AUGUSTUS PINOCHET!
I don't know what I'd have thought if I were in that audience. Cale is doing his usual mid-80s tour thing on "Waiting for the Man," hamming it up, performing it the way he did back then. It's really moving along. So of course he starts rapping about going to Chile in search of the great coffee bean.
Wait, what? Then he starts screaming at Augusto Pinochet? "I CLAUDIUS," he says. Which gives this modern monster of an "Augustus," a man unworthy of such a name, far too much credit. "Have another cup of coffee!" he bids the Generalissimo. "What's the matter, Augustus? Poison? I drink this poison to you, Augustus! I Claudius!"
Most amusingly, he changes the song's denouement - always the highlight of his versions - to a rather different sort of transfixion:
Augustus saiiiiiiiiid
Augustus SAIIIIIIIID
Augustusssssss aaaaaiiiii Claudius
He said-
Don't leave me, don't leave me Clau-
Baby don'tcha holler
Daaaaarling pleeeeeease don't bawl and shout
I'm Catholic too
I'm gonna work it on out
I'm feeling so good, feeling so fine
Until tomorrow
But that's just
Just another
WAITIIIIIIIIIIN
WAITIIIIIIIIIIN
WAITIIIIIIIIIIN
And what can you say to that? Nothing. You just shut up and listen.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Waiting for the Man/Augustus Pinochet
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4 comments:
oh christy, that's hilarious, I'm so sad I missed the upload.
Here's a totally different live version. Just as good, though.
I think I like this Gothenburg version almost as much as the Velvets. Sadly, after repeated tries, I only seem to be able to download 1/2 of it. The same thing happens when I try to download Nico with Cale on the Child's Christmas In Wales. Is that because the link has expired, or should I upgrade something on my browser?
Thanks for your excellent web-site. It is an invaluable resource.
I'd be happy to help you out. Shoot me an email. If anybody else has this problem let me know - not that there's much I can do about it, but it might motivate me to find a new file host.
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