"Shake Hands WIth Beef" / Primus / Brown Album

"Shake Hands With Beef". Just think about that a minute. Les Claypool and the Primus boys got together to record a new song, found a little groove, banged out the track, then someone said, "Hey, what should we call this one?"
And someone else says, "Uh...Shake Hands With Beef?"

Of course, if you have any experience with Primus, you can expect this sort of thing. One of the more oblique, strange bands to benefit from the early 90's alternative boom, I came across Primus pretty randomly. During my first year of college, I believe, "Sailing the Seas of Cheese" was released. As I was an avid reader of both Rolling Stone (yeah, I know) and SPIN magazine (subscriber, even!) back then, the reviews of this band sounded pretty good. In print, they read like a mix of The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rush. So I picked up the CD and the first thing I hear is:

When the going gets tough and the stomach acids flow
The cold wind of conformity is nipping at your nose
When some trendy new atrocity has brought you to your knees
Come with us we'll sail the seas of cheese

I wasn't very pleased with the music.It was not at all what I expected; it was very odd to me. However, I gave it some time and it did start growing on me. Also, MTV picked up "Jerry Was a Racecar Driver" and it became a semi-hit. My buddy Marty (That's Dr. Murthy to you) and I became full on Primus fans, buying up the back catalogue and even going to see them live in Atlanta on tour (at which I bought a T shirt with the "Cheese" cover and the very words earlier in this post on the back.)
I guess the clincher for me being a Primus fan then was hearing Rush's YYZ intro before one of their songs on their live album.

Primus became a pretty popular band, as a matter of fact. I gave up on being a big follower after the next couple albums (though Marty kept at it, to his credit). It's not that I don't enjoy them, it's just that a whole Primus album at once...eh, it's a little much. The singles are great, though, and one evening I went and bought my favorites on itunes, this being one of them.

The main thing I enjoy about this particluar song is the groove. That nasty, funky, crazy groove that only could come form the mind of Les Claypool. Whatever you think of Primus, it's hard to deny the genius of this dude. He plays bass like it's never been done before, an innovator in every sense of the word. So, that's what gets me about this song - the slap-happy riff, and the utter ridiculousness of the title. What's it about? I'm hoping one of you might know.