Song of the Day (Shocktober): New York Dolls “Frankenstein”

Punk rock before the Ramones, metal long before Motley Crüe, and glam after it won a fight outside the bar, Morrissey’s favorite band* the New York Dolls exerted a massive, enduring influence on rock’n’roll. The classic lineup consisted of the twin guitar attack of Johnny Thunders and Syl Sylvain, endearingly clumsy bassist Arthur Kane, precision drummer Jerry Nolan, and androgynous, confrontational vocalist David Johansen. Dressed in high heels, leather pants, and silk shirts in an era of denim-clad blues-rock dullards, the band aimed to bring the visual and theatrical back to rock. On stage and on record, the Dolls combined The Rolling Stones’ hard rock swagger, The Shangri-Las’ tough girl group pop, the Stooges’ Detroit grinding thrash, and the glam rock poses of David Bowie and T. Rex. The band released just two official albums in the first half of the 1970s that became enduring classics.

Barely into their 20s when they signed a deal with Mercury Records, the debut album displays all the strangeness and disorienting swagger of self-styled outsiders let loose in Manhattan for the very first time. Pairing the Dolls with pop superstar Todd Rundgren to produce is a match that doesn’t work on paper but Rundgren’s approach was surprisingly sympathetic to the band’s glam-trash hard rock sound. Simply titled New York Dolls, the debut album arrived in the summer of 1973 to critical acclaim and (un)fairly dismal sales. Their label, Mercury Records, were well-aware of the Dolls’ polarizing effect, marketing them as “a band you’re gonna like, whether you like it or not.”

Clocking in at six minutes, “Frankenstein” is the sole hard rock epic on the debut (also known as “Frankenstein (Orig.)” because it predates Edgar Winters’ similarly-titled ode). Beginning with a menacing intro, there’s a vague sense of doom in the music that never lets up, enhanced by Rundgren’s Moog. While not exactly prose, Johansen’s lyrics for “Frankenstein” paint a vivid picture of disparate, desperate youth converging on downtown Manhattan, coming together like Frankenstein’s monster before the inevitable Big Apple collapse. In a then-contemporary interview Johansen explained, “The song is about how kids come to Manhattan from all over, they’re kind of like whipped dogs, they’re very repressed. Their bodies and brains are disoriented from each other… it’s a love song.”

*In 1981, Morrissey wrote a book about the New York Dolls.

 
“Frankenstein” lyrics by David Johansen:

Something must have happened over Manhattan
Who can expound all the children this time?
Could they ever, could they ever
Expect such a Frankenstein, a Frankenstein
I remember when you were jam-jammin’
You were better than any of them
There was never nothing you would ever understand
But you know who was there to be your master
Making his demented plans
He’s always makin’ his plans
When those plans, they don’t fit your style
You get a feeling of your own ordeal
That’s when he starts calling you out
And you just don’t know what to do
So now you come around here
And you’re trying to take over the town
Just because of back home, baby
How he puts you down
Oh, baby, how he puts you down
I know they put you down
So now, you’re off starting ’round here
Bitterness at your demons
In a place where they don’t expect nothing
You’re trying not to dirty your hands
When asking you as a person
Is it a crime, is it a crime
For you to fall in love with Frankenstein?
Is it wrong, could it be wrong
Wrong, baby, don’t you want a friend?
‘Cause you’re trying to be so selective
You never realize the whole time
Who’s the one you’re loving
Misunderstood like a Frankenstein
And down, down, down, just off the desk
Like Frankenstein, like Frankenstein
So now you’re telling me
What everytime you can get on home
Well, don’t you know this place, it is my home
So where am I gonna go?
You know, when you don’t expect nothing
No, you’re not alone, you know you’re not alone
‘Cause something must have happened over Manhattan
Who can expound all the children this time?
Could they ever, could they ever
Expect such a Frankenstein?
A Frankenstein, Frankenstein
And oh, his shoes are too big
And oh, his jacket’s too small
I’ll show you a Frankenstein, Frankenstein [?]
We’re asking you as a person
Is it a crime, is it a crime
For you to fall in love in with Frankenstein?
Is it wrong, could it be wrong
Oh, baby, don’t you want a friend?
Well, Frankenstein, oh, Frankenstein, Frankenstein
Frankenstein, Frankenstein
Frankenstein, Frankenstein
Frankenstein, Frankenstein
My name is Frankenstein, Frankenstein
Frankenstein, Frankenstein
You’re gonna get it, you’re gonna get it
You’re gonna get it from Frankenstein
That’s right, you’re gonna get it, you’re gonna get it
You’re gonnna get it when Frankenstein gets home
I’m gonna shout about
I’m gonna scream about, I’m gonna shout about it, bitch about it, scream about it
Gonna get it, Frankenstein
Frankenstein, Frankenstein, Frankenstein
Frankenstein, Frankenstein
Frankenstein, Frankenstein
My name is Frankenstein, Frankenstein
Frankenstein
I’ve gotta ask you one question
Do you think that you could make it with Frankenstein?