T. Rex “The Slider”
T. Rex “The Slider” released on this date, July 21st, 1972. I’m capping off 70′s week with one of my favorite glam rock albums (I wrote about it 2 years ago but it’s so good it’s worth another run). The Slider is slinky, scuzzy and outrageously sexy, its style defining the glam rock genre. So many down-n-dirty lyrics, delivered by Marc Bolan oozing raunch sensuality: the title track “The Slider” (when he sings “And when I’m sad, I slide” the word “slide” is downright lecherous), “Ballrooms of Mars” (“You dance with your lizard boots on…You diamond browned hag, You’re a gutter-gaunt gangster”), “Chariot Choogle” (“Standing on your porch, You wear your pleasure like a torch, Hiding in the road, Like a Pasolini toad, Gonna give up all my load and go”) and the entirety of “Buick Mackane” (which ends with the lyrics “Slider slider, You’re just a sexual glider, Be my plane in the rain”). The Slider is also funny and clever: Bolan’s use of language, the vocabulary and the lyrical rhythms, creates a rich, visible texture to the stories contained within each track. On “Telegram Sam” (which hit #1 in the UK) Bolan gives T. Rex’s manager the nickname Telegram Sam (supposedly he sent the band their tour earnings after each performance date via telegram so that the band didn’t blow the money pre-show). The other characters in the song receive tempo’d monikers: Golden Nose Slim, Purple Pie Pete, Jungle faced Jake. Bob Dylan is just Bobby and Bolan describes himself: “I ain’t no square with my corkscrew hair.” (Dylan is name-checked again on “Ballrooms of Mars.”)
Telegram Sam Telegram Sam
You’re my main manGolden Nose Slim Golden Nose Slim
I know’s where you ‘bin
Purple Pie Pete Purple Pie Pete
Your lips are like lightning
Girls melt in the heatTelegram Sam
You’re my main man
Telegram Sam
You’re my main manBobby’s alright Bobby’s alright
He’s a natural born poet
He’s just outa sight
Jungle faced Jake
Jungle faced Jake
I say make no mistake
About Jungle faced JakeAutomatic shoes
Automatic shoes
Give me three D vision
And the California blues
Me I funk but I don’t care
I ain’t no square with my corkscrew hairTelegram Sam Telegram Sam
I’m a howlin’ wolf
Daily (maybe) pulls from the vault: 33-1/3, 45, 78, old, older, classic, new, good, bad. Subjective. Autobiographical. Occasionally putting a record up for sale.
