on lots of things. That's a great description yes,
and I also want to share some perspective. I mean,
(22:47):
getting kind of a hit because this deals with the lyrics.
But you know, for the longest time, because this song
has a lot of things that hint at Liz in
kind of an autobiograph callway. For a long time, I
was under the impression that he was singing about his
own life. But this quote makes me think that Rumble
(23:11):
of the Diesel might be yet another character study on
the record. So they ask what is the lyrical idea
behind the title track and why do you choose it
to be the main track? So that refers, of course
to Wales and Woe unless it I like the imagery.
I like the entire line, the tales of Wales and
woe of his liquor tongue will flow. I don't know
(23:34):
what mental picture it paints for you, but I get
something old and salty, and by salty, I mean high mileage,
a whether individual who has been around the block or
around the horn, however you want to look at it,
spewing their jaded tales on the world and whatnot. So
it just got shortened down to Wales and Woe. But
(23:55):
I think it's an accurate title for the record because
there are a lot of characters in the song. To me,
it's a very lyrically folksy collection of tunes. There are
those Casey Jones type characters and the stories of Tom
Joad going over the past with old model t losing
his breaks halfway across. I just get a lot of
(24:16):
images from these songs. Obviously, there's Rumble of the Diesel,
a fella chase in Tuna, the guy losing his wife
to melanoma and having to carry on with his life
turning to the sea. And it seems to me, I mean,
my steps musically are very rarely calculated. I just tend
to be. It just tends to be more a collection
of random moments that get captured at various points during
(24:38):
the recording period, like I said, could be spotted over
a two year period. So this just seems to be
sort of a Saturday Evening post of Claypool Records, you
know what I mean. It's very Norman Rockwell. So it
seems like Rumbull of the Diesel is yet another character
that he's singing about that turns into the sea when
(25:00):
life gets hard, just like many of the characters in
the songs of this album.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Yeah. Yeah, the Norman Rockwell reference holds for me. Rock
Well being a well known popular artist in the twentieth century,
and many of his stuff did appear in the Saturday
Evening Post. If I recall, we had a lot of
Rockwell calendars when I was a kid. Actually, so he
just took those little slices of life and you know,
put him in his paintings and a lot of people
(25:28):
identified with them. And I think that's what Less is
getting at with some of these stories. So our character
and rummel of the diesel, and let's go ahead and
turn to the lyrics. Actually we should turn this back
on while we talk about it, though. Ah yeah, that's
that's better. I'm comforted. So he is certainly taking on
(25:48):
the persona of a guy who works the fish and boats.
And as you intimated, some of this could apply to
the author of the lyrics, and I would agree some
of it can. But he's certainly putting forth this character
to you know, show the ups and downs and challenges
(26:09):
of the fishing world. And and I think I said
something similar on the of Wales and Woe discussion, which is,
you know, he knows a guy like this, uh, And
so this could be based on someone he knows. It
could be an amalgamation of a bunch of old salty fishermen.
My brother in law worked on the fishing boats in
Alaska years and years ago. He's he's considerably older than
(26:33):
I am, but he's got tons of stories and there's
there's plenty of guys he would tell stories about. And
some of these guys sound like old whoever whatever the
name of this guy is, because he's first person, but yeah,
whoever this guy is, like I've I've heard stories about
this guy too from the Alaskan fishing boats.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
So this is there's ringing in my ears. It's definitely autobiographic.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
That's that's one element that could certainly be autobiographical. And
then the other part was is the uh, you know,
just being out on the water nullifies the pain because
less I said a million times he goes fish into
clear and exactly, yeah, and find some peace. Uh, And
it's fun to catch fish. So the rest of it, certainly,
(27:25):
and I think we've talked about this before, mentioned in
passing that this one probably an unofficial fisherman's chronicle, right.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Yes, And Errol would find his way onto the next
record with his very own song dedicated to him.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Right, you can't tell Errol anything. I would assume that's
the same Errol.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
I perkle in my coffee of the radio radiator boil
always uh puts me in the mindset of the Simpsons.
I don't know about you tell me how, because there's
an episode where they are frying eggs on a motor
Oh and yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Yeah, this was a pretty common thing. Actually, you have
the you know, the engines and whatnot. Everything produces heat,
so why not warm your coffee or cook your food
on one of those hot surfaces. And so I think
they were doing that down in the you know, down
to the bowels of the Titanic too. You know those
guys that were working at were just keeping their food
(28:28):
warm there. Yeah, there's a lot of little turns of
phrase as well. So there's I got the eyeballs of
an eagle. Usually you would hear somebody described as eagle eyed,
but I like eyeballs of an eagle for sure. And
then the ring in my ears. This could be from
just years and years of the actual rumble of the
diesel right, creating some tinatus and the next couplet. Grandad
(28:55):
was a farmer but I couldn't stand the soil. I
had to go out to see. And I keep it simple.
It helps to keep me saying I like the floating
in the ocean. It nullifies the pain. So we're really
getting to know this guy. He's essentially married to the sea.
He doesn't know anything else and it's the only thing
that keeps him grounded.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
And it's I mean, it could also I mean, if
we look at it, like really deeply, it can also
refer back to List in a kind of autobiographical way,
because Grendel was a farmer. But I couldn't stand the soil.
So this guy took a different path in his life.
And Liz has mentioned that he came from a long
line of auto mechanics.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Right sure, Yeah, taking a different.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Tack exactly, So he took his life on a different direction.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Yeah, and then that couple of some work to make
the bread rise, I like to plow the ocean swell.
So once again we're getting that contrast. Errol's got a
sweet Monterey rigged for salmon and crab. Never had a
family unless you count that old yellow lab.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
So he's very well written lyrics.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Yes, very cool. At least he's got a dog. I
had to look up at Monterey, Frankie, because I don't
know anything. My knowledge of boats couldn't fill a thimble.
So I looked up the Monterey boat. And it turns
out the Monterey clipper is a type of fishing boat
that is common to San Francisco Bay, Monterey Bay and
(30:24):
that part of California. And there were hundreds of them
out and about in the early twentieth century, and they
were one of the more popular types of boats on
the bay there, and eventually they became outmoded. I'm just
going to read to you from Wikipedia. It says today
this boat is too small, too slow, and inadequate for
(30:44):
commercial fishing. But in its day it was perfect for
catching sardines and all kinds of other and crabs, you know,
and all kinds of other sea life. Yes, and taken
right to market or right to the plant. Uh. And
you can you can see plenty of Monterey clippers in
(31:05):
San Francisco Bay still. I think a lot of people
just use them for a leisure but it's a very
distinctive style and if you see it, you'll you'll say, oh,
that's what that is, Especially if you visit the Bay
Area there they're still out and about. Uh Less also
mentions a Cummins Repower. He spells it Cummings, but the
(31:28):
brand name is Cummins, and that is a diesel engine.
