Man On The Moon
Paul Dutton
1. Who is Andy Kaufman? Why is he in a wrestling match?
2. Who is Mr. Fred Blassie? Why is he in a breakfast mess?
3. What has it got to do with Mott the Hoople who as far as I know
are famous because they sang 'All The Young Dudes' and nothing else
(Though that is good enough)
4. Is the song supposed to be about some people in the 60's(?)
who don't believe in the moonshots and wouldn't the song be
better if the words went
'If you believe they put a man on the moon
Man on the moon
And if you believe there's nothing up there Steve
And nothing's cool'
I realize this requires the invention of another character called
Steve but there's already Andy and Fred so what the hell ...
More importantly if Steve does believe they put a man on the
moon and also believes there's nothing up there then nothing can
be cool.
Still, lovely tune.
~===========================================================================~
Paul Dutton - Sh...@stitch.demon.co.uk
Ron Henry
Sh...@stitch.demon.co.uk (Paul Dutton) wrote:
| 1. Who is Andy Kaufman? Why is he in a wrestling match?
Andy Kaufman was an American comedian/actor whose routines were often
surreal, and toyed with notions of personality and character... beyond
mere stand-up comedy to the point of verging of psychological
investigations. His most famous character was the timid Eastern European
man (on the show _Taxi_ the tv-smoothed version of the character was
called "Latka") who would lip-synch Mickey Mouse records, tell jokes with
no punch lines, and often slip into a very convincing Elvis impersonation
where Elvis would consume the Latka character (much as Latka was consumed
by the smarmy lounge singer character during a few episodes of _Taxi_).
Late in Kaufman's career, he left behind the Latka character and began
challenging professional women wrestlers to matches, with a mock(?)-macho
line that even he could beat the best women wrestlers in the ring.
Finally, he ended up trying to "uncover" the "fraud" of all pro wrestling
-- claiming that it was as much "acting" and illusion as his own
impersonations and comedy, and he challenged a male wrestler to a match,
in which the wrestler nearly literally broke Kaufman's neck. In a
subsequent _David Letterman_ appearance with the wrestler, Kaufman goaded
the wrestler (still in his neck brace and all) to the point the wrestler
angrily chased him off stage. (It is still unclear whether or not this was
all set up, or "real").
Before dying of cancer in the 80's, Kaufman's act evolved to his
performing as the smarmy lounge singer (a modified version of the
character Latka would transform into) and some of Kaufman's friends,
planted in the audience, would try to get the audience to heckle and abuse
the comedian during the act.
| 2. Who is Mr. Fred Blassie? Why is he in a breakfast mess?
Blassie was a professional wrestling manager who worked with Kaufman
during part of his career. They did a bizarre short film together called
"My Breakfast with Blassie" (as in "My Dinner with Andre") of the two of
them chatting about Kaufman's wrestling "career" prospects. I personally
doubt that Blassie really understood Kaufman was using the whole bit as
part of his conceptual comedy act.
| 3. What has it got to do with Mott the Hoople who as far as I know
| are famous because they sang 'All The Young Dudes' and nothing else
| (Though that is good enough)
Weren't Mott the Hoople early glam-rock performers with exaggerated
costumes and anthemic, larger than life songs? If so, it would fit in
with the rest of the song, performers larger than life.
| 4. Is the song supposed to be about some people in the 60's(?)
| who don't believe in the moonshots and wouldn't the song be
| better if the words went
It's more like the song is about reality and illusion -- and how
performing (something Stipe must do a lot of thinking about) plays with
the boundaries between reality and illusion. What is reality? A set of
conventional assumptions about how things work and what to expect in given
situations, that make life workable on a daily basis? If so, children's
board games ("Game of Life," "Monopoly," "21," "Checkers," "Chess," from
the first stanza) give us our early training in preparation for "reality"
even as they are themselves not real.
Similarly, religion and science (second verse, with Moses, Newton, and
Darwin) also consist of models, rules, designed to help us understand
"what is real." These include the Mosiac laws on which Judeo-Christian
ethics is based, and the theories of Newton and Darwin (gravitational
mechanics and natural selection of species, respectively). Modern western
society depends greatly on all three of these for a sense of who we are.
