No Condition Is Permanent

Pictured: John Cale.

One day on the tour, we were driving back to London and I said to the tour manager, ‘I want to get a live chicken.’ We had bought a meat cleaver in Germany and it gave me an idea. I told him to stop at a farmhouse and buy a chicken, but put it in a box so that nobody else in the band would know. However, he came out of the farmhouse holding the squawking chicken by its legs. All the way back to the Portobello Hotel everybody in the band was asking, ‘What’s he gonna do with the fucking chicken? You’re not going to hurt it, right?’

The gig was at Croydon. I had the chicken killed backstage and put on a wooden platter with a handle. I told the roadie, ‘When I get into the second verse of “Heartbreak Hotel”, slide it out to me on the platter.’ I already had the meat cleaver stashed on stage. The guys in the front row were slam-dancing, bopping and swaying. All those punks with their leather and chains, pushing everybody because they’d taken too much speed. So I thought, try a little voodoo! I’m singing, ‘We could be so lonely,’ swinging the chicken around by its feet, nobody in the audience knowing it was dead, ‘we could be so – ‘ Thwok! I decapitated it and threw the body into the slam dancers at the front of the stage, and I threw the head past them. It landed in somebody’s Pimm’s. Everyone looked totally disgusted. The bass player was about to vomit and all the musicians moved away from me. Even the slam dancers stopped in mid-slam. It was the most effective show-stopper I ever came up with.

I have no remorse for the chicken. I like chicken – chicken fricassee. The band’s quitting in protest was pretentious. Bruce Brody and Richie Fliegler stayed on; they were the only non-vegetarians. They too had wanted to know before it happened, ‘What are you gonna do, are you gonna hurt it?’ I said no, and afterwards they told me I lied to them. I said, ‘I didn’t hurt it, I killed it. It didn’t feel a thing.’

— John Cale, What’s Welsh for Zen?

LISTEN TO EPISODE 354 OF NO CONDITION IS PERMANENT:

DOWNLOAD EPISODE 354 OF NO CONDITION IS PERMANENT BY CLICKING ON THE THREE DOTS /\

Here’s what we played in Ep. 354 of No Condition Is Permanent:

THE FIRST SET

Don Renaldo Strings — “Fiddlin’ Around” — The Best of Disco Demands: A Collection of Rare 1970s Dance Music

Blo — “Don’t Take Her Away From Me” — Chapters and Phases: The Complete Albums 1973-1975

Bruce Johnston — “Do The Surfer Stomp” — Sun & Surf! Cars And Guitars!

Al Massrieen — “Sah” — Habibi Funk 006: Modern Music

Morphine — “Honey White” — Yes

The Upsetters — “Freak Out Skank” — Wonderman Years

Village — “Long Time Coming” — Deviation Street: High Times in Ladbroke Grove 1967-1975

IT’S MADISON TIME…

The Mothers of Invention — “Motherly Love” — Freak Out! [US mono]

THE SECOND SET

La Playa Sextet — “El Chico’s Boogaloo” — Doing the Boogaloo

Sly And The Family Stone — “Loose Booty” — Higher!

Kacma Guzel — “Nese Alkan” — Uzelli: Psychedelic Anadolu

Alan Pierce & The Tonekings — “Swampwater” — Let’s Go Instro

Lloyd & Devon — “Wolf Out Deh” — Voodooism

John Cale — “Evidence” — Sabotage/Live

Grand Kallé & L’African-Jazz — “Otuli Foti Na Yo” — Succès Des Années ‘50/’60 Vol. 1

Jimmie Haskell And His Orchestra — “Asteroid Hop” — Count Down!

Ion Petre Stoican — “Hora De La Luceni” — Sounds from A Bygone Age, Vol. 1

THE THIRD SET

Damn Sam the Miracle Man and the Soul Congregation — “Smash” — Damn Sam the Miracle Man and the Soul Congregation

Bossa Combo — “Faux Marmite” — Faux Marmite

Essential Logic — “Wonderful Offer” — Fanfare in the Garden: An Essential Logic Collection

King Tubby & Yabby You — “Wicked Man Time” — Hits of The Past Vol. 2

The Controllers — “The Reaper” — In Control

Boa La La — “Boa Na Na” — Taiwan & Singapore Disco

The Jammers — “You’re Gonna Love Me Too” — Michigan Mayhem Vol. 1

THE FINAL SET

The Latin Quarters — “Mira Mira” — Red Bird 45rpm

Suicide (Alan Vega and Martin Rev) — “Diamonds, Fur Coat, Champagne” — Suicide (Second Album)

Aktion — “Masquerade” — Groove The Funk

Bootsy Collins — “Rubber Duckie” — Ahh…The Name Is Bootsy, Baby!

Errol Brown And The Revolutionaries — “How Do You Dub” — Tip Top Dub

Wynder K. Frog — “Into The Fire” — Into The Fire

Perez Prado And His Orchestra — “Skokiaan” — Mondo Mambo! The Best Of Perez Prado And His Orchestra

Deacon & The Rock ‘n’ Rollers — “Rockin’ On The Moon” — Desperate Rock ‘n’ Roll Vol. 1

LORD BUCKLEY’S WEEKLY BENEDICTION…

Can — “Alice” — The Lost Tapes

Get your CHARMING DEVIATIONIST lapel pin (& Purple Bat Lounge membership card) HERE.