And apparently there's a pretty sweet look in our two
point a turbo diesel available, Frankie. So if you need
to power your boat, sounds like a good one. We
might be hearing that idling right now. I have no
idea what engine this is, but it's pretty common fishing
(31:49):
boat engine that we're hearing at any rate.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
And I love the bass solo. I think it fits
the song so well.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Oh for sure, I love it. Yeah, anytime he takes
a to solo, I'm listening. And so you were you know,
you mentioned that part looking back to ninety five, had
that Cummins Repower dragon lines for Albacore, which is tuna
market go sour. We were going to go on strike
because the price was driven down and then we finally
(32:17):
settled up. We got less than a dollar a pound.
So once again, you know, the album is called Wales
and Woe. There's a lot of woe in this track.
So these guys are making much money off the tuna.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
But not in the same degree as the other tracks,
because there are some very tragic characters on this record.
There are some cautionary tails on the record. But I
don't get that vibe from Rumble of the Diesel. To me,
it just sounds like a slab of life with ups
and downs, just like any human being is bound to
(32:51):
experience during our lifetime. And the compelling aspect of the music,
I think it's a reflection of the theme about the engines,
the motors, the diesel. But the lyrics themselves, I think
they are not portraying anything particularly tragic. They're just a
(33:12):
reflection of life itself.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
I'm buying that. Yeah, and this this guy doesn't know
anything else. It's being out at sea chasing tuna. That's
that's what he does. That's what he knows, and that's
what keeps him from losing his mind. Uh. And I
did want to point out too that chorus, just the delivery.
I like the rumble of the diesel and the smell
(33:35):
of the oil. I percolate my coffee off the radiator
boil and that and that cadence is really fascinating to
me because you you hear a lot of Iams and
I've mentioned this before Cliber probably plenty of times. So
I ams are when you have a pair of syllables,
the second one is stressed, which is such as shall
(33:59):
I compare to Isamber's day? Right? So the here, though,
he's using a lot of trophies where the first word
in a in a two word meter there is is stressed.
But then he's also but he leads it off with
I like the and so there's this it's kind of
like a dactyl where the first one is stressed and
(34:19):
the second two are unstressed, but it seems like all
three are stressed to me, So I'm just gonna call
it a triplet. So there's I like the rumble of
the diesel and the smell, and he kind of makes
smell a two syllable words in the lyrics, smell of
the oil, and he makes oil a two syllable word,
and he seems to stress the first syllable of each
of those those pairs, and that makes for a compelling
(34:43):
rhythm to it, and I think that's part of the
reason why it's so damn catchy. So he's doing some
really interesting stuff here that he doesn't always do with
his lyrics. Uh and it just you're right, It just
fits right in with the music and the message. So
this is it's like a mantra, right. I like the
(35:03):
rumble of the diesel. I like the rumble of the diesel.
This is what I'm attracted to. This is what I do.
It becomes his identity almost and those of you if
you're still listening, and if you've been listening to the
rumble of the diesel in the background, so you might
feel the call of the sea. And I apologize, it's
(35:24):
Frankie's fault.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
Got some primary takes lying around there.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
If you would like your takes for the track up
for discussion read on this podcast. All you have to
do is go to Patreon dot com, forward slash Primus tracks.
There are many tears of support over there. Some would
say they are questionable, but the universal constant is I
put up the thread for the track, and I then
(35:58):
read your comments here in the podcast, and if I'm
doing my job right, I read them for the actual episode.
So once again I apologized. All the wonderful people who
had comments for iowen Gal that we didn't get to
last week were in that episode. Excuse me. So running
it back down for Primates takes for Rumble of the Diesel. Skulligan.
(36:19):
Val says, Rumble of the Diesel is one of my
top skipped songs. It's fun live, but the album recording
that's Frankie clutching his pearls by the way. Val continues,
it's fun live, but the album recording has an on
and off again high pitched something or other that hurts
my brain. Pause. I know what you're talking about. Val.
I heard it when I was screening the tune for
(36:41):
the episode. There is a weird, high pitched something at
the near the end. That is where I heard it.
Val continues, It's a literal ringing in my ears. The
first time I noticed it, I was bearing barreling down
the freeway shortly after the album release. I thought my
car was making the sound. It had a moment of panic.
(37:02):
This track, plus lust Stings, makes me think twice about
playing the album. I do love some fancy band though,
and I get to play this again Frankie and.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
Brooks breaks a down.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
Brooks de Light says, Rumble of the Diesel is a
super fun song. I especially like the vocal flow in
the chorus. I always try to sing along, but rarely
nail every syllable. As good as the album version is,
this is another one where I really prefer the live
versions with the fancy band. Clay Pulls deeper vocals on
the chorus blend perfectly with Gabby's higher register. I really
(37:39):
miss that band. John Shreeve says Rumble is anthemic incredible
in all live variations of Mike Dilan heavy piece, eyeballs
of an eagle but ringing in the ears, paints the
perfect picture of a season commercial fisherman, and as a
fisherman named John, I'm here for the lore. Well, there
we go. We have ourselves a fishman named John. Over
(38:01):
there the Patriot, Frankie Edwin, Allen Richards, the fourth are landed.
Gentry is back, and he says Rumble is another killer
track that seems to epitomize Claypool's catalog in general, vibe
like a theme song for less if you will, some
of my favorite of his lyrics, and a guarantee to
get the crowd bouncing. Eric in Australia says Rumble is
an unofficial fisherman's chronicle. There boom, now it's officially unofficial.
(38:24):
Thank you Eric. He continues that feels very verbose to me.
Old Errol is quite the recurring character unless his Bay
Area alternate universe. And finally, Adrian Porter, longtime Prime Matron,
second time caller, now says, I think that Rumble is
actually my favorite song on this album. I always have
this visual in my head of Less popping his head
(38:44):
up from behind something with the extra I like the
parts coming through the right speaker near the end of
the song, Adrian, that is a fantastic image. Thank you
for sharing. Those are the primeate takes, Frankie and what
are you taking away from them?
