I guess I should declare what sparked my interest in signal bats.
There is a very weird song called "
Bat Chain Puller" by Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band. It's like spending 5 minutes in an insane asylum. Captain Beefheart was an American musician, poet and painter, whose real name was Dan van Vliet. I had heard his music back in the 1970's, but dismissed it then as too unmelodic and hard for my young brain to absorb, but I recently became fascinated with it. I wanted to find what the hell this song was about, if anything. Extensive searches on Wiki and YouTube. To quote;
"
A bat chain refers to the chain that hangs down from a signal post on a train line. The signal device that was pulled down was called a bat and different bats had different colours to signal the train driver as to the condition of the track ahead, or whether the train could proceed. The bat chain puller was the person who set the signals for the approaching train according to track status reports received by telegraph."
"
He said it was the sound of the windscreen wipers in the rain giving the beat. A magnificent, off-the-wall song."
So it was about trains, more or less. I was toying with the idea of making such a signal, complete with bats, chain and perhaps a human figure, the bat chain puller. It would be my little homage to the late Capt. Beefheart. The plan was to put it on the DLS without explanation, and see if anyone recognized what I'd done and got a bit of a laugh out of it. But I could not find any images to base models on, so I decided to throw the topic open on the forum.
~ D
p.s If you are mad enough to listen to the song, it helps your sanity to have the lyrics close at hand. Wear floppy boots on this tropical hot dog night and enjoy the ride.
Bat chain
Puller
Bat chain puller
Puller, puller
A chain with yellow lights
That glistens like oil beads
On its slick smooth trunk
That trails behind on tracks, and thumps
A wing hangs limp and retreats
Bat chain puller
Puller puller
Bulbs shoot from its snoot
And vanish into darkness
It whistles like a root snatched from dry earth
Sodbustin' rakes with grey dust claws
Announces it's coming in the morning
This train with grey tubes
That houses people's very thoughts and belongings.
Bat chain puller
Puller puller
This train with grey tubes that houses people's thoughts,
Their very remains and belongings.
A grey cloth patch
Caught with four threads
In the hollow wind of its stacks
Ripples felt fades and grey sparks clacks,
Lunging the cushioned thickets.
Pumpkins span the hills
With orange Crayola patches.
Green inflated trees
Balloon up into marshmallow soot
That walks away in faulty circles,
Caught in grey blisters
With twinkling lights and green sashes
Drawn by rubber dolphins with gold yawning mouths
That blister and break in agony
In zones of rust
They gild gold sawdust into dust.
Bat chain puller,
Puller puller.
.