A Frank Zappa thread for 1000

[HoserHellspawn]

Alrighty! I promised I would do this... what better time than a milestone?

I've noticed at least a few other FZ fans floating around the forum now, so I must ask:

What is your favourite FZ moment? (or, as it will inevitabely end up, "several FZ moments?")

Till Fjalls posted a thread not too long ago about unique little moments in music and I thought "oh, shit, there are tons in Zappa's catalogue alone!" What are some of your favourites?

 

[musicholic]

I like the part in "nanook rubs it"...where Frank plays the fur trapper blinded by dog pee..."I can't see!"....cracks me up every time...

 

[D Mullholand]

"There will come a time when everybody who is lonely
will be free to sing and dance and love !
There will come a time when every evil that we know
will be an e-vil that we can rise above !"

I've heard only that album so far...

D Mullholand

 

[BillowOfZeal]

I am not as familar with him as i wish but from my experience the song about the "Yellow Snow" ha ha stands out.
jAY

 

[veil the sky]

Waaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!
I'm offline for 24 hrs and I miss a Zappa thread. Damn

Well there's just so many moments aren't there, but I thought I'd recall this little gem from 'Bobbly Brown Goes Down'

She had my balls in a vice
but she left the dick
I guess it's still hooked on
but now it shoots too quick

I love it. Anything live because that guys band are frighteningly good. And of course 'My Guitar wants to kill yo mama.'

And the best part of Yellow snow is surely:

Whereupon I proceeded to take that mitten full of the deadly yellow snow crystals and rub it all into his beady little eyes with a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people in this area.

VIGOROUS CIRCULAR MOTION, BAHAHAHAHA!
Excuse me while I laugh til I cry and then cry until I run out of oxygen an then run out of oxygen until I die.

 

[HoserHellspawn]

Struggling to keep this thread alive...

I like the moment in "The Little House I Used to Live in" on Burnt Weeny Sandwich when the horn section comes in on this one, loud, glorious note, and the weird little percussionary bits that follow.

I LOVE "Evelyn, A Modified Dog", and it's hilarious ending: "arf, she said"

The contrast from the drums to the first verse of "Montana"

I love in "Honey, Don't You Want a Man Like Me?" when a guy in the audience shouts "FUCK YOU" and Frank pauses and says back "Fuck you too, buddy, fuck you very much", and then the band continues seamlessly on, all on the same beat, as if nothing had happened.

Oh, and my favourite part from Yellow Snow/Nanook Rubs it has to be: "GREAT GOOGELY-MOOGALEY!"

...I can go on...

 

[Russell]

I'll help by saying - I got the best of the other day due to ur constant plugging. And its funny Still don't know it too well tho!

 

[MetalManCPA]

Help I'm A Rock - the whole song is weird.

And listen to it back-to-back with Number 9 by The Beatles.

 

[Jo]

Excellent! Frank Zappa is a brilliant musician and one funky mamma!
Here we go then this will be much fun.
I have highlighted sections I love...he has the most amazing delivery!
(have you heard any Dwezell Zappa Hoser?)
from the album
Over-Nite Sensation
Dirty Love
"Give me
Your dirty love
Just like your mama
Make her fuzzy poodle do
(Oh, Frenchie . . . )

Give me
Your dirty love
The way your mama
Make that nasty poodle chew

I'll ignore your cheap aroma
And your little-bo-peep diploma
I'll just put you in a coma
With some dirty love
Some dirty love
That dirty love
That dirty love

THE POODLE BITES!
THE POODLE CHEWS IT!
THE POODLE BITES!
THE POODLE CHEWS IT!"

Zomby Woof
"I got a great big pointed fang
Which is my Zomby Toof
My right foot's bigger than my other one is
Like a reg'lar Zomby Hoof
If I raid your dormitorium
Don't try to remain aloof . . .

I might snatch you up screamin' through the window all nekkid
An' do it to you on the roof, don't mess with the
ZOMBY WOOF

I am about as evil as a Boogie Man can be!