Speaker 7 (39:04):
In a really brave yet controversial moment, I will agree
that this is another unofficial Fisherman chronicle and the.
Speaker 3 (39:16):
Line that I noticed with these chronicles is that the
songs are always epic. If it's a Fisherman chronicle, it's
a classic.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Who knew that writing songs about fishing would be quite
the lure for many fans. Thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
Live cuts from a GM vehicle.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
Live cuts from the GEM vehicle, Live cuts from What's
going on here? I'll tell you what's going on here.
It's live cuts time. Today we have three beautiful live
versions of Rumble of the Diesel. Our first is from
NPR World Cafe. Great quality on this record, warding from
(40:00):
two thousand and six. We're gonna hear a couple of
pieces from that one, and once again, this is still
available if you search for NPR World Cafe Les Claypool,
it's there for the streaming. First part we're gonna hear
Frankie says, it's the chorus all the way to the via.
(40:22):
Let's see what that's all about.
Speaker 8 (40:26):
Never, Oh yeah, Frankie.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
More than your hips are moving right now, you are
dancing on a storm over there. Man. That's great sounding.
Gabby does bring an extra element. I think Brooks did
mention that, which is spot on. Yes, absolutely, and this
tune in a live setting, I'm reminded listening to this
rendition it feels a bit more stop start than what's
(41:26):
on the record too, but that doesn't impede one's dance
ability to this track. In my opinion, that's your ski rack. Yes,
(41:55):
and not to be outdone, we're going to end on
the bass solo because that's what you do for a
less Clayboble track. Would you call that an envelope delight?
Speaker 3 (42:26):
Envelope delights for sure.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
Excellent. Our next live track is from the Wales and
Woe Live Sessions, which is once again Frankie's fictional box set,
which will be released on the I Believe in twenty
thirty six for the thirtieth anniversary of this record. All right,
(42:52):
this is This does have no metadata once again, so
please direct all complaints to Frankie beristein You know what,
I take that back. This is from June July fifteen,
two thousand and six. That is in the final name.
Speaker 6 (43:06):
Yes, excellent, open high hut.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
Yeah, no, I imagine that's that's powerful, right, Yeah, he's
doing very tight, very nice. Uh. And it just wouldn't
be appropriate if we didn't feature the bass solo on
this one as well.
Speaker 9 (44:00):
Man Bad Bad b b b b b b b
b B band, bread Ban band, band, band band.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
You know, I didn't want to oversell it that you
had labeled this in all ca app says an epic
bass solo. But I can I can see why this
might qualify.
Speaker 3 (45:06):
And for a moment there it was kind of an
invertive toys go winding down.
Speaker 2 (45:11):
Did you catch that a lot of triplets happened in there?
Speaker 6 (45:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:16):
Our last live cut is the Fungi Band ohterzing rumble. Yeah,
and so we're gonna hear sample of Sam bass. This
is from May twenty three, two thousand and nine, in
Summer Camp at Chile.
Speaker 3 (45:32):
And in case you were wondering, we did not sample
the legendary Bonnaru performance because we already sampled that when
we did the LSD.
Speaker 2 (45:41):
And far be it from us to make you hear
something twice. Yeah, here's summer Camp. Ah man, that sounds great,
(46:33):
but all Sam.
Speaker 3 (46:34):
Very dramatic performance.
Speaker 2 (46:37):
Nice work locking in with less two and doing that. Note,
Let's uh, let's finish it the way we started, finish
the way we started. Let's finish it the way we
finished it with the other two with the bass solo. Now,
(47:41):
I I didn't want to say anything, but you did
not label this one as epic? Is there any reason why?
Speaker 3 (47:50):
Because the previous one was so epic? I didn't well,
I didn't want to take away from that labeling this
one epic as well. I think this one is outstanding.
Speaker 2 (47:59):
I okay, which is just that's half an inch below epic,
right exactly, just a little. Yeah, it's a really crowded
list up there on the epic and outstanding tears those
are our live cuts. Thanks Frankie.
Speaker 3 (48:12):
I have loved Rumbled the Diesel ever since I heard
the Wilson World Record for the first time. I definitely
think it's one of the list Claypool solo catalog highlights
as showstopper for sure, with all the cohesion he has
with the band and of course the spot for his
(48:33):
bass solo.
Speaker 2 (48:34):
And I was so.
Speaker 3 (48:36):
Excited to get this song live on New Year's Eve
the last year.
Speaker 2 (48:44):
It is a great one and it's certainly danceable. It
gets the hips moving and it's a lot of fun.
I do recall this one being one I would return
to with this record upon releasing two thousand and six.
Highly enjoyable track. It's a good thing because it's the
most widely performed of the record. So I guess I'll
(49:06):
say this Rumble the Diesel, You've been tracked next time, Frankie.
Mechanized poultry.
Speaker 3 (49:15):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (49:18):
I'm not even sure what that means, so you guys
all have to tune in to find out what mechanized
poultry is in reference tomates, primatrons, people of Earth, old
fishermen out at sea, barely getting enough of a satellite
WI Fi signal to listen to this. Thank you all
(49:38):
so much for your support, and hit us up on
the socials with your takes on these wonderful tracks. We'll
see you next time for some mechanized poultry later days.
Oh will, don't breathe too deep on that diesel, now, boy,
It's Josh Freaky with a couple of dump shits.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hello Primates, you found Primus Tracks. Congratulations. There are so
many places to find Primus Tracks. This is one of them.
You can also find us at Primus Tracks on Instagram.
We are at Primus Tracks on threads. There's a Facebook
page called you Guessed at Primus Tracks, and we have
an email address. If you would like to send a
(00:36):
message that is based in text through some tubes, all
you have to do is email primustrackspod at gmail dot com.
I am Josh. I'm just rumbling right along. And he
is on the thirty ninth floor of Primus Tracks Towers.
He doesn't smell any diesel up there because the air
is clean, clear and delicious. This is Frankie Bearstein. Hey Josh,
(00:58):
Hey Frankie. But a day this has been already. We
are recording this on June third, twenty twenty five, thirty
years to the day that Prime has performed at RFK
Stadium as part of some kind of festival in Washington, DC,
and thirty years to the day that that took place.
A pro shot video is uploaded to YouTube and we
(01:21):
are enjoying the Bejesus out of it.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Incredible footage, so crisp, so clear, such a dry soundboard,
which I enjoyed tremendously. I just want to highlight what
a trip it was. Whatever they were doing with nut butter.
