On the Cramp’s live album Smell of Female there is a song named “Call of the Wighat”. I have listened to this song for years, and have wondered what the hell a wighat was, on many occasions. The song is short on details, obviously. It does say it protects the protagonist from infanticide at one point, and it is a modern age taboo.
I know the Cramps were kind of dadaist, so it is certainly possible no such lid exists. Does anyone know what one might be?
I think a wighat is one of those hats that has a wig or a small hairpiece attached to it.
Well, you may be right, but I cannot find anyone calling them that. except in response to this question.
But, it could protect your head, and I guess it really is kind of taboo. People do not often wear these things in public.
Thankya
Scroll down to the January 3rd 2006 entry of this blog, I think this may be what you are looking for.
Grumpy Shopkeeper.
Tommy Tucker would know.
Picture here, don’t know how accurate it is.
My first thought was Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels-Devil with a Blue Dress, circa 1966, but Squink’s ref is older.
This is supposed to be a picture of a wighat.
Well, that would really just be a wig, in my eyes. But, it is styled into a hair helmet…
That last looks only a bit like a wighat. I had one in high school. They were shaped a bit like a cossack’s hat.
Aha! May I present the 1967 wighat!
So, that thing that Carol Channing was wearing, that was a wighat?
The wighat I had in high school was closer to danceswithcats’ picture. It could be brushed to look as wiglike as the one pictured, but would never stay styled because it had the texture of a cheap shag rug. Not a very satisfactory wig or hat IIRC.
Things got pretty weird in the 60s. You kinda had to be there.
“I sat with my high-heeled sneakers on,
Waitin’ to play tennis in the noonday sun,
I had my white shorts pulled up past my waist,
and my wighat was fallin’ in my face,
but they wouldn’t let me on the tennis court!”
–Bob Dylan