FAQ 13: Notes and Comments from Vladimir, part 3 of 4
From: heederik@fwi.uva.nl (Robbert Heederik)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.frank-zappa
Subject: alt.fan.frank-zappa FAQ: Notes and Comments 3/4
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Followup-To: alt.fan.frank-zappa
Date: 4 Jul 1995 08:54:38 -0000
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Archive-name: zappa-faq/part13
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| alt.fan.frank-zappa FAQ Notes and Comments |
| Part 3 of 4 |
| |
| Maintained by Vladimir Sovetov (sova@kpbank.kemerovo.su) |
| Version 2.15, May, 1995 |
----------------------------------------------------------------
+------------------------------+
| NOTES AND COMMENTS |
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| the free opinions appendix |
| to alt.fan.frank-zappa |
| newsgroup FAQ |
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| ver.2.15 |
| ( upgrade from 2.14) |
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| part 3 of 4 |
+------------------------------+
Put together by
Vladimir Sovetov
GRAND WAZOO
===========
special thanks to
jjr@panini.att.com (Jeff Rocca)
For Calvin (And His Next Two Hitchhikers)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And who are those dudes in the
Back seat of Calvin's car?
Where did they go?
When they got off the car?
Did they go get sandwwich
And eat in the dark?
# From: rraallff@aol.com (RRAALLFF)
#
# The True Story of Calvin & His Hitch-hikers.
# by Cal Schenkel
#
# My 39 Pontiac was in the shop & so I had borrowed a car from Frank. It was
# this 1959 white Mark VIIII Jaguar that used to belong to Captain Beefheart
# that Janet was using at the time. When it worked. You know, the one they
# slashed the seats in (but I don't remember that). I just left Frank's
# house & I'm stopped at the corner of Mulholland & Laurel Canyon Blvd
# waiting for a red light to change, when I notice these 2 hitch-hikers, a
# hippie couple standing there waiting for a ride. The next thing I know
# they are getting in the back of the car. I guess they must have thought I
# offered them a ride (I didn't tell them to come into my car or motion them
# or anything-- I wasn't even thinking of it), so I ask them where they are
# going & they didn't say ANYTHING! I drive down Laurel Canyon Blvd past the
# Log Cabin, past Harry Houdini's, past the country store & into Hollywood.
# (I'm with Sherri at the time, but I forgot that until she told me a couple
# of months ago-- & she remembers all this too!) I get to the bottom of the
# hill, I was going to turn right. I kind of asked them "look I'm turning
# right, do you want to get out here?" They didn't say anything. They were
# just blank. I figured they were on acid or something. I just couldn't
# communicate with them. I wasn't sure what to do, so I just continued on to
# my destination. When I get there I said, "OK, this is where I'm going.
# Good-bye!" They just stayed in the car & didn't get out. So I parked the
# car, got out & went up to my studio & started to work. I was working on
# the album cover for Uncle Meat. This is in my studio that was a dentist's
# office over a hotdog joint on Melrose. Every once in a while I'd look out
# of the window to see if they were gone but they were still sitting in the
# back seat of the car. An hour or two later, I looked out the window & I
# noticed they were gone. I thought, "finally!" Then shortly afterwards, I
# saw that they were back! They went to the supermarket for a loaf of bread
# & lunchmeat & started making sandwiches in the back of the car. They were
# eating their lunch! Then they left.
#
# (partially extracted from a 1984 interview--mixed tenses intentionall)
# (c)1995 Cal Schenkel
#
# ...more on the car-- from Janet Neville-Ferguson Hof, whose car it
# actually was at the time:
#
# Calvin....Frank gave me that car for my birthday that year. [1969] Gawd.
# They bought the car from CB and then they put it in for repair at Holiday
# Motors, Van Nuys Blvd. (several times). I remember once we went to pick it
# up with [deleted]'s boyfriend and he backed into some kind of fabulous car
# there in the lot and totally dented it. It was a foreign car repair place.
# I think he backed into a Lamborgini or something. That car was always in
# the shop. It had been a stick shift made into automatic and when we picked
# it up for the last time I just drove it from [Frank's] to the Whisky and
# all this smoke was coming out of the back. I stopped in a gas station (the
# one on Sunset & Laurel) and the guy said "Oh nothing to worry about, it is
# just burning rich" and then, low and behold, flames shot up through the
# hole on the floor where the stick shift used to be. How embarrasing. Lucy
# put the fire out with my coat. Motorhead lived down the street at the
# time. Anyway, that car caught on fire in front of the Whiskey and then one
# of Motorhead's friends took it to fix it and I never saw it again. That
# car. Huh.
#
# (c)1995 maxmommy, reprinted by permission
OVERNITE SENSATION
==================
lyrics from CD booklet
Camarillo Brillo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She had that
Camarillo brillo
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: mccluerj@agcs.com (John McCluer)
# There is a place in California called Camarillo. There used to be
# some sort of a mental hospital there. Charlie Parker once was
# committed there, and he wrote a tune called "Relaxin' At Camarillo".
# Brillo is the brand name for a sort of steel wool pad (i.e., curly
# steel fibers). White people with curly hair are often called
# 'Brillo-head' in the USA (or, at least, I have called them that- but
# I'm pretty crude).
# I have always imagined that Camarillo Brillo referred to the wild, curly
# hair that the woman had; looking like she had just escaped from a mental
# hospital.
#
# From: joe@cs.tu-berlin.de (Johannes Labisch)
# As I know, Camarillo is a place where mentally disordered people are kept in.
# Brillo (you know the Andy Warhol pictore of Brillo Boxes?) is something to
# clean with. Metal wool pads, I think.
#
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Camarillo is (I think) a town.