It almost gave me a see shirt, but it was
worth it because it's incredible to see this footage. Joe
(01:44):
Gore on tweakers. Yes, let's getting upset during Wainona.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I believe this set was not their greatest shining moment.
He certainly is annoyed at numerous spots throughout the set.
They had tech issues and people were throwing stuff on
the stage. I'm guessing they couldn't hear each other in
their monitors.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
We had enjoyed the audio for many years and never
thought that we would actually get the video. So yeah,
when that got uploaded, it was quite a surprise.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Credit to the uploader. The link is on the Primus
Tracks Facebook page and I will also put it in
the show notes. Great way to spend forty five minutes
today we are talking about Rumble of the Diesel. It
is tracked nine on your of Whales and Woe release.
Let's set the mood, Frankie, Let's get a little bit
(02:37):
of a typical fishing boat engine. Sound. Ah, that'll make
for some nice background noise today and or put the
listeners to sleep. So let's see what happens, Frankie. So
here we are. We're idling. I feel like I'm in
the boat with Captain Shiner actually on the enhanced CD.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Frankie, this is Is this the Bastard boat?
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yes, we're on the bastard boat. I feel it's quite
reminiscent of my ECD experience from punch Bowl. So we're
just gonna idle along, I think for a while today,
and as a of course what we do most episodes,
we have some miscellaneous debris. Today's miscellaneous debris is Iowen
(03:26):
Gal based, Frankie. First of all, I forgot to read
the Primates takes for Iowan Gal when we did that episode,
and I apologize profusely to our wonderful prime matrons. So
a double dose of Primates takes today. The first set
of Primeates takes is for Iowen Gal, and I will
(03:46):
read that here. Our good pal skullgan Val said, Iowan
Gal is the cutest thing Less has made. The paired
down instrumentals lend itself to the romance of the song.
Just a man in his band g telling his wife
how he likes to spanker round bottom. The banjie gives
me goosebumps. Brooks to light. Uh oh, Brooks is going
(04:11):
to break it down. Brooks breaks it down as follows Frankie,
I'm a sucker for a good love song, and they
are not plentiful in the Claypool catalog, so this is
a real treat. The bass banjo sounds great. Nobody could
have guessed how close it was to being retired. I
especially loved the solo performances of American Life in Iowan
(04:33):
Gal that Less would often do on the supporting tour. There.
Look at that in record time, Brooks has taken our jobs.
We're only a few minutes into the episode, and I
also wanted to play this, and I think I'll play
it again later in the episode when Ween of our
primeatestakes for Rumble of the Diesel. Brooks, You're so good
(04:54):
at breaking it down. Our pal Ko played a little
baslick for you, and and this is your new jingle.
Brooks breaks it down, so now you know it's coming
every time, moving along with our primemates takes for iowin
Gal left over from last time. John Shreeve says, iowin
(05:14):
Gal seems like an apology song for lustings.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Edwin Allen Richards, the fourth our Landed Gentry says I
miss when Iowan Gal used to be the encore for
fancy band Fungi ensemble shows. Somewhere in the depths of storage,
I have a mini DV tape from a handheld sony cam.
I smuggled into a show and the only thing I
filmed that night was the encore of Iowan Gal. Because
I thought I'd get into trouble for unauthorized filming. Eric
(05:46):
and Australia are regident. Curmudgeon is softening up a little
bit for iowan Gal. Frankie, He says, this is such
a sweet thing. Cheney is a lucky gal.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yes, absolutely, and we'll close.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
This part of Primates takes with with Adrian Porter, who says,
longtime Prime matron, first time caller, iowen Gal used to
be a skip for me. Actually, I'm not sure what
turned me off, but over the years I've warmed up
to it, especially the part where it just takes off.
I wonder if he made this because Cheney mentioned you
didn't like lustings or it just worked out like that.
(06:20):
I'm pretty sure it just worked out like that. But
what a nice way to balance it out in an
inadvertent way. So, speaking of Iowan Gal, we have some
further miscellaneous debris in that we received word from an
anonymous listener, Frankie, that a piece of information from last
(06:42):
from that episode, excuse me, is not entirely accurate.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Please go ahead.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
So I believe you had cited an interview in which
Les said he had been asked by his spouse when
a you're going to write a song about me? And
Iowan Gal was the event result of that request. But
we've heard from people in positions of knowledge that that's
not the case, and that it was a total surprise.
(07:14):
That's what we've been told.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Yes, I'll keep searching for the quote. Unfortunately, the RAM
website has has gotten lots of dead ends nowadays a
lot of those interviews lead to that. I mean, the
links are dead now. It's impossible to retrieve the interviews.
And back in twenty sixteen or twenty fifteen, when I
(07:38):
was dedicated to reading every single interview I could find online,
I'm almost certain it was there on ram on a
late nineties interview where I read that quote, and it
stood out because of the context, because in hindsight, by
the time I read it, I knew that Iowa Gal
had been created, So it was kind of interesting to
(08:01):
read that perspective. But until I'm able to unearth the quote, yes,
I guess we'll have to leave it at that. However,
I do have two interesting quotes that I was able
to discover during my hunt. Here's an interview where they
ask Les about the bass banjo and he said, oh,
(08:21):
the banjo bass. I played the banjo bass a lot lately.
I had it made for me many years ago by
a friend of mine that actually was the older brother
of one of my good friends from high school. He
had made me a couple of instruments and I just said, hey,
can you make me a bass with a banjo body?
And so he did. It kind of sat around for
a long time. It was on a couple of Primus records,
(08:42):
but then I just started busting it out. Lately. I've
really been playing it quite a bit. Obviously, there's a
song on the record, Iowa Gal, which is a dedication
to my lovely wife. So now I played that quite
a bit. In fact, I'm playing a festival later this
summer where it's just me, So I'm going to play
a predominantly bass beanj base banjo set, So I'm going
to get my woody goodyter on. So there's a little
(09:09):
bit of background regarding that instrument. And we didn't mention
at some point that Let's said, there, remember that quote
where he said there would be no keyboards in Primus. Yeah, okay,
so I got that right here. To sell half a
million copies of an album in the United States, it
(09:30):
is not a small thing. That's a lot of fans,
to which Let's replied, that's true, I'll take it. And
then the interviewer asked, how has it affected you, and
Let's replied, well, I bought a house in the country.
There's always the paranoia that they're all going to go
away before you put out your next project, or when
you put out your next project, they'll go So how
(09:53):
has it affected us as far as creating or anything.
