Having recently discussed the early conservative years of Family Guy, it occurred to me that I should check out The Goode Family—that being the latest primetime cartoon from King of the Hill creator Mike Judge. The show is a pretty fun skewering of banal Leftist beliefs, and it’ll be interesting to see how they manage to turn it into liberal propaganda if it lasts more than three seasons.

As usual, though, one thing got me thinking of something else. The episode I saw was about how the Goodes end up living like plantation owners thanks to the inane twists of their take on morality. This reminded me of Spooky Tooth’s “Cotton Growing Man,” which is one of the greatest bad blues-rock songs of all time. The band recorded it in 1973—on their You Broke My Heart, So I Busted Your Jaw album—and it’s a stellar display of British rock idiocy.

Gary Wright (whose solo career would give us the rightfully classic “Dream Weaver”) had actually come to the UK from New Jersey, where he joined up with the band then known as Art. “Cotton Growing Man” is from late in Spooky Tooth’s career, and it’s nice that the band tried to address issues of racial tension. You just have to wonder how addled Wright was to think that the burning issue of the day was plantation owners. It’s a good thing that Spooky Tooth’s audience was primarily pale. Black men might not have been particularly receptive towards Wright’s attempt to reach across color lines.

Musically, though, “Cotton Growing Man” is a great song. It could be mistaken for early ZZ Top. It was left to Tim Rose to do a definitive version, but you’ll just have to seek that out on your own. People should know more about Tim Rose. Spooky Tooth’s only other high point was 1970’s Ceremony, and the band members were hired hands on that one.

 

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