Captain Beefheart's Entry Into Heaven Poem by Neil Crawford

Captain Beefheart is entering Heaven
let all the angels rejoice,
some will play the marimba,
others will mimic his voice.

Zappa will play the fanfare,
Coltrane will surely join in
Kurt Schwitters will do the M/C ing,
his cries outdoing the din.

Ginsberg, Burroughs and Henri
will write the rave reviews
Pollock will paint the scenery,
Howlin' Wolf will sing the blues.

John Peel will be his mentor
and show the good Captain around,
he was his staunch defender
and turned us onto his sound.

The Seraphim will wear toppers
and grow their beatnik beards,
the Host will throw party poppers
to celebrate the weird.

The 'Pantaloon Duck' will welcome him
with its 'webcore, webcore'quack
and the Captain, in ever good humour,
will holler 'Click, clack! 'back.

Beefheart is entering Heaven
cherubs dress golden streets,
turn the speakers up to eleven
and jive to the crazy beat.

He's gonna 'booglarise' Eternity
the Holy Ghost he'll 'magnetise'
he'll dwell in the cosmic serenity,
in the 'Blue Million Miles' of those eyes.

The Captain is entering Heaven
and the world grows a little more dark
God has reclaimed her treasure
by retrieving the 'Sun, Zoom, Spark'.

So Captain beefheart has left us
and there is no recompense,
he was part of our past and our present
but now the future 'sure looks tense'.






(Written on the day that Captain Beefheart died in 2010.
Those phrases in inverted commas are quotes from his
songs.For the non-UK readers - 'John Peel' was the most
influential DJ of his generation and a big Beefheart fan) .