It hasn't really affected us. If anything, we're just trying
to keep being Primus as opposed to incorporating horn sections
and keyboards, trying to be true to what we have
made so far and not altering it for pepsi commercials
or anything. So there you go. That's the keyboard quote.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Ah all right, speaking of pepsi commercials. I was dinking
around with some old interviews as well, and I think
Leftkwoodz had mentioned that they were offered by Toyota an
ad campaign using one of their songs, and in one
of those older interviews they mentioned that it was here
(10:36):
come the Bastards that would have been the tune in
the Toyota ad. How bizarre. What did you, oh, Toyota,
I'm glad they said, no, well that's the miscellaneous debrie. Gosh,
there's corn all over the place. After this, Iowa and
Gal rehashing. So let's move forward with Rumble of the Diesel.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
It is of the record, the hip that we've.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Already established that Yeah, Less helped us out with that,
so we don't have to debate it today. It's track
nine on your of Wales and Woe disc checks in
it four minutes and three seconds. Credits are as follows.
Les Claypool based vocals, guitar, percussion, Mike Dylon or Jazz
Dad on drums and marimba. I think this is the
(11:26):
only track on the record that someone other than Less
plays drums. Interestingly, uncredited in the liner notes is Sceric
on Saxophone, so he's He's not credited in the original
CD release liner notes for this track Frankie, and he's
also not credited on the vinyl reissue in the box set.
(11:47):
I don't own an original vinyl, so I'm not certain
if he's credited appropriately on there. I am one hundred
percent sure it's just an oversight.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Yeah, most likely.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
You usually do the track history, but I wanted to
look up some numbers about this record. I'm not too
surprised by what I found. Frankie, which is Rumble of
the Diesel, has been performed over two hundred times, and
it is by far the most performed track from this record.
Over two hundred performances of this one one Better has
(12:23):
been performed one hundred and sixty three times. These numbers
are courtesy of Toasterland, and because this record was released
in two thousand and six, we have pretty complete set
lists from two thousand and six on, so those numbers
pretty darn accurate. No other track on this record has
been performed over one hundred times, so Diesel Far and
(12:44):
Away the most common live track from this record. Does
that surprise you at all?
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Not at all, because Liz has a blest whenever he
performs this song life, the cavins, the structure, it's just
really fun for him to play, and there's even space
for improvisation and a bass solo in each rendition. We
(13:17):
do have two studio recordings of Wilson Woe and Do
the Twank, and you have an official live version available
on the Fancy DVD Romolo. The Diesel was performed extensively
by the Fancy Band. It was also performed by the
Fungi Band. The torch was then passed on to do
(13:39):
the Twank. The song was resurrected by the Frog Brigate
for their Summer of Green tour. It was also performed
in the fall. It was also performed on New Year's
Eve the last year, and it has also been performed
at assorted wine parties. So it's definitely a staple Claypool
solo number.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
That's right, Claypool Gold New Year's Eve.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
And in Less's own words, he has described this song
as a song about a laugh chasing tuna.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
It's about the most literal, matter of fact summary of
these lyrics one could create. Well, he's not wrong, and
of course he's literally chasing tuna. He may metaphorically be
chasing something else. Yeah, this track is of interest to
(14:40):
me because it is so widely performed and more common
than all the others. And of course we just got
it on New Year's Eve at the Claypool Gold Show
or show's excuse me, which was of great interest because
Larry played guitar on it, yes, which of course first
time ever that's happened, so that was a special performance
(15:03):
in and of itself. The track itself has a really
cool groove to it, and as you said, and it
is the hips of the record because it certainly is
a dance number when you see it on the fancy
DVD or any other live footage, this is when people
are really getting down in the audience. And of course
(15:24):
it has solo turns from Mike d and Scerrik. I
do want to mention Sceric's brief sax solo because that one, Frankie,
when people pretend when they're miming playing saxophone and pretending
to do it. What Scaic plays is what I imagine
I'm playing when I play the air saxophone. It just
(15:47):
sounds like something an air saxophone would play. It makes
no sense, but it does in my head. We get
really cool parts in this one, and it's super catchy.
This is probably one of the more accessible Less Claypoble
Slash Primus songs you will ever hear.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
When people are pretending to play air saxophone. I hear
careless whisper in my mind. But yes, it's one of
the most compelling tracks on the record, and I particularly
like the part where Less modifies the riff to build
a crescendo. The first time is very short, but the
(16:25):
second time, after the final verse where he doubles that,
it's fantastic. It's one of my favorite moments when they
perform the song live.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Yes, and I believe I know what part you're talking about,
because I have it noted excellent in my notes as well.
Let's kill the engine and let's hear some excerpts from
the tune. I do want to point to a couple
of spots here. Let's of course play the intro so
we can understand what.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
It is that we're dealing with here.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Really great start. I will say I was faked out
by him starting the basic clean and then moving to
the envelope filter and yes, uh for for some that
is glorious. It certainly is catchy. Frankie and it and
it gets me moving.
Speaker 4 (17:43):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Mike D's playing a pretty understated drum part and he
uh is just holding it down back there, and I
I can't remember. Luke passed along some things Mike D
said about being on this record, and he did mention
playing drums on Rumble, but I don't remember if he
(18:04):
gave a reason as to why he played drums on
this unless didn't. But I want to move forward to
about a minute and a half into the tune because
we get some really solid grooving. I love that inverted
(18:38):
line that Less does underneath the end of Mike's solo
there and then get your air saxophones ready. Pretend you're
playing Rumble of the Diesel or Baker Street or something
like that. Who cares. I love that for the last
(19:06):
few bars he's just hitting that same note that the
percussion is there.
Speaker 5 (19:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (19:26):
I love this lad, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Man. So they're giving us all kinds of good stuff
throughout this. Uh. Now let's get to Frankie's favorite party
ascending line that gets his hips moving. I love that
(20:15):
d and then it releases to the chorus.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
And it's worth pointing out in the due of the
Twang version that Les did some layering with the vocals
at this point. He's very masterful in doing that. We
talked about the three vocals coming at you at the
same time on Sinister Exaggerator, and if you listen to
(20:40):
the due of the Twang version, he will do one
vocal take which is very reminiscent of his usual voice,
but there's another layer of vocals which are like really ominous,
and it really adds different flavor to the song. I think,
besides the fact that, of course it's an acoustic rendition.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
For sure, there's a lot of great vocalizations on this
one as well. And my favorite is the high pitched
like that at that disco near the very end. So
that's that's a little earworm, just that that's it.
