Ain't no snafu

Don Van Vliet, better known as Captain Beefheart, died in December in California aged 69. I was pleased to see he got an obituary in the Sunday Times and now also in Uncut magazine.

His music with the wonderful Magic Band was absolutely original and he has had a huge following in the UK since DJ John Peel promoted his first album in the late 60s. Although he always denied any musical influence whatever, it's clear that its roots were in the blues of the deep south. But what he produced was as far removed from the Mississippi delta as a hippopotamus is from a parrotfish.

At its best his music is rhythmic, electrifying, hypnotic, melodic and poetic, but admittedly can be a little too avant garde for some tastes. I have to confess I have never managed to wholly love his esteemed album Trout Mask Replica.

To his fans he leaves, as well as some of the punchiest music ever made, an undying legacy of strange lyrics and song titles which have lodged themselves in people's memories forever. Fast and bulbous, got me?