-= Frank Black Forum =-
-= Frank Black Forum =-
Home | Profile | Register | Active Topics | Members | Search | FAQ
Username:
Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

 All Forums
 Frank Black Chat
 General Frank Black Chat
 Hermaphroditos (is my name?)
 New Topic  Reply to Topic
 Printer Friendly
Author Previous Topic Topic Next Topic  

FrequencyOfGlow
- FB Fan -

USA
157 Posts

Posted - 06/14/2004 :  13:27:47  Show Profile  Visit FrequencyOfGlow's Homepage  Reply with Quote
This strikes me a topic which has probably already been discussed, but is the official title "Hermaphroditos" or "Hermaphroditos Is My Name"? This is killin' me.

I think the winter is going to be a real whirligig

yosoyunpistolero
- FB Fan -

14 Posts

Posted - 06/15/2004 :  13:02:02  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
In the CD liner, the official name is "Hermaphroditos is My Name."

pistolero

"Who's in charge here?"
"Ain't you?"
--Apocalypse Now
Go to Top of Page

VoVat
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<

USA
9168 Posts

Posted - 06/16/2004 :  14:57:53  Show Profile  Visit VoVat's Homepage  Click to see VoVat's MSN Messenger address  Reply with Quote
But doesn't the back cover of the CD just say "Hermaphroditos"?



Cattle in Korea / They can really moo.
Go to Top of Page

TRANSMARINE
* Dog in the Sand *

USA
2002 Posts

Posted - 06/18/2004 :  16:39:39  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Maybe the cd liner is a boy and the back cover is a girl.


Catchin' blue in his eyes that were brown

-bRIAN
Go to Top of Page

VoVat
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<

USA
9168 Posts

Posted - 06/18/2004 :  17:32:49  Show Profile  Visit VoVat's Homepage  Click to see VoVat's MSN Messenger address  Reply with Quote
But aren't they both both?



Cattle in Korea / They can really moo.
Go to Top of Page

ProverbialCereal
- FB TabMaster -

USA
2953 Posts

Posted - 06/19/2004 :  21:59:05  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
It should be "Hermaphroditos (is my Name)"

Just like it should be "(If it Takes) All Night"


Just quit a cult / going through withdrawal
Go to Top of Page

VoVat
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<

USA
9168 Posts

Posted - 06/20/2004 :  11:43:48  Show Profile  Visit VoVat's Homepage  Click to see VoVat's MSN Messenger address  Reply with Quote
As well as "Blast (Off)," "I've Seen (Your) Picture," "(Stupid) Me," and "Bull(et)."



Cattle in Korea / They can really moo.
Go to Top of Page

TheCroutonFuton
- Mr. Setlists -

USA
1728 Posts

Posted - 06/20/2004 :  12:57:27  Show Profile  Visit TheCroutonFuton's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Hahaha...VoVat..haha.

"Freedom is a state of mind and the condition and position of your ass. Free your mind and your ass will follow." - Funkadelic
Go to Top of Page

twist
- FB Fan -

USA
191 Posts

Posted - 06/21/2004 :  07:57:01  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Semiparenthetical titles are a longtime rock tradition that F.B. plays around with in the same way he utilizes rock textures? Or a goof up? What is never clearly defined can never be successfully hyped, thank goodness.I just joined cyberworld a short time ago so I'm sure I'm coming into this whole Hermaphroditos contraversy late, but it could be a wierdly prophetic message to Michael Jackson as well as what it's really about.
Go to Top of Page

yosoyunpistolero
- FB Fan -

14 Posts

Posted - 06/21/2004 :  10:53:42  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
twist, how is "Hermaphroditos" related to Michael Jackson? Could you expound on your statement?

pistolero

"They were gonna make me a major for this...and I wasn't even in their fuckin army anymore."
--Captain Willard, Apocalypse Now
Go to Top of Page

twist
- FB Fan -

USA
191 Posts

Posted - 06/22/2004 :  07:40:42  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
yosoyunpistolero - well o.k., it's a stretch but here goes - he (M.J.) has probably had genital plastic surgery, who knows how extensive, he's deeply involved with drugs and is probably considering suicide, he's deified by many and he's worried no one will hear his voice in prison. It's human to assign meaning to art no matter what the original intent.Greek oracles were hermaphodites and, who knows, maybe Frank's got a friend who wanted to be both sexes at once. I'm sorry I missed the conversations back when Dog first came out, then I might know what F. was thinking about when he wrote it.

Edited by - twist on 06/27/2004 22:43:40
Go to Top of Page

ramona
"FB Quote Mistress"

USA
3988 Posts

Posted - 06/22/2004 :  07:59:54  Show Profile  Visit ramona's Homepage  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by TheCroutonFuton

Hahaha...VoVat..haha.



That's (Vo)Vat to you, mister.

_____________________________________________________________________
I replace you easily, replace pathetically,
I flirt with any flighty thing that falls my way.
But how I needed you. When I needed you.
Lets not forget we are so strong... so bloody strong.
Go to Top of Page

Hatchetman
- FB Fan -

United Kingdom
234 Posts

Posted - 06/23/2004 :  01:19:46  Show Profile  Visit Hatchetman's Homepage  Click to see Hatchetman's MSN Messenger address  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by twist

he's worried no one will hear his voice in prison.


I thought the body he/she was in was the prison. 'Who wants to listen to my voice in your prison' the male half talking to the female half, or vice versa.

