Stampfel explained the origin of the name in the webzine Perfect Sound Forever:
We kept changing the name. First it was the Total Quintessence Stomach Pumpers. Then the Temporal Worth High Steppers. Then The Motherfucker Creek Babyrapers. That was just a joke name. He was Rinky-Dink Steve the Tin Horn and I was Fast Lightning Cumquat. He was Teddy Boy Forever and I was Wild Blue Yonder. It kept changing names. Then it was the Total Modal Rounders. Then when we were stoned on pot and someone else, Steve Close maybe, said Holy Modal Rounders by mistake. We kept putting out different names and wait until someone starts calling us that then. When we got to Holy Modal Rounders, everyone decided by accumulation [sic] that we were the Holy Modal Rounders. That's the practical way to get named.
Stampfel and Weber were introduced to each other by Greenwich Village figure Antonia, who also wrote or co-wrote many of their songs. Their first album, The Holy Modal Rounders, released in 1964, contained their version of "Hesitation Blues", the lyrics of which included the first use of the term psychedelic (here pronounced "psycho-delic") in popular music. Shortly after the release of their second album, The Holy Modal Rounders 2, in 1965, they joined Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg in the Fugs for a short time. Their 1965 recordings with the Fugs are on the albums The Village Fugs, Virgin Fugs, and Fugs 4, Rounders Score. Weber wrote the cult classic "Boobs a Lot" for the Fugs, which the Rounders later recorded on the album Good Taste Is Timeless.
After leaving the Fugs, the Rounders re-formed with Sam Shepard and Lee Crabtree to record their third album, Indian War Whoop, and appeared in Shepard's play Forensic. Their fourth album, The Moray Eels Eat the Holy Modal Rounders, recorded in 1968, included "Bird Song" (essentially Ray Price's "You Done Me Wrong" with altered lyrics), which was featured in Dennis Hopper's film Easy Rider. In 1968 the band performed "You've Got the Right String but the Wrong Yo Yo" on the TV series Laugh-In, with appearances by the park-bench oldtimers played by Ruth Buzzi and Arte Johnson.
In 1970, Robin Remailly and Dave Reisch joined the band, which relocated to Boston and then Oregon, adding Ted Deane, Roger North, and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter. Stampfel stayed in New York but played and recorded with the band on occasion. The band's fifth album, Good Taste Is Timeless, was released by Metromedia in 1971, and their sixth, Alleged in Their Own Time, was released by Rounder Records in 1975.
Stampfel formed the short-lived Unholy Modal Rounders (1975–1977) with Kirby Pines, Charlie Messing, Jeff Berman and Paul Presti. The group was part of the collaboration Have Moicy!, with Michael Hurley and Jeffrey Frederick and the Clamtones.
After releasing Last Round in 1978, the Holy Modal Rounders broke up once again. Stampfel and Weber reunited briefly to record Going Nowhere Fast (1980).
While working for his wife, Betsy Wollheim, as submissions editor of DAW Books Stampfel formed the Bottle Caps, releasing Peter Stampfel and the Bottlecaps (1986), The People's Republic of Rock n' Roll (1989), and an album of standards, You Must Remember This (1994). He won a Grammy in 1998 for writing part of the liner notes for the CD reissue of the Anthology of American Folk Music. When asked if he had plans for his award, he was quoted in the New York Times as saying "I'm going to put honey on mine and lick it off."
The Holy Modal Rounders continued for 20 years without Stampfel, as the band relocated to Portland, Oregon, while Stampfel stayed in New York. The band toured the United States and Scandinavia but remained rooted in Portland, still billed as the Holy Modal Rounders. Some fans have nicknamed them "The Electric Rounders", since like many other bands they changed their acoustic sound to attract larger audiences.
Stampfel and Weber reunited again under the Rounders name for Too Much Fun in 1999. Since then, Stampfel has released records with the Du-Tels (No Knowledge of Music Required, 2001) and the Bottle Caps (The Jig Is Up, 2004). He continues to be active musically, playing with a number of groups, largely in New York City. Some of the performances from a 2008 tour of the Pacific Northwest were scheduled to be released by Frederick Productions in 2009. In 2010 he released his Dook of the Beatniks album.
Weber is reportedly working on solo material. He recently released Steve Weber and the Holy Modal Rounders, B.C. A number of Rounders live albums have also surfaced in recent years.