Speaker 6 (21:18):
It's great.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
I do have some background you mentioned, Mike, I have
some background regarding the musicians. This comes from Rock World.
They ask Liz, you have several different guest musicians on
the record, How and why did you decide to have
who on which track? And let's reply. I didn't have
(21:42):
as many on this record as I normally have. I
had sort of my usual cast of characters, Skerriy, Mike,
and Gabby, my kids is leaving there on a tune
because this sort of just happened to be in the
studio banging on something one day and it kind of
sounded cool. I have these skeletons of songs, Lena, and
I'll bring them in. Mike will be touring through town
(22:03):
and I'll say, hey, come up to the house for
a day or so, and he'll come up and we'll
just hang out in the studio and I'll put something
up and say, I bet this might sound good. Well,
a little marimba, Oh, it might sound good with little
vibes on this song. And he'll bang something out and
it either works or it doesn't. Most of the time.
It does the same with Gabby. I brought Gabby over.
(22:25):
I could use a little guitar on this song, and
Scary he played on almost the entire record. It's hard
to keep him off for my stuff. He adds a
lot of flavor. He's like tabasco, and I tend to
put Tabasco on lots of things. That's a great description yes,
and I also want to share some perspective. I mean,
(22:47):
getting kind of a hit because this deals with the lyrics.
But you know, for the longest time, because this song
has a lot of things that hint at Liz in
kind of an autobiograph callway. For a long time, I
was under the impression that he was singing about his
own life. But this quote makes me think that Rumble
(23:11):
of the Diesel might be yet another character study on
the record. So they ask what is the lyrical idea
behind the title track and why do you choose it
to be the main track? So that refers, of course
to Wales and Woe unless it I like the imagery.
I like the entire line, the tales of Wales and
woe of his liquor tongue will flow. I don't know
(23:34):
what mental picture it paints for you, but I get
something old and salty, and by salty, I mean high mileage,
a whether individual who has been around the block or
around the horn, however you want to look at it,
spewing their jaded tales on the world and whatnot. So
it just got shortened down to Wales and Woe. But
(23:55):
I think it's an accurate title for the record because
there are a lot of characters in the song. To me,
it's a very lyrically folksy collection of tunes. There are
those Casey Jones type characters and the stories of Tom
Joad going over the past with old model t losing
his breaks halfway across. I just get a lot of
(24:16):
images from these songs. Obviously, there's Rumble of the Diesel,
a fella chase in Tuna, the guy losing his wife
to melanoma and having to carry on with his life
turning to the sea. And it seems to me, I mean,
my steps musically are very rarely calculated. I just tend
to be. It just tends to be more a collection
of random moments that get captured at various points during
(24:38):
the recording period, like I said, could be spotted over
a two year period. So this just seems to be
sort of a Saturday Evening post of Claypool Records, you
know what I mean. It's very Norman Rockwell. So it
seems like Rumbull of the Diesel is yet another character
that he's singing about that turns into the sea when
(25:00):
life gets hard, just like many of the characters in
the songs of this album.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Yeah. Yeah, the Norman Rockwell reference holds for me. Rock
Well being a well known popular artist in the twentieth century,
and many of his stuff did appear in the Saturday
Evening Post. If I recall, we had a lot of
Rockwell calendars when I was a kid. Actually, so he
just took those little slices of life and you know,
put him in his paintings and a lot of people
(25:28):
identified with them. And I think that's what Less is
getting at with some of these stories. So our character
and rummel of the diesel, and let's go ahead and
turn to the lyrics. Actually we should turn this back
on while we talk about it, though. Ah yeah, that's
that's better. I'm comforted. So he is certainly taking on
(25:48):
the persona of a guy who works the fish and boats.
And as you intimated, some of this could apply to
the author of the lyrics, and I would agree some
of it can. But he's certainly putting forth this character
to you know, show the ups and downs and challenges
(26:09):
of the fishing world. And and I think I said
something similar on the of Wales and Woe discussion, which is,
you know, he knows a guy like this, uh, And
so this could be based on someone he knows. It
could be an amalgamation of a bunch of old salty fishermen.
My brother in law worked on the fishing boats in
Alaska years and years ago. He's he's considerably older than
(26:33):
I am, but he's got tons of stories and there's
there's plenty of guys he would tell stories about. And
some of these guys sound like old whoever whatever the
name of this guy is, because he's first person, but yeah,
whoever this guy is, like I've I've heard stories about
this guy too from the Alaskan fishing boats.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
So this is there's ringing in my ears. It's definitely autobiographic.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
That's that's one element that could certainly be autobiographical. And
then the other part was is the uh, you know,
just being out on the water nullifies the pain because
less I said a million times he goes fish into
clear and exactly, yeah, and find some peace. Uh, And
it's fun to catch fish. So the rest of it, certainly,
(27:25):
and I think we've talked about this before, mentioned in
passing that this one probably an unofficial fisherman's chronicle, right.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Yes, And Errol would find his way onto the next
record with his very own song dedicated to him.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Right, you can't tell Errol anything. I would assume that's
the same Errol.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
I perkle in my coffee of the radio radiator boil
always uh puts me in the mindset of the Simpsons.
I don't know about you tell me how, because there's
an episode where they are frying eggs on a motor
Oh and yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Yeah, this was a pretty common thing. Actually, you have
the you know, the engines and whatnot. Everything produces heat,
so why not warm your coffee or cook your food
on one of those hot surfaces. And so I think
they were doing that down in the you know, down
to the bowels of the Titanic too. You know those
guys that were working at were just keeping their food
(28:28):
warm there. Yeah, there's a lot of little turns of
phrase as well. So there's I got the eyeballs of
an eagle. Usually you would hear somebody described as eagle eyed,
but I like eyeballs of an eagle for sure. And
then the ring in my ears. This could be from
just years and years of the actual rumble of the
diesel right, creating some tinatus and the next couplet. Grandad
(28:55):
was a farmer but I couldn't stand the soil. I
had to go out to see. And I keep it simple.
It helps to keep me saying I like the floating
in the ocean. It nullifies the pain. So we're really
getting to know this guy. He's essentially married to the sea.
He doesn't know anything else and it's the only thing
that keeps him grounded.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
And it's I mean, it could also I mean, if
we look at it, like really deeply, it can also
refer back to List in a kind of autobiographical way,
because Grendel was a farmer. But I couldn't stand the soil.