Tellin' you all the Zomby Troof
Here I'm is, the ZOMBY WOOF"

Dinah-Moe Humm
"I couldn't say where she's coming' from,
But I just met a lady named Dinah-Moe Humm

She stroll on over, say look here, bum,
I got a forty dollar bill say you can't make me cum
(Y'jes can't do it)

She made a bet with her sister who's a little bit dumb
She could prove it any time all men was scum

I don't mind that she called me a bum,
But I knew right away she was really gonna cum
(So I got down to it)

I whipped off her bloomers'n stiffened my thumb
An' applied rotation on her sugar plum

I poked 'n stroked till my wrist got numb
But I still didn't hear no Dinah-Moe Humm,
Dinah-Moe Humm

Dinah-Moe Humm
Dinah-Moe Humm
Where's this Dinah-Moe
Comin' from
I done spent three hours
An' I ain't got a crumb
From the Dinah-Moe, Dinah-Moe, Dinah-Moe
From the Dinah-Moe Humm

Got a spot that gets me hot, ow!
An' you ain't been to it
(No no no no!)
Got a spot that gets me hot, ow!
An' you ain't been to it
(No no no!)
Got a spot that gets me hot
But you ain't been to it
(No no no no no!)
Got a spot that gets me hot
But you ain't been to it
'Cause I can't get into it
Unless I get out of it
An' I gotta get out of it
Before I get into it
'Cause I never get into it
Unless I get out of it
An' I gotta be out of it
To get myself into it

(She looked over at me with a glazed eye
And some bovine perspiration on her upper lip area
And she said . . . )

Just get me wasted
An' you're half-way there
'Cause if my mind's tore up,
Then my body don't care

I rubbed my chinny-chin-chin
An' said my-my-my
What sort of thing
Might this lady get high upon?

I checked out her sister
Who was holdin' the bet
An' wondered what kind of trip
The young lady was on

The forty dollar bill didn't matter no more
When her sister got nekkid an' laid on the floor
She said Dinah-Moe might win the bet
But she could use a little ______ if I wasn't done yet

I told her . . .
Just because the sun
Want a place in the sky
No reason to assume
I wouldn't give her a try

So I pulled on her hair
Got her legs in the air
An' asked if she had any cooties on there

(Whaddya mean cooties! No cooties on me!)

She was buns-up kneelin'
BUNS UP!
I was wheelin' an dealin'
WHEELIN' AN' DEALIN' AN' OOOOH!
She surrender to the feelin'
SHE SWEETLY SURRENDERED
An' she started in to squealin'

Dinah-Moe watched from the edge of the bed
With her lips just a-twitchin' an' her face gone red
Some drool rollin' down
From the edge of her chin
While she spied the condition
Her sister was in
She quivered 'n quaked
An' clutched at herself
While her sister made a joke
About her mental health
'Till Dinah-Moe finally
Did give in
But I told her
All she really needed
Was some discipline . . .

Kiss my aura . . . Dora . . .
M-M-M . . . it's real angora
Would y'all like some more-a?
Right here on the flora?
An' how 'bout you, Fauna?
Y'wanna?

Montana
"I might be movin' to Montana soon"

and from...

Bongo Fury
The Muffin Man
"The Muffin Man is seated at the table
In the laboratory of the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen . . .
Reaching for an oversized chrome spoon
He gathers an intimate quantity of dried muffin remnants
And, brushing his scapular aside,
Proceeds to dump these inside of his shirt . . .
He turns to us and speaks:
"Some people like cupcakes better. I, for one,
Care LESS for them!"
Arrogantly twisting the sterile canvas snoot of a fully charged icing-anointment utensil,
He poots forth a quarter-ounce green rosetta
Near . . .
(Let's try that again . . . )
He poots forth a quarter-ounce green rosetta
Near the summit of a dense-but-radiant muffin of his own design

Girl, you thought he was a man
But he was a muffin
He hung around till you found
That he didn't know nuthin'

Girl, you thought he was a man
But he was a muffin
No cries is heard in the night
As a result of him stuffin"

and from

Sheik Yerbouti
Baby Snakes
"Baby Snakes
Late at night is when they come out
Baby Snakes
Sure you know what I'm talkin' about
Pink 'n wet
They make the best kinda pet
Baby
Baby
Snakes

I looked around
An' there's a couple right near me
Baby Snakes
Maybe I think they can probably hear me
Pink 'n wet
I'll take all I can get
Baby
Baby
Baby Sna-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-kes, Yeah

They live in a ho-ho-hole
(Tiny hole)
That is usually empty
(Usually empty; tiny too)

Baby Sna-a-a-a-a-akesss"

more to come...let's talk Zappa!