And while many people don't literally believe that the real Moses brought
down plagues on his tormentors or parted the sea, they still may operate
by the ethical set of rules he set down (the Ten Commandments, etc.)
(Similarly you don't have to believe Andy Kaufman became Elvis literally
in order for his act to have profoundly influenced the way you look at
life, or the nature of performing.)
Finally, the moon shot: most folks believe it was real, sure (the movie
_Capricorn One_ and various conspiracy theories notwithstanding), but even
those take for granted it was a real historical event understand that, as
much as it was advertized to be a "scientific" endeavor, it was
nonetheless composed of large parts of politics and show business as
well.
And if a "scientific achievement" is watched so heavily on tv by the
world, hasn't it in fact become show business? And when something becomes
show business, that seems to make its reality more suspect -- and much
more interesting because, if it is suspicious, it is also mysterious and
compelling, and therefore more "cool". (In other words, if everyone
believed the Apollo flights were just simple straightforward scientific
explorations of the moon, with no hidden agenda or theatrics... then *ho
hum*.)
Anyway, I'll stop there. The song isn't about the 60's, I don't think --
if anything it's about the mid-70's to mid-80's crazy
who-knows-what's-gonna-happen time.
Ron "You will learn about life when you play the game of Life..." Henry
--
rg...@cornell.edu
Send me email to receive rec.music.rem FAQ
--
All the birds look down and laugh at me.
Clumsy, crawling out of my skin.
Todd A Miller
Henry) wrote:
> In article <950421040...@stitch.demon.co.uk>,
> Sh...@stitch.demon.co.uk (Paul Dutton) wrote:
>
> | 1. Who is Andy Kaufman? Why is he in a wrestling match?
>
A friend of mine who was "close" to Michael believes that the line
"Andy are you goofing on Elvis" relates to all of the "Elvis sightings"
that were taking place at the time the song was written. He thinks that
Michael believes that Andy is not really dead and that Elvis is not really
dead and that Andy is just playing off that whole thing -- or hoping since
so much time has passed. Just another level to the song I guess. Or, it
could be that Michael thinks that Andy is trying (as part of his act) to
immitate Elvis in his death. All I KNOW is that Michael Stipe is a bigger
REM fan than probably anybody. This could all be false so ....
Steve Larsen
Thanks for the insights and info. Was always a pretty big Kaufman
fan, but never heard of Blassie or the film--must have been a scream--is it
out on video? As a sidenote to the original poster, Kaufman's own death was
at first taken to be by some yet another of his 'bits', and if I'm not mistaken, the Enquirer or some such scooped the main media(who were probably waiting
for the punch-line). I always thought it was very odd though--no warning or
advance notice--just this picture of an emaciated Kaufman on one of them
newstand rags.
Anyway, I enjoyed your thoughts and wondered if you'd care to discuss
your opinions of the song from which you derive your current sig(clumsy,crawling
,etc)--a quote I've used my own damn self and the most immediately striking
song(to me) on the album. I've heard people say it had something to do w/
K. Cobain, but don't see it or know anything about that relationship.Any
thoughts on the matter?
steve larsen
Patrick Gavin
(Todd A Miller) wrote:
He thinks that
> Michael believes that Andy is not really dead and that Elvis is not really
> dead and that Andy is just playing off that whole thing -- or hoping since
> so much time has passed.
Supposedly many pweople have wondered if Kaufman faked his own death.
Apparently, he once said that such a stunt would be a great deal of fun.
irt was also rumoured that he was going to appear on the premiere of
Letterman's CBS show.
Andrew Taubman
| are famous because they sang 'All The Young Dudes' and nothing el
rg>Weren't Mott the Hoople early glam-rock performers with exaggerated
rg>costumes and anthemic, larger than life songs? If so, it would fit in
rg>with the rest of the song, performers larger than life.
