Saturday, April 30, 2016

(WHY DOES NOBODY TALK ABOUT) CLOWN SHOES? | TBAMFW # 20

Clowns on record jackets can be found aplenty (Charles Mingus' "The Clown", The Dickies' "Killer Klowns From Outer Space", the complete records output of the punk band Das Klowns), but clown shoes seems like a taboo.


Converse All Star Clown Shoes

Clownshoes 
An insult inferring that the receiver is a walking joke, including their actions, habits, appearance, and ultimately, their existence. 
Source: Urban Dictionary


Fat Mike's NOFX
Cokie The Clown 7"EP/CD EP (Fat Wreck Chords, 2009) - Back cover

I had written a song called “Cokie The Clown,” about a bitter birthday clown who gets out of rehab and takes petty revenge on his audience by dosing them with various drugs. 
Fat Mike (Burkett) | NOFX singer/songwriter/bass player
From: NOFX The Hepatitis Bathtub And Other Stories (Da Capo Press, 2016)

And that's just the beginning, you should read the rest of the story. Or the whole book, but we're digressing here. 

Mike's photograph appeared on the back cover of the 7" EP "Cokie The Clown", so it doesn't really count. In the end, we're left with a band called Yeastie Boys, from Orange County, California, featuring a rotating cast of Golden Boys previously in Adolescents, TSOL, Hated, Chiefs …



Orange County's Yeastie Boys
Self Titled demo (2012)


Unfortunately the picture above shows their demo, hence not an official record. Meaning, up until now, no one dared to put - prominently - clown shoes on record covers. A taboo still waiting to be broken.


The Dickies
Killer Klowns From Outer Space (Mini LP Enigma, 1988)

"Oh no, not clown shoes! I must be in for some pretty bad news!" Flora's mother, Ella, said when Flora telephoned her that evening.
"What do you mean, Mother? I've just given you some pretty bad news"
"It's a song, "Clown Shoes" I've been trying to remember the words for years, and who it was by. Was it Johnny Burnette? 
… anyway, in the song, this girl sends her boyfriend a pair of clown shoes to tell him they're through. It's hilarious - as if sending clown shoes was standard dating protocol. Do you think there was a special clowns' shoe department in the shoe store, or that they had to buy them from a circus? Anyway, it ends up with the boy putting the clown shoes on. Sad. 
Shena Mackay
From: Crossing The Bordder/Trouser Ladies (Storycuts, 2011)


Bérurier Noir
Enfoncez L' Clown (Compilation - Last Call Records, 1999)


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THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR WALKING
S H O E S  &  M U S I C
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Weekly World News | December 13, 2004
...the hottest thing in haute couture.