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'Bug Powder Dust' Lyrics

My Take at Figuring Them Out

> > This page is devoted to trying to figure out what the hell the lyrics are to the song 'Bug Powder Dust' by Bomb the Bass (featuring Justin Warfield).  Since I've been looking for them for a long time without luck, I decided to try to figure them out myself.  After consulting my friends to help me out, this is what we've come up with so far.  If you can help us figure out what we're missing or if you think we screwed up part of the lyrics, email me and I'll update this page.  Also, if you do have the lyrics, please let me know either what they are or where I can find them.  Apparently it is easier to figure out the lyrics from the remixes of this song so you may be interested in listening to them (especially the remix by Kruder and Dorfmeister).
 
Here are some resources that will probably help in deciphering the lyrics:
  • The movie 'Naked Lunch' by David Cronenberg (1991)
  • The novel 'Naked Lunch' by William S. Burroughs
  • Lyrics to Prodigy's Dirtchamber Sessons
  • The International Movie Database
I have been adding a list of what is believed to be referred/alluded to in the lyrics at the bottom of this page.  Perhaps in doing so, the lyrics may be easier to figure out and might actually make sense.  If you know what any parts of the lyrics refer to that aren't on the list, feel free to email me so that I can update the list.
 
Thanks go out to Adam, Gary, Jen, Mike W., Kent, Debi, Bryan, Colleen and many others for their suggestions.
 
I've been lazy and have been taking my sweet ass time to update this page.  Sorry about that.  Check the date at the bottom to see when I've last updated it and don't be discouraged from sending me an email if it's almost been a year since that last time I updated this page (whoops).  I do save the emails and if I get enough of them, I try get my ass in gear.
[I think it's time to discuss your philosophy of drug use as it relates to artistic endeavors]
 
Check it, yo!
I always hit the tape with the rough road styles
You heard the psychdelic and ya came from miles
Keep my rhymes thick like a Guinness brew
So you could call me black and tan when I'm a wreckin' a crew
I'm like Bill Lee writing when he's in Tangiers
And now I'm on a soul safari with my Beatnik peers
Analog reel and a little distortion
Smokin' on somethin' s'you could say I'm scorchin'     (Smokin' on suckers... ?)
I never been the type to brag but beware
I'll make a man burn his draft card like it was Hair
Send ya up the river like you lookin' for Kurtz
I got the mugwump jism up in every verse
 
I always hit the apple when I'm going to shoot
So you can call me William Tell or Agent Cooper to boot
Mr. Mojo Risin' on the case again
So tell your mother and your sister and your sister's friends
Like an exterminator running low on dust
I'm bug powder itchin' and it can't be trussed
Interzone trippin' and I'm off to Annexia
I gotta get a typewriter that's sexier     (...tight bite of dyslexia?)
My name is Justin and that's all that's it
And I'll be spittin' rhymes wicked like it ain't for this shit
Houses of the Holy like Jimmy Page
But the song remains the same so I'm stuck in a rage
Just like Jane when she's going to Spain
I think I'm going away tomorrow, just a fool in the rain
Light up the candles and bless the room
I'm paranoid, snow blind, just a black meat fool
 
(Refrain 2x)
Bug powder dust an' mugwump jism
And the wild boys runnin' 'round Interzone trippin'
Letter to control about the Big Brother     (Led into control?)     (Learning to control?)     (Lenin to control?)
Try like hard to not blow my cover
 
Never been a fake and I'm never phony
I got more flavour than the packet in macaroni
Rock drippin' from my every vowel
I've got the soul of the sixties like Ginsberg's Howl
Shootin' mad ball and I'm always jukin'
Take you to the hole and I'm surely hoopin'
Top of the pops like the Lulu's show
I'll take a walk on Abbey Road with my shoes unsoled     (..shoes off, so)     (...shoes of soul?)
I got a splinter though, damn, you know man it hurt
I got a Vegemite sandwich from Men at Work
I keep minds in line, but time sublimes,
So when you search you find something like a gold mine
A psychadelic meanderings in the poem
I got a patter, patter anyplace that I roam
Waiting for the sun on a Spanish caravan
Solar eclipse and I'm feeling like starin' man
 
(Refrain 2x)
 
Who's that man in the windowpane
Got somethin' on his tongue and it's startin' to stain
Sho' nuff equip so wop n'get down
Step up on my ladder and you'll get beat down
Hash bar style so I'm singin' day glow
Wakin' up the dead like Serpent and the Rainbow
Jeff Spicoli roll me another hay
The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh with Dr. J
Shockin' your ass like a faulty vibrator
Hear me now, but you'll probably get the vibe later
Who knows where the wicked wind blows
Que sera sera just leave it alone
Great Space Coaster toast up the town ?????
Makin' midgets with my man Dr. Shrinker
Pass the hookah, throw down the pillows
Cloth on the ceiling, blow rings that billow
Kick off the shoes and relax your feet
Now roll up your sleeves for this lyrical treat
 
(Refrain 2x)
 
[I think it's time for you boys to share my last taste of the true black meat; the flesh of the giant, aquatic, Brazilian centipede.]