# More likely this is a play on Amarillo, the Spanish word for Yellow.
# Brillo is a brand name for a steel-wool type soap pad for washing dishes.
# "Flamin out along her head" helps us to realize that he is metaphorically
# desribing this woman's brittle, wiry, blond hair.
Flamin' out along her head,
I mean her Mendocino bean-o
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Mendocino is a town in southern california. Beans are popular food, but
# bean (or beano) can also refer to a hat or one's head. I believe the
# opening verse describes her head in all it's glory. (right where some bugs
# had made it red).
# Please don't try to read deep meaning into these words, a lot of it is
# nonsense.
She ruled the Toads
of the Short Forest
^^^^^^^^^^^^
#CC
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# One of the instrumental songs on Weasels Ripped My Flesh is called Toads
# of the Short Forest. I'm not sure where there are other references to this.
She had gray-green skin
A doll with a pin
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# The doll with a pin is a reference to voodoo. In this black macickal
# practice of the caribbean, often a doll is made that represents a human
# being (I think it is necessary to have a piece of the persons hair or
# clothing). Sticking pins into this doll would supposedly cause great pain
# to befall the person. There's no doubt that Frank was referring to this
# among all her other witchcraft type mumbo jumbo.
And so she wandered
Trough the door-way
Just like a shadow from the tomb
She said her stereo was four-way
^^^^^^^^
# From: mccluerj@agcs.com (John McCluer)
# In the '70's quadraphonic (four-channel) Stereo was supposed to be
# the next big thing. It never caught on.
#
# From: joe@cs.tu-berlin.de (Johannes Labisch)
# Quadrophonic. (Left, right, back, forth.. :-) )
#
# From: jmiller@terra.colostate.edu (Jeff Miller)
# For awhile in the '70s it was the "in thing" to have a quadraphonic (4
# speaker) stereo system. This was poorly implemented, and until wasn't until
# the recent advent of Surround sound systems that four speaker ("four-way")
# stereos were respected.
#
# From: vgy@dorado.hit.bme.hu (Varga Gyorgy)
# I think the four-way stereo has nothing to do with quadro systems.
# Actually there are 3-way systems, in which you have 3 speakers on the
# two sides, one for the lower, one for the middle and one for the higher
# frequencies. So in a 4-way system there are 4 speakers on each side.
(Is that a real poncho...I mean
Is that a Mexican poncho
or is that a Sears poncho?
Hmmm...no foolin' ...)
#CC
# From: Vladimir Sovetov (sova@bank.kemerovo.su)
# This rancid poncho of dubious origin Camarillo-Brillo-Magic-Mama
# ( been un-concho no doubt :-) bequeathed generously to APOSTROPHE
# Cosmic-Debris-Mistery Man ( who later in his turn been un-concho :-)
# OBAGANZA! Does Humour Belong In Music? joined the navy.
#
Dirty Love
~~~~~~~~~~
Give me
Your dirty love
Just like your mama
Make her fuzzy poodle do
^^^^^^^^^^^
#CC
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Shit there's way more than that. Check out Babette from YCDTOSA 1.
# The "poodle" rap from many live performances. I forget exactly which Stage
# Volume has a version of this.
# "The woo-man looked at the poodle with lust in her heart"
# And that's phydeaux.
# Little known cc: during the guitar solo for "Nanook rubs it" you can hear
# a very faint voice calling "here phydeaux" twice.
I'll ignore your cheap aroma
And your little-bo-peep diploma
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Little-bo-peep is a nursery rhyme. She had some sheep.
# Frank is down playing the education of the person he wishes to make
# "dirty-love" to.
THE POODLE BITES!
(Come on, Frenchie)
THE POODLE CHEWS IT!
(Snap it!)
