Victims of TISM Support Group

Play Mistral For Me (1)

It takes a great person to get an idea
But don't go public, it'll ruin the plan
Because no matter how intelligent or clever you are
You're only as good as your fans

Peter Garrett (2) chanting 'Oils, Oils'
Can you imagine it, I don't think you can
Bit as a Mistral (3) employee once told me
You're only as good as your fans

Each man kills the thing he loves (4)
The fisherman caught in his own net
It's frightening that you deserve
The audience that you get

The Beatles found out with Helter Skelter (5)
And John Lennon saw it in Mr Chapman (6)
And the Stones learnt from Gimme Shelter (7);
You're only as good as your fans

Yo! Fight the power, what did I say?
All the girls say 'Yo' all the boys say 'Yo'
Everybody say 'Yo', here comes the Hamburgular (8)!
Elle MacPherson (9) is really a person
But don't tell the guy who buys the calendar
Jump! Monica! Jump! Monica! Jump! Monica! Jump! Monica! (10)
You can't get a laugh out of Steffi Graf
If you tell her her friends are a bunch of backstabbers (11)
Kurt Cobain (12) couldn't deal with fame
But at least he didn't score an own goal against Colombia (13)
Yo! Impersonator X! Give it to me!

So maybe we shouldn't hate Collingwood (14)
Or blame religion on JC
Or marvel at the racist kids
Who love Public Enemy (15).

Annotations

1. A allusion to the title of a Clint Eastwood-directed movie 'Play Misty For Me', where an obsessed fan stalks a late-night radio DJ.
2. Peter Garrett is the lead singer of Australian band Midnight Oil
3. Mistral is an electric fan manufacturing company. In the mid 80s, the company came under public scrutiny as a result of several of its fans malfunctioning and catching fire.
4. This is a line from Oscar Wilde's 'Ballad of Reading Gaol'.
5. Helter Skelter was a Beatles' song which appeared on the White Album, and with which Charles Manson (cult figure who oversaw a number of murders including that of the pregnant Sharon Tate, then wife of director Roman Polanski) was obsessed. He thought the song was about how African Americans were going to take over the country, killing all the 'white piggies'. Vincent Bugliosi, the prosecutor of Manson and his group, subsequently wrote a book about the case, titled Helter Skelter.
6. Mark David Chapman, an obsessed fan, murdered John Lennon.
7. The Rolling Stones hired the Hells Angels to act as bouncers at a gig they played at Altamont. The Angels' murder of a fan at the gig, was captured on film (as the gig was being filmed as part of a documentary called Gimme Shelter).
8. The Hamburgular is a McDonald's character.
9. Elle MacPherson - Australian supermodel dubbed 'the body'.
10. Monica Seles, tennis player.
11. This is a reference to the stabbing of Monica Seles (in the back of the neck during a match) by a Steffi Graf fan.
12. Kurt Cobain was the lead singer of Nirvana. He shot and killed himself at the age of 27.
13. Andres Escobar was murdered in the US by Colombian soccer fans after kicking an own goal which led to Colombia being eliminated in the World Cup in 1994.
14. Collingwood is an AFL football team that people tend to either love or hate.
15. Public Enemy are one of the earliest and most enduring rap bands.