NOTES/REFERENCES:

The spoken lines at the very beginning and end of the song are quotations from the movie 'Naked Lunch.'

Verse 1

  • Black and tan is a drink made with half a pint of Guinness (the black) and half a pint of Bass (the tan). It may also refer to the 1919 revolt of the Irish Republican Army.
  • Bill Lee is the main character in 'Naked Lunch' and it refers to William Burroughs
  • Tangiers is a port in Morocco
  • A Beatnik is a member of the Beat Generation (the generation of people that came to maturity in the 1950s) that tends to shun conformity
  • Burn his draft card like it was Hair probably refers to the musical 'Hair'
  • Send you up the river like you looking for Kurtz is a reference to the novel 'Heart of Darkness' by Joesph Conrad and/or to the movie 'Apocalypse Now' which was based on that novel.
  • Mugwump jism is a reference to 'Naked Lunch'

Verse 2

  • William Tell was an archer who used to shoot apples off of his son's head (according to legend).  In 'Naked Lunch,' Bill Lee kills his wife by attempting something similar.
  • Agent Cooper was also an incredible marksman like William Tell in the TV series Twin Peaks
  • Mr. Mojo Risin' is an anagram for Jim Morrison that he apparently used to check into hotels and is used in the song 'LA Woman'
  • Trussed is a term used in hip-hop to mean tied down
  • Interzone is a fictious Algerian port where Bill Lee wrote novels in 'Naked Lunch'
  • Annexia is a fictious location that Bill Lee goes to after leaving Interzone (from 'Naked Lunch')
  • Typewriter that's sexier might refer to the behaviour of the typewriter Bill Lee used in 'Naked Lunch' (Author's note: I don't know what a tight bite of dyslexia might refer to)
  • Houses of the Holy is an album by Led Zeppelin
  • Jimmy Page is the guitarist for Led Zeppelin
  • Song Remains the Same and Fool in the Rain are songs by Led Zeppelin
  • Jane ... going to Spain and going away tomorrow refer to the song 'Jane Says' by Jane's Addiction
  • Paranoid and Snow Blind are songs by Black Sabbath

Refrain

  • Bug Powder Dust and Mugwump Jism are both references to 'Naked Lunch'
  • Wild Boys is a novel by William Burroughs
  • Big Brother refers to the novel '1984' by George Orwell.

Verse 3

  • Packet in macaroni is probably the concentrated cheese powder in boxes of macaroni and cheese.
  • Ginsberg's Howl refers to the book of poetry entitled 'Howl' written by Allen Ginsberg
  • Shootin' mad ball and hooping refer to basketball.
  • Top of the Pops is/was a British music chart show
  • Lulu was an artist who had hit songs in the late 60's such as 'To Sir With Love'
  • Abbey Road is a recording studio in Britain and the name of an album by the Beatles
  • I got a splinter might refer to the fact that Paul McCartney is walking barefoot outside the Beatles' recording studio on Abbey Road on the album cover for 'Abbey Road' by the Beatles.  Some conspiracy theorists believe that McCartney died before this album was released and the album covers hints at this.
  • Vegemite Sandwich is a reference to the song 'Down Under' by Men at Work
  • Waiting for the Sun and Spanish Caravan are songs by the Doors
  • Solar eclipse and I'm feeling like starin' man probably refers to the urban legend about some kids who got blinded from staring at a solar eclipse while high on LSD.

Verse 4

  • Who's that man in the windowpane, got somethin' on his tongue and it's startin' to stain might pertain to the movie 'The Name of the Rose' ('Der Name Der Rose') or the song 'Windowpane' by Coil which is about taking LSD.
  • Serpent and the Rainbow is a movie about a drug that is found in Haiti that makes users of it appear dead
  • Jeff Spicoli is a character in the movie 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' who smokes weed (possibly referred to as hay in this song)
  • The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh is a movie that the basketball legend Dr. J (Julius Erving) appeared in
  • Que Sera Sera comes from Latin meaning "whatever will be, will be." This is the name of a song from the Hitchcock movie 'The Man Who Knew Too Much.' Also, Justin Warfield has a song entitled "K Sera Sera"
  • Great Space Coaster was a children's television show from the early 1980's.
  • Dr. Shrinker is the mad scientist in the TV series with the same title who plans to use his shrinking ray on all the people in the world
  • Roll up your sleeves probably refers to injecting drugs (i.e. heroin)