Green Eyed Loco Man

To wear Chanel, you have to shave first   (1)
And vain man; where do you stand, huh?

A green eyed loco-man
A green eyed loco-man

Where you're standing, I don't see you
Your reflected green eyes take two foot off you
I'm moving fast but you are tight
Your fractured eyes force me through the night

A green eyed loco-man
A green eyed loco-man

G-g-g-g-green eyed loco-man
Green eyed loco-man

And riddle me this, who are you?   (2)
Through a helmet your hair grows right to the ground
That will soon enfold you
Green eyed loco-man where do you stand, huh?

A green eyed loco-man
A green eyed loco-man

With a rabbit's skull on my right
You may be shocked but I'll make you late
For your greedy past, cold on a plate

Loco man

1. Chanel makes clothing, fashion accessories and perfume; the lyric probably refers to aftershave or possibly clothing. The more heavily guitar-based Peel version begins with "Groovin' With Mr. Bloe," a hit 1970 instrumental recorded by a one-off studio band called Mr. Bloe. MES ad libs a line that seems appropriate for "Mr. Bloe," although the original is completely instrumental: "Baby, you're feeling the rhythm, you're moving and grooving," and the band shouts some things that sound like Spanish, and MES reponds with some gibberish that includes "Chewbacca" and something that sounds like "there's only one chef"...the rest of the lyrics are almost identical with the album version, although there is more interjected gibberish and the lines "Say goodbye to Glastonbury, I got a rabbit skull..." and "The Bank of England will see to you, their tertiary notes [or "tissue notes?"] will swirl around you."

The 2003 movie A Mighty Wind, which parodies the early-60s folk scene, contains a song called "Loco Man," performed by fictional combo "The Folksmen" (Harry Shearer, Michael McKean and Christopher Guest, who are also the members of Spinal Tap). This "Loco Man" is apparently a send-up of Carribean music as interpreted, or aped, by folk revivalists.

Courtesy of Reformation, we have the (remarkable!) lyrics to an early version "Green Eyed Loco Man" called "Iodeo":

Antoine points out: The "green-eyed monster" is a symbol of jealousy, I remember coming across the phrase in a variety of children's shows and books when I was young, and, more tellingly, in Othello: "O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; it is the green-ey'd monster, which doth mock the meat it feeds on." It would certainly click with lines like "Where you're standing, I don't see you/Your reflected green eyes take two foot off you."

"Loco" of course means "crazy" in Spanish, and Dan points out that marijuana is sometimes called "loco weed" (or "locoweed") and this is sometimes shortened to just "loco." MES an interview with Pitchfork:

[T]here's a lot of skunk damage in Manchester, I'll tell you that.

Pitchfork: Skunk damage?

MES: Yeah, skunk. The weed, yeah.

Pitchfork: Did you say skunk damage, though?

MES: Yeah, there's a lot of damage there.

Pitchfork: How do you mean, "damage"?

MES: Well, I've got a lot of young mates, and the skunk is like 30 times more powerful, isn't it... I'm not a pothead, you see, so I don't fucking know about it, I'm just commenting on it. It's weird, that thread, though.

Connell suggests the title is a play on Chuck Berry's "Brown Eyed Handsome Man."

The song is likely based on the verse riff of "Old Man Going" by the Pretty Things.

^

2. "Riddle me this" was the catchphrase of the archvillain Riddler from Batman. The Riddler was Batman's archnemesis, and he was archcool. As Danny points out, the phrase is much older than Batman:

For example: John Dryden (1693):

"Riddle me this, and guess him if you can,
Who bears a nation in a single man?"

^

SaveSave

Green Eyed Loco-Man: Fall Tracks A-Z

Groovin' WIth Mr. Bloe: Fall Tracks A-Z

Iodeo: Perverted by Language (Reformation)

The Story of the Fall: 2003