In Hear This, A.V. Club writers sing the praises of songs they know well. This week: In honor of this week’s theme, we’re doing songs with Star Wars references.
Mclusky, “Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues” (2002)
The only direct mention to Star Wars in Mclusky’s “Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues” is in the song’s title, which it shares with a nod to The Rolling Stones’ “Cocksucker Blues” (I’m going to go with the song, not the documentary). So the connection to this week’s theme is probably tenuous. But since the lightsaber is one of the most recognizable objects from that fictional galaxy far, far away, I’m going to go ahead and acknowledge the reference. (And anyway, this is just a great song.)
Despite the illustrious pedigrees of its titular references, “Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues” doesn’t have much to do with either. The song is off the band’s superbly snide debut album Mclusky Do Dallas, and features Andrew Falkous letting loose on vocals while Mat Harding’s drumming keeps everyone else in line. The lyrics are standard-setting Mclusky fare, from the fuck-it opening (“Eat what you are while you’re falling apart”) to the singer’s humble brag of “aching from fucking too much.” But it’s neither a call to arms—which is where you might think the band was going with the lightsaber—nor a middle finger in the face of record executives, which is what The Stones intended with “Schoolboy Blues” (as it was more popularly known), the last single the band wrote under contract for Decca Records.
The third option, based on the portmanteau title, is that this is just a song about a guy who’s getting his geek on, whether it’s delighting in a thousandth viewing of the Obi-Wan/Darth Vader duel, or listening to The Rolling Stones on vinyl. At least, that’s what the last two lines suggest: “Turning me on with my lightsabre cocksucking blues / Are you coming?” It even sounds like he’s found a friend to share his, uh, interests with.