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A Case of the Punks

Posted at 1:28 PM on January 17, 2007 by Steve Seel (2 Comments)

Today at noon for "My Three Songs," a listener suggested a set that contained Captain Beefheart's "Ashtray Heart," which, I have to say, was exhilarating to hear on our airwaves. But what especially amused me was this: in a song that seems to be about being betrayed ("you used me like an ashtray heart ... crushed me while I was burning out"), Beefheart howls, "open up another case of the punks." Is this use of "punk" as in getting "punk'd" -- i.e. tricked? I'd thought this was relatively new slang, yet this song is almost 30 years old now. If so, how cool to see evidence of supposedly new-ish slang not being new at all.

I know the history of tracking slang is a rather vague science, so I suppose I'm not really asking you to jump in on that one here. What I really want to know is this: did anyone happen to catch Beefheart performing this tune on Saturday Night Live in 1980, on a show hosted by Malcolm McDowell? (It was the very ill-fated 6th season). Oh. My God. I was one freaked-out young Seel watching that one. I remember Beefheart knocking the microphone off the stand with his soprano sax during one of the songs that night.

Comments (2)

Uhmmm no, not that I remember. o 0 (one can imagine why you were freaked-out) Is it available in some dusty video archive?

We always called the burn sticks used for fireworks "Punks". Since they provided a slow burn, it could be a nice spin to the lyrics. Then again in my home dictionary "feeling punky" means feeling crappy and blue.

Posted by Julia Schrenkler | January 17, 2007 2:05 PM

Update: Bob from Mpls states (via e-mail) that, "the 'pack of punks' that Beefheart mentioned in the song means Punque, a mosguito repellent that looks and burns like incense, hence you would open the pack and burn them in the 'ashtray
heart.'

Thanks Bob!

Posted by Steve Seel | January 17, 2007 11:07 PM

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