The Squirrel Nut Zippers’ foreboding song “La Grippe” was released 25 years ago on their 1995 album The Inevitable. Now newly mixed by Mike Napolitano and recorded by Magic Bag House sound system, it’s freshly available during this eery moment in history we are living today. Listen to it and enjoy the haunts of your inner sanctum.
This song is Zipsters: Jimbo Mathus, Dr. Sick, Cella Blue, Henry Westmoreland, Tamara Nicolai, Leslie Martin, Neilson Bernard III, and Eddie Lehwald. The video is by Repent Films / 3 A.M. Films; it was edited by Don Adams, directed by Jimbo Mathus, with camera work by Alex Holeman.
The Squirrel Nut Zippers, led by musical magician Jimbo Mathus, have consistently walked us through the musical labyrinth of the carnival macabre. But we didn’t realize until now the degree to which Mathus and the Zippers are soothsayers as well. The song is a wry delight and even more so today. The video is an entertaining scream.
I wrote this song over 25 years ago. The lyrics were based on real life events at the time, (I had a bad flu turning into pneumonia). I also was reading King Pest by E.A. Poe and Popular Delusions & The Madness of Crowds by Mackay. We shot this film in Detroit last week at the Magic Bag Theater as we rode a wave of concert cancellations from the East Coast. We were literally the last concert in many theaters and venues across the land, adding a strange and perverse reality to the performance and experience,” said Jimbo Mathus. “My heartfelt thanks and gratitude not only to our audience, but to the band members of them Mighty SNZippers, each and everyone the best in the business. Please enjoy this dark humor masterpiece and share with family, friends and loved ones. Until we meet again, Jimbo.
Find out more here: www.therealjimbomathus.com; scroll past the lyrics to watch.
La Grippe- Squirrel Nut Zippers
Released 1995 The Inevitable
There’s a flu bug getting passed around
Spreading like fire through this town
There’s a virus holing up inside us
Each one that I know is coming down
There’s an Asian influenza
Infecting us all by the scores
And it’s turning into pneumonia
We must go out once more
There’s a fool moon howling at the night
And each bark is much worse than each bite
So we must go out and dance around
Yes we must go tonight
So the doctors came on the evening train
With their flasks and their caskets and vials
Mass psychosis was their diagnosis (yes)
So we all cashed our checks and went wild
There’s a fool moon howling at the night
And each bark is much worse than each bite
So we must go out and dance around
Yes we must go tonight
La Grippe!, Salsa!