 

[HoserHellspawn]

Hahahaha! You rule, Jo.

I've heard some of Dweezil's stuff - he's a helluva guitarist (Steve Vai has said in a few interviews that Dweezil is amazing).

I love the Muffin Man monologue, too. The language is just hilarious! "intimate quantity of dried muffin remnants" The way he says it is even funnier... "Rem-NANTS".

 

[veil the sky]

It's gotta be the 'lets try that bit again' in muffin man. Classic.

I love in "Honey, Don't You Want a Man Like Me?" when a guy in the audience shouts "FUCK YOU" and Frank pauses and says back "Fuck you too, buddy, fuck you very much", and then the band continues seamlessly on, all on the same beat, as if nothing had happened.

Damn, I haven't got that. What recording is it on?

For live moments I love the Bobby Brown goes down live rec on cheap thrills with all the 'hi-ho-silver' jibberish and the live impro those guys get up to is just outstanding.

I'll help by saying - I got the best of the other day due to ur constant plugging. And its funny Still don't know it too well tho!

I have to say that I had owned some Zappa for a while until it all really sank in. I don't think anyone can genuinely appreciate his genius all at once. So getting to know it well will make a huge difference. I'm glad there's another convert out there who's open minded enough to enjoy what Zappa did!

I am actually truly surprised that I found Zappa fans in a metal forum at all. I thought, probably naively, that it wouldn't appeal to the typical metal crowd. I guess there's nothing typical about this community then. Good!

 

[Demonspell]

"We have opted instead for an authoritarian system disguised as a Democracy. We pay through the nose for an enormous joke-of-a-government, let it push us around, and then wonder how all those assholes got in there." - Frank Zappa

 

[HoserHellspawn]

Originally posted by godisanathiest
I'll help by saying - I got the best of the other day due to ur constant plugging. And its funny Still don't know it too well tho!

Hey, very cool!
That's "Strictly Commerical", right?

If I remember correctly, a few Zappa classics are on there - Peaches En Regalia (possibly my favourite song ever), Yellow Snow, Trouble Every Day, Let's Make the Water Turn Black (although, you MUST get the entire We're Only in it for the Money album...), Montana ("gonna be a metal toss flycoon", hehe)...

 

[Russell]

Yup thats the one I find it quite hard to get into tho, I don't know y I think it's cos I don't really understand what he's trying to do! Write funny songs? Write good music? A mixture?

 

[musicholic]

Originally posted by godisanathiest
Yup thats the one I find it quite hard to get into tho, I don't know y I think it's cos I don't really understand what he's trying to do! Write funny songs? Write good music? A mixture?

Whats great about Zappa is that he was one of the few who can combine both humor and music and be great at both. Although not all his fans agreed which led to my favorite album title of his: "SHUT UP AND PLAY YER GUITAR"

 

[HoserHellspawn]

Originally posted by veil the sky
Damn, I haven't got that. What recording is it on?

I have it on the 3-CD set "Läther", myself. Läther (pronounced "leather" - the source of all those "leather" references of Sheik Yerbouti, Joe's Garage, etc.) was supposed to be Zappa's mid-to-late 70's magnum opus, an 8 sided (4 LP) album. The record company wouldn't let him do it, so he hijacked a local LA radio station (locked himself in) and played the entire thing the way it was supposed to be heard, and urged people to make bootlegs of it to screw over the record company!

So, it was reorganized and broken into 3 records: "Sleep Dirt", "Orchestral Favourites", and "Studio Tan", and a lot of "Zappa in New York" was comprised of Läther material, and a few songs even ended up on "Sheik Yerbouti".

I think "Honey Don't You Want A Man Like Me" would probably have ended up on "Zappa in New York" (might be a different live version, tho), but the one I refer to is from the actual Läther album, which Rykodisc people dug up the original masters for (buried in the UMRK) and released (for the first time) in 1995.