#CC
# From: Vladimir Sovetov ( sova@bank.kemerovo.su )
# Funny, but that glorious Phydeaux of (') here just one year before
# appeared only as a humble little Frenchie.
#
# From: Chris J. Ullsperger
# Don't forget:
# (Not a speck of cereal!)
# and
# (Nothin' but the best for my puppy!)
# and, in the fadeout something like
# (cute little dog! furry little head!)
#
# The first lines refer, I think, to dog food commercials. The "not a speck
# of cereal" line implies a bowl licked perfectly clean, or describes a
# brand of dog food that is pure meat.
# I guess you can pick and choose from those options. The image in my mind,
# of course, is that the poodle is going to town on the twat of the mother
# of the woman to whom the song is being sung.
#
# From: Jack Fleming
# "Not a speck of cereal" is a phrase from dog food advertising, meaning that
# it is all meat. Cereal (derived from grains) is often added during the
# manufacturing of dog food to reduce the cost. I have never heard this
# phrase used to mean "a bowl licked clean".
#
# From: s0420778@let.rug.nl (R. Bartelink)
# and, in the fadeout something like
# (cute little dog! furry little head!)
# No no, it's:
# Little paws sticking up!
# Little curly hairs!
#
Zomby Woof
~~~~~~~~~~
Reety-awrighty, he da ZOMBY WOOF
^^^^^
# From: mccluerj@agcs.com (John McCluer)
# Sort of hipster lingo for All-Right!
#
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Pure nonsense. Allreety, allrighty. Some people do actually say
# "allrighty". I have to suppress a giggle every time they do.
# But recall the song Cleetus Awreetus Awrightus from Grand Wazoo (or is it
# Waka Jawaka?)
#
# From: Vladimir Sovetov (sova@bank.kemerovo.su)
# Grand Wazoo.
Reety-awrighty, he da ZOMBY WOOF
^^^^
# From: joe@cs.tu-berlin.de (Johannes Labisch)
# Wolf. This would make it a Werewolf.
#
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Woof is the sound that a dog makes. Zomby Woof is about a Zomby/WereWolf.
I got a great big pointed fang
Which is my Zomby Toof
My right foot is bigger than my other one is
#CC
# Form: Vladimir Sovetov (sova@bank.kemerovo.su)
# For relation of resulting physical unsteadiness to mental disorder and
# instability check Dancing Fool of Sheik Yerbouti :-)))
#
# From: s0420778@let.rug.nl (R. Bartelink)
# Could this possibly have something to do with Frank himself? As we all know,
# when he fell off the stage in 1971, and spent some time in a wheelchair, his
# legs turned out to be not evenly long. (One of my legs is shorter than the
# other and both of my feet 's too long... this is the more obvious one. Why,
# in case with the Zomby Woof, his right FOOT is bigger than the other one is
# the tricky bit. Maybe just because it sounds better (toof, foot, hoof,
# woof ???).
# Who do tell?
I am about as evil as a Boogie Man can be!
^^^^^^^^^^
# From: joe@cs.tu-berlin.de (Johannes Labisch)
# I think it's one of those guys our parents wanted us to be afraid of. In
# germany, it was "Der Schwarze Mann" (The Black Man, pretty racistic, huh?).
#
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Boogie Man is a classic spooky thing from Childhood. No one is sure
# exactly what one is or how it originated. Could be a Monster, could be a
# murderer.
# The recently made a pathetic horror film called The Boogie Man, but it
# was just stupid.
Dinah-Moe Humm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I couldn't say where she's coming' from,
But I just met a lady named Dinah-Moe Humm
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Play on words:
# Dynamo is an electric generator. When working they make a humming sound.
# Dinah is a woman's name.
# Dinah Moe Humm is a reference to Dinah's Moaning and Humming when she has
# an orgasm.
Got her legs in the air
An' asked if she had any cooties on there
(Whaddya mean cooties! No cooties on me!)
^^^^^^^
# From: jerry@MicroUnity.com (Jerry Kreuscher)
#
# An earlier use of the term in American English was for the body lice
# common to soldiers in the trenches in France during The Great War.
# There used to be, perhaps there still is, a fraternal order of WWI
# veterans who called themselves "Cooties".
#
# From: hackbod@storm.cs.orst.edu (Dianne Hackborn)
# Maybe this is a purely American phenomenon, but I assume it's a reference
# to that grade-school playground scourge which Members Of The Opposite Sex
# always seemed to have.
# You know, "Mary's got cooties, ewwwwww!! Watch out, she'll touch you and
# give them to you!!!"
#
# From: kerryy@bnr.ca (Kerry Yackoboski)
# Cooties. The mythical insect that terrorizes small North American children.
# "I don't want to sit by her, she has cooties!"
# "Nya nya, you have cooties!"
# Of course, the line in Dyna-Moe Humm alludes to other little bugs...
#
# From: db832@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Phillip A. Freshour)
# I recall a toddler's game in the 1960's (maybe it's still around) called
# "Cootie". The object was to accumulate the pieces to assemble a large,
# plastic insect, resembling an ant. I don't know if the term preceded the
# game or vice-versa. I assume it was the former, thus "cootie" has been
# used for a long time to refer to any non-specific bug.
Kiss my aura...Dora...
^^^^ ^^^^^
M-M-M...it's real angora
^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Angora might refer to wool, but more likely to marijuana or hashish.
