Mongo Debussy & The Satans
'Vueepo D’Merthmai’ia’ c/w 'Yit'
'Vueepo D’Merthmai’ia’ c/w 'Yit'
Released 27th May 1967. Pye 7N989453
Mongo Debussy (vcls, harp), Bjorn Caine (nose flute), Gervaise Hockney (drum), Stan Rivet (guitar), ‘Monkey’ Mann (bass), Jimmy Andrews (dancing)
"I first met Mongo Debussy in St Paul’s Public School", says Gervaise Hockney, now a top showbusiness lawyer. "He was my fag and, as I was beating his buttocks with a cane one day, he noticed that I had a good sense of rhythm and abjured me to join The Satans". And the rest, as they say, is history.
Six years later, Mongo Debussy & The Satans were one of the foremost psych-pop bands on the groovy scene, frightening audiences with their deranged brand of drug-soaked imbecility.
Debussy was one of the earliest experimenters with LSD and it was during this period in his life that he was visited by an entity he only referred to as ‘The Thing’, which commanded him to not only form The Satans, but also create an inter and intra-universal language that could be understood by people from other planets. The result was ‘D’peepuigg’, the language in which their second single ‘Vueepo D’Merthmai’ia’ is sung.
In case you’re wondering quite what is being sung on this marvellous number, here, for the first time, are the lyrics in full:
‘Frrrprrr’ni b’ylmnmnmnmnprorf’wi hi
Ag’ryrthmog ‘fn pgarrripnfoma’a
Qithk m’apnu brbrbr!
Amhtokorrrim’I pi o’kg nem fudd
Vueepo D’Merthmai’ia
Vueepo D’Merthmai’ia
Crit n’I blu’euirk er bzln’ia’ia!
Listeners new to this sort of material will be astonished by Debussy’s almost unbelievable vocal range – the four-octave leap he makes while singing the word ‘Vueepo’ has had musicologists arguing for years over whether such a thing was possible.
Hockney again : "Mongo had an eleven octave vocal range – there were no tricks used in the studio to create that vocal swoop – the technology wasn’t up to it even if we’d wanted to fake it. It was all Mongo".
With phased harp and nose flute dominating the mix, the number is still a favourite in Japan. However, neither Hockney nor the rest of the band had any idea what the song was about.
"Mongo simply refused to discuss it and that was that", says Hockney. "He was out of his mind by that time, basically". After the recording session was finished, Debussy walked out of the studio to buy a new hat and was never seen again.
For more details of his mental state at this time, you should get hold of a copy of Sophie Pint-Guinness’s autobiography ‘Confessions Of A Pop Group Girl’, which details Mongo’s breakdown.
Mongo Debussy (vcls, harp), Bjorn Caine (nose flute), Gervaise Hockney (drum), Stan Rivet (guitar), ‘Monkey’ Mann (bass), Jimmy Andrews (dancing)
"I first met Mongo Debussy in St Paul’s Public School", says Gervaise Hockney, now a top showbusiness lawyer. "He was my fag and, as I was beating his buttocks with a cane one day, he noticed that I had a good sense of rhythm and abjured me to join The Satans". And the rest, as they say, is history.
Six years later, Mongo Debussy & The Satans were one of the foremost psych-pop bands on the groovy scene, frightening audiences with their deranged brand of drug-soaked imbecility.
Debussy was one of the earliest experimenters with LSD and it was during this period in his life that he was visited by an entity he only referred to as ‘The Thing’, which commanded him to not only form The Satans, but also create an inter and intra-universal language that could be understood by people from other planets. The result was ‘D’peepuigg’, the language in which their second single ‘Vueepo D’Merthmai’ia’ is sung.
In case you’re wondering quite what is being sung on this marvellous number, here, for the first time, are the lyrics in full:
‘Frrrprrr’ni b’ylmnmnmnmnprorf’wi hi
Ag’ryrthmog ‘fn pgarrripnfoma’a
Qithk m’apnu brbrbr!
Amhtokorrrim’I pi o’kg nem fudd
Vueepo D’Merthmai’ia
Vueepo D’Merthmai’ia
Crit n’I blu’euirk er bzln’ia’ia!
Listeners new to this sort of material will be astonished by Debussy’s almost unbelievable vocal range – the four-octave leap he makes while singing the word ‘Vueepo’ has had musicologists arguing for years over whether such a thing was possible.
Hockney again : "Mongo had an eleven octave vocal range – there were no tricks used in the studio to create that vocal swoop – the technology wasn’t up to it even if we’d wanted to fake it. It was all Mongo".
With phased harp and nose flute dominating the mix, the number is still a favourite in Japan. However, neither Hockney nor the rest of the band had any idea what the song was about.
"Mongo simply refused to discuss it and that was that", says Hockney. "He was out of his mind by that time, basically". After the recording session was finished, Debussy walked out of the studio to buy a new hat and was never seen again.
For more details of his mental state at this time, you should get hold of a copy of Sophie Pint-Guinness’s autobiography ‘Confessions Of A Pop Group Girl’, which details Mongo’s breakdown.
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