An
instrumental from
Tom Waits'
Swordfishtrombones LP from
1982. So there will be no
lyrics here. But there will be a
writeup. "Dave the Butcher" was an
epithet on some
basketball courts in
New York City. Dave DeBusschere was a
forward for the
champion New York Knicks in the early
70s, an
artless player known for his tough
defense - some would say he
got away with murder, hacking, bumping, shoving. (Of course, such
behavior is
par for the course in the modern-day
NBA).
So out on the NYC playground courts, if you were a little too DeBusschere-like in your playing, you risked being called "Dave the Butcher".
DeBusschere was a multi-sport athlete, having been a pitcher in Major League Baseball (for the Chicago White Sox) before choosing basketball full-time in the mid 1960s - a trade with the Detroit Pistons brought him to New York; he became the last component in the rebuilding of the Knicks.
He quickly became an executive after his playing career, first for the ABA's New York Nets. He was as undistinguished as a suit as he was as an athlete. He punched the clock, did his job, did it well, but that's about it.