#
# From: Jack Fleming
# Angora is a special kind of wool (I can't remember if it comes from sheep
# or llamas). It is very soft and expensive. During the sixties, Angora
# sweaters were status symbols among females.
#
MMM, sure...listen
D'you think I could interest you
In a pair of zircon-encrusted tweezers?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
#CC
# From: Vladimir Sovetov (sova@bank.kemerovo.su)
# Please, don't confuse this gentle tool with heavy duty gear for pickin'
# up full-blown Dental Floss of _Montana_ :-))
Montana
~~~~~~~
I might be movin' to Montana soon
Just to raise me up a crop of
Dental Floss
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: Vladimir Sovetov (sova@bank.kemerovo.su)
# .... - threads of floss silk etc. used to clean between teeth.
# The Oxford Concise Dict. of Current English
An' it'd be on top (that's why I'M movin' to Montana)
Movin' to Montana soon
Gonna be a Dental Floss tycoon (yes I am)
Movin' to Montana soon
Gonna be a mennil-toss flykune
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: joe@cs.tu-berlin.de (Johannes Labisch)
# On the somewhere mentioned video "A Token Of His Extreme", Zappa adds
# "I wonder what that means" to this line... :-)
#
# From: "Tony Pfarrer"
# In English, it's called a "spoonerism" when you mix up consonants in a
# group of words, either consiously or unconsciously.
#
# From: maniaman@aol.com (ManiaMan)
# The "mennil" is a Bald-headed John way of saying Dental.
# The "toss flycoon" is a "Spoonerised" version of Floss Tycoon. A
# spoonerism is group of words whose initial consonants have been
# transposed.
# In the book, Frank Zappa - A Visual Documentary by Miles. Omnibus
# Press ISBN 0-7119-3099-6
# Zappa is quoted on page 60 concerning the writing of Montana.
# " Sometimes I show the lyrics to my wife,or after a while I'll get
# her to read them to me so I can see what the sounds are like, because
# part of the texts are put together phonetically as well as what the
# information is supposed to be. I change the lyrics all the time. A
# lot of them get changed by accident. Somebody will read them wrong
# and it'll sound so funny I'll leave it wrong.
# (Zappa:1974)
# This sounds to me like a reference to "mennil-toss flykune"
Get a cuppa cawfee
N' give my foot a push...
Just me 'n the pymgy pony
Over the Dennil Floss Bush
^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Dental! Like Teeth.
# Frank is implying that it grows on bushes. This is surrealism.
APOSTROPHE(')
=============
lyrics was originaly
transcribed by
Rich Kulawiec (rsk@ecn.purdue.edu)
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
#
# The opening songs/medley are a dream. "Dreamed I was an eskimo"
# Frank dreams he is Nanook of the north who goes out against his mother's
# wishes, yet heeds her plea to "watch out where the huskies go and don't you
# eat that yellow snow". He encounters an evil fur trapper who is attacking
# his favorite baby seal and does battle with him. He actually picks up the
# deadly yellow snow and rubs it in the fur trapper's eyes. The blindness
# can only be cured at the parish of St. Alphonso, which is actually a
# pancake breakfast (This is a dream, remember?). This leads into a tune
# about Father O'blivion, presumably leader of this flock of devotees to St.
# Alphonso and pancakes.
Don't Eat The Yellow Snow
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And my mama cried
And my mama cried
Nanook, a-no-no
Nanook, a-no-no
^^^^^^
# From: "Tony Pfarrer"
#
# "NANOOK OF THE NORTH" (1922, silent, B&W, documentary by
# Robert J. Flaherty)
# This early documentary about Eskimo life in the Hudson's Bay region
# of Northern Quebec provided one of the first glimpses of Eskimo life
# available for mass consumption.(Remember, there was no TV then).
# Because of the film, the name NANOOK became the archetypal name used
# when referring to an Eskimo. (They are now called INUIT)
"Watch out where the huskies go, and don't you eat that yellow snow"
^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: Vladimir Sovetov (sova@bank.kemerovo.su)
# The other day my co-worker ( not FZ fan but real fur-trapper :-)
# whome I tricked to hear ' ( I've just named his host husky :-)))
# explained me why the snow is so yellow there. 'Cose they all he said
# grining knowingly piss on it day and night folks and dogs. Heh.
Nanook Rubs It
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Whereupon I proceeded to take that mittenful 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 of this area, but destined