I'd recommend it - pretty much everything on it is really good - it runs the gamut of all of Zappa's musical styles at the time (live rock stuff, more humour-based stuff, classical compositions, other assorted instrumentals, more...) and I think was basically intended to do just thus, all pieced together with conceptual continuity as strong as ever.

 

[HoserHellspawn]

Originally posted by musicholic
Whats great about Zappa is that he was one of the few who can combine both humor and music and be great at both. Although not all his fans agreed which led to my favorite album title of his: "SHUT UP AND PLAY YER GUITAR"

And don't forget the follow ups, "SHUT UP 'N PLAY YER GUITAR SOME MORE!" and "THE RETURN OF THE SON OF SHUT UP 'N PLAY YER GUITAR!" Even when it was all guitar solos, the humour remained in some form or another, hehe.

 

[Wolff]

PM for you Hoser

 

[HoserHellspawn]

Got it.

 

[HoserHellspawn]

From the live version (from "Have I Offended Someone") of Dumb All Over.

I thought it was both a humerous social satire (in it's crudeness at times), and an excellent prophecy for this whole War on Terrorism thing ("but their book says 'Revenge the crusades...'")

Whoever we are
Wherever we're from
We shoulda noticed by now
Our behavior is dumb
And if our chances
Expect to improve
It's gonna take a lot more
Than tryin' to remove
The other race
Or the other whatever
From the face
Of the planet altogether

They call it THE EARTH
Which is a dumb kinda name
But they named it right
'Cause we behave the same...
We are dumb all over
Dumb all over,
Yes we are
Dumb all over,
Near 'n far
Dumb all over,
Black 'n white
People, we is not wrapped tight

Nurds on the left
Nurds on the right
Religous fanatics
On the air every night
Sayin' the Bible
Tells the story
Makes the details
Sound real gory
'Bout what to do
If the geeks over there
Don't believe in the book
We got over here

You can't run a race
Without no feet
'N pretty soon
There won't be no street
For dummies to jog on
Or doggies to dog on
Religous fanatics
Can make it be all gone
(I mean it won't blow up
'N disappear
It'll just look ugly
For a thousand years...)

You can't run a country
By a book of religion
Not by a heap
Or a lump or a smidgeon
Of foolish rules
Of ancient date
Designed to make
You all feel great
While you fold, spindle
And mutilate
Those unbelievers
From a neighboring state

TO ARMS! TO ARMS!
Hooray! That's great
Two legs ain't bad
Unless there's a crate
They ship the parts
To mama in
For souvenirs: two ears (Get Down!)
Not his, not hers, (but what the hey?)
The Good Book says:
("It gotta be that way!")
But their book says:
"REVENGE THE CRUSADES...
With whips 'n chains
'N hand grenades..."
TWO ARMS? TWO ARMS?
Have another and another
Our God says:
"There ain't no other!"
Our God says
"It's all okay!"
Our God says
"This is the way!"

It says in the book:
"Burn 'n destroy...
'N repent, 'n redeem
'N revenge, 'n deploy
'N rumble thee forth
To the land of the unbelieving scum on the other side
'Cause they don't go for what's in the book
'N that makes 'em BAD
So verily we must choppeth them up
And stompeth them down
Or rent a nice French bomb
To poof them out of existance
While leaving their real estate just where we need it
To use again
For temples in which to praise OUR GOD
("Cause he can really take care of business!")

And when his humble TV servant, with white hair, and a brown suit, and maybe a blond wife who takes phone calls, tells us our God says it's okay to do this stuff, we gotta do it, 'cause if we don't do it, we ain't gwine up to hebbin!

(Depending on which book you're using at the time...Can't use theirs...it's all lies...Gotta use mine...) Ain't that right? That's what they say, every night, every day...

Listen, we can't really be dumb, if we're just following God's orders, after all, he wrote this book here. And in the book, he says he made us all to be just like Him.

So if we're dumb...

Then GOD IS DUMB (And maybe even a little ugly on the side)

Dumb all over... a little ugly on the side...

It then goes into a pretty damn cool guitar solo. Highly reccomended over the "You Are What You Is" version.