A rare and archaic word from the late 17th century, and an alternative adjective to hepatic, from the French jécoraire and Latin jecur,, it means relating to the liver, but not necessarily organ songs.
But it’s certainly a vital organ in vertebrate mammals, one that detoxifies various metabolites, synthesizes proteins and produces biochemicals necessary for digestion and growth. And it’s something of a miracle of all the organs, as it can regenerate after damage, but only if we take care of it.
Liver longer life …
For those that eat the animal product, it can also be a healthy food, but how does it come out in song? Mostly very unhealthily of course, and most often when down to drinking excessive alcohol. And that’s where we’ll start, waking up with America, the band formed in London in 1970 by three sons of US Air Force personnel stationed in Europe and best known for Horse With No Name, but Hangover is a song that captures the after effects of too much booze:
How am I stake my claim on the future
When I cannot lift my head
Oh, I ain't nothin' but a drunken loser
And my liver's overfed
'Cause I got a hangover
Now let’s go back to a jauntier number and a different metaphor, with Another Mule by Fats Domino:
If your liver starts to jump
And your heart begins to thump
Man that's all
Another mule is kickin' your stall
Liver concerns are a common problem in musicians. From 1981’s The Blue Mask album, Lou Reed insists he’s just another Average Guy with regular worries, but there’s no shortage of irony in his lyrics. The extra irony though, tragically, is that Reed underwent a liver transplant operation in 2013 after having cancer in that organ, but sadly he suffered further disease and despite saying he had enjoyed a full recovery, died that same year.
I worry about money and taxes and such
I worry that my liver's big and it hurts to the touch
I worry about my health and bowels
And the crime waves in the street
I'm really just your average guy
Trying to stand on his own two feet
A more recent and unabashed number about indulgence and liver damage, comes in the form As Drunk as a Drunk Man Can Be by Yorkshire’s Ted Key & the Kingstons:
Now I've got liver sclerosis,
Me kidneys they are crap
Me hands shake like kittens tied up in a sack
Me eyes are both bloodshot …
The Goo Goo Dolls give it the full treatment too, partly from the lifestyle of Livin in a Hut:
I've got an ugly liver from drinking too much
I've got painful sliver from thinking too much
Oh I don't want to go on livin' in this rut
I think I'll go out and build me a hut
But what did The Fall’s Mark E Smith make of his liver? This unique Mancunian postpunk figure certainly gave it a battering, but what does it all mean in the 2001 song Crop-Dust?
Your liver is one
Your brain is eight-twelfths of thought …
Edinburgh twins The Proclaimers take liver damage to a new level with the ironic song Everybody's a Victim, sticking a sharp point at blame cultiure, and this time it comes not from drink, but smoking and intravenous drugs:
Well it's not my fault
That I'm positive
I just stuck a needle in my arm
And nobody told me
That sixty a day
Would do me any harm
My liver's shriveling like a leaf
But it's not the whiskey that do's it
Call me irresponsible
And I'm really going to lose it
Finally, Vic Chesnutt’s rendition of Old Hotel takes the liver out of the body and into the vivid metaphor into the bloodstream of the city. Tragically he died at just 45 in 2009 due to a drugs overdose:
I can see my old hotel
Down amongst the smells
I'm up above that ancient city river
It's filtered by my lousy liver
It's filtered by my wilted lily liver
So then, are there any healthy livers in song? Unlikely, but feel free to find some, or some more where this organ has come under an entertaining form of strain. Liver Let Die by Wings won’t quite make it, but also feel free to share any further ones from songs, or even film, art or other contexts in comments below.
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