摇滚龙虾 (1978)

"Rock Lobster" is a song by American band the B-52's, written by their singer Fred Schneider and guitarist Ricky Wilson. It was recorded and released as a single twice, first by DB Records as their debut release in April 1978, and re-recorded the following year for the band's self-titled debut album on Warner Bros. (US) and Island Records (Europe, Japan).

The song launched the band's career and became one of their signature tunes. "Rock Lobster" was well received by critics, and went on to place at No. 147 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list in December 2004. John Lennon said that he decided to record again in 1980, following a five-year hiatus, after hearing "Rock Lobster". The song also inspired the name of Athens, Georgia's professional ice hockey team, the Rock Lobsters.

Composition and themes

The original DB Records single version has a duration of 4:37, and is faster in tempo and more "raw" than the 1979 single version, basically due to lower sound quality and the absence of a bassline. It has the same lyrics as the re-recorded version, but with more lines during the sequence that lists marine animals. The 1979 single version is edited down from the album version, which lasts about seven minutes and contains an additional verse.

According to a Behind the Vinyl video with B-52's singer Fred Schneider for CHBM-FM, the song was mostly inspired by the 2001 Club in Atlanta, where instead of having a light show, the club projected a slide show with pictures of puppies, babies, and lobsters on a grill.

The song's lyrics describe a beach party while mentioning both real and imagined marine animals ("There goes a dogfish, chased by a catfish, in flew a sea robin, watch out for that piranha, there goes a narwhal, here comes a bikini whale!"), with absurd noises accompanying each, provided by Kate Pierson on the higher-pitched sounds and Cindy Wilson the lower-pitched ones. The chorus features Pierson and Wilson singing a long "ahhh" at an ascending pitch, followed by Schneider exclaiming "rock lobster!"

"Rock Lobster" is written in the key of C minor (with the chorus in F minor) and is in common time. Instruments used in the music include a baritone-tuned surf-style Mosrite electric guitar, a Farfisa combo organ, and drums. Pierson played the song's bassline on a Korg SB-100 synthesizer in the 1979 version. Wilson's guitar is uniquely tuned to C-F-x-x-F-F, with the two center strings absent.

Critical reception

New Musical Express ranked "Rock Lobster" number 13 on their critics' list of the best tracks of 1979. Robert Christgau placed it at number 8 on his "Dean's list" of that year's best singles. In 1980, Record World said that "The dance-oriented-rock band from Georgia has already charmed critics and cults. This quirky, intriguing cut from their self-titled LP should do the same for AOR-pop fans." Cash Box called the song a "silly yet utterly enjoyable affair."

British music writer Garry Mulholland included "Rock Lobster" in his 2002 book This is Uncool: The 500 Greatest Singles Since Punk and Disco, describing the song as "enormously complex in form". He highlighted its "incredible dance-rock rhythm section" and the "immediately unique and pleasurable" sound that the band had created, and concluded: "Sadly, I've only just worked out that, when Schneider hollers, 'That's satanic butter!' near the end, he's actually saying 'Pass the tanning butter.' No matter. I still believe that satanic butter exists and is the crucial ingredient in the preparation of a Rock Lobster."

Rolling Stone ranked "Rock Lobster" number 147 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, published in 2004. It was voted number 81 by the staff and contributors of Pitchfork on their 2016 list of the best songs of the 1970s.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic called the song "incredibly infectious" and "memorable". Pitchfork said: "It's constructed like prog rock, sounds like the avant-garde, has surreal lyrics and one of pop's most memorable guitar riffs." In their book The Story of the B-52s, Scott Creney and Brigette Herron wrote:

The "Rock Lobster" single managed to sound original by virtue of pulling from so many disparate touch points in the history of rock music. Musically, it combines elements of surf music, girl groups, and the avant-garde, powered by a series of riffs that classic rockers like Jimmy Page might have killed for. The song is so catchy that it's easy to miss how complicated it is. After the final verse (Motion in the ocean), the song starts changing sections so quickly it's hard to keep up. The structure is closer to prog-rock, or Brian Wilson's 'pocket symphony' "Good Vibrations", than anything typically found in new wave.