Whats the point of HeyFoxyMop

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musicismylife78
musicismylife78 Posts: 6,116
edited July 2009 in The Porch
Vitalogy has always been my favorite PJ album, and although some people on here often talk about how terrible Bugs, Pry, To, Aye Davanita, and Hey FoxyMop, are, I think the album is flawless.

PJ arent a band and never were a band to put filler on albums. Even at the height of their "antifame" attitude, No Code, and even in releasing a single like Who You Are, a song Ed said was specifically created to make them lose fans, its not a bad album or a bad song. It isnt a filler song. I even get the sense people on here think No Code or Yield are the best albums the band has ever created.

So knowing that Pearl jam creates cohesive, comprehensive, coherent albums, what is the general consensus behind Hey Foxy Mop HandleMama, Thats Me? Has Ed or the guys ever commented on the purpose of the song? Obviously it serves as an important song, its the finale of the album, the closer, and is a longer piece.

What do you think they were trying to convey on the song? The album is loaded with anti-celebrity and antifame sentiments. Ed seems overwhelmed by fame and the whole scene on the record. How does that girl that repeats she wants a spanking, relate to the mood and feeling of Vitalogy? It doesnt seem like it fits.

The composition of the song, the looped voices, and the feedback going on, it just doesnt make any sense.

Do you think the guys regretted the inclusion of this song, that they obviously will never play live? Can you imagine stone, jeff, Mike and Dave's reaction when Ed brought this song into the conversation? "yeah guys, I want to have a 7 minute song, with no vocals other than looped voices of mental patients, all the while feedback is going on". They must have done double takes!
Post edited by Unknown User on
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  • musicismylife78
    musicismylife78 Posts: 6,116
    another question for the ages is, what in the hell IS a FoxyMopHandleMama?
  • PJFAN_seattle
    PJFAN_seattle Posts: 2,965
    edited July 2009
    I agree. It is a very strong album including those songs.
    My mom told me that when I was really little I loved the song Bugs. Now when I listen to it im like "Why did Eddie write this??"
    But no its a good anti fame album every song has meaning and I really love it.

    Also where specifically did they get the voice recording?????
    Post edited by PJFAN_seattle on
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  • NewJPage
    NewJPage Posts: 3,319
    well i'm not sure about this, but Stupid Mop was the first song recorded w/ Jack, so maybe ed and him just went into the studio and decided to fuck around with stuff for awhile, and it ended up on the album. I think it does play a role on the album, as that is PJ at its tortured best, and the song caps that feeling off nicely. its nothing i listen to much, but i do think it is at least interesting.
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  • musicismylife78
    musicismylife78 Posts: 6,116
    Do you think Ed was trying to suggest he felt like these mental patients?
  • NewJPage
    NewJPage Posts: 3,319
    musicismylife78 wrote:
    Do you think Ed was trying to suggest he felt like these mental patients?

    well, i think they were quotes taken from something on TV, no? I'm not sure there was much actual thought given to the samples of voices, just the aura and atmosphere...i think that is what is most important to the song...and it screams chaos.
    6/26/98, 8/17/00, 10/8/00, 12/8/02, 12/9/02, 4/25/03, 5/28/03, 6/1/03, 6/3/03, 6/5/03, 6/6/03, 6/12/03, 6/13/03, 6/15/03, 6/18/03, 6/21/03, 6/22/03, 7/12/03, 7/14/03, 10/3/04, 10/5/04, 9/9/05, 9/11/05, 9/16/05, 5/16/06, 5/17/06, 5/19/06, 6/30/06, 7/23/06, 8/5/07, 6/30/08, 8/23/09, 8/24/09, 5/4/10, 5/7/10, 9/3/11, 9/4/11, 10/11/13, 10/17/14, 8/20/16
  • ImGoin2Lukins
    ImGoin2Lukins Posts: 94
    musicismylife78 wrote:
    Do you think the guys regretted the inclusion of this song, that they obviously will never play live? Can you imagine stone, jeff, Mike and Dave's reaction when Ed brought this song into the conversation? "yeah guys, I want to have a 7 minute song, with no vocals other than looped voices of mental patients, all the while feedback is going on". They must have done double takes!


    Well, I can't say that I know about any of that other stuff, but I do know that Hey Foxy was the only song that Jack Irons had recorded on.
  • Vitalogensia
    Vitalogensia Posts: 2,196
    I have always hoped for the beat of the song to enter into a live show, perhaps in a transition or sandwhich or something, but I doubt that'll ever happen...

    As far as its inclusion in the album, I think it fits nicely and appropriately, though I don't listen to it much (especially when jamming in the car!). But the whole album has a sinister feeling to it, which is heightened throughout FoxyMop, and then cut out in an eerie ending. But, I have always equated the "song" with such things as track 69 on Tool's Undertow: no real meaning, just fucking around.
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  • Kloddz
    Kloddz Posts: 2,573
    SK359828 wrote:
    I have always hoped for the beat of the song to enter into a live show, perhaps in a transition or sandwhich or something, but I doubt that'll ever happen...

