Coattails Of A Dead Man

Album: Antipop (1999)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song is about a man who accidentally comes upon fame and marries a greedy woman seeking it herself. As the years wear on, the man grows tired of fame and becomes an alcoholic. He finds himself reaching for help from her but she is only concerned with herself, so he shoots himself with a shotgun. For the rest of the widow's life, she rides on the coattails of her late husband for fame and fortune, crying shamelessly in public. This tale is very similar to the life of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, but nobody knows if this was intentional. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Ben - Spokane, WA
  • Tom Waits produced this song with the band and also sings on it along with Les Claypool and Martina Topley-Bird, who can be heard on tracks by Tricky and Massive Attack. Waits is also credited with playing the Chamberlin, which is an organ-like instrument similar to a Mellotron.

    Primus hadn't used a producer before but thought they needed some help completing their Antipop album, so they brought in Waits, Stewart Copeland, Tom Morello, Matt Stone and Fred Durst to work on it, acting as guest producers. They got through it, but Primus didn't make another album until Green Naugahyde in 2011.

Comments: 1

  • Don Ellis from Lake City, Ky"This tale is very similar to the life of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, but nobody knows if this was intentional."

    This is obviously about (mostly) Courtney and Kurt.
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