"My Name Is Mud" is a song by American rock band Primus. It was released in 1993 as the first single from their third studio album Pork Soda. In 2010, Primus released a new version of the track sung entirely in Spanish under the title "Me Llamo Mud".
| "My Name Is Mud" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Primus | ||||
| from the album Pork Soda | ||||
| Released | 1993 | |||
| Length | 4:46 | |||
| Label | Interscope | |||
| Songwriter(s) | ||||
| Producer(s) | Primus | |||
| Primus singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Music video | ||||
| "My Name Is Mud" on YouTube | ||||
Composition and recording
editIn the book Primus: Over the Electric Grapevine, when discussing "My Name Is Mud", bassist Les Claypool explained that "the whole notion of the ... song is basically about a couple of tweekers"—one of whom is the titular Mud[1]—"who are hanging out, and they get in a fight over something stupid, and one of them kills the other one. Kind of a River’s Edge–type vibe."[2]
"My Name Is Mud" (like the rest of Pork Soda) was recorded in the band's rehearsal space, which was a series of UltraSound Audio-owned warehouses located in San Rafael. According to Claypool: "We ended up taking over three [of UltraSound's] spaces—we stuck [guitarist Larry LaLonde] in one, [drummer Tim Alexander] in one, and me in another. And we set up video cameras, so we could see each other. And we tracked Pork Soda through a Gamble console, which is our live console, onto [Alesis Digital Audio Tape (ADAT)]. It was one of the first ADAT records."[3] "My Name Is Mud" was produced by the band themselves.[4]
Music video
editThe music video for "My Name Is Mud" was directed by Mark Kohr (who would also helm the videos for two other Primus singles: "DMV" and "Mr. Krinkle").[5] According to Les Claypool, the video is composed of three distinct visual threads: The first is the band performing the song in silhouette. The second is Claypool, in character as Aloysius Devadander Abercrombie A.K.A. Mud, burying a dead body while spitting chewing tobacco and singing at the camera. The third is set in a spa "where ... beauty is voluptuous. Where big people are beauty, and skinny people are not."[6]
The outdoor scenes were filmed around the Palo Alto area, near Interstate 280. During the first day of shooting, the band was caught in a massive rainstorm. "We ended up having to actually bag it," Claypool later noted, "which was a big deal ... scrapping the day almost killed the entire thing. It was freezing-ass cold, and the generator kept dying because somebody put diesel into a gas generator."[6] Larry LaLonde noted something similar: "I remember it being super cold and raining [when we filmed the outdoor scenes]—just standing on the field, freezing to death. That was a tough one to make. It was pretty uncomfortable."[7] The mud bath scenes were shot in Calistoga, California, and the graphic designer and musician Bob C. Cock (who also appears in the music video for Jerry Was a Race Car Driver) cameos in this portion of the video, where he drinks soda containing the pig head from the cover.[6]
Woodstock '94 performance
editDuring Primus's Woodstock '94 performance of "My Name Is Mud", the band was pelted with mud,[8] which band drummer Tim Alexander noted was done "not in a mean way, but kind of a rock ’n’ roll way."[9] About a minute into the song, the band stopped playing and Les Claypool told the crowd, "Well I opened a big-ass can of worms with that one, didn't I? The song is called 'My Name Is Mud' but keep the mud to yourselves, you son-of-a-bitch." He also told them that throwing mud was a "sign of small and insignificant genitalia".[10] At that point "we got them to stop," Claypool explained in a 2014 interview with Greg Prato, "and we were able to continue and do our show."[9] In the same interview, Claypool joked that he "still [has] mud in those speaker cabinets."[9]
Track listing
edit- "Pork Chop's Little Ditty" – 0:21
- "My Name Is Mud" – 4:46
Personnel
edit- Les Claypool – vocals, bass
- Larry LaLonde – guitar
- Tim Alexander – drums
"Me Llamo Mud"
edit| "Me Llamo Mud" | |
|---|---|
| Single by Primus | |
| Released | November 30, 2010 |
| Label | Prawn Song |
Personnel
edit- Les Claypool – vocals, bass
- Larry LaLonde – guitar
- Jay Lane – drums
Charts
edit| Chart (1993) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Alternative Airplay (Billboard)[11] | 9 |
References
editNotes
edit- ^ "My Name Is Mud by Primus". Songfacts. Retrieved May 17, 2022.
- ^ Prato (2014), pp. 163–64.
- ^ Prato (2014), pp. 162–63.
- ^ Prato (2014), p. 162.
- ^ Thompson (2000), p. 93.
- ^ a b c Prato (2014), p. 164.
- ^ Prato (2014), p. 163.
- ^ Lynch, Joe (August 16, 2014). "Primus' Les Claypool Talks Woodstock '94, 20 Years Later". Billboard. Archived from the original on April 26, 2022.
- ^ a b c Prato (2014), p. 186.
- ^ Bernstein, Scott (August 8, 2014). "Full Show Friday | Primus At Woodstock 1994". JamBase. Archived from the original on March 8, 2019.
- ^ "Primus Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
Bibliography
edit- Prato, Greg (2014). Primus: Over the Electric Grapevine. Brooklyn: Akashic Books. ISBN 9781617753220.
- Thompson, Dave (2000). Alternative Rock. San Francisco: Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 9780879306076.