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I found out only recently that Mojo Nixon died last year, on February 7, 2024. I don't know how I missed that, but then, despite having spent some time as the promotional face of MTV, he was a relatively obscure musician compared to someone like Toby Keith who had died only two days earlier.
Mojo Nixon was best known for “Elvis is Everywhere,” which was my introduction to him even though I didn't realize it at the time. For most of my childhood I listened to tape recordings my brother had made from the Doctor Demento Radio Show, which included this song without attribution.
Then in 1997 a video game called Redneck Rampage came out, featuring an “8-Track” of redneck music as CD audio. It started out strong with Mojo Nixon belting out, “Howdy! I'm gonna tell y'all a story you ain't gonna believe! It's about, uh, UFOs... big rigs... and barbecue!” There were six more songs by the Beat Farmers, Cement Pond, and the Reverend Horton Heat, bookended by one more by Mojo Nixon, namely You Can't Kill Me. That last one became especially amusing years later when I worked at McDonald's because of this random bit in the middle:
I'll tell ya another damn thing
I ain't eating no more f-----g McDonald's either
I ain't gonna eat it no more
I ain't gonna eat it 'cause it don't taste good
You know what?
MCDONALD'S CAN KISS MY BUTT!
McDonald's can kiss my butt
It's a great, big, hairy butt
Got a dingleberry hanging off my butt
McDonald's can kiss my ass
After playing Redneck Rampage for a bit (in which Mojo provided the voice for Sheriff Lester T. Hobbes), I soon came across and bought a couple of albums by Mojo Nixon, and my appreciation of his work grew.
Mojo Nixon was a kind of musical genious, making what he called “psychobilly” music, which generally sounded like a cross between country and rock, and his band often incorporated a few unusual instruments like a washboard and a desk bell. Always the humourist, he performed songs like “Take Me To Your Leader” in which he introduces space aliens to Otis Cambpell, “The Story Of One Chord” about cave men looking to expand their musical range, and “B.B.Q. U.S.A.” where he's just listing a bunch of barbeque restaurants with the chorus, “Mmm-mmm, barbeque!” He did often get a little crass however with songs like, “Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant with My Two Headed Love Child” (starring Winona Ryder as Debbie Gibson in the music video), “I Ain't Gonna Piss In No Jar,” and “She's All Liquored Up.” And of course, had he produced a lot of these songs today, people infected with the mind-virus of “cancel culture” and having zero comprehension of humour would have tarred and feathered him for songs like “Bring Me the Head of David Geffen.” (It had a couple of great sound bites that can be applied to people other than David Geffen.)
One of Mojo's songs that stands out is “Are You Drinkin' with Me Jesus”:
I saw You sittin' there
I was tryin' not to stare
I wasn't sure if it was You
I didn't know just what to do
Are You drinkin' with me Jesus?
I can't see You very clear
Are You drinkin' with me Jesus
Won't You buy a friend a beer?
Now Mojo Nixon really is drinking with Jesus.
Rest in peace, Mojo.
I'd like to close with the end of “You Can't Kill Me”:
You can't kill me
I will not die
Not now, not ever
No never
I'm gonna live a long, long time
My soul raves on forever
You can't kill me
I will not die
Not now, not ever
No never
I'm gonna live a long, long time
My soul raves on forever
My soul raves on forever
My soul raves on forever