Detachable Penis
Encyclopedia
"Detachable Penis" is a song by avant-garde band King Missile
. It was the first single from the band's 1992 album Happy Hour, and became a modest hit, reaching #25 on the Billboard
Modern Rock Tracks chart.
recites a deadpan monologue in which he portrays the owner of the eponymous organ
. Apparently a resident of Manhattan's EEast Village
, the narrator awakens one morning with a bad hangover to discover that his penis is missing again. He searches his apartment, calls the location of the party he attended the night before, and queries numerous acquaintances, but is unable to recover his penis.
Depressed, he goes to the Kiev Restaurant for breakfast, and afterwards, while walking "down Second Avenue, toward St. Mark's Place," discovers his penis for sale "on a blanket next to a broken toaster oven." The man selling the penis wants $22 for it, but the narrator is able to "talk him down to seventeen." He takes his penis home, washes it off, and reattaches it. With his penis back in place, he is "happy again: complete."
at the suggestion of drummer Roger Murdock. Hall called Kern "the perfect choice." The video consists of a literal visual depiction of the song's narrative, interspersed with shots of the band performing and an anonymous woman simulating attaching and detaching the titular organ (represented by a dildo complete with artificial scrotum and testicles).
Moreover, said Hall, the band realized that the song had drawn in many casual fans who did not care about the rest of the group's material; thus, the band began to play the song "early in the set, so that the people who didn't like us could leave, and we could play for the people who cared. That worked out well. People did leave."
wrote of the song: "A parable of self-emasculation? Who knows? And Hall's not telling."
In a 1998 interview, Hall remarked, "Obviously, there are elements to 'Detachable' about male identity that are there, but not really overtly there. For the person who wants to find it, it's there. I don't know. I don't think... I like to think I'm not obvious about the humor, and I'm not obvious about the feelings, either."
King Missile
King Missile is an American avant-garde band that has been led in various disparate incarnations by poet/singer John S. Hall since 1986. Currently, Hall performs with a new version of the first incarnation, King Missile ....
. It was the first single from the band's 1992 album Happy Hour, and became a modest hit, reaching #25 on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Modern Rock Tracks chart.
Lyrical content
In "Detachable Penis," frontman John S. HallJohn S. Hall
John S. Hall is an American poet, author, singer and lawyer perhaps best known for his work with King Missile, an avant-garde band that he co-founded in 1986 and has since led in various disparate incarnations....
recites a deadpan monologue in which he portrays the owner of the eponymous organ
Penis
The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...
. Apparently a resident of Manhattan's EEast Village
East Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
, the narrator awakens one morning with a bad hangover to discover that his penis is missing again. He searches his apartment, calls the location of the party he attended the night before, and queries numerous acquaintances, but is unable to recover his penis.
Depressed, he goes to the Kiev Restaurant for breakfast, and afterwards, while walking "down Second Avenue, toward St. Mark's Place," discovers his penis for sale "on a blanket next to a broken toaster oven." The man selling the penis wants $22 for it, but the narrator is able to "talk him down to seventeen." He takes his penis home, washes it off, and reattaches it. With his penis back in place, he is "happy again: complete."
Musical content
The music of "Detachable Penis" consists largely of a distorted, delay-treated electric guitar riff backed by organ and drum grooves with brief lead guitar improvisation. For most of the track, the titular phrase is sung with an interval of approximately four seconds, or more accurately two 4/4 bars, the length of the guitar riff. The riff provides a harmonic ground of C#min - G Maj - Amaj, which remains unchanged throughout the song.Music video
The video for "Detachable Penis" was directed by Richard KernRichard Kern
Richard Kern is a New York underground filmmaker, writer and photographer. He first came to underground prominence as part of the underground cultural explosion in the East Village of New York City in the 1980s, with erotic and experimental films featuring underground personalities of the time...
at the suggestion of drummer Roger Murdock. Hall called Kern "the perfect choice." The video consists of a literal visual depiction of the song's narrative, interspersed with shots of the band performing and an anonymous woman simulating attaching and detaching the titular organ (represented by a dildo complete with artificial scrotum and testicles).
Commercial performance and effect on band
In a 2003 interview, Hall stated that the commercial success of "Detachable Penis" led to a commercial backlash: "[A]fter that CD [Happy Hour], we didn't really get a lot of airplay". A few stations continued to be supportive, but I think that the success of 'Detachable' resulted in a lot of people getting pretty tired of what we were doing. That is one of the bad things about having a 'hit.'"Moreover, said Hall, the band realized that the song had drawn in many casual fans who did not care about the rest of the group's material; thus, the band began to play the song "early in the set, so that the people who didn't like us could leave, and we could play for the people who cared. That worked out well. People did leave."
Interpretations
"Detachable Penis" has been subject to a wide array of misinterpretations. Some people take the lyrics at face value, while others see the story as an elaborate metaphor. In his review of Happy Hour, Michael C. Harris of Rolling StoneRolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
wrote of the song: "A parable of self-emasculation? Who knows? And Hall's not telling."
In a 1998 interview, Hall remarked, "Obviously, there are elements to 'Detachable' about male identity that are there, but not really overtly there. For the person who wants to find it, it's there. I don't know. I don't think... I like to think I'm not obvious about the humor, and I'm not obvious about the feelings, either."