Great Truckin' Songs of the Renaissance

Reception

The Age's Shaun Carney, in September 1988, described Great Truckin' Songs of the Renaissance as "a fine piece of work. Clever clever they might be on occasions, but if a few more bands applied even half the humor, social observation and melodic intervention that TISM seems to simply toss off, the world would be a, um, groovier place."

Jonathan Lewis of AllMusic rated the album as four-and-a-half stars out of five, he explained "Completely tasteless and musically mediocre, the album was nonetheless fresh, witty, and extremely funny. The album is more or less standard guitar rock, but it is the song lyrics that make this album great."

In December 2004 FasterLouder's Kathryn Kernohan felt the group had "always written simple, direct pop songs... [their] basic structure has remained the same – danceable guitar and keyboard lines coupled with catchy choruses. The band’s ability to write a ridiculously good pop song is second-to-none and this is no better exemplified than in Great Truckin’ Songs opening tracks." She noticed that "The second record of the double-vinyl set (it's not as much fun on CD, is it?) contains various odds and ends, including snippets of a Triple R interview in which the band rode into the studio on lawnmowers."

Personnel

"40 Years – Then Death"

"40 Years – Then Death" is a 1987 single by Australian alternative rock band TISM. It was originally released on white vinyl in a clear plastic wrapper with no identifying labels of any kind.

Lyrics

"40 Years – Then Death" details an early-twenties male's despondent view of his remaining sex life: 40 more years of "living" then "death". The single earned TISM recognition as their earlier single "Defecate on My Face" was very infrequently played on radio, if at all; where this single was quite radio friendly. The snippet after the main song, "Art, Religion and the Neo-Classical Dialectic", part of a longer piece, "Ezra Pound, Axe-King", which has nothing to do with the song from Great Truckin' Songs of the Renaissance and was released in full on Best Off in 2002.

Track listing

1. "40 Years – Then Death"
2. "Art, Religion and the Neo-Classical Dialectic" (unlisted)
3. "The Back Upon Which Jezza Jumped"

"The Ballad of John Bonham's Coke Roadie"

"The Ballad of John Bonham's Coke Roadie" is a single released by TISM in May 1988. It was released off their debut album, Great Truckin' Songs of the Renaissance (1988).

Lyrics

"The Ballad of John Bonham's Coke Roadie" deals with the assistant to Led Zeppelin drummer, John Bonham, whose job was to procure cocaine for the musician. Throughout the song the musician compares his life to that of an ordinary person whose life is racked with misery and spousal unfaithfulness, contrasted with that of the roadie, whose only concern is the acquisition of cocaine.

Track listing

1. The Ballad of John Bonham's Coke Roadie
2. (I Think I've Got) Mick Jagger Worked Out

"I'm Interested in Apathy"

"I'm Interested in Apathy" is a single by TISM. It was released in November 1988 from their debut album, Great Truckin' Songs of the Renaissance (1988). The title is an oxymoron as apathy is literally a "lack of interest". A 12" version, with a bonus track, was issued in December 1988.

Lyrics

"I'm Interested in Apathy" details the life of a man who has many ideas which range from either life saving, supernatural, answers to conspiracy theories or simply absurd abilities; however, none of these things faze him, nor does he act upon them, because his main focus is apathy. His interest in apathy even prevents him from properly finishing the song, which ends with "Well, here we are at the last verse / I've lost interest."

Among the things the main claims to know or be able to do are: drilling for oil in the Bass Strait, being able to prove Einstein's theory wrong, predicting mankind's fate and knowing what really happened in regards to Marilyn Monroe's death.

Track listing

1. "I'm Interested In Apathy"
2. "Gas! Gas! – An Ecstasy of Fumbling"
3. "The Judeo-Christian Ethic" (Only on 12")

"Saturday Night Palsy"

"Saturday Night Palsy" is a single by TISM. It was released in January 1989 off their debut album, Great Truckin' Songs of the Renaissance (1988). It was their second single to have a music video.

The title is not an amalgam of the film, Saturday Night Fever (1977), and the medical condition, palsy, but it is a reference to radial neuropathy, commonly known as "Saturday Night Palsy", a condition akin to falling asleep on your arm.

Lyrics

"Saturday Night Palsy" focuses on a man who has the inability to decide on matters, particularly, in which manner to harm himself. The song continues through with various opposing scenarios offered by the man, but at the end nothing has been resolved. It is one of the more nonsensical songs offered by TISM which surprisingly became a wide hit.

The version of this song currently available differs from the recording originally released on vinyl and cassette in 1988. At some point before the song was released as a single, the lead vocal was mostly re-recorded. During this process the second line of the first verse was altered from the original, "I want to shoot heroin through the eye" to "I want to shove a red-hot poker through the eye". All subsequent releases of the album (and all CD releases) contained the re-recorded version of the song.

Video

A music video was made by Peter Bain-Hog which featured a handsome man spending his day getting ready to go out dancing. Eventually he finds himself outside of a TISM concert and denied entry, at the end of the video, he is so dejected by the experience that he commits suicide by hanging himself in a nearby alley.

The video was intended to parody other similar video clips of the time which showed good looking people dressing up, going out and enjoying themselves, however the final scene was cut from many broadcasts "in a superb act of bowdlerisation, thus rendering the clip exactly the same as every other slickly produced clip of groovy models having a good time."

Hey Hey It's Saturday performance

After the single was released, TISM were invited to perform it on the Australian variety TV show, Hey Hey It's Saturday. As the song began, the seven members performing it were joined by seven more and before the song ended, a further fourteen, for a total of 28 so-called band members.

Track listing

1. "Saturday Night Palsy"
2. "Pus"

"Martin Scorsese Is Really Quite a Jovial Fellow"

"Martin Scorsese Is Really Quite a Jovial Fellow" is a single by TISM issued in June 1989. It was the last single released off their debut album, Great Truckin' Songs of the Renaissance (1988).

Lyrics

"Martin Scorsese Is Really Quite a Jovial Fellow" deals with the dark and often depressing nature of Scorsese's subjects and the way that a normally happy or perky person would also be quite depressed after watching one of his films. In the years leading up to the song's development, director, Martin Scorsese, had released Raging Bull (1980) and The King of Comedy (1983). The song also mentions the relationship between the director and the actor, Robert De Niro, frequently cast in Scorsese's films.

Track listing

1. "Martin Scorsese Is Really Quite a Jovial Fellow"
2. "Babies Bite Back"

Demo tape

In 1982, TISM (consisting then of just three members) recorded a tape of demo songs titled Great Truckin' Songs of the Renaissance. It is the earliest known recording by the band and has little to do with the album of the same name. It was recorded on 30 December 1982 at the home of Ron Hitler-Barassi. The vocalist on this tape is Humphrey B. Flaubert.

Track list

1. Eckermann is Very Silly
2. The Ballad of the Semitic Nazi
3. Yassa Arathin-a-Go-Go
4. I Go to Werribee
5. Pus of the Dead
6. United He Stands Divided He Is Not United Anymore
7. Stiff's Luck
8. Sweetbread Ain't No Honky Carcinogen
9. Instant Party

Tracks 1-4 were eventually released on Best Off disc 2. Re-recorded versions of tracks 1, 4 and 5 appear on This Is Serious Mum.

Crew