Blister in the Sun

Big hands are doing what now?

SONG: Blister in the Sun

ALBUM: Violent Femmes

ARTIST: Violent Femmes

YEAR: 1983

There are plenty of songs whose guitar intros are instantly recognizable. Smoke on the Water comes to mind. As does Satisfaction. Then there’s the bright and bouncy lick that kicks off today’s Gen X Jukebox.

Blister in the Sun is the first track off the Violent Femmes’ self-titled debut album. It hit the record stores (remember those?) OVER FORTY YEARS AGO in 1983.

As impossible as it is to believe today, Blister in the Sun was never released as an official single. According to this piece in Rolling Stone, the record company resisted because the iconic track lacked a bass drum.

Blister in the Sun was eventually re-released in 1997 as a promo single for Grosse Pointe Blank, a dark comedy starring John Cusack, who’s about as Gen X as it gets, am I right?

Every time I hear Blister in the Sun I’m transported back to high school parties and summer vacations, to dancing and laughing and singing along to the unforgettable lyrics—normally, at first, then softer and softer, all the way down to a whisper:

When I’m out walking, I strut my stuff

And I’m so strung out

I’m high as a kite, I just might

Stop to check you out

Then we shouted, at the top of our lungs, with the fervor of youth, making it clear we intended to spend our days in the sun however the hell we wanted.

Now here’s something I was surprised to learn.

Apparently there’s an entire faction of people who believe this classic, this timeless anthem of drug addiction, is actually a song about masturbation.

Typically, they point to lyrics like:

Big hands, I know you’re the one

And / Or

Body and beats / I stain my sheets

Now I finally know why the girl in the song is starting to cry. Because her boyfriend’s way too busy spanking the monkey.

Well, I hate to break it to the ‘whack jobs’ out there, but the song has absolutely nothing to do with everybody’s favorite hobby. At least not according to singer and songwriter Gordon Gano, who clears the air at the end of this interview. 

You know what? You’re right.

Who am I? Who is Gano? Who is anyone, while we’re at it, to tell you what to think? Especially when it comes to the music you love.

Your only duty, as far as I can tell, is to hit PLAY when you’re good and ready, and spend the following two and a half minutes singing and dancing in the nourishing sun.

And if you Masturbation Believers out there feel like getting your rocks off, please feel free to go right ahead. Just do us all a favor and make sure that you’re not out walking while you’re “strutting your stuff”.