Take the Skinheads Bowling

"Take the Skinheads Bowling" is a song by the American alternative rock band Camper Van Beethoven, written by the band's frontman David Lowery and released on their 1985 album Telephone Free Landslide Victory. Though never released as a single or appearing on any radio charts, the song's "incredibly catchy singalong chorus" led it to become their signature song. "Take the Skinheads Bowling" received substantial airplay on KROQ and BBC Radio 2 as well as on The Dr. Demento Show.

Lowery admits to being surprised by the success of "Take the Skinheads Bowling," stating on his blog:

Lyrics
The lyrics of the song mainly discuss the titular action of "[taking] the skinheads bowling", but there are also some humorous lines relating to bowling alleys ("Some people say that bowling alleys got big lanes"), the song itself ("There's not a line that goes here that rhymes with anything") or surrealistic asides ("I had a dream; I wanted to lick your knees")

Other versions
A version of the song performed by Teenage Fanclub was featured in the Michael Moore documentary Bowling for Columbine, The song was covered by Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers as a B-side to their 1996 single "Australia" and subsequently included on their B-side compilation album Lipstick Traces (A Secret History of Manic Street Preachers). The norwegian pop band Astroburger covered the song on their debut album «I used to be mod» in 1992. The Australian indie rock band Custard did a cover on their 2020 album, Respect All Lifeforms.

Track listing

 * 1) "Take the Skinheads Bowling"
 * 2) "Cowboys From Hollywood"
 * 3) "Epigram"
 * 4) "Atkuda"
 * 5) "Epigram"
 * 6) "Colonel Enrique Adolfo Bermudez"