to take the place of the mudshark in your mythology
^^^^^^^^
# From: Vladimir Sovetov (sova@bank.kemerovo.su)
# Fantastic creature first brought to the light in FILLMORE EAST, JUNE 1971
#
# From: db832@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Phillip A. Freshour)
# I believe the mudshark story is based in fact: (from memory, so please
# correct me). Members of Led Zeppelin were fishing from a hotel
# balcony in Seattle. One of them caught a mudshark, a very ugly fish,
# and proceeded to perform unspeakable acts involving the mudshark and
# a female groupie. Hence, a legend is born.....
#
# From: sweet@skat.usc.edu (Rob Sweet)
# It was the Vanilla Fudge, (remember them) who had taken part in
# the infamous Mudshark rituals at the Edgewater Inn in Seattle Washington.
# Supposedly they even made a film of this event, and Frank may have viewed
# the film. He thought it was such a bizarre event in rock and roll folklore
# (it's so perverted) that he wrote a nice song about it.
#
# From: fm24@rummelplatz.uni-mannheim.de (Oliver Klimek)
# "Nanook" was also released on "Baby Snakes". The lyrics are included. There
# it says: "...destined to take the place of the mudshark in _rheumatology_"
# This sounds ok if you think of the treatment of rheumatism with bathes in
# specially prepared mud.
Great Googly Moogly!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: fm24@rummelplatz.uni-mannheim.de (Oliver Klimek)
# Same as "Muthermarynjozuf"
St. Alphonzo's Pancake Breakfast
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At St. Alphonzo's Pancake Breakfast
# From: db832@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Phillip A. Freshour)
# It's quite common, in the U.S. anyway, for churches to serve
# pancake breakfasts as fund-raisers. I believe that's the connection.
As she abused the sausage pattie
^^^^^^
# From: "Tony Pfarrer"
# A "Pattie" is a flat, disc-shaped object, generally food. Something
# like a flat hockey puck. A "sausage pattie" is sausage meat
# pressed into pattie shape and fried.
#
# From: db832@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Phillip A. Freshour)
# A "patty" of ground sausage (meat), resembling a hamburger.
#
# From: bhyde@harris.com (Brian Hyde)
# Sausage patties are a breakfast food in the USA. A sausage
# roll is cut into disk-shaped pieces and fried in a skillet.
# (Not recommended for a low-cholesterol diet!) :)
Father O'Blivion
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dominus vobiscum
Et cum spiritu tuo
# From: frank@etecnw.com (Frank Mathew x 7271)
# simply means "The Lord be with you, and with your spirit" as statement
# and reply. It's an oft-repeated part of the Roman Catholic Mass in Latin,
# sort of a farewell at the end. Any Catholic from FZ's era would have this
# permanently embedded in his or her memory.
Cosmik Debris
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# From Vladimir Sovetov (sova@bank.kemerovo.su)
# There are an amazing similarity of details ( see below ) in FZ depiction of
# the Mystery Man and the Magic Mama from Camarillo Brillo OVERNITE song.
# I guess it's nothing else but Frank's conceptual continuity.
# Here
But he told me right then when the top popped open
There was nothin' his box won't do
With the oil of Aphrodite, and the dust of the Grand Wazoo
# In Camarillo Brillo it goes like that
#
# She ruled the Toads
# of the Short Forest
# Here
#
And I said "Look here brother-who you
Jiving with that cosmik debris?
Now is that a real poncho or is that a Sears poncho?
#
# In Camarillo Brillo it goes like that
#
#
# (Is that a real poncho...I mean
# Is that a Mexican poncho
# or is that a Sears poncho?
# Hmmm...no foolin' ...)
OM SHANTI
^^^^^^^
# From: robert@sybase.com (Robert Garvey)
# The word is ``shanti'' and means peace (in Sanskrit, I think).
Excentrifugal Forz
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Excentrifugal Forz is pure nonsense. The lyrics are a nice surreal cut at
# the english language, but they don't really make any sense.
There's always corla plankton
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: bsmithb@cix.compulink.co.uk ("Brian Smith")
# I've always associated Corla Plankton, for some odd reason, with Eric
# Clapton. Maybe I'm just plain wrong, but I would think there might be a
# connection when you consider that Z is playing with Jack Bruce and there
# are references to Z being able to play the blues with CP.
And then I'll call pup tentacle
^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: db832@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Phillip A. Freshour)
# A play on the term "pup tent", which is a small military-type tent.
Uncle Remus
~~~~~~~~~~~
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Uncle Remus is the only song that's really about anything. It's basically
