Back in the sixties we thought the establishment was a selfish, greedy, belligerent, warmonger. It was obsessed with profit, wealth and power and prepared to go to any lengths to get them. The result was war, exploitation, inequality and the endless futile acquisition of money and possessions.
You were meant to slot into place, work hard at school, get qualifications, get a good job, earn lots of money, buy lots of things and become a good consumer.
All a number of us saw was a machine that was gobbling up people, land and resources, creating trinkets and plastic and leaving a trail of war, misery and destruction in its wake.
What has changed?
We did not want to be part of that machine. We did not want to work all day, mow the grass, wash the car and watch TV. We thought life should be more than that.
If you could not change the machine, because the establishment had all the power and means, you could at least drop out and stop playing that game.
Back in the sixties many of us stopped the relentless drive for money and started trying to live in a more self-contained way that wasn’t so destructive. We tried to live outside of the machine. That’s what this song was all about for me. But then I was always mishearing the lyrics.
These lyrics come from my friend Steve Froy and his great site Doc at The Radar (A Beefheart paradise) – give it a look. You’ll love it.
Drop Out Boogie
You wanna do what?, you wanna do what?
I told you what, I told you what
You wanna do what?, you wanna do what?
I told you what, I told you what
Go t’school, go t’school
Go t’school, go t’school
Just cain’t, just cain’t
Just cain’t, just cain’t
Dropout, dropout, dropout, dropout
Cain’t get a job, cain’t get a job
Don’t know what it, don’t know what it
What it’s all about, what it’s all about
You told her you love her so bring her to mother
You love her, adapt her, you love her, adapt her
Adapt her, adapter, adapt her, adapter
‘n’ what about after that
what about after that
Support her, support her
She says you’d support her
Get a job, get a job
Get a job, get a job
You gotta support her
You told her you love her so bring her to mother
You love her adapt her, you love her adapt her
Adapt her, adapter, adapt her, adapter
‘n’ what about after that
‘n’ what about after that
(1967)
Transcribed by Steve Froy, with amendments suggested by Bob Mehling, Melissa Downe, Pete Wulforst, Geoff Balme and David Curtis
When introducing this song at one of the Magic Band reunion shows John French said that Don had written Dropout Boogie about the situation he found himself in. Don was still living at home with his girlfriend Laurie Stone. He hadn’t been to school that much and the few jobs he’d managed to get – Helms bakery van delivery (for his father), shoe salesman, vacuum cleaner salesman – hadn’t lasted very long or amounted to much.
Even though I wasn’t born until 1971, I did like Captian Beefheart, Frank Zappa, and the like. You just can’t find music like that today.
Yes – for me that music is timeless. I like a lot of today’s music but there are bands from the sixties like Beefheart, Doors, Cream, Hendrix, Country Joe and the Fish, Love and Pink Floyd who are eternal. Likewise singer-songwriters such as Dylan, Roy Harper, Neil Young, Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell are unique and wonderful.
Thanks for your comment.
Best wishes
Opher
Those are some good ones there. Wasn’t Joni Mitchell the most recent to pass away? 🙁
No. Joni was found unconscious in her home and put in intensive care but she recovered and is back home. I think she has some debilitating disease though. She’s not quite gone!