dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

>>6811881

I literally spoke to spouse yesterday about looking into REM lyrics. I noticed just now Lenny Bruce called out twice in the song you posted. Did a quick wiki search- mom, actress, involved with Hugh Hefner, married stripper, overdosed on drugs with paraphernalia sprinkled around…

was he better known than I think??

Why all of this homage for him??

“In 1966, Grace Slick co-wrote and sang the Great Society song "Father Bruce."[63]

Bruce is pictured in the top row of the cover of the Beatles 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.[64]

The clip of a news broadcast featured in "7 O'Clock News/Silent Night" by Simon & Garfunkel carries the ostensible newscast audio of Lenny Bruce's death. In another track on the album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, "A Simple Desultory Philippic (or How I Was Robert McNamara'd into Submission)," Paul Simon sings, "… I learned the truth from Lenny Bruce, that all my wealth won't buy me health."[65]

Tim Hardin's fourth album Tim Hardin 3 Live in Concert, released in 1968, includes his song Lenny's Tune written about his friend Lenny Bruce.[66]

Nico's 1967 album Chelsea Girl includes a track entitled "Eulogy to Lenny Bruce," which was "Lenny's Tune" by Tim Hardin, with the lyrics slightly altered. In it she describes her sorrow and anger at Bruce's death.[67]

Bob Dylan's 1981 song "Lenny Bruce" from his Shot of Love album describes a brief taxi ride shared by the two men. In the last line of the song, Dylan recalls: "Lenny Bruce was bad, he was the brother that you never had."[68]

Phil Ochs wrote a song eulogizing the late comedian, titled "Doesn't Lenny Live Here Anymore?" The song is featured on his 1969 album Rehearsals for Retirement.[69]

R.E.M.'s 1987 song "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" includes references to a quartet of famous people all sharing the initials L.B. with Lenny Bruce being one of them (the others being Leonard Bernstein, Leonid Brezhnev and Lester Bangs). The opening line of the song mentioning Bruce goes, "… That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane, and Lenny Bruce is not afraid."[70]

Lenny Bruce appears as a character in Don DeLillo's 1997 novel Underworld. In the novel, Bruce does a stand-up routine about the Cuban Missile Crisis.[71]

Genesis' 1974 song "Broadway Melody of 1974" depicts a dystopic New York where "Lenny Bruce declares a truce and plays his other hand, Marshall McLuhan, casual viewin', head buried in the sand" and "Groucho, with his movies trailing, stands alone with his punchline failing."[72]

The Stranglers' single "No More Heroes" includes the line "Whatever happened to dear old Lenny?" and although this does not specifically refer to Lenny Bruce, the live version featured on the album Live (X Cert) says "Whatever happened to dear old Lenny Bruce?"

Bruce is referenced in the lyrics of the song "La Vie Boheme" in the musical Rent and its film adaptation.

Steve Earle's song "F the CC" concerning government and corporate suppression of freedom of expression (from his 2004 album The Revolution Starts Now) contains the lines "Just don't forget your history, Dirty Lenny died so we could all be free."

Joy Zipper's 2005 album The Heartlight Set features a track named "For Lenny's Own Pleasure."[73]

Nada Surf's song "Imaginary Friends" (from their 2005 album The Weight Is a Gift) references Lenny Bruce in its lyrics: "Lenny Bruce's bug eyes stare from an LP, asking me just what kind of fight I've got in me."[74]

Shmaltz Brewing Company brews a year-round beer called Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A. and the tagline is "Brewed with an obscene amount of hops."[75]

A fictionalized version of the comedian is played by Luke Kirby as a recurring character in the Amazon series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, in which he is portrayed as a friend and champion of the titular character.

Australian group Paul Kelly And The Dots' 1982 album Manila features a track named "Lenny (To Live Is to Burn)" , which includes a couple clips of Lenny Bruce performing in the song.”