Reporter: This is a personal thing, I think that if you wanted to make top ten hits and sell millions of records, you could.
Frank Zappa: Yeah, but who wants to go through life with a tiny nose and wearing one glove?
Loved Zappa with the Mothers of Invention line up from the 70’s.
George Duke
Napolean Murphy Brock
Tom & Bruce Fowler
Ruth Underwood
Now excuse me while I listen to Village of the Sun
The only Frank Zappa I own is his recording of John Cage’s 4’33".
And no, that is not a joke–it is an actual recording with a track number and running time and everything.
Frank Zappa = Musical Genius
I can remebr seeeing a clip of his first Tonight Show performance. It was lat 50’s early 60’s time and Frank had on a nice suit. He is also holding a bycyle. What? Yes Frank played a bicycle on naitionwide TV and it was an amazing thin to see. I had heard his King Kong versions on Uncle MEat before seeing this and it really made me appreciate the version played on a flatbed diesel truck.
Who can forget his first album, Freak Out , with No Way to dealy that Trouble Coming Everyday, Help I’m a Rock and our first exposure to Susie Creamcheese “Whats gotten into you Susie”?
Another favorite is Live at The Philmore East, Mudshark and just the whole groupie theme of the album just makes me laugh. Look up Mudshark on Snopes.
Snopes reminds me of my favorite Zappa quote. After being accused of defacating
on stage and eating it Zappa reply was, “The closet I ever came to eating sh** was at a Holiday Inn buffet in North Carolina”
Then we have I am the Slime, a classic riddle and I am typing from memory so please excuse any mistakes.
I’m gross and perverted
I’m obseesed and dereanged
I have existed for years, but very little has changed
I’m the tool of the government and industry too
For I am destuned to rule and regulate you.
I may be vile and pernicious but you can’t look away
I make you think I’m delicious with the stuff that I say
I’m the best you can get
Have you guessed me yet?
I’m the slime oozing out of your TV set
Oh and same album we have;
My python boot is too tight
Couldn’t get it off last night
A month went by
Now its July
Finally got it off and my girlfrien cried
You got stinkfoot darling
I love Zappas humor, but his skills in writing and directing music are outstanding too. Many people think of Zappa and that Yellow Snow song and say they don;t like him. I like to put on the Grand Wazoo and play some of his jazz. Friends are always amazed that Zappa can actually play real music.
Yes I am a Zappa fan.
P.S.
I like Captain Beefheart too.
The first time I saw Zappa live, in May of 1973, Napoleon hadn’t yet joined the Mothers, but George, Ruth, Tom & Bruce were all there–along with Ian Underwood, Jean-Luc Ponty, Sal Marquez, Ralph Humphrey, and Don Preston–who wasn’t actually in the band at the time; he was just sitting in. The show was at the San Diego Sports Arena, which Zappa referred to as “the Sports Aroma.” He began by asking whether we wanted to hear “the show,” the way they rehearsed it…or would we rather hear something weird? After a big cheer for the latter, Zappa replied, “Good…that’s the kind of audience I like.” The show began with a medley that included “Uncle Meat” and “Dog Breath,” but for the rest of the evening the band played only new, unreleased material and improvisations. At one point Zappa conducted the audience, assigning us sounds to make on cue. The sounds we were given included “your favorite note in an Eric Clapton guitar solo–you know, the real high one that goes WEEEE,” and “a sound of great gastric relief…yes, this is a farting noise, ladies and gentlemen!”
I saw Zappa several times over the years, but this show was by far the most magical.
I got Zapped the year after I graduated from HS (1965). I went to a party and they were playing the recently released Freak Out. It was the coolest shit I had ever heard. There is also some good stuff on Absolutely Free and although some might find, “Invocation And Ritual Dance Of The Young Pumpkin”, too manic, I think it might be the quintessential psychedelic hippy jam.
But, all in all, Hot Rats is my favorite Zappa album.
Apt for the season:
*Sell us a President, Agency Man
Smiling big brother, stern father perhaps
Sell us a President, Agency Man
A gay smiling nothing we know never craps
We’ll sell him in the movies
On the Tube throughout the year
We’ll sell him by the bucket
To the Okies drinking beer
We’ll teach him how to walk and talk
We’ll putty up his chin
We’ll print his picture everywhere
OF COURSE THE SCHMUCK WILL WIN!
From the heart of of old Death Valley
To the ruling of our land…
A SIMPLE TRICK YOU SIMPLE PIGS
JUST THE WAY WE PLANNED!*
(The only political statement I’m prepared to make this season. Enjoy.)
Frank was the man. I never did see him live…I became a fan about a month after his final tour. But that’s okay, the final tour wasn’t my favorite material.
Since the late eighties, I’ve gone through several Zappa favorites. First it was the usual suspects: much of Joe’s Garage, all of Apostrophe/Overnite Sensation, most of Them Or Us, and most of Zoot Allures/One Size Fits All.
Then I began getting into the Mothers, in particular Absolutely Free, but also Just Another Band From LA and Chunga’s Revenge.
For a brief time I was into Cruisin’ With Ruben & The Jets, and another time I was briefly into ThingFish and Uncle Meat.
Like the main character of Swimming With Sharks, who remembers his life in the context of movies, I remember my life in the context of Zappa songs.