In 2006 a documentary film, The Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to Lose, was released, directed by Paul Lovelace and produced by Sam Douglas. The film offers insight into the lives of Weber and Stampfel and their career as The Holy Modal Rounders. However, after the movie was released Weber went on record saying the film grossly misrepresented him and saying that the film makers deliberately got him drunk to make a fool out of him. Weber has said the movie destroyed the Holy Modal Rounders, strained the relationship in the band, and made any future reunion impossible.
Nova
The Holy Modal Rounders Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Then I smelled the burning metal reek of Nova
And the CIA and Jehova
Said blame it on the bossa nova
Time is on my side
Slime is on my tide
I ride my time slide all the time
Mickey Mouse is watching from his well-known dial
He knows a miss is as good as a mile
The rescue party's probing through the smoking pile
Time capsules sure are different from time bombs
So I told everybody come on over
If you got another Nova coming over
It's okay to bring another Nova over
You can blame it on the bossa nova
How did primitive man survive
Bound by lust, he couldn't count past five
In the hustle to stay alive
He's sidetracked
He put on clothing and an ordered mind
Left his instincts all far behind
Dropped his rhythm and picked up time
And now he's out there looking for a ride back
Sometimes old awful cold people Nova
Sometimes Don Juans from Villanova Nova
Square and round flat and oval people Nova
They can all blame the bossa nova
The Holy Modal Rounders' "Nova" is a surreal and playful song that mixes references to flying saucers, burning metal, and the CIA with musings on time, Mickey Mouse, and human evolution. The song opens with a description of UFO sightings and a possible nuclear explosion ("the burning metal reek of Nova") that the authorities try to blame on the popular Brazilian dance craze bossa nova. The singer of the song, however, seems unfazed by these events and more interested in riding the "time slide" and being lazy.
The second verse of the song introduces Mickey Mouse as a sort of detached observer who knows that missing a target is just as good as hitting it ("a miss is as good as a mile"). The "rescue party" that probes the "smoking pile" may refer to the aftermath of the Nova explosion or to some other disaster or cataclysm. The mention of time capsules being different from time bombs is a nod to the idea of preserving and burying objects for future generations as opposed to destroying everything in a burst of violence.
The rest of the song continues with absurdist musings about human history and diversity. The singer contemplates how "primitive man" coped with limited counting skills and the struggle to survive, how he gradually lost touch with his instincts and embraced order and time, and how he's now looking for a way back to his roots. The refrain "They can all blame the bossa nova" implies that people are quick to point fingers and assign blame to something foreign or exotic, whether it's a dance or a phenomenon.
Line by Line Meaning
First a bunch of flying saucers flew over
A group of UFOs was seen in the sky
Then I smelled the burning metal reek of Nova
I detected an odor of burnt metal, which is characteristic of a nuclear explosion
And the CIA and Jehova
Both the US intelligence agency and God are implicated in this event
Said blame it on the bossa nova
They proposed attributing the cause of the explosion to a musical genre
Time is on my side
I have plenty of time
Slime is on my tide
I'm surrounded by corruption and filth
I ride my time slide all the time
I actively experience the passage of time
I'm lazy
Despite my abilities, I frequently choose inactivity
Mickey Mouse is watching from his well-known dial
The famous cartoon character is observing me
He knows a miss is as good as a mile
It doesn't matter if I narrowly miss something; the result is the same as if I missed it by a lot
The rescue party's probing through the smoking pile
People are searching for survivors in the wreckage
Time capsules sure are different from time bombs
Items intended to preserve memories over time are the opposite of explosives
So I told everybody come on over
I invited people to visit me
If you got another Nova coming over
If you have another explosion planned
It's okay to bring another Nova over
It's acceptable for more explosions to occur
You can blame it on the bossa nova
We can attribute the cause of the explosion to the same musical genre as before
How did primitive man survive
How did early humans manage to survive?
Bound by lust, he couldn't count past five
Because of his sexual appetite, he couldn't count beyond five
In the hustle to stay alive
In the struggle for survival
He's sidetracked
He's been derailed from his goals
He put on clothing and an ordered mind
He developed a sense of structure and a rational thought process
Left his instincts all far behind
He abandoned his primal instincts
Dropped his rhythm and picked up time
He abandoned his old way of life and embraced the passage of time
And now he's out there looking for a ride back
He's searching for a way to return to his primal state of being
Sometimes old awful cold people Nova
Occasionally, unpleasant and unapproachable people appear
Sometimes Don Juans from Villanova Nova
At other times, charming and seductive individuals are present
Square and round flat and oval people Nova
People of all types and shapes can be found
They can all blame the bossa nova
All of these individuals can attribute anything undesirable to the musical genre they dislike
Contributed by Nicholas K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.