Who's got the 10?

There have always been voices in my head. It's not enough that I tend to blabber in my everyday life; there's likely to be a stream of internal chatter going on in my head even while I'm talking to another human being. Jeez, it's like Rupert Pupkin's basement up in here.

Among the topics that occupy my mind are the one question I would ask my favorite artists, should I ever have the opportunity to meet them. For instance, there's a montage of gangland killings in Martin Scorcese's Goodfellas that I'd ask him about: Was the scene consciously styled after a key montage of vengeance and bloodletting in Kurusawa's Ran? Even if I was grabbing at straws, I bet Marty wouldn't miss the opportunity to unleash some pent-up, internal dialog of his own concerning Ran. Then we'd spin cool records and trade tales of guilt-ridden, self-glorified debauchery and crippling asthmatic attacks.

Do you have a nagging question you'd like to ask a favorite musician?

Follow up:

Long ago, when I bought Captain Beefheart's awesome Music in Sea Minor ep (maybe my favorite ep ever?) and first heard "Kandy Korn" I was struck by how closely the Buzzcocks followed the key components of that song's template for their own "Why Can't I Touch It". There aren't many opportunities in everyday life to discuss these songs' similarities, but the question has often come up during my imaginary discussions with Pete Shelley: "Pete, I gotta ask you, how conscious were you and the band of having completely structured your song after Beefheart's song? I mean, even your and Steve's rhythm guitar jam on the extended fadeout follows the arc of the extended fade in 'Kandy Korn'."

Likely, no great discussion would follow this question, but every once in a while I poke around the Web, thinking I'll find an old interview in which Shelley was asked just this question. I've never found acknowledgment of a direct connection, although the Buzzcocks covered Beefheart's "I Love You Big Dummy", and Shelley has cited Beefheart as an early influence. There is one other person out there who's raised this obvious connection. Only one! Aren't there much less important questions out there that result in more than 1 Google hit? If you don't believe me, type in +"why can't I touch it" +"kandy korn". Of 4 hits, there's only the one relevant hit that I've pointed out. If nothing else, we've now doubled that amount.

So this is not the most enlightening question I've ever imagined asking an artistic hero, but it does give me an excuse to post both tracks back to back for our listening pleasure. If you don't already own Singles Going Steady, what's your problem? If you don't already own Music in Sea Minor, I urge you to seek out the 1983 reissue 10-inch ep version of it, or just make sure you own both Safe as Milk and Mirror Man, the two full-length albums from which the perfectly packaged ...Sea Minor cherrypicks.

Captain Beefheart, "Kandy Korn"

Buzzcocks, "Why Can't I Touch It?"