Dirty Frank is an F'd up song.
First... Pearl Jam runs in my dna... I always feel the need to say that before leveling anything like a criticism... so please put down your torches and pitchforks...
So about "Dirty Frank"
I know it's meant in good fun ( or at least I've always assumed so) , and I've always taken the song as a joke, but I listened to it today for the first time in a long time, and it hit me that the subject matter, well, really isn't very funny.
I mean, Dirty Frank's last name in the song is "Dahmer"... and that alone brings the subject matter out of the purely fantastic realm and too close to reality...
The song closes with the repeated phrase "just to see the look on the face"... as in, he murders people, chops them up, and eats them just to see the look on the face.
Considering that Pearl Jam also put out "Jeremy"... around this same time, part of me wonders if this song isn't meant 100% as a joke... but more of an absurd take on a preposterous reality. As in, you can either laugh or cry about certain terrible things... "Dirty Frank" chooses to laugh... "Jeremy" chooses to cry.
What do you guys think?
So about "Dirty Frank"
I know it's meant in good fun ( or at least I've always assumed so) , and I've always taken the song as a joke, but I listened to it today for the first time in a long time, and it hit me that the subject matter, well, really isn't very funny.
I mean, Dirty Frank's last name in the song is "Dahmer"... and that alone brings the subject matter out of the purely fantastic realm and too close to reality...
The song closes with the repeated phrase "just to see the look on the face"... as in, he murders people, chops them up, and eats them just to see the look on the face.
Considering that Pearl Jam also put out "Jeremy"... around this same time, part of me wonders if this song isn't meant 100% as a joke... but more of an absurd take on a preposterous reality. As in, you can either laugh or cry about certain terrible things... "Dirty Frank" chooses to laugh... "Jeremy" chooses to cry.
What do you guys think?
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London, ON - Sep 12, 2005
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Toronto, ON- Sep 11 2011
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Buffalo, NY- Oct 12 2013
Here are the lyrics:
Dirty Frank Dahmer he's a gourmet cook, yeah.
I got a recipe for anus ankle soup, yeah.
Wanted a pass. So she relaxed. Now the little groupie's getting chopped up in the back.
I got a cupboard full of fleshy fresh ingredients
A very careful at the same time quite expedient.
Eats meat. A release.
Bus driving's harder on your head than on your feet.
Dirty Frank. Dirty Frank yeah
A Dirty Frank A Dirty Frank yea oh
Keeps it clean. a keeps it copeseptic
A little boys and girls their heads are all collected.
A not crazy. a per se
Just a little strange when he gets hungry.
City state your town he will continue.
A stadiums tiny clubs every venue.
A his bus. a your trust.
There goes another turned into crust.
Dirty Frank a Dirty Frank yeah. A Dirty Frank. oh a Dirty Frank.
Yeah, oh, watch it! now
Why that dirty Frank was a bad mother... Shut your mouth! Hey man, I'm just talking about Dirty Frank.
Oh wa-ha a yea cookoo there fucking crazy these kids are driving me crazy
Oh, middle of the night we're stopped the freeway shoulder.
A frank's shoveling to bury the leftovers.
A they're sunk. He's drunk.
Now he's gonna drive I'm hiding in my bunk. Oh.
The band all knows. We're too afraid to mention.
A Don't want to be part of Frank's luncheon.
A lose weight. A be safe. Where's Mike McCready? My god he's been ate!
Dirty Frank. A Dirty Frank, yeah.
A Dirty Frank. Oh, a Dirty Frank, yeah,.
Dirty Frank Dirty Frank yea
Dirty Frank oh a Dirty Frank a yea yea yea
Why that dirty Frank was a bad mother... Shut your mouth! Hey man, I'm just talking about dirty Frank. Yeah.
Cook 'em just to see the look on their face. I cook 'em just to see the look on their face. [x10]
(Ok I think that's enough)
9/29/04 Boston, 6/28/08 Mansfield, 8/23/09 Chicago, 5/15/10 Hartford
5/17/10 Boston, 10/15/13 Worcester, 10/16/13 Worcester, 10/25/13 Hartford
8/5/16 Fenway, 8/7/16 Fenway
EV Solo: 6/16/11 Boston, 6/18/11 Hartford,
It reminds me of Blind Melon's Soup. There are a couple of songs on that album about murders and perversion. One, "Car Seat (God's Presents)" is about that bitch who killed her kids by strapping them into her car and rolling the car into a lake (Susan Smith), and "Skinned" is about Ed Gein, who dug up dead bodied and made knick-knacks for his home with the body parts (and murdered a woman). Car Seat is darker though quirky, but the style of Skinned is very deliberately in opposition to the subject matter. Hoon said that he did that because there are two sides to everything, and that there is humour in everything, even the darkest things (I think this would explain why the best jokes are generally offensive ones, lol). Creating a song that comes together from two completely opposite places brings art closer to reality. I think the same kind of thing is going on with Dirty Frank, at least in part. Not sure how conscious of this PJ was at the time though, hahaha.
How so? The lyrics are very explicitly based on one of the most disturbed serial killers in American history. I think that warrants a closer look.
No! But if one day passes for PJ's night drop and I can get at least one, I will see them in Pemberton in July!
Actually, not fucked up songs themselves, but based on fucked up situations and mindsets, and...
Look at -
Radiohead
Beatles
Mad Season
Cash
AlC
Garbage
Blind Melon
NIN
TOOL
ad nauseum
You've listed some of my all-time favourite acts there.
R.i.p. My Dad - May 28, 2007
R.i.p. Black Tail (cat) - Sept. 20, 2008