# an anthem for the early 70's negro. It expresses a resigned frustration.
# Basically, just trying to get your fair share yet having to deal with such
# injustices as being hosed down (presumably during riots.) The only way
# they can get back at white society is to go to "Beverly Hills, just before
# dawn and knock the little jokeys off the rich people's lawns." It was (and
# may still be) common for rich people to have a ceramic negro jockey on
# their lawn. Gnomes are also common.
I can't wait til mah 'fro is full grown
^^^^^
# From: db832@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Phillip A. Freshour)
# An "Afro" (or "'fro") was a huge head of hair, popular among African-
# Americans in the 1970s.
#
# From: hank@dweezil.music.mcgill.ca (Hank Knox)
# Short for 'afro'; what you get if you're black and you let your hair grow
# out. Check out any number of movies from the '70s (Superfly, stuff like
# that) to get an idea what a 'fro looks like. If you're as old as me, think
# back on that wretched TV show, 'The Mod Squad'; one of those guys had a 'fro.
# (Or how about that Buddy Miles album cover, with Buddy's 'fro glowing in a
# sort of electric aroma?)
#
I'll just through in my doo-rag at home
^^^^^^
# From: db832@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Phillip A. Freshour)
# A "doo-rag" is, well, a rag for your hair-do.
# It's usually a bandana tied around one's skull. Sam Kinison often
# wore a doo-rag.
#
# From: hank@dweezil.music.mcgill.ca (Hank Knox)
# It's probably 'throw'... And someone else can flesh out the 'doo-rag'
# reference; my guess it has to something to do with the process of
# straightening out naturally kinky hair into some kind of straight,
# kind-of-white-person's hair-do.
#
# From: bjbernstein@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu (Brian J. Bernstein)
# No, a doo-rag (or however you care to spell it) is basically some kind of
# cloth or such used to cover / hold together / manage? your hair.. Many
# people when trying to grow their hair out will wear one of these.. I wore a
# bandanna for several months while growing my hair out..
# btw.. I think it's "I'll just throw away my doo-rag at home..."
#
# From: gcrund@sage.cc.purdue.edu (DeLoach)
# I always thought a doo-rag was like a bandana wrapped on yer head (as in
# hairdo-rag). I come from a very sanitized upbringing however and all
# my cultural input is from TV...(so it must be true).
I'll take a drive to
Beverly Hills
Just before dawn
And knock the little jockeys
Off the rich peoples lawn
# From: pepke@scri.fsu.edu (Eric Pepke)
# Lawn jockeys (which are usually cast iron, not ceramic) still exist, but
# they've all been whitewashed.
Stink-Foot
~~~~~~~~~~
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Stink Foot is about the evil condition of bromodrosis and it's assorted
# difficulties. It has a talking dog in it who waxes philosophical.
*(Here Fido, Fido, mpt, mpt, mpt, come here little puppy
^^^^^^^^^^^
Bring the slippers
Arf, arf, arf
(C-R-A-S-H)
Huhm, HAH, HAH, HAH...hmhmhm)*
# From: db832@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Phillip A. Freshour)
# "Fido", as it's usually spelled, is a traditional (American) name for a
# dog. Many of Frank's poodles have been named Fido (those poodles being
# figurative poodles, not flesh-and-blood poodles). I guess he felt "Phydeux"
# was a more regal spelling.....
#
# From: srouse@wv.mentorg.com (Sam Rouse)
# I think Phydeaux was the name of Frank's tour bus(es) for a number of years.
# The first time I saw him (Portland OR Paramount, probably sometime in 1976)
# the tour bus behind the hall was painted to look just like a Greyhound bus,
# but the word "Greyhound" that normally occupies the entire side of the bus
# was replaced with "Phydeaux" (same lettering style), and the sleek greyhound
# logo picture was replaced with a dorky-looking, crosseyed dog saying "Arf!".
# I don't know whether Phydeaux 3 refers to the third incarnation of the bus,
# or the third in the fleet that may have been in existence by the time of JG.
# Tour busses I've seen at subsequent tours didn't have the FZ graphics, but
# I guess the name stuck.
#
#CC
# From: ep183@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Steve Roche)
# In the cityscape on the back cover of the Absolutely Free lp is a sign
# showing a dog collar and the caption 'BUY A FYDO fits swell'.
#
# From: cbas125@vaxa.strath.ac.uk
#
# Date: Thu, 26 May 94 18:48:21 GMT
# Wooooo, it's me again. I found this in last Sunday's Observer newspaper.
# All spelling mistakes are mine.
#
# Martin Wroe reports on a 20-year study to determine the greatest artist of
# the century - of course it's Frank Zappa
#
# THE POLITICS OF POODLE ROCK
#
# .................................
# Zappa briefly owned a poodle and said: "Poodles give continuity to my
# albums, it's like brown in Rembrandt." Mr Watson, who began the book
# 20-years ago as an English student at Cambridge, takes him at his word.
#
# .................................
# In fact Mr Watson had been "doing this" since studying Plato's The Phaedo
# and started to feel he was going mad. Many of the allusions and ideas his
# professor expounded from the canon of great literature, seemed to ring true
# in the work of Zappa: "Inexplicable coincidences kept happening, although my
# lecturer had never heard of Zappa." For example, Zappa had made an entire
# record called Phaedo.
#
# "Fido is also the common name we give to dogs, which also means
#`'I believe' in Latin" adds Mr Watson.
This is the dog talkin' now
"What is your, conceptual continuity?"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: clemenr@westminster.ac.uk (Ross Clement)
# "Conceptual continuity" as far as I know it refers to the way in which
# something (e.g. a TV program) remains consistent throughout episodes/releases/
# whatever. E.g. if The Enterprise's engines act some way in one episode of
# Star Trek, they should also work that way in following episodes.
"Well I told 'em right then", Fido said
"It should be easy to see
"The crux of the biscuit
is the apostrophe"
^^^^^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# People discussed at length the significance of "apostrophe" and the "crux