So this guy took a different path in his life.
And Liz has mentioned that he came from a long
line of auto mechanics.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Right sure, Yeah, taking a different.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Tack exactly, So he took his life on a different direction.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Yeah, and then that couple of some work to make
the bread rise, I like to plow the ocean swell.
So once again we're getting that contrast. Errol's got a
sweet Monterey rigged for salmon and crab. Never had a
family unless you count that old yellow lab.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
So he's very well written lyrics.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Yes, very cool. At least he's got a dog. I
had to look up at Monterey, Frankie, because I don't
know anything. My knowledge of boats couldn't fill a thimble.
So I looked up the Monterey boat. And it turns
out the Monterey clipper is a type of fishing boat
that is common to San Francisco Bay, Monterey Bay and
(30:24):
that part of California. And there were hundreds of them
out and about in the early twentieth century, and they
were one of the more popular types of boats on
the bay there, and eventually they became outmoded. I'm just
going to read to you from Wikipedia. It says today
this boat is too small, too slow, and inadequate for
(30:44):
commercial fishing. But in its day it was perfect for
catching sardines and all kinds of other and crabs, you know,
and all kinds of other sea life. Yes, and taken
right to market or right to the plant. Uh. And
you can you can see plenty of Monterey clippers in
(31:05):
San Francisco Bay still. I think a lot of people
just use them for a leisure but it's a very
distinctive style and if you see it, you'll you'll say, oh,
that's what that is, Especially if you visit the Bay
Area there they're still out and about. Uh Less also
mentions a Cummins Repower. He spells it Cummings, but the
(31:28):
brand name is Cummins, and that is a diesel engine.
And apparently there's a pretty sweet look in our two
point a turbo diesel available, Frankie. So if you need
to power your boat, sounds like a good one. We
might be hearing that idling right now. I have no
idea what engine this is, but it's pretty common fishing
(31:49):
boat engine that we're hearing at any rate.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
And I love the bass solo. I think it fits
the song so well.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Oh for sure, I love it. Yeah, anytime he takes
a to solo, I'm listening. And so you were you know,
you mentioned that part looking back to ninety five, had
that Cummins Repower dragon lines for Albacore, which is tuna
market go sour. We were going to go on strike
because the price was driven down and then we finally
(32:17):
settled up. We got less than a dollar a pound.
So once again, you know, the album is called Wales
and Woe. There's a lot of woe in this track.
So these guys are making much money off the tuna.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
But not in the same degree as the other tracks,
because there are some very tragic characters on this record.
There are some cautionary tails on the record. But I
don't get that vibe from Rumble of the Diesel. To me,
it just sounds like a slab of life with ups
and downs, just like any human being is bound to
(32:51):
experience during our lifetime. And the compelling aspect of the music,
I think it's a reflection of the theme about the engines,
the motors, the diesel. But the lyrics themselves, I think
they are not portraying anything particularly tragic. They're just a
(33:12):
reflection of life itself.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
I'm buying that. Yeah, and this this guy doesn't know
anything else. It's being out at sea chasing tuna. That's
that's what he does. That's what he knows, and that's
what keeps him from losing his mind. Uh. And I
did want to point out too that chorus, just the delivery.
I like the rumble of the diesel and the smell
(33:35):
of the oil. I percolate my coffee off the radiator
boil and that and that cadence is really fascinating to
me because you you hear a lot of Iams and
I've mentioned this before Cliber probably plenty of times. So
I ams are when you have a pair of syllables,
the second one is stressed, which is such as shall
(33:59):
I compare to Isamber's day? Right? So the here, though,
he's using a lot of trophies where the first word
in a in a two word meter there is is stressed.
But then he's also but he leads it off with
I like the and so there's this it's kind of
like a dactyl where the first one is stressed and
(34:19):
the second two are unstressed, but it seems like all
three are stressed to me, So I'm just gonna call
it a triplet. So there's I like the rumble of
the diesel and the smell, and he kind of makes
smell a two syllable words in the lyrics, smell of
the oil, and he makes oil a two syllable word,
and he seems to stress the first syllable of each
of those those pairs, and that makes for a compelling
(34:43):
rhythm to it, and I think that's part of the
reason why it's so damn catchy. So he's doing some
really interesting stuff here that he doesn't always do with
his lyrics. Uh and it just you're right, It just
fits right in with the music and the message. So
this is it's like a mantra, right. I like the
(35:03):
rumble of the diesel. I like the rumble of the diesel.
This is what I'm attracted to. This is what I do.
It becomes his identity almost and those of you if
you're still listening, and if you've been listening to the
rumble of the diesel in the background, so you might
feel the call of the sea. And I apologize, it's
(35:24):
Frankie's fault.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
Got some primary takes lying around there.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
If you would like your takes for the track up
for discussion read on this podcast. All you have to
do is go to Patreon dot com, forward slash Primus tracks.
There are many tears of support over there. Some would
say they are questionable, but the universal constant is I
put up the thread for the track, and I then
(35:58):
read your comments here in the podcast, and if I'm
doing my job right, I read them for the actual episode.
So once again I apologized. All the wonderful people who
had comments for iowen Gal that we didn't get to
last week were in that episode. Excuse me. So running
it back down for Primates takes for Rumble of the Diesel. Skulligan.
(36:19):
Val says, Rumble of the Diesel is one of my
top skipped songs. It's fun live, but the album recording
that's Frankie clutching his pearls by the way. Val continues,
it's fun live, but the album recording has an on
and off again high pitched something or other that hurts
my brain. Pause. I know what you're talking about. Val.
I heard it when I was screening the tune for
(36:41):
the episode. There is a weird, high pitched something at
the near the end. That is where I heard it.
Val continues, It's a literal ringing in my ears. The
first time I noticed it, I was bearing barreling down
the freeway shortly after the album release. I thought my
car was making the sound. It had a moment of panic.
(37:02):
This track, plus lust Stings, makes me think twice about
playing the album. I do love some fancy band though,
and I get to play this again Frankie and.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
Brooks breaks a down.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
Brooks de Light says, Rumble of the Diesel is a
super fun song. I especially like the vocal flow in
the chorus. I always try to sing along, but rarely
nail every syllable. As good as the album version is,
this is another one where I really prefer the live
versions with the fancy band. Clay Pulls deeper vocals on
the chorus blend perfectly with Gabby's higher register. I really
(37:39):
miss that band. John Shreeve says Rumble is anthemic incredible
in all live variations of Mike Dilan heavy piece, eyeballs
of an eagle but ringing in the ears, paints the
perfect picture of a season commercial fisherman, and as a
fisherman named John, I'm here for the lore. Well, there
we go. We have ourselves a fishman named John. Over
(38:01):
there the Patriot, Frankie Edwin, Allen Richards, the fourth are landed.
