Song History
Members of Black Flag were direct inspiration for three of the songs on Buzz or Howl...'. "Cut" was written by Mike Watt in admiration of Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn's playing style; Henry Rollins provided the title for the improvised instrumental "Dreams Are Free, Motherfucker!" (which was actually a segment of a warm-up jam done with trumpet player Crane at the beginning of the January 30th session); and original Black Flag bassist Chuck Dukowski wrote some of the lyrics to "Little Man With A Gun In His Hand" and gave them to D. Boon at the end of both bands' 1982 European tour.
"I Felt Like A Gringo" is an autobiographical song written by Watt about a day trip Minutemen took in Mexico on the 4th July, 1982. There was an election that day for President of Mexico, which was referenced in the lyric "Who won I said "The election?" (the winner in question was Miguel de la Madrid).The same trip would also inspire the D. Boon composition "Corona" on Double Nickels....
"The Toe Jam" is another improvised cut, recorded the same day as "Dreams Are Free, Motherfucker", only with another band friend, Dirk Vandenburg (who would also do photography on several Minutemen covers, including Double Nickels...) playing drums, while drummer George Hurley attempted to play Crane's trumpet, Crane did some scat-singing, and another friend ad-libbed a poem about wanting to wear a wedding ring on her second toe (hence the name of the song).
According to the liner notes of the live compilation album Ballot Result, Mike Watt believed "Little Man With A Gun In His Hand" may be about, or have been inspired by, Black Flag's longtime roadie and lead singer and founder of The Nig-Heist, Steve "Mugger" Corbin. However, Dukowski stated in an interview for the 33⅓ book series' volume on Double Nickels... (written by Michael T. Fournier) that the song actually stems from existentialist ideas he had at the time.
Read more about this topic: Buzz Or Howl Under The Influence Of Heat
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