# of the biscuit". It seems obvious, but no one mentioned that the monologue
# by phydeaux goes something like:
#
# It isn't, and it doesn't }\
# I won't and it don't } - What do all these words have in common?
# ...
# It even ain't }/
#
# I told him no no no
# He told me yes yes yes
#
# I do it all the time
# Ain't this boogie a mess?
#
# The answer my friend should be easy to see
# The crux of the biscuit is the apostrophe
The poodle bites, the poodle chews it
# From: Vladimir Sovetov (sova@bank.kemerovo.su)
# Here we are. Good and obvious example of FZ CCC :-)))
# This lines of Fido identical to the Frenchie's from
# OVERNITE _Dirty Love_.
ONE SIZE FITS ALL
=================
lyrics from LP cover
and
the excerpt from _Filmore East_ Bwana Dik
from
joe@paris.cs.tu-berlin.de (Johannes Labisch)
# Just a little bit of OSFA rap :-)))))
#
# Two of most respected members of a.f.f.-z. community
# s0420778@let.rug.nl (R. Bartelink)
# and
# robert@sybase.com (Robert Garvey)
# testified one day under the oath that there are exist strong and
# undisputed evidences that the guy mentioned among 'those who play this'
# as
# Bloodshot Rollin' Red - harmonica when present
# was in fact our dear old buddy Captain Beefheart.
Inca Roads
~~~~~~~~~~~
Did a booger-bear
^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: db832@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Phillip A. Freshour)
# I believe "Inca Roads" refers to the ancient ruins in South America
# that many people speculate were landing sites for aliens (booger
# bears) from outer space. Thus, these were spaces made by the Indians
# (first to the bill, carving up the hills), for Chester's things to
# land.....
#
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# The "Booger-Bear award" was presented nightly to the member of the band or
# crew who managed to score with the ugliest groupie. Perellis won it
# frequently. That's the same Perellis with a "fondness for certain members
# of the canine species"
#
# From: aa342@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (David Millman)
# Have you ever noticed that the lyrics to Inca Roads start off fantastically,
# but that then Frank seemed to lose it and trailed off into guacamole,
# armadillo, and booger-bear?
# Frank noticed this, and that's why the vocals in the song become incoherent
# at the beginning of the bad part, around the 'indians first on the bill'
# bit.
Guacamole Queen
^^^^^^^^^
#
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# The Guacamole Queen was a taco stand of sorts. It's folkloric significance
# will have to be left to the more knowledgable participants of this forum.
At the Armadillo in Austin Texas, her aura
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Recordings prior to their show at the Armadillo in Austin Texas do not
# contain the lyric:
# Did a Booger-Bear come from out there just land on Perellis
# Guacamole Queen, Guacamole Queen
# At the Armadillo in Austin Texas.
#
# From: John Henley
# And it doesn't leave that stale aftertaste....
#
# "....Guacamole Queen, Guacamole Queen, Guacamole Queen
# At the Armadillo in Austin Texas, her aura..."
#
# The woman made GREAT big chocolate chip cookies, and nachos that were a
# meal in themselves...and Frank knew it, too, having scarfed down his share.
# Oh, just remembered this: (approximate)
# "...and everybody be sure and stop by the food bar in the back, and get
# yourself some Armadillo cookies _(big smile here)_ and some Armadillo
# nachos....and if you'll just blow your smoke _that_ way, we'll all have a
# good time..."
# -FZ, Austin 1977
Can't Afford No Shoes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Went to buy some cheap detergent
Some emergent nation got my load
^^^^^^
# From: db832@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Phillip A. Freshour)
# "Emergent nation" -- a third world country emerging onto the world
# scene, economically or militarily. I can't explain the connection to
# a trip to the market for some detergent....
#
# From: "Tony Pfarrer"
# I have always taken those two lines to depict the following
# simple scene:
# While at the laundromat, our hero goes to the back of the premises to
# buy some cheap detergent from the detergent-dispensing machine after
# stowing his laundry in an empty washer. While he's busy pumping
# coins into the detergent dispenser, a disdvantaged member of an
# emerging third-world country deftly steals the clothes. End of scene.
Evelyn, A Modified Dog
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A cusious breeze
A garlic breath
Which sounded like a snore
Somewhere near the Steinway (or even from within)"