Yes, they were. There are actually a few other good Mott songs; the lead
singer Ian Hunter went on to a solo career but I haven't heard of him in 10
years.
rg>situations, that make life workable on a daily basis? If so, children'
rg>board games ("Game of Life," "Monopoly," "21," "Checkers," "Chess," fro
21 is a card game, not a board game; he also mentions Twister and Risk,
this being important because this is the only mention of a wargame in rock
music that I know of!
Andrew C Taubman, Organiser, Apathy forum
Coming RSN to an InterNet near you!
... Chain tagline! Copy or bad luck will follow!
* Wave Rider 1.32 # 613 *
Chris Pardua
> 1. Who is Andy Kaufman? Why is he in a wrestling match?
Andy Kaufman earned much fame during the seventies for his numerous TV
appearances, notably on Friday's (I think that's it) and Taxi as Latka
Gravas. Other characters remembered for include Vic Ferrari and Latka's
precursor, Foreign Man (I shoulda watched that damn tribute on him last
month, memory's fuzzy :))
The wrestling reference comes from Kaufman's fascination with pro
wrestling, which unfortunately began to overshadow his career in comedy.
> 2. Who is Mr. Fred Blassie? Why is he in a breakfast mess?
Freddie Blassie was (and still is, I think) a pro wrestler/manager. Check
out "Pencil Neck Geek," a song he recorded in the mid 70's, for his more
humorous side.
> 3. What has it got to do with Mott the Hoople who as far as I know
> are famous because they sang 'All The Young Dudes' and nothing else
> (Though that is good enough)
Haven't the foggiest, although MTH has been responsible for inspiring
quite a few 80's glam bands (even though said bands hardly ever
acknowledge it).
> And if you believe there's nothing up there Steve
^^^^^
I thought it was "...up their sleeve"? Hmmm..., this opens up new ideas.
Could be about whatever you want, I suppose. But yeah, lovely tune all told.
Chris
> ~===========================================================================~
> Paul Dutton - Sh...@stitch.demon.co.uk
--
Chris Pardua <insert snappy quote by interesting
English Department and famous person here to make self
par...@mc.edu look cultured and sophisticated>
Sue Cottingham
>1. Who is Andy Kaufman? Why is he in a wrestling match?
>2. Who is Mr. Fred Blassie? Why is he in a breakfast mess?
I don't remember all the details specifically, but not long before Kaufman's
death, for a reason I'm not sure of, he wrestled in a professional wrestling
match in the WWF that some how involved Fred Blassie (one of the managers at
that time) as either a manager or actually wrestling against him. It's all
before my time (I was quite young when it happened). Andy Kaufman's most well
known acting role was probably as Latka (?) on the TV show Taxi (at least
that's where I know him from); he also did a spot on one of the first Saturday
Night Live's involving the theme song to the cartoon Mighty Mouse.
Hope this helps.
Sue Cottingham
scot...@eden.rutgers.edu
Eli Cotham
>1. Who is Andy Kaufman? Why is he in a wrestling match?
>
>>2. Who is Mr. Fred Blassie? Why is he in a breakfast mess?
and got into a nasty altercation with some wrestler (?) which involved a
lot of swearing, and someone getting water in the face. My recollection of
the incident is sketchy, I saw it replayed a couple years ago when
Letterman was showing old clips at the end of his NBC run. If someone
remembers the details better than I, please post, as my curiosity has now
been piqued.
Eli
bigd...@ccnet.com
: Freddie Blassie was (and still is, I think) a pro wrestler/manager. Check
: out "Pencil Neck Geek," a song he recorded in the mid 70's, for his more
: humorous side.
collections. In particular, there is one three-tape set avaliable in most
stores that includes it. Now if only I could convince my sister to stop
playing the song over and over again...
Stephen Dark
: > And if you believe there's nothing up there Steve
: ^^^^^
: I thought it was "...up their sleeve"? Hmmm..., this opens up new ideas.
I`ve got the guitar book for AFTP, and there it is "there`s nothing up my
sleeve, then nothing is cool". Eh?
Bye!
Stev