Dachau Blues

"Dachau Blues"
Song by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
from the album Trout Mask Replica
Released	June 16, 1969
Recorded	March 1969
Studio	Whitney Studios, Glendale, California
Genre	Experimental rock; blues; avant-garde
Length	2:21
Label	Straight
Songwriter	Don Van Vliet
Producer	Frank Zappa

"Dachau Blues" is a song by American musician Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet), recorded with his Magic Band and released on the 1969 double album Trout Mask Replica . The track addresses the Holocaust in stark, confrontational language and is set to a deliberately abrasive ensemble texture featuring voice, guitars, rhythm section and low reeds. ^{[1] [2]}

Background and recording

Trout Mask Replica was produced by Frank Zappa after months of regimented rehearsals; the band then cut the instrumentals rapidly at Whitney Studios in Glendale, with vocals overdubbed soon after. ^{[3] [4]} Contemporary reviews and later criticism often emphasize the album’s radical, collage-like approach, merging blues forms with free-jazz abrasions and spoken declamation. ^[5]

Composition and lyrics

The song opens with Van Vliet’s baritone intoning “Dachau blues, those poor Jews,” proceeding to evoke the camps and warn of future catastrophe with apocalyptic imagery. ^[6] Musically, it is a tightly organized, fast, multi-section piece in which interlocking guitars, bass and drums collide with low-reed punctuations; critics have variously described the track as “dark,” “maddening,” and emblematic of the album’s anti-conventional blues design. ^{[7] [8]}

Several commentators note the deliberately “wrong-sounding” qualities of the performance—jolting rhythms and guitar parts perceived as out of tune—which are integral to the work’s confrontational aesthetic rather than errors of execution. ^{[9] [10]} Writing about the broader album, reviewers also single out “Dachau Blues” for its extreme vocal delivery against chaotic, “anti-blues” accompaniment and audible low-reed burbles that heighten the unease. ^{[11] [12]}

A brief spoken coda—often described as a fragment about “catching rats”—follows the main body of the song on album pressings, further underlining the track’s cut-up, cinéma-vérité feel. ^[13]

Release and reception

"Dachau Blues" appears as track three on side one of Trout Mask Replica (Straight STS 1053, 1969). Multiple discographies list the running time at approximately 2:21. ^[14] Retrospective assessments frequently cite the song as one of the album’s most shocking and politically charged moments; commentators have read it as a fierce anti-fascist warning that uses extremity of sound to match its subject matter. ^{[15] [16]}

Personnel

Per album credits, contemporary documentation and standard discographies.

• Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet) – lead vocal; low reeds (bass clarinet) and saxophones (album)
• Bill "Zoot Horn Rollo" Harkleroad – guitar
• Jeff "Antennae Jimmy Semens" Cotton – guitar
• Mark "Rockette Morton" Boston – bass guitar; narration (album)
• John "Drumbo" French – drums
• Victor "The Mascara Snake" Hayden – bass clarinet (album contributor)

Notes

Some sources and interviews suggest a twin bass-clarinet texture on “Dachau Blues” (Van Vliet plus Victor Hayden); player-specific credits for individual tracks were not printed on original LP labels and can vary across later reconstructions. ^{[17] [18]}

References

1. "Dachau Blues – Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band". AllMusic. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
2. "Captain Beefheart – "Dachau Blues" (lyrics)". beefheart.com. July 11, 2012. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
3. "Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band: Trout Mask Replica". All About Jazz. May 3, 2020. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
4. "Why Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica Still Sounds Like Nothing Else". Rolling Stone. June 15, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
5. "Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band: Trout Mask Replica (review)". Pitchfork. June 5, 2018. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
6. "Captain Beefheart – "Dachau Blues" (lyrics)". beefheart.com. July 11, 2012. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
7. "Captain Beefheart – Trout Mask Replica (1969)". Classic Rock Review. July 8, 2021. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
8. "Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band: Trout Mask Replica". All About Jazz. May 3, 2020. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
9. Harris, John (August 4, 2006). "Mission: unlistenable". The Guardian. Retrieved November 7, 2025. "They're mucking about! … they're all out of tune, the drummer can't drum in time…"
10. "The History of Rock Music: Captain Beefheart". scaruffi.com. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
11. "Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band: Trout Mask Replica (review)". Pitchfork. June 5, 2018. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
12. "Track Review: Captain Beefheart "Dachau Blues"". College Media Network. 2018. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
13. "Captain Beefheart Album Survey, Pt. 2: Trout Mask Replica / Lick My Decals Off, Baby". CultureCatch. June 3, 2008. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
14. "Captain Beefheart – Trout Mask Replica (track timings)". ProgArchives. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
15. "Why Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica Still Sounds Like Nothing Else". Rolling Stone. June 15, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
16. "Captain Beefheart's transformative "Dachau Blues"". The Forward. January 31, 2022. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
17. "Bruno Ghezzi – John French Q&A (2000/1)". beefheart.com. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
18. "Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band – Trout Mask Replica (master page, credits)". Discogs. Retrieved November 7, 2025.