man on the moon

Chad Nouis srlions@toad.net

Mr. Andy Kaufman's gone wrestling yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah This line from MOTM is in reference to the comedian Andy Kaufman who in the late 70's was a host numerous times on Saturday Night Live. In his skits when he was guest, he would ask members from the audience to come down and try to wrestle him. Everytime he easily pinned down the victim. Kaufman became very cocky over how easy it was to wrestle. As time went on, he commented that professional wrestlers were just putting on huge acts and that they didn't really have any talent. Kaufman was arrogant enough to say he could beat any of these wrestlers without breaking a sweat. So Kaufman was invited to fight Jerry "The King" Lawlyer who is still related to the WWF currently. Kaufman was sure all of this was a big joke and agreed to it. However, Lawlyer was not joking around. As soon as the fight had begun, Lawlyer came over and slammed Kaufman to the mat and injuring Kaufman's neck badly. The match was already over. To make matters worse, he appeared a few weeks later on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson with a neck brace on and Jerry Lawlyer showed up as well. Kaufman demanded an apology. In response, Lawlyer started another fight by throwing Kaufman around the set. So this is where Stipe came up with this line.

Mott the Hoople and the game of Life, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Andy Kaufman in the wrestling match, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Monopoly, 21, checkers, and chess, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Mr. Fred Blassie, in a breakfast mess, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Let's play Twister, let's play Risk, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah I'll see you in heaven if you make the list, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Now Andy did you hear about this one, tell me are you locked in the punch Andy are you goofing on Elvis, hey baby, are we losing touch If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon If you believed there's nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool Moses went walking with a staff of wood, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Newton got beaned by the apple good, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Egypt was troubled by the horrible asp, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Mr. Charles Darwin had the gall to ask, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Now Andy did you hear about this one, tell me are you locked in the punch Andy are you goofing on Elvis, hey baby, are you having fun If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon If you believed there's nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool Here's a little agit for the never believer, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Here's a little ghost for the offering, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Here's a truck stop instead of St. Peter's, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Mr. Andy Kaufman's gone wrestling, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Now Andy did you hear about this one, tell me are you locked in the punch Andy are you goofing on Elvis, hey baby, are we losing touch If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon If you believed there's nothing up my sleeve, then nothing is cool