Video Of The (Past) Week: Buck 65

There are many origin stories about Richard Terfry's stage name Buck 65, the two most common being either that he was touring as Buick 65, which was also the car he was driving around in, but one venue made a spelling mistake on their marquee and it stuck; the other one (and the one on his Wikipedia page) has him explaining:

I was born with the name Ricardo Terfry. Where I come from, it's common when a boy is named after his father, for the father to refer to the son as 'Buck'. I don't know where that comes from or when it started. It might be a 'out-in-the-country' thing. Growing up I knew lots of sons who were referred to as 'Buck'. Sometimes even if they weren't juniors. So the joke became, I was one of 65 (a number picked randomly) 'Bucks' in my town.

In any event, it is what it is: a name that lends itself to interesting background stories.

More interesting is that he keeps pumping out better and better material each time he releases something. I chose this song, Wicked & Weird, off his 2003 major label debut Talkin' Honky Blues - the reason is simple: it's the first track I ever heard from him, and it's so good it's still in my Ipod. But my favourite record of his is his 2007 output Situation, which made my top-5 that year; a truly groundbreaking, entertaining, and sublime piece of work where all tracks are created equal and none is more of a hit than another. Still, from the opening verse, his take on the American dream is a gloomy-yet-refreshing one:

Driving with a yellow dog, I-95
He's got a smile on his face and big shiny eyes
Up at a decent hour, I never ate yet
Got a little Johnny Cash in the old tape deck
Nothing in the trunk but some base ball gloves,
A pair of jumper cables and a set of golf clubs
Blanket on the back seat - we're in rough shape
Sunroof held on with a bit of duck tape
Looking for a gas station, better make a list
Fill'er up with regular, I need to take a piss
Sexy girl air freshener, snacks and a pinwheel
Top up the fluids, clean the bugs off the windshield
Not a care in the world, not a how, and a why
No destination, not a cloud in the sky
Back on the road not a moment too soon
Dish ran away with some other spoon

I have gone back and listened to his past work; most of it is fresh, subtle and intelligent, but most of it is geared towards underground hip hop mixed with characters Tom Waits could have made up, whereas since 2003, he's expanded his register and incorporated dozens more influences in his work, and it's like he keeps adding new ones.

And try, just for fun, to say the words to the chorus really fast, five times in a row:

Wicked and weird, I'm a road hog with an old dog
Singing slow songs, trying to hold on
Wicked and weird, I'm a rat-fish
Trying to practice doing back flips on your mattress

Just... great.

Full YouTube link here.