Ade
Go to Top of Page

billgoodman
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<

Netherlands
6214 Posts

Posted - 06/23/2004 :  02:50:45  Show Profile  Click to see billgoodman's MSN Messenger address  Reply with Quote
Hermaphroditos Is My Name was too long to fit on the back
so they shortened it to Hermaphroditos


"I joined the Cult of Frank/Nobody wanted to join my Culf"
Go to Top of Page

twist
- FB Fan -

USA
191 Posts

Posted - 06/23/2004 :  09:51:59  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I'd like to apologize for my lame-ass insight.So please don't look at me like I was a snark while my head is extremely blocked. I stand in awe of all true FB scholars. See you in Amherst, I'll buy you a drink. http://www.mullinscenter.com
Go to Top of Page

VoVat
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<

USA
9168 Posts

Posted - 06/24/2004 :  15:54:56  Show Profile  Visit VoVat's Homepage  Click to see VoVat's MSN Messenger address  Reply with Quote
quote:
I'm sorry I missed the conversations back when Dog first came out, then I might know what F. was thinking about when he wrote it.


Well, this particular forum wasn't around that long ago.



Cattle in Korea / They can really moo.
Go to Top of Page

yosoyunpistolero
- FB Fan -

14 Posts

Posted - 06/24/2004 :  21:31:21  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
twist, thanks for your insight. I myself don't know Michael Jackson personally, but it's always fun to speculate. hachetman, i like your idea--interesting, I never thought of it that way. Cool. I think of it as the narrator of the song, who is a hermaphrodite or any number of identities under the "transgender" category (defined as anyone who is uncomfortable being defined simply as either "male" or "female"), who is imprisoned by society. "how do you love me? deeply with your scalpel." I see this as the pressure from society to be either one or the other, the socially-constructed "male" or "female," and to get surgery accordingly. "you hate my features, and you name me for a god." I see this also as society vs. the marginalized. Society thinks of the transgendered (this includes hermaphrodites, transsexuals, transvestites, cross-dressers, intersexuals, etc.) as freaks or repulsive, yet they name this hermaphrodite for a god to be worshipped, to be followed, to agrandize...some of society, while repulsed, will also be curious and make this person into something exotic and sometimes even something they wish they could be.

my two cents
pistolero

"They were gonna make me a major for this...and I wasn't even in their fuckin army anymore."
--Captain Willard, Apocalypse Now
Go to Top of Page

Otherfellers
- FB Fan -

Ireland
87 Posts

Posted - 06/25/2004 :  00:55:03  Show Profile  Click to see Otherfellers's MSN Messenger address  Reply with Quote
Actually it's about a Greek god...
http://www.theoi.com/Kronos/Hermaphroditos.html

This is just a quote from that page, it's quite an interesting read, but then I took 4 years of Greek and 3 of Latin and actually enjoyed it...

“Hermaphroditos, as he has been called, who was born of Hermes and Aphrodite and received a name which is a combination of those of both his parents. Some say that this Hermaphroditos is a god and appears at certain times among men, and that he is born with a physical body which is a combination of that of a man and that of a woman, in that he has a body which is beautiful and delicate like that of a woman, but has the masculine quality and vigour of a man. But there are some who declare that such creatures of two sexes are monstrosities, and coming rarely into the world as they do they have the quality of presaging the future, sometimes for evil and sometimes for good.” –Diodorus Siculus 4.6.5


Go to Top of Page

Hatchetman
- FB Fan -

United Kingdom
234 Posts

Posted - 06/25/2004 :  06:48:52  Show Profile  Visit Hatchetman's Homepage  Click to see Hatchetman's MSN Messenger address  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Otherfellers

Actually it's about a Greek god...



Although there are references to the god Hermaphrodite, I don't think that it's actually about the god. Just a person having a tough time living in the wrong body.

Ade
Go to Top of Page

Otherfellers
- FB Fan -

Ireland
87 Posts

Posted - 06/25/2004 :  19:39:14  Show Profile  Click to see Otherfellers's MSN Messenger address  Reply with Quote
Either way, yosuyunpistolero was a teensy bit off the mark.

They pile, they pile, they pile the salad bar
Go to Top of Page

twist
- FB Fan -

USA
191 Posts

Posted - 06/27/2004 :  22:40:55  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I get the feeling it's set in a future where youth culture has gone beyond simple piercings, branding and ritual scarification and is paying the price.
Go to Top of Page

Blueladder
- FB Fan -

1 Posts

Posted - 07/06/2004 :  17:12:57  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
For some really interesting parallels try reading Invisible Monsters by Chuck Pahlniuk. An argument could be me that Hermaphroditos is a gloss on that book's plot & themes.
Go to Top of Page

fumanbru
* Dog in the Sand *

Canada
1462 Posts

Posted - 07/13/2004 :  20:16:39  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
bit late on the thread. love the insights. never read the lyrics before. even if it does sound off the mark i like the thought that it may refer to jacko. or tie it together with hermaphroditos the greek god and you could say that a lot of people think mj is a god. i'm sure it relates somewhat to anyone who is a transvestite. thats got to be a tough gig. i wonder if frank wrote the song after seeing hedwig and the angry inch or if he wrote it before. i saw the movie on tv for the second time a couple of weeks ago. fuck that movie is funny- and disturbing. and the soundtrack is great. probably favorite musical behind heavy metal.


"I joined the Cult of Frank/ and I got a free t-shirt with this dude on it."
Go to Top of Page
  Previous Topic Topic Next Topic  
 New Topic  Reply to Topic
 Printer Friendly
Jump To:
-= Frank Black Forum =- © 2002-2020 Frank Black Fans, Inc. Go To Top Of Page
Snitz Forums 2000