This is a strange thing to write, but I don’t have anything good to say about Captain Beefheart. They are far too strange, atonal, and wild for my ears to appreciate more than a handful of their music.

But they are highly influential in my understanding of the limits of music and of the past. I won’t give you a full taste of their truly odd style, but this song is just on that edge. Never forget that this is the band that brought us such songs as Dachau Blues, Neon Meate Dream of a Octafish, and Ice Cream for Crow.

Captain Beefheart – Her Eyes Are a Blue Million Miles[play] [buy]

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So pretty, starting smack from the first note, even in 4/4 its confusing. The music feels like a long hard look into the eyes of your lover, when you’re fully aware that things aren’t going well, and though she says she loves you, her eyes stare at you with the cold indifference that the ocean has, and she’s a million miles away.

Oh, wait, that’s exactly what the lyrics are saying… Well, that means the music and lyrics work together! How novel!

But its beautiful, isn’t it.