Hamburger Lady

"...By far the worst is the hamburger lady, and because of shortage right now of 'qualified technicians', e.g. technicians who can work with her and keep their last meal down, Screwloose Lauritzen and I have been alternating nights with her, unrelievedly. If you put a 250-lb meatloaf in the oven and then burned it and then followed that by propping it up on a potty-chair to greet you at 11pm each night, you would have some description of these past two weeks. Which is to say the worst I seen since viet napalms. When somebody tells you that there is a level of pain beyond which the human mind cannot retain consciousness, please tell them to write me. In point of fact this lady has not slept more than 3-5 minutes at a stretch since she came to us - that was over two weeks ago and, thanks to medical advances, there is no end in sight; from the waist (waste?) up everything is burned off, ears, nose etc - lower half is untouched and that, I guess, is what keeps her alive. I took one guy in to help me change tubes and he did alright, that is alright till he came out, then he spotted one of the burn nurses (pleasant smiling zombies) eating a can of chile-mac at the desk, and that did it: he flashed on the carpet. It is fucking insane is what it is."

-part of a letter sent by Al Ackerman from Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. 1978

from the DOA sleeve. so i guess i'm right. and now i will never sleep again.

Throbbing Gristle tried to create a disorienting aura to illustrate the pain, dispair, and confusion of a woman who was burnt so badly from the waste up that her flesh looked like hamburger meat. They also tried to create an ominous, evil sound to display the cruelty of keeping someone like that alive. It's a very disturbing song.

"When somebody tells you there’s a level of pain beyond the human mind The lady on the potty-chair"

That is so powerful. Because usually the idea of 'pain' is the dramatic, tragically beautiful sort of thing. But this level of pain is not something you can turn into a Shakespearean play. It is beyond degrading, humiliating, painful suffering.

I like the ads for google on this page... Right now it's saying to get a Prime Rib Burger from Carl's Junior... kind of weird huh?

I read once that his song was about a woman who was in a fire and she got so badly burned that her skin was deformed and melted and she was immobile and spent the rest of her life in a hospital frightening people with her gastly appearence.

this is true. the name actually comes from the fact that her skin was so badly burned it looked like hamburger meat.

very creepy song. hamburger lady is classic.

This is the most frightening song of all time. I remember disctinctly the first time I heard it. I couldn't really understand the lyrics and didn't even know he was saying "Hamburger Lady". Just sounded like a form of gibberish. Then I looked at the song title.... If you want to terrifying someone, this one will work. And if done at certain times, it will permanently drive them insane. Without a doubt the most haunting song ever made... I don't see how it will ever be topped again.

i guess these lyrics are accurate, but...

at the 'burn net... account of killing' part, i thought Gen was saying something about one of the 'burn nurses' coming in (to the Hamburger Lady's room, i thought) 'eating a can of chili'

...which is the creepiest fuckin thought i've ever had, so i hope i'm wrong

Man, This song remind me of "Cesaro Summability"

Melvin's on fire! Melvin's on fire!