Gentry is back, and he says Rumble is another killer
track that seems to epitomize Claypool's catalog in general, vibe
like a theme song for less if you will, some
of my favorite of his lyrics, and a guarantee to
get the crowd bouncing. Eric in Australia says Rumble is
an unofficial fisherman's chronicle. There boom, now it's officially unofficial.
(38:24):
Thank you Eric. He continues that feels very verbose to me.
Old Errol is quite the recurring character unless his Bay
Area alternate universe. And finally, Adrian Porter, longtime Prime Matron,
second time caller, now says, I think that Rumble is
actually my favorite song on this album. I always have
this visual in my head of Less popping his head
(38:44):
up from behind something with the extra I like the
parts coming through the right speaker near the end of
the song, Adrian, that is a fantastic image. Thank you
for sharing. Those are the primeate takes, Frankie and what
are you taking away from them?
Speaker 7 (39:04):
In a really brave yet controversial moment, I will agree
that this is another unofficial Fisherman chronicle and the.
Speaker 3 (39:16):
Line that I noticed with these chronicles is that the
songs are always epic. If it's a Fisherman chronicle, it's
a classic.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Who knew that writing songs about fishing would be quite
the lure for many fans. Thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
Live cuts from a GM vehicle.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
Live cuts from the GEM vehicle, Live cuts from What's
going on here? I'll tell you what's going on here.
It's live cuts time. Today we have three beautiful live
versions of Rumble of the Diesel. Our first is from
NPR World Cafe. Great quality on this record, warding from
(40:00):
two thousand and six. We're gonna hear a couple of
pieces from that one, and once again, this is still
available if you search for NPR World Cafe Les Claypool,
it's there for the streaming. First part we're gonna hear
Frankie says, it's the chorus all the way to the via.
(40:22):
Let's see what that's all about.
Speaker 8 (40:26):
Never, Oh yeah, Frankie.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
More than your hips are moving right now, you are
dancing on a storm over there. Man. That's great sounding.
Gabby does bring an extra element. I think Brooks did
mention that, which is spot on. Yes, absolutely, and this
tune in a live setting, I'm reminded listening to this
rendition it feels a bit more stop start than what's
(41:26):
on the record too, but that doesn't impede one's dance
ability to this track. In my opinion, that's your ski rack. Yes,
(41:55):
and not to be outdone, we're going to end on
the bass solo because that's what you do for a
less Clayboble track. Would you call that an envelope delight?
Speaker 3 (42:26):
Envelope delights for sure.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
Excellent. Our next live track is from the Wales and
Woe Live Sessions, which is once again Frankie's fictional box set,
which will be released on the I Believe in twenty
thirty six for the thirtieth anniversary of this record. All right,
(42:52):
this is This does have no metadata once again, so
please direct all complaints to Frankie beristein You know what,
I take that back. This is from June July fifteen,
two thousand and six. That is in the final name.
Speaker 6 (43:06):
Yes, excellent, open high hut.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
Yeah, no, I imagine that's that's powerful, right, Yeah, he's
doing very tight, very nice. Uh. And it just wouldn't
be appropriate if we didn't feature the bass solo on
this one as well.
Speaker 9 (44:00):
Man Bad Bad b b b b b b b
b B band, bread Ban band, band, band band.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
You know, I didn't want to oversell it that you
had labeled this in all ca app says an epic
bass solo. But I can I can see why this
might qualify.
Speaker 3 (45:06):
And for a moment there it was kind of an
invertive toys go winding down.
Speaker 2 (45:11):
Did you catch that a lot of triplets happened in there?
Speaker 6 (45:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:16):
Our last live cut is the Fungi Band ohterzing rumble. Yeah,
and so we're gonna hear sample of Sam bass. This
is from May twenty three, two thousand and nine, in
Summer Camp at Chile.
Speaker 3 (45:32):
And in case you were wondering, we did not sample
the legendary Bonnaru performance because we already sampled that when
we did the LSD.
Speaker 2 (45:41):
And far be it from us to make you hear
something twice. Yeah, here's summer Camp. Ah man, that sounds great,
(46:33):
but all Sam.
Speaker 3 (46:34):
Very dramatic performance.
Speaker 2 (46:37):
Nice work locking in with less two and doing that. Note,
Let's uh, let's finish it the way we started, finish
the way we started. Let's finish it the way we
finished it with the other two with the bass solo. Now,
(47:41):
I I didn't want to say anything, but you did
not label this one as epic? Is there any reason why?
Speaker 3 (47:50):
Because the previous one was so epic? I didn't well,
I didn't want to take away from that labeling this
one epic as well. I think this one is outstanding.
Speaker 2 (47:59):
I okay, which is just that's half an inch below epic,
right exactly, just a little. Yeah, it's a really crowded
list up there on the epic and outstanding tears those
are our live cuts. Thanks Frankie.
Speaker 3 (48:12):
I have loved Rumbled the Diesel ever since I heard
the Wilson World Record for the first time. I definitely
think it's one of the list Claypool solo catalog highlights
as showstopper for sure, with all the cohesion he has
with the band and of course the spot for his
(48:33):
bass solo.
Speaker 2 (48:34):
And I was so.
Speaker 3 (48:36):
Excited to get this song live on New Year's Eve
the last year.
Speaker 2 (48:44):
It is a great one and it's certainly danceable. It
gets the hips moving and it's a lot of fun.
I do recall this one being one I would return
to with this record upon releasing two thousand and six.
Highly enjoyable track. It's a good thing because it's the
most widely performed of the record. So I guess I'll
(49:06):
say this Rumble the Diesel, You've been tracked next time, Frankie.
Mechanized poultry.
Speaker 3 (49:15):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (49:18):
I'm not even sure what that means, so you guys
all have to tune in to find out what mechanized
poultry is in reference tomates, primatrons, people of Earth, old
fishermen out at sea, barely getting enough of a satellite
WI Fi signal to listen to this. Thank you all
(49:38):
so much for your support, and hit us up on
the socials with your takes on these wonderful tracks. We'll
see you next time for some mechanized poultry later days.
Oh will, don't breathe too deep on that diesel, now, boy,
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