[Today: Three minutes of rock & roll perfection...]
The Raw Meat is less than a footnote in the history of rock – this group enjoyed a brief residency at the Cheetah in NYC, and released one lone single before breaking up just weeks before a scheduled appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Their single – ‘Funky Humpback’ b/w ‘Run For Your Life’ – features a pretty forgettable A-side, but ‘Run For Your Life’ is a savage, funked up piece of raw soul that had me thinking I recognized the lyrics, checking Google, and then exclaiming “THIS IS A BEATLES SONG?!?”
This sounds like what might have resulted if Captain Beefheart gobbled speed, decided to emulate Otis Redding, and packed off to Memphis to record with the Stax/Volt horns. It takes the psychotic heart of this Beatles tune – which is masked by their Fab Four charm – and turns it loose, with great blasts of horns, a fierce backbeat, and a frontman who sings like 50 miles of dirty gravel road. The Raw Meat approached this tune as if they had nothing to lose – and indeed they didn’t – making it one of the great Beatles covers of all-time. TRM didn’t just anticipate punk with this track, they created a punk/funk/rock/soul hybrid that still sounds miles ahead of any record that will be released next week.
The 45 is the great rock equalizer, and even though they never released a full-length album, for 3 solid minutes, The Raw Meat stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Elvis Presley, Otis Redding, James Brown, The Stones, The Stooges or any other ground-breaking, exciting performer of the last 50 years. Really great singles ride an ascending arc of excitement that takes you up & up & up and leaves you exhausted, spent, broke, in the gutter with your ears blown out of your head, and ready to put the needle back and do it all over again. ‘Run For Your Life’ is such a kick in the groin that one can’t help but wonder what might have happened if this group had stuck together long enough to play Ed Sullivan. For one song at least, The Raw Meat was the greatest band in the world, so maybe it’s best to just leave it at that…
Listen: Run For Your Life
