Misfits song question (Rat Fink)
 

After recently getting the box set and listening to all of it I have a question that has always bothered me. In the song Rat Fink (this spelling) the whole song he sings/spells it RATT. Is there a story to this? Did Glenn have a problem with a member of the group with 2 Ts?

Here's some info on Rat Fink. Apparently its a cover and its release seem to predate Ratt by a few years (thanks to misfitscentral.com):

Night Of The Living Dead

cover art & vinyl
insert

1. Night Of The Living Dead
2. Where Eagles Dare
Rat Fink

Format: 7" Single.
Acetate: 1 12" acetate with "Night Of The Living Dead" at 45 rpm on one side and "Night Of The Living Dead," "Where Eagles Dare," and "Rat Fink" on 33 rpm on the other, completely black with no labels, owned by Mike Holland.
1 12" acetate with "Night Of The Living Dead" (scratched out) on one side and "Night Of The Living Dead" with "PL1011-A" matrix on the other, completely black with no labels, owned by Mike Holland.
1 12" acetate with "Where Eagles Dare," "Rat Fink," and "PL-1011-B" matrix on one side, and blank on the other, completely black with no labels, owned by Mike Holland.
Pressing:
1st: Plan 9: PL1011 (October 31, 1979)
2000 copies.
Insert: Checkered Crimson Ghost insert with Fiend Club address.
Producer: D. Zelonky and The Misfits.
Session: [06//1979 The Song Shop]
Notes: The back cover of this EP includes a famous photo of the band taken in New York, NY on Washington Street at the corner of Morton Street. It includes "Rat Fink," the only cover song the band ever recorded in the studio with Glenn. Danny Zelonky of The Mad helped produce this EP, which was originally sold for two dollars at the door to Irving Plaza in New York, NY on the date of release. The Fiend Club insert was not included with all 2000 copies. Several different bootlegs of this release exist; please see bootleg section for details.

Thanks. They say it was a cover, but I only see that Glenn wrote it, who originally did this song?

Rat Fink

This Allan Sherman cover song was based on the Rat Fink toys created by Ed "Big Daddy" Roth. It originally appeared on Sherman's 1963 album My Son, The Nut. His version was a parody of the Ames Brothers' "Rag Mop" written by Wills and Anderson.

http://www.misfitscentral.com/misfits/songname.php

I know it's semi-off-topic, but I have to say that I love the Misfits recording of this. It just sounds so poor in quality, but it's such a cool song. Then again, I'm a Misfits fiend, and have always liked everything they have done.... well... almost. =)

my guess is in the original it just fit better in the timing to use 8 letters than 7. as far as Glenn goes, I dont think he was ever that fastidious about things like that. for example We Are 138 is ostensibly about the sterile society portrayed in THX 1138 as to why the truncated number? either they simply messed it up, it sounded better that way, or they were avoiding any legal problems. my initial reaction would be one of those first two options.

another fiend from detroit :)

yeah, I always wondered about the 138 thing too. Trying to make sense out of any of Misfits' lyrics is usually a lost cause. For example, in "Hybrid Moments:"

"When new creatures rape your face.....hybrids open up the door." What the hell does that mean?

Don't get me wrong, I am a huge Misfits/Danzig/Samhain fan myself, but a lot of his lyrics don't make much sense. Brilliant songwriter with an incredible voice.

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/5882/m748md.jpg

We saw Glenn at Harpo's last October, and he explained the "real" story behind We Are 138. He said "This song is about killing people". Funny... that's what he said about almost every Misfits song they did. Either way, who cares, Danzig and Doyle on the same stage.... once in a lifetime.

I still the the picture of Glenn smiling is out of control.