John Cale – Dirty Ass Rock ‘N’ Roll

Well, it’s too damn early and your eyes are bleedingFrom the vicious bottle the night beforeAnd the last thing you need is a nicety-niceAnd small talk crawls out your ears

I always wanted to know more about John Cale of the Velvet Underground. That band influenced so many, and Cale was one of the reasons for that. This 1975 song is messy, mean, and totally alive. It’s a little offbeat and disjointed, but it never goes off the tracks. He has a nice groove going and space in the music.

By the mid-seventies, Cale was pushing back against the “serious composer” label that had followed him since the Velvet Underground days. Punk had taken off, and he pushed back by reconnecting with in-your-face rock ’n’ roll. The sound is quite dirty; this is not a crystal clear recording, and that is perfect for this.

The song took shape on the road, worked out with a touring band that thrived on volume and chaos. Cale wanted imperfection like letting riffs sprawl, tempos jumping forward, and vocals that snarled more than sang. It was finished without much revision at all. Cale resisted adding extra parts or effects. The final version reflects the session as it happened.

Lyrically and musically, the track was meant to sound blunt and slightly offensive. It would have been a deliberate swipe at anyone expecting his avant-garde music. This was on his 1975 album Slow Dazzle. On this album, he had Brian Eno on synthesizer, Chris Spedding on guitar, Geoff Muldaur on backing vocals, and super producer Chris Thomas on violin and electric piano. Cale produced the album.

John Cale – Dirty Ass Rock ‘N’ Roll

Well, it’s too damn early and your eyes are bleedingFrom the vicious bottle the night beforeAnd the last thing you need is a nicety-niceAnd small talk crawls out your ears

Maybe it makes you feel just like an undercover Sigmund FreudI hear it makes you feel just like an undercover Sigmund Freud

Hey there, hey now, hey there, hey nowWell, you can make a pacemaker blink, yeah, easy thingMake a man’s heart go bibbity-bom, bippity-bom, bippity-bomLike a gentle drum and knowing you, it ain’t ever done

So go on, go on, go on, darling, go onYeah, go on, go on darling, go on, go on

Yeah, the secretaries and typewriters chattering awayChatter-chatter-chatter-chatterChatter-chatter-chatter, chatter awayIt ought to make you sick when you hear a woman cry

When she don’t get just whatever she wantsBut not my woman, she just keeps on keeping onThat’s my woman, my womanThat moving on shuffle side to sideThat sure can turn me on

Dirty-ass rock ‘n’ rollDirty-ass rock ‘n’ rollDirty-ass rock ‘n’ rollDirty-ass rock ‘n’ roll

Hey now, hey now, hey now, hey nowAnd the beach is a thing and the bees don’t stingLike complaining from a downtown whoreI got my plasma patches and my hypodermicIn hermetically sealed kid gloves

Yeah, tell meTell me, tell me, tell me, tell meTell meTell me, tell me, tell me, tell me

Dirty-ass rock ‘n’ rollDirty-ass rock ‘n’ rollDirty-ass rock ‘n’ rollDirty-ass rock ‘n’ roll

…

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

33 thoughts on “John Cale – Dirty Ass Rock ‘N’ Roll”

  1. Don’t know the song but it certainly exposes the dark underbelly of Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll. As anti Rock and Roll as the VU wanted be Cale was deep in it and the song sounds very autobiographical.

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  2. Pingback: John Cale – Dirty Ass Rock ‘N’ Roll – MobsterTiger

  3. Being the father of a violist, I have to add that John Cale played viola, as did David Freiberg of Quicksilver Messenger Service. The oft-forgotten stringed instrument, it was also played by Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Haydn, Schubert, Dvorak, and other composers. Most of them did not play (or write) dirty-ass rock ‘n’ roll.

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    1. Yes he had way more of a range than most being classically trained. I agree… Maybe developed from that was his timing which is different from most rock song structures….and yea…not many Violist write rock songs!

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      1. The Grateful Dead and the Velvet Underground were both The Warlocks before they changed their names and the VU explored darker, dissonant sounds with taboo subjects.  They were both out of the mainstream and the Velvet Underground started out with Andy Warhol and his parties, while the Dead partied with Ken Kesey.  I did listen to a few Velvet Underground songs, but I have never listened to a whole album by them.

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  7. no denying the Velvet Underground’s impact on future music and influence on so many great artists, but their sound really doesn’t seem to be my thing from what I do hear by them. This one, in a weird sort of way sounds like a real early grunge song… maybe not in the actual tune but in the attitude and delivery

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  8. How can you not get attention with a song titled “Dirty Ass Rock ‘N’ Roll”? Pretty cool! I only know a few Velvet Underground songs, mainly because of the Lou Reed connection. I’ve yet to explore them in detail, not to mention the group’s individual members.

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  9. Another group that I’ve dabbled in here and there, but don’t know much about. I like this. I have the album he did with Reed, Songs For Drella, a tribute to Andy Warhol.

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    1. CB…by just guessing…it sounds like a fretless bass…I’m 99.9 percent chance. It gives you that rubbery sound…if that is a word. I always wanted one because it changes the dynamic. Hear how the bass slides? No frets and it sounds that way. I love it as well…it was hard to pick one…but I wanted to go with a rocker.

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      1. That’s it the “rubbery” sound and you and I have talked bout that before. It really catches my ear. Like i said these guys get labelled but at heart always rockers. Dylan is a rockabilly guy. Made me like him more.

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      2. Paul Simon’s bass player used one on Graceland…you can tell. It sounds just like this. From what I read yea…he was running away from that art-rock label…and this certainly does it…it’s rock plain and simple

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  14. I do remember him, but I didn’t listen to much of their music. This is one of the tunes I listened to. They were involved with Andy Warhol at some point, and he said he made them famous. True or false?

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