A friend and I played an ongoing game for years, trying to stump each other with obscure Zappa lyrics. We only had a few stumpers. I was sorely disappointed that he couldn’t guess what “Have I aligned with the wrong mind?” was from. He got me one day. I came home and found a message on my answering machine from him:
“Hey, I got one for you: ‘I can’t wait til my fro is full grown’…hehhehheh”
So good. Over the years, I have had many favorite songs. As best as I can recall, these are them:
1988: A Little Green Rosetta
1989: 50/50
1990: The Closer You Are
1991: Magdalena
1992: You Are What You Is
1993: St. Alphonzo’z Pancake Breakfast
1994: Po-jama People
1995: Son of Mr. Green Genes
1996: Sofa (Live in New York version)
1997: Uncle Remus
1998: Camarillo Brillo
1999: I’m So Cute
2000: Doreen
2001: Wonderful Wino (The Yellow Shark version)
2002: Brown Moses
2003: Village Of The Sun
My alltime favorites – the ones I always stop and listen to despite having heard them 17 gazillion times – are Doreen, Son of Mr. Green Genes, Brown Moses, and Uncle Remus. Yes, those are my 4 favorite songs of all time, including all bands.
I’d love to quote lyrics, but there are just too many that I love to narrow it down. So, at the risk of hijacking this wonderful thread, I’ll toss out a few stumpers if any of you want to play the Zappa Lyrics game. You only have to name a single song they appear in. No googling…the fun is trying to remember the song, not typing words into a search engine.
“Blew your mind on too much Kool-Aid”
“I’d like to […] spread mayonaise and kaopectate all over your body”
“I know that I shall not despair and cheat like all the rest”
“By myself, I wouldn’t have no boss,
'cause I’d be raising my lonely dental floss…”
Ellis Dee:
-
“Suzy Creamcheese” from “Absolutely Free”. The track right before “Brown Shoes Don’t Make It”
-
“Magdalena”
-
?
Only got to see Frank in concert one time. Knoxville, TN somewhere around 1975. Bob Seager did the warm-up. Then Frank came on with the Mothers. One of the best concerts I ever attended. Can’t recall exactly what they played that evening, except for The Illinois Enema Bandit - “convicted of tying up college educted women and giving them enemas, but the judge set him free cause he said that’s what they needed” - gotta love Frank Zappa 
I remember FZ doing an appearance on SNL back in the late 70’s / early 80’s. Pretty sure the musical number was “I’m the slime” and also remember him sitting in on a Coneheads skit. (“Wow Connie, your folks really can put away the brew!”)
Saw him live in Kansas City back in 85 or 86 with the Ray White / Ike Willis / Scott Thunes / Chad Wackerman lineup. We were about five feet from the stage. It was awesome.
One of the things I’ve always liked about Zappa is how he drops references to other songs, both his and others, into his songs. One of my favorites is from “Sy Borg” off of Joe’s Garage, when Joe is plooking Sy, and Sy is singing “Your plooking too hard / you’re plooking on me / you’re plooking too hard on meeeee…”
“Planet of My Dreams.”
Considering my sig line and the Frank and the Mothers poster gazing upon me as I write this, I say I appreciate him very much.
Cheers to Small Clamor for “Dangerous Kitchen”. I love singing that off and on during the day. “…if it isn’t one thing, its another…”
Some people have a song that’s gotten through sad times. My post-breakup song was always “Broken Hearts are for Assholes”. Yeah, fuck you too Frank…but hey, he was right and I always (mostly) quit feeling so sorry for myself.
Goodnight, Austin, Texas - wherever you are.
I’ve never been a fan of that particular album, but I felt a little better about that song after seeing Zappa perform it in Baby Snakes, where he points at random people in the audience while chanting “You’re an asshole, and you’re an asshole…that’s right!…you’re an asshole, and you’re an asshole…” and ends up pointing at himself: “…and you’re an asshole!”
His early albums - Freak Out, Absolutely Free, We’re Only In It For The Money - were brilliant and often vicious satires on contemporary youth culture.
I never appreciated the later material (say mid-70s on) - guitar solos and instrumentals that go on and on and on. What am I missing?
You’re missing the brilliant and often viscious satire he wrote about topics other than youth culture:
Joe’s Garage - Recording Industry, Organized Religion, and Prisoner Reform
You Are What You Is - Organized Religion, Government Control, Self Esteem Issues
Tinseltown Rebellion - Hollywood
Drowning Witch - Popular Youth Culture, Underground Youth Culture
Sheik Yerbouti - Relationships, The Nuclear Family
That’s off the top of my head. You’re primary complaint is not an uncommon one, though. If you don’t like Frank’s guitar work, then you won’t like his solos. That reminds of a time I asked a guy in a record store if there was any way to fit all of Joe’s Garage on a single tape. (Obviously this was a while back.) He replied “You could cut out all the guitar solos.”
But aside from the guitar solos and biting satire, you are the exact person Frank had in mind when he released the aptly titled “Does Humor Belong In Music?”
All 3 of my stumpers were guessed correctly. Since I actually had something to say, as opposed to reviving this thread solely for game reasons, I feel justified in tossing out a couple more:
“We can laugh at Keith Moon’s jokes”
“He’s a bit dinky to strap a big saddle or blanket on”
“She couldn’t talk; her mouth had been extendered”
“Wisdom reekin’ outta me”
And a bonus; name both songs in which the following line appears:
“Iridescent naugahyde python screaming”
I hear a rumor that it’s being released at the end of July in the UK but it’ll be region free and NTSC. Anyone got any more info on this?