Mr. Krinkle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Mr. Krinkle" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Single by Primus | ||
| from the album Pork Soda | ||
| Released | 1993 | |
| Genre | Alternative rock Funk metal Alternative Metal |
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| Length | 5:27 | |
| Label | Interscope Records | |
| Writer(s) | Claypool/LaLonde/Alexander | |
| Producer(s) | Primus | |
| Primus singles chronology | ||
| DMV 1993 |
Mr. Krinkle 1993 |
Wynona's Big Brown Beaver 1995 |
"Mr. Krinkle" is a 1993 single by Primus, from their album Pork Soda. The final single released off the album, it is considered to be one of the most bizarre songs to ever achieve radio airplay; despite these claims it is popular.
The song features Les Claypool on upright bass rather than his usual electric bass. The song's centerpiece is its bowed bass line, lending it a deep and rough sound, and allowing Claypool to play long, drawn out notes and chords.
The lyrics in the song are remarkably cryptic, revolving around the eponymous Mr. Krinkle (Mike Bordin) that the narrator seems to know and speaks to throughout the song. The topics of their conversation vary wildly; the first verse is about Mr. Krinkle's "team" possibly "moving away", the second featuring the main character asking Mr. Krinkle to "cruise the Bastard boat", and the third verse having the narrator describe to Mr. Krinkle a new genre of music called "Heavy Hometown" that is a cross between "Jimi Hendrix, Bocephus, Cher and James Brown and is described as "New Wave, cold-filtered, low-calorie dry". At a show in Syracuse New York on November 24th 2003 Les stated that the song was about Mike Bordin from Faith No More. The song is about them speaking to each other while both are on tour with their respective bands.
One possible inspiration of the song is the Twilight Zone episode "Four O'Clock", in which Mr. Crangle tries to make every evil person two feet tall. In it, Mrs. Lucas cries out "Why Mr. Crangle? Why?". The chorus of Mr. Krinkle is "Tell me Mr. Krinkle, Tell me why..." Further, the music for Mr. Krinkle sounds similar to the Twilight Zone music.
[edit] Video
The single is perhaps best known for its outlandish music video, featuring Les Claypool wearing a decrepit pig mask, with Ler LaLonde dressed as a 1980s style glam metaller and Tim Alexander dressed as some sort of Japanese samurai (LaLonde and Alexander both appear only very briefly in the video, however). In the background walks a parade of circus actors, including a man lit on fire and a Chinese dragon, among other things. The video itself was shot in an abandoned warehouse, or in an airplane hangar, according to the video commentary on the DVD Animals Should Not Try to Act Like People. What the video has to do with the song is also unknown. It was all done in one shot while even featuring cameos from the various crew members, including the director. Claypool commented that this video was done, in large part, to "incorporate a lot of our friends." Future Primus drummer Brian Mantia is featured as an ice cream vendor.
