The Human Being Lawnmower
1970 · Atlantic SD 8247 · New York City, New York
- Artist
- MC5
- Title
- The Human Being Lawnmower
- Release
- Back in the USA
- Year
- 1970
- Label
- Atlantic # SD 8247
- Format
- LP · Album
- Language
- English
- Country
- New York City, New York, USA
- Songwriter
- MC5
- Genre
- Rock · Hard Rock
- Primary theme
- Peace, Protest & Anti-War
Annotation — Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs
Human Being Lawnmower, The (MC5) Anti-war, protest. MC5 (Motor City Five) took their name from Detroit, Michigan. They formed in the city in 1963. The line-up for this album featured Wayne Kramer (from Detroit - guitar, vocals), Michael Davis (from Detroit - bass, vocals), Dennis Thompson (from Detroit - drums, vocals), and Fred "Sonic" Smith (from West Virginia - guitar, vocals - he married the garage rock singer Patti Smith in 1980). Their 1969 live album Kick Out the Jams included the song "Motor City Is Burning" which referenced Vietnam. Their 1970 album Back in the USA contained the anti-war track "The Human Being Lawnmower". They split in 1972 after the release of their 1971 album High Time, which contained the protest song "Over and Over". Their far left, anti-establishment lyrics became a prototype for the later punk movement. Early on they took political inspiration from Marxism and the Black Panther Party.
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English: Can you hear me? Hope you can, listen here closely / You'll understand, make way for the killer race / They use the Bible, millimeter by millimeter / Six times hot as the sun, didn't mean to hurt anyone / Didn't mean to hurt anyone, sorry, sorry, yeah / Don't try to force them, to help them, do what they do / What they do, so the hurting not on you, chasing for miles / Until you're standing before, the Human Being Lawnmower
About the artist
Group from Detroit, Michigan, USA