“Timothy”: Cannibalism You Can Dance To

Today as I was updating the StalloneZone and listening to 70’s music, a song came on that I hadn’t heard in years.  “Timothy” was a one-hit wonder for a group called The Buoys.  It peaked at #17 which is pretty amazing considering that many stations banned it because of it’s references to cannibalism!  You read that right, cannibalism.

Written by Rupert “The Pina Colada Song” Holmes, it tells of three miners trapped by a cave-in and when the rescue team finds them there are only two.  Although it’s never explicitly said that the two ate the third, the lyrics make it pretty clear.

Trapped in a mine that had caved in
And everyone knows the only ones left
Were Joe and me and Tim
When they broke through to pull us free
The only ones left to tell the tale
Were Joe and me

Timothy, Timothy, where on earth did you go?
Timothy, Timothy, God why don’t I know?

Hungry as hell no food to eat
And Joe said that he would sell his soul
For just a piece of meat
Water enough to drink for two
And Joe said to me, “I’ll have a swig
And then there’s some for you.”

Timothy, Timothy, Joe was looking at you
Timothy, Timothy, God what did we do?

I must have blacked out just around then
‘Cause the very next thing that I could see
Was the light of the day again
My stomach was full as it could be
And nobody ever got around
To finding Timothy
Timothy…

Of course when radio station managers realized that the song was about cannibalism they’d pull it from rotation, but by then it was too late.  Kids were calling in to request it.  Stations that refused to play “Timothy”, faced the fact that the competition would.  Word of mouth continued to spread and “Timothy” rose up the charts.

I can remember it was the talk of all my friends who thought the song was too cool.  Yeah, eating a co-worker is cool.  What can I say?  We were kids.  Although I have to admit I still like the song.  You might too and you can listen to it here.