Why are we taking the skinheads anywhere? Just to get them out of the house? To keep them distracted? And why bowling? Is it an activity they enjoy? Or is it a punishment?

Alas, we have no answers. And (apparently) that’s by design.

Camper Van Beethoven loosely formed in and around Santa Cruz, California in 1983. Its members played in a few other bands in their hometown of Redlands and while attending UCSC, but they didn’t formalize their name and identity until 1985.

When the group entered the studio to begin sessions for their first album, they took with them one of their earliest compositions, an absurdist ditty called “Take The Skinheads Bowling.” Songwriter David Lowery wanted to compose a song where each line had no relation to the previous line. And forget about rhyming — rhyming implies connection.

Lowery never explained the title. Likely it’s just a weird juxtaposition. You don’t think of skinheads doing something as mundane and suburban as bowling. As if.

“Take The Skinheads Bowling” appeared as the first track on Camper Van Beethoven’s debut album, released in the spring of 1985. It was never a single but went into heavy rotation on college radio and soon became an unofficial hit. Even after eight more albums over the next few decades it remained the band’s most popular song — much to the bemusement of its writer.

Let’s pick up the 7-10 split.