Defecate on My Face
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| "Defecate on My Face" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| B-side | "Death Death Death The Art-Income Dialectic" |
"Defecate on My Face" was the first single released by Australian alternative rock band TISM. It was released in 1986, and has been a mainstay of TISM's live show ever since.
The single was released on 7" vinyl packaged in a 12" cardboard sleeve sealed on all four sides, so that one side had to be broken to hear the record. The original single has become a collectors' item among fans.
Song
The song tells the story of Adolf Hitler and his rise through history as a great dictator. It follows his various successes throughout the Second World War, and in doing so, it reveals that his dramatic rise to power is made possible, or perhaps hampered, by his one weakness: he requires that Eva Braun defecate on his face, presumably as a fetish. When, one day she refuses, his dictatorship goes awry and several misfortunes befall him. The song reveals this to be the cause of the (real-life) failure of his plans to conquer the world, and his demise.
The chorus contains the lines: "There's trouble brewing in the Warsaw Pact; So hurry up Eva and move your digestive tract". The Warsaw Pact was not established until 1955, several years after Hitler's death.
The song was written in D minor.
Video
The video was filmed in 1985 and features stock footage of Nazi soldiers and several high-ranking Nazi officials intercut with footage of bombs dropping and aftermath of these events. One notable scene involves a man who looks up just as bombs are dropped from a plane, a subtle nod towards the song's theme.[1] Also in the video are TISM dancing in front of a white screen in their trademark black balaclavas and Ku Klux Klan uniforms. One part features a TISM member with a white sheet over his head trying to eat popcorn through the sheet.
One moment in the video features a piece of card featuring a quote, apparently from T. S. Eliot which reads "Hurry Up" and a caption "To his kettle". Below it is small print that says "THIS WRITING IS FOR PEOPLE WHO SLOW DOWN THEIR VIDEOS".
At two minutes into the video, two unmasked TISM members can be seen.
Controversy
The song could not be played on radio until 1993, because of the lyrical content included extensive references to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler his mistress Eva Braun and coprophilia.
The second B-side "The Art-Income Dialectic" was recorded as a prize for winning a 3RRR battle of the bands competition. It was recorded at the Aztec Studios on 24 November 1985, alongside two other tracks: "If You Want the Toilet, You're In It" and "When You're Happy and You Know It, Kill Yourself". "If You Want the Toilet..." was released on Collected Recordings 1986-1993 in 1995, while "When You're Happy..." remains unreleased, however it was played live in 1986.
The album cover is pink, with red writing stating "THIS IS SERIOUS MUM" in all four edges, while faux biographies of the band members are written in the main field in black, with a large red "TISM" in the centre of each. If viewed from a distance, the artwork resembles a backwards swastika. The text would later be published in The TISM Guide to Little Aesthetics in 1990.
Other versions
The title has become the most re-released TISM song, appearing on several recordings.
The song was written in 1983 and appears on the bedroom tape "Hooked on Crap" from that year, which remains unreleased. The first released version was a dark, bass-driven version of the track, with an extensive scratching solo, appearing on "This Is Serious Mum Demo Tape" (1985). The next version was a 7" single, which contained a version of "Defecate..." that would later appear on tism.bestoff. (2002) along with a remix by Machine Gun Fellatio. This version, recorded in October 1985 at York Street Studios, is performed in a style similar to the demo version but incorporating elements of Australian pub rock, featuring heavy guitars in the pre-choruses and choruses and retaining the scratching solo and was the one used for the music video. The most well-known, a completely pub rock version, appears on their album Great Truckin' Songs of the Renaissance (1988), with the turntable solo replaced by a Beatles sample. A country and western version was recorded for Form and Meaning Reach Ultimate Communion (1986) and re-appeared on Gentlemen, Start Your Egos (1991). Machines Against the Rage (1996) and The White Albun (2004) both included live versions, the former featuring extra guitar noodling by Tokin' Blackman.
Track list
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Defecate on My Dace" | 4:49 |
| 2. | "Death Death Death" | 3:05 |
| 3. | "The Art/Income Dialectic" | 1:24 |
| 4. | "Death Death Death (Live at the Users Club Flaubert Drum Solo version)" (Bonus track, only available with iTunes rerelease) | 13:31 |
Personnel
- Peter Minack - lead vocals
- Sean Kelly - guitar, backing vocals
- John Holt - bass, backing vocals
- Damian Cowell - drum programming, backing vocals
- Eugene Cester - keyboards, backing vocals, scratching solo