Violet Deliriums's video: Primus - Jerry Was a Racecar Driver guitar cover

This is my cover of Primus's song "Jerry Was a Racecar Driver" (1991) which, like many Primus songs, scorns the stupidity of parochial backward ass intolerant American hicks by mocking them. In the lyrics, "El Sob" refers to Primus bassist/singer Les Claypool's hometown El Sobrante, CA. In interviews, he often complains how hickish and backwards the town is, and since Jerry is from there too, Claypool probably does not think too highly of him. To emphasize the hickish dumbass assholeness of "Jerry," he tells us he has a "Bocephus" sticker on his car, a pseudonym for the stupid backwardass Hank Williams Jr. Jerry's car is not really a racecar, but a "442." That's a short for an Oldsmobile 442 Cutlass, which is a muscle car like many dumbass macho men like to drive because they have nothing else to distinguish themselves from the pack. In other words, Jerry is just a dumbass loser hick who annoys the fuck out of everyone by revving his engine and driving too fast. He thinks he is cool but is going to go nowhere in life. In fact, we learn is fate at the end of the song. Let that be a lesson to you dumbasses out there, and that includes people with loud motorcycles. (See the Southpark season 13, episode 12, "The F Word" for more clarification. http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s13e12-the-f-word There are also plenty of Jerrys lighting up their 442s on YouTube.) I played it on my Fender Violet Deliriums ESM Signature Model Blacktop HH Jaguar (ESM = Explosive Space Modulator) which has Seymour Duncan SH-1 pickups, a killswitch, and some neato stickers on the pickguard. I ran it through my 1970s Silverface Twin Reverb with various effects. I used a Boss ME-6 for the basic sound (my preset 4/2 which has distortion, compression and reverb) with my MXR Custom Comp on (all controls set at 12 o'clock) and some light echo from my Line 6 DL4 (the groovy green stompbox modeler). For the racecar sounds, I used a slide and a volume pedal to swell into them, the Digitech XP-100 Whammy Wah (patch ). (If you have a whammy bar, you can use that with harmonics too, but I don't have a whammy bar on any of my guitars.) During the solo, I click on my Electro-Harmonix Neo Clone chorus (depth switch on low and rate all the way down) just to make it sound a little more spacey. I did not copy the solo exactly, but just went for the gestures that would make me sound like a racecar. Some of the figures I took from the tab in the book, but ultimately I just did what worked for me and made it sound cool. In case you ware wondering what that solo is, it's a series of sounds that can be broken down like this if you are interested in music theory: 1:56 Click on E-H Neo Clone and switch toggle so both pickups on 1:59 Whole-tone scale lick from the tab book 2:02 Octatonic lick kinda like the one in the tab book, but better 2:07 Noodly harmonic minor lick from the tab book, all slurred with hammer-ons and pull-offs so I sound like a dumbass drunk asshole trying to speak English and failing 2:10 Whatever. As if I am going to waste time figuring out a bunch of transition noise note-for-note. I just play a figure and keep moving it up chromatically fret-by-fret toward the higher position where I need to be next. 2:12 More whatever. I truncate the figure and play in faster rhythm to build intensity. I just have to make sure the next riff starts at the right time. And if I crash and burn, who cares? That's what Jerry does in the song! 2:14 Vibrate on the main riff's double stop figure 2:17 A few random slide noises (the tab book says something dumb like put on the harmonizer and play certain notes, whatev) 2:19 Bend another double stop so it sounds out of tune 2:22 Click off Neo Clone & switch toggle to bridge pickup Jerry was a racecar driver. He drove so goddamned fast. He never did win no checkered flag, But he never did come in last. Jerry was a racecar driver. He'd say "El Sob number one." With a Bocephus sticker On his 442, he'd light 'em up Just for fun. Captain Pierce was a fireman. Richmond engine number three. I'll be a wealthy man when I get A dime for all the things that Man taught to me. Captain Pierce was a strong man. Strong as any man alive. It stuck in his craw that they Made him retire at the age of sixty-five. Jerry was a racecar driver. Twenty-two years old. Had too many cold beers one night And wrapped himself around a telephone pole.