STOOGE YOUR ENTHUSIASM (11)
By:
November 1, 2023
One in a series of 25 enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, on the topic of proto-punk records from the Sixties (1964–1973, in our periodization schema). Series edited by Josh Glenn. Also check out our proto-punk playlist (a work in progress) at Spotify.
SUZI QUATRO | “CAN THE CAN” | 1973
Lyrics alone don’t always give a song thematic heft. Sometimes it’s what the song doesn’t say that gets a pointed message across. Take Suzi Quatro’s glam rock classic “Can the Can.” An inscrutable song — not exactly a kiss-off, not exactly about heartbreak, not exactly about a less-than-stellar partner — it still exudes a sense that women have the upper hand.
First, the narrator of “Can the Can” gives pointed advice to another woman, specifically about the other woman’s boyfriend, mother, and sister. After comparing the boyfriend to an eagle — the connotation is that he is flighty and can’t be tamed — she then likens the mother to a tiger, and the woman’s sister to a cat. Neither of these feline comparisons are flattering: The mom isn’t a fan of the boyfriend (“Watch out the tiger don’t go claw the eagle’s eye”) while the sister might try and seduce him (“Don’t let the cat get into the eagle’s nest at night”).
Yet “Can the Can” stresses that these dire scenarios can be avoided if the girlfriend keeps the boyfriend in line: “So make a stand for your man, honey / Try to can the can / Put your man in the can, honey / Get him while you can.” In other words, make sure to control your boyfriend and put him in his place. This isn’t always easy: Quatro’s voice rises in desperation and urgency as the song progresses, before devolving into a scream and taking an urgent tone on a repeated exhortation of, “Honey! Honey! Honey!” What’s never addressed is whether a woman should be responsible for the bad behavior of her unruly boyfriend — or if attempting to change or quash his personality will even work.
Co-produced by Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn, “Can the Can” surges forward on a marching stomp-beat, slamming guitar riffs and Quatro’s fierce vocals — a hip-swinging glam song with swagger in spades. Unsurprisingly, Quatro was already a seasoned musician circa “Can the Can.” As a child, she provided rhythmic backing in her father’s band, The Art Quatro Trio. A few years later, she adopted the moniker Suzi Soul and joined her older sister Patti in the groundbreaking garage rock band the Pleasure Seekers. After that group split apart, Quatro moved to the UK and linked up with RAK Records, the label run by Mickie Most.
Success came quickly. “Can the Can” ended up being Quatro’s second solo single; it went to No. 1 in the UK, Australia, Germany, and Switzerland, among other places. Curiously, the tune only reached No. 56 on the American singles chart, a full three years after it was a hit elsewhere — a sign that Americans didn’t quite know what to do with such a dynamic song.
STOOGE YOUR ENTHUSIASM: INTRODUCTION by Josh Glenn | Mandy Keifetz on The Trashmen’s SURFIN’ BIRD | Nicholas Rombes on Yoko Ono’s MOVE ON FAST | David Cantwell on ? and the Mysterians’ 96 TEARS | James Parker on The Modern Lovers’ SHE CRACKED | Lynn Peril on The Pleasure Seekers’ WHAT A WAY TO DIE | Lucy Sante on The Count Five’s PSYCHOTIC REACTION | Jonathan Lethem on The Monkees’ YOUR AUNTIE GRIZELDA | Adam McGovern on ELP’s BRAIN SALAD SURGERY | Mimi Lipson on The Shaggs’ MY PAL FOOT FOOT | Eric Weisbard on Frances Faye’s FRANCES AND HER FRIENDS | Annie Zaleski on Suzi Quatro’s CAN THE CAN | Carl Wilson on The Ugly Ducklings’ NOTHIN’ | Josh Glenn on Gillian Hill’s TUT, TUT, TUT, TUT… | Mike Watt on The Stooges’ SHAKE APPEAL | Peter Doyle on The Underdogs’ SITTING IN THE RAIN | Stephanie Burt on Pauline Oliveros’s III | Marc Weidenbaum on Ornette Coleman’s WE NOW INTERRUPT FOR A COMMERCIAL | Anthony Miller on Eno’s NEEDLES IN THE CAMEL’S EYE | Gordon Dahlquist on The Sonics’ STRYCHNINE | David Smay on The New York Dolls’ HUMAN BEING | Michael Grasso on the 13th Floor Elevators’ YOU’RE GONNA MISS ME | Holly Interlandi on Death’s ROCK’N’ROLL VICTIM | Elina Shatkin on Bobby Fuller’s I FOUGHT THE LAW | Brian Berger on The Mothers of Invention’s WHO ARE THE BRAIN POLICE? | Peggy Nelson on The Kingsmen’s LOUIE LOUIE.
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