Ice Cream For Crow

Album: Ice Cream For Crow (1982)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The title track of Captain Beefheart's second-to-last album, "Ice Cream for Crow" is typically inscrutable, a word salad of lines like "crow pants the scarecrow" and "hop flop squawk." Good luck trying to figure it out. Beefheart once explained, "I'm just a silly ass. I have no method to my madness."
  • Beefheart and his Magic Band invested a lot in the video for this song, where they perform it the desert. It was supposed to bring the niche band into the living rooms of the masses, but they were quickly deflated when MTV deemed it "too weird" to play.

    Those who saw the video did so either on syndicated music video shows like Night Flight, or on David Letterman's show. When Letterman had Beefheart on, he played the video and asked him what "Ice Cream for Crow" means. Beefheart's reply made no sense, but he said it with a conviction that left you believing it made sense to him. A rough transcription: "Ray gun, jelly beans, rope trick, he's a bad actor. What it has to do is black and white at a raven, vanilla ice cream."

    Regarding the video, he declared, "I don't want my MTV if they don't want my video," referring to MTV's ubiquitous "I want my MTV" slogan.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Marc Campbell - "88 Lines About 44 Women"

Marc Campbell - "88 Lines About 44 Women"They're Playing My Song

The Nails lead singer Marc Campbell talks about those 44 women he sings about over a stock Casio keyboard track. He's married to one of them now - you might be surprised which.

Mick Jones of Foreigner

Mick Jones of ForeignerSongwriter Interviews

Foreigner's songwriter/guitarist tells the stories behind the songs "Juke Box Hero," "I Want To Know What Love Is," and many more.

He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss): A History Of Abuse Pop

He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss): A History Of Abuse PopSong Writing

Songs that seem to glorify violence against women are often misinterpreted - but not always.

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Heaven And Hell

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Heaven And HellSongwriter Interviews

Guitarist Tony Iommi on the "Iron Man" riff, the definitive Black Sabbath song, and how Ozzy and Dio compared as songwriters.

Daryl Hall

Daryl HallSongwriter Interviews

Daryl Hall's TV show is a hit, and he's been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - only one of these developments excites him.

Angelo Moore of Fishbone

Angelo Moore of FishboneSongwriter Interviews

Fishbone has always enjoyed much more acclaim than popularity - Angelo might know why.