If my contribution to SLS last week was pretty mainstream (and none the worse for that), this one’s a bit out there.

The theme for this week is dependence and/or trustworthiness. I dismissed the idea of ‘He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother’, good song though it is, because the first thing that came into my head – and make of that what you will – was Captain Beefheart’s ‘Trust Us’.

This comes from ‘Strictly Personal’, the 1968 second studio album by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band (other members at various times included: Zoot Horn Rollo, The Mascara Snake, Antennae Jimmy Semens, Winged Eel Fingerling, Rockette Morton and, rather prosaically, Drumbo; you get the picture).

It’s fair to say that critical reception of ‘Strictly Personal’ on its release was mixed. Rolling Stone magazine described it as “noisy, discombobulated freakout shit”, although to be fair it also said that it wasn’t without promise. Anyway, you be the judge…

The path is the mask of love a way, a way
The flow is the task above today
There is no other way
There is no other way

You gotta trust us when you need a friend
To find us you gotta look within
You gotta trust us
You gotta trust us
Before you turn to dust
Before you turn to dust
You gotta see before you see
You gotta be before be

(We love you)
You gotta touch without take
You gotta hear without fear
You gotta feel to reveal
You gotta touch without take
Such is is and uh ain’t is ain’t
Such is is and uh ain’t is ain’t

We’re for you love you with you, love you just a few

We love you, we tell you true, we love you
The path is youth, let the dying die
The path is life yeah, let the lying lie…

Let the dying die, let the lying lie…

Attributed to Don van Vliet (the illustrious Captain himself) but generally accepted to have been written by Herb Bermann.

Song Lyric Sunday 14 June 2026