Friday, March 11, 2011

Anagramophone: The Queen is Dead

...In which I take a classic album and subject it to a rigorous anagramming... I take the artist, the album title, and the track listing and subject it all to cruel and unusual anagramming. Here are the results for The Smiths' classis The Queen is Dead...



Note: clicking on these pictures will magically make them much bigger.

So we have here the third album by Them Shits, Head Needs Quiet. Here's the track listing as follows:

THEM SHITS
HEAD NEEDS QUIET
  1. HEAD NEEDS QUIET (The Queen is Dead)
  2. RANK HYMN: LARKS FLY (Frankly, Mr. Shankly)
  3. NO KIWI VOTERS (I Know it's Over)
  4. OH NO! EVEN A REVEREND (Never Had No One Ever)
  5. CREAMY... GET SET! (Cemetry Gates)
  6. BIGOTS' AMATEURISH KING (Bigmouth Strikes Again)
  7. WHITE-HOT BEHIND, TINY HORSESHIT (The Boy With the Thorn in His Side)
  8. I TUT A VAIN CUR (Vicar in a Tutu)
  9. NEGATIVE TO THIS HETERO SLAUGHTER (There is a Light that Never Goes Out)
  10. HEART-THROB SINGER'S LARGE EGOISM (Some Girls are Bigger Than Others)
I think I did a decent job overall with these. Though in priniciple it sounds Morrisseyesque, 'I Tut a Vain Cur' is my least favourite - there's nothing else I could do with 'Vicar in a Tutu'. On the other hand, though, 'Creamy... Get Set!' is about as far from a Morrissey song title as you could imagine, and 'Negative to This Hetero Slaughter' just sounds like there's a fascinating story happening. Turning 'I Know It's Over' into a political statement about democracy in New Zealand was bizarre, and 'White-Hot Behind, Tiny Horseshit', while containing a naughty word - as does the band title - seems like a curious story, about a sexy posterior and a lie, maybe?

The highlights, though, are the two tracks that, through sheer serendipity, happen to comment on the Smiths' lead singer. 'Heart-Throb Singer's Large Egoism' is just awesome in about every possible way, and even though it might be mudslinging, after 'Bengali in Platforms', 'The National Front Disco' and a few decades of feet-in-mouths, 'Bigots' Amateurish King' is a bit biographical as well.

Head Needs Quiet. Perhaps it does. If so, it might not want to listen to this album - or in fact the song bearing that name, for it's a lengthy exercise in squalling feedback. No quiet here for that head, them naughty shits.

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