    Although the times when they could have done that are probably long gone, I would love it if they played it as an intro when entering the stage, kinda like what they did with Arc back in the Riot Act days... Imagine "Spanking is the only thing I want so much" right into the opening riffs of [your favorite hard rocking opening song here - Release probably wouldn't work].
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  • bettielee
    bettielee Posts: 74
    Vitalogy is one of my favorite albums.

    I have never been able to listen to that song. It is way too disturbing and has always made me feel uncomfortable, down to my very core.
  • Vitalogensia
    Vitalogensia Posts: 2,196
    Kloddz wrote:
    SK359828 wrote:
    I have always hoped for the beat of the song to enter into a live show, perhaps in a transition or sandwhich or something, but I doubt that'll ever happen...

    Although the times when they could have done that are probably long gone, I would love it if they played it as an intro when entering the stage, kinda like what they did with Arc back in the Riot Act days... Imagine "Spanking is the only thing I want so much" right into the opening riffs of [your favorite hard rocking opening song here - Release probably wouldn't work].

    Man! That would set the tone for one of the most amazing openings, and perhaps shows, ever! :twisted:
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  • DeLukin
    DeLukin Posts: 2,757
    I believe the term is "filler."
    I smile, but who am I kidding...
  • 2-feign-reluctance
    2-feign-reluctance TigerTown, USA Posts: 23,459
    bettielee wrote:
    Vitalogy is one of my favorite albums.

    I have never been able to listen to that song. It is way too disturbing and has always made me feel uncomfortable, down to my very core.


    i can honestly say its the ONLY song i ever skip on any PJ record. i am a child therapist and there's just something really fucking disturbing about the sound of a child saying that.
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  • Ryan_WFC
    Ryan_WFC Posts: 1,353
    I still love Bugs.
    "They said ... timing was everything
    made him ... want to be everywhere
    there's a ... lot to be said for nowhere."
  • jimed14
    jimed14 Posts: 9,488
    The Beatles: The White Album : Revolution 9

    Foxy Mop always gave off the same vibe. Complete disorientation on an otherwise fantastic album.

    oh, and that's why I dig it.
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  • Stephen Flow
    Stephen Flow Posts: 3,327
    my spanking

    it's the only thing i want so much

    honest to god, really
  • TheRiotAct
    TheRiotAct Posts: 131
    From RS Review back in 1994.

    But the most bizarre cut on the record is the last one, "Stupidmop," a seven-minute hommage to the Beatles' "Revolution 9." Consisting of tape loops of distressed voices over banshee guitar howls, the song begs the question, "Is anyone still listening out there?" It opens with a young girl repeating "My spanking, that's the only thing I want so much." "Why is that better than a hug?" a woman asks her. "Because you get closer to the person," the girl replies. The cut closes with a dialogue that is even more disturbing than it might ordinarily be in the wake of Kurt Cobain's death. A man asks a woman, "Do you ever think that you actually would kill yourself?" "Well, if I thought about it real deep, I believe I would," she answers. They're the last words on the album.
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  • RL200920
    RL200920 Posts: 67
    Over the years I have actually convinced myself that Vitalogy ends with Immortality. I think its because HeyFoxyMop has always given me a strange feeling. By coincedence, I actually listened to the track in its entirety this morning, and it gave me the exact feeling that made stop listening to it in the first place. I was also listening to it with earphones, which gave it a whole different element of strange.

    From here on out, I think I will continue to finish at Immortality, which to me would have been a perfect way to close out this classic album.
  • fortyshades
    fortyshades Posts: 1,835
    edited July 2009
    I read somewhere, at some point, a long time ago (could i be more vague?) that the dialogue in HeyFoxyMop was between a psychtriast and a girl that has been abused. And yes, I think that this is the most disturbing song they ever made. (And maybe somewhat personal?) I do think however that it is the perfect ending to a very dark and symbolic album; all the way down from the disturbing liner notes of Last Exit.

    This album screams in many ways "suicide"; not in a literal sense, but suicide in defiance, as a symbolism of non-conformtism, as a political act. Look at the first lines: "If one can't control life, will he be driven to control death?" And than listen to the last words of HeyFoxyMop...

    Vitalogy is like The Dark Side of the Moon of the 90's.
    Post edited by fortyshades on
  • RL200920
    RL200920 Posts: 67
    Strange happenings today. I just shuffled my Ipod which has about 7000 tunes on it and the first song played was HeyFoxyMop. I find that creepy.
  • fortyshades
    fortyshades Posts: 1,835
    RL200920 wrote:
    Strange happenings today. I just shuffled my Ipod which has about 7000 tunes on it and the first song played was HeyFoxyMop. I find that creepy.

    On the same day this post/topic was started... Mmmmmm

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