For each Swirling Eddies release, band members adopted pseudonyms for the liner notes; "Camarillo Eddy" (Terry Scott Taylor), "Berger Roy Al" (Tim Chandler), "Gene Pool" (Greg Flesch), "Arthur Fhardy" (Rob Watson), "Spot" (Jerry Chamberlain), "Hort Elvison" (David Raven) and, on later albums, "Prickly Disco" (Gene Eugene). These pseudonyms were dropped for their third album, Zoom Daddy.
The band released its debut album on Alarma Records in 1988 entitled Let's Spin!. 1989's Outdoor Elvis featured the band's first two radio hits, "Driving in England" and "Hide the Beer the Pastor's Here!". The title track included classic lines such as: "It's said he croons when the moon's above, singing tenderly 'Hunk of Burning Love.'" The band's documentary video, Spittle and Phlegm was released the following year.
The band's stage shows are rare and unusual, to say the least. Since the band was formed in the late 1980s, they have only performed about six or seven live concerts. In 1990, the band performed at The Cornerstone Festival in drag, belting out covers like "I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar", The Animals' "We've Got To Get Out Of This Place", The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand", and Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World".
In 2004, the band began to work on their first album of original, new material in ten years entitled The midget, the speck and the molecule. The first new song to surface, a rough mix of "Giants in the Land," was made available in March of 2007 exclusively to people that preordered the album before it was finished. The recording sessions ended in May of 2007 and the album was released on July 23, 2007
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Urban Legends
The Swirling Eddies Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Stung by a spider in a rat's nest igloo
Hook man leavin' his hook on the door
After givin' that girlfriend's guy what for
Someone put a rat in the deep fry
Madman on the phone in the upstairs bedroom
Alligators down in the sewer lines
I had a tough time believing all that
'till i picked up
The vanishing hitchhiker
I picked up (the vanishing hitchhiker)
He was an angel (the vanishing hitchhiker)
I heard him say "stop telling lies."
Then he went away
Remember the dog in the microwave oven?
It was turned to high, now there's nothin' left of him
"there's a hatchet killer hiding in your back seat, ma'am
And a rat tail floating in your coca cola can."
At midnight there stood a stranger on the highway
Somewhere there abouts, (i think) in corpus christi
He smiled and said that he was goin' my way
No i couldn't say that i believed in all that
'till i picked up
The vanishing hitchhiker
I picked up (the vanishing hitchhiker)
He was an angel (the vanishing hitchhiker)
I heard him say "stop telling lies."
Then he went away
I get my info from the backward masking
I get the Word of God through prayer and fasting
J.f.k. is alive and well
And kissenger is a beast from hell
The face of saint paul in this butt roast
Assures me that i'm going up to heaven
The anti-christ does laundry on the east coast
I doubted the most -- did not believe in all that
'till i picked up
The vanishing hitchhiker
I picked up (the vanishing hitchhiker)
He was an angel (the vanishing hitchhiker)
I heard him say "stop telling lies."
Then he went away
The Swirling Eddies's song "Urban Legends" is a satirical commentary on the strange and often ludicrous rumors and myths that circulate in society. The first verse mentions various urban legends, such as the girl with the beehive hairdo who was stung by a spider in a rat's nest igloo and the hook man who leaves his hook on the door after attacking a boyfriend. The second verse mentions other bizarre legends, such as the dog in the microwave oven, the hatchet killer hiding in the back seat, and the rat tail in the Coca Cola can.
The chorus introduces the "vanishing hitchhiker," a popular urban legend about a hitchhiker who disappears without a trace. In the song, the hitchhiker is depicted as an angel who tells the singer to "stop telling lies." This can be interpreted as a condemnation of the spreading of rumors and the gullibility of people who believe in them.
Overall, the song is a humorous critique of the modern-day obsession with urban legends and the uncritical acceptance of information with no factual basis.
Line by Line Meaning
Remember the girl with the bee hive hairdo
Recall the myth about a girl with hair in the fashion of a bee hive.
Stung by a spider in a rat's nest igloo
She was stung by a spider while in a rat's nest igloo, which seems unlikely.
Hook man leavin' his hook on the door
There is a legend of a hook-handed man who left his hook on a girlfriend's door after attacking her boyfriend.
After givin' that girlfriend's guy what for
The hook man attacked a girlfriend's boyfriend.
Someone put a rat in the deep fry
A person put a rat into the deep fryer in a restaurant.
Madman on the phone in the upstairs bedroom
There is a legend of a crazy person calling from the upstairs bedroom.
Alligators down in the sewer lines
The urban legend says that there are alligators living in the sewers.
I had a tough time believing all that
It was hard for me to believe these stories.
'till i picked up
Until the moment when I
The vanishing hitchhiker
Encountered the urban legend of the vanishing hitchhiker.
I picked up (the vanishing hitchhiker)
I gave a ride to the vanishing hitchhiker.
He was an angel (the vanishing hitchhiker)
The hitchhiker, who disappeared from the car, was an angel in the myth.
I heard him say "stop telling lies."
The hitchhiker told me to stop telling lies.
Then he went away
The hitchhiker disappeared from the car.
Remember the dog in the microwave oven?
Do you remember the myth about a dog in the microwave oven?
It was turned to high, now there's nothin' left of him
The dog was microwaved to the point where there was nothing left of him.
"there's a hatchet killer hiding in your back seat, ma'am
A hatchet killer is hiding in the back seat of your car, ma'am.
And a rat tail floating in your coca cola can."
There is a rat's tail floating in your Coca Cola can.
At midnight there stood a stranger on the highway
There is a legend of a stranger standing on the highway at midnight.
Somewhere there abouts, (i think) in corpus christi
This probably happened somewhere around Corpus Christi, Texas.
He smiled and said that he was goin' my way
The stranger smiled and said he was traveling in the same direction as me.
No i couldn't say that i believed in all that
I couldn't say that I believed all these stories.
'till i picked up
Until the moment when I
The vanishing hitchhiker
Encountered the urban legend of the vanishing hitchhiker.
I picked up (the vanishing hitchhiker)
I gave a ride to the vanishing hitchhiker.
He was an angel (the vanishing hitchhiker)
The hitchhiker, who disappeared from the car, was an angel in the myth.
I heard him say "stop telling lies."
The hitchhiker told me to stop telling lies.
Then he went away
The hitchhiker disappeared from the car.
I get my info from the backward masking
I believe in the technique of backward masking to receive messages.
I get the Word of God through prayer and fasting
I believe that prayer and fasting are ways of receiving messages from God.
J.f.k. is alive and well
There is a theory that John F. Kennedy is still alive.
And kissenger is a beast from hell
According to an urban legend, Henry Kissinger is a demon from Hell.
The face of saint paul in this butt roast
In this cooked pork roast, there is a vision of Saint Paul's face.
Assures me that i'm going up to heaven
This vision assures me that I will go to Heaven when I die.
The anti-christ does laundry on the east coast
According to this myth, the anti-Christ is doing laundry on the east coast of the United States.
I doubted the most -- did not believe in all that
I was most skeptical and didn't believe any of these stories.
'till i picked up
Until the moment when I
The vanishing hitchhiker
Encountered the urban legend of the vanishing hitchhiker.
I picked up (the vanishing hitchhiker)
I gave a ride to the vanishing hitchhiker.
He was an angel (the vanishing hitchhiker)
The hitchhiker, who disappeared from the car, was an angel in the myth.
I heard him say "stop telling lies."
The hitchhiker told me to stop telling lies.
Then he went away
The hitchhiker disappeared from the car.
Contributed by Kaylee O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.