#CC
# From: joe@cs.tu-berlin.de (Johannes Labisch)
# Is there somebody in the piano? (See Lumpy Gravy, Civilization Phase III)
# Evelyn seems to think so:
#
# "Evelyn [...]
# Pondered the significance of short-person behavior
# In pedal-depressed panchromatic resonance
# And other highly ambient domains..."
#
# From: Robert Moore
# This entire song is a reference to the Lumpy Gravy recording sessions. For
# the un or half-informed: In the Lumpy Gravy sessions numerous people were
# closely gathered around a grand piano to speak on many subjects of
# significance and insignificance. At the same time a large weight was set
# on the piano's sustain pedal so that it was always depressed. This has the
# effect of setting up a very spacey and ambient resonance as the piano
# strings vibrate sympathetically with the sound waves created by the persons
# speaking. Since all of the strings of the piano are vibrating, the musical
# effect can be referred to as pan-chromatic (that is, all chromatic tones
# are heard). Another musical use of pan- is "Pan-Diatonicism".
# This is what you'd get if you went and slammed your forearms across only
# the white keys of the piano - one could say that the noise that came out
# was "Pan-Diatonic".
Florentine Pogen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#from a.f.f-z FAQ 1/8
#
# From: lisper@sics.se (Bjorn Lisper)
# "Pogens" is an anglified spelling of the Swedish bakery "Pagens"
# (where the "a" has a ring on top). "Pagens" is south Swedish dialect
# and means "the boy's" (cookies, say). In Sweden, Pagens makes all
# sorts of cookies, bread etc. It turns out that these Florentine
# Pogens being sold in California are a type of cookie that Pagens
# sells in Sweden, but under a different name. So Pagens seems to have
# some business in California as well.
#
# From: Don White
# It's a cookie. My mom went to the store one time (this was in 1979), and
# came back bags of groceries. She had not known what she had done when she
# bought the package of Pogens, but I roared in amazement and delight at the
# sight. She though I was nuts. The company that made Pogens made other
# kinds as well, 'though I couldn't tell you now what they were.
# Chocolate Pogens? Mallomar Pogens? Pecan Pogens?
# From: Robert Moore
She was a debutante daisy
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# A debutante is basically a young rich girl. Daisy is a flower but it is
# also expresses naivete'
With color-note organ
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: kerryy@bnr.ca (Kerry Yackoboski)
# Just a type of electronic organ (the type that you can play, not some
# sort of prosthetic device). The name comes from the technique used to
# create the different pitches.
#
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# This is a really good one. In the 70's there was a bit of a market for
# electric home-organs (pianos! get your mind out of the gutter). In order
# to aid small children in learning how to play, the keys (notes) were
# colored and the instructional scores were colored correspondingly.
# These two lines just express that she was somewhat of an airhead with no
# real talents other than being rich. Look at how she handles car problems
# later in the song.
#
# From: mpc@mbsmm (Mark Clements)
# A color-note organ is one in which the various notes of the scale
# are represented by different colors. Above each key on the organ,
# the corresponding color is painted, so a musically inept person can
# just press the colored key corresponding to the colored note in the
# music.
She didnt't wanna stay home
An'watch the pestele go mortar
Later she speakes
On how Perellis might court her.
# CCC
# From: Vladimir Sovetov
# Interesting to note that this wasn't something new to the band
# FILLMORE EAST, JUNE 1971
# Bwana Dik
# ----------
# My God, Madge... you voluptuous New York City slit...
# Why did'nt you tell me before?
# It was so hard to tell with your little blousey-poo on,
# but.. now that I see you... I would have helped...
# I didn't know you were so obviously.. PREGNANT...
Chester's go-rilla
# From: Vladimir Sovetov
# This was writen in album liner notes
# Chester Thompson -drums; gorilla victim
#
# From: cate@brahms.udel.edu (Catherine M Leonard)
# but signed Glenn
# Chester was attacked by a roadie in a gorilla suit at the end of
# Florentine Pogen during the taping of the KCET-TV show. This event may
# actually be in reference to something that happened to him for real.
# Booger Bears? Gorilla Groupies? One can only guess....
#
# From: johnscialli@delphi.com (John V. Scialli)
# I thought it was the latter: an editorial comment about someone he spent
# one night with.
San Ber'dino
~~~~~~~~~~~~
She lives in Mojave in a Winnebago
^^^^^^^^^^
# From: kerryy@bnr.ca (Kerry Yackoboski)
# A Winnebago is a brand name for a type of motor home or recreational
# vehicle (RV), a sort of small home on wheels that is not uncommon in the
# USA. I don't know if they still make Winnebagos...
#
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# A winnebago is the most popular brand of mobile home.
# There are two kinds - those with their own engine and those that are
# hooked up to a pick up truck (a trailer). There is a bizarre type of
# community called a trailer park where many of these trailers are
# semipermanently set up as small cheap housing.
#
# From: "Ottis R."
# Often referred to in some mythologies as "twister-bait".
#
# From: mpc@mbsmm (Mark Clements)
# Winnebago is a company that makes mobile-homes, usually purchased by
# retired folks who then travel the country in search of geriatric
# adventure. Mobile homes are also put up on blocks (making them
# decidedly non-mobile) and used as permanent housing by many people in
# the lower economic strata.
She's in love with the boy
From the rodeo
who pulls the rope on the chute
^^^^^
when they let those suckers go
# From: JOHNSCIALLI@delphi.com
# The chute is the narrow fenced in exit, sort of an airlock so the critter
# (wild horse, bull) is moved from main coral into chute and is pressed tight
# front and back (by the fence doors) and side to side, so that the idiot
# cowpoke can get on the critter's back, then someone pulls the rope opening
#up the front gate and the suckers are let go into the main arena.
His name is Bobby, he looks like a potato
#CCC
# From Vladimir Sovetov
# This _Call Any Vegetable_ guy was later many times mentioned by
# Capt. Beefheart in BONGO FURY _Advanced Romance_ song
Well there's forty-four men
Stashed away in tank "C"
An' there's only one shower
But it don't apply to Bobby
# From: JOHNSCIALLI@delphi.com
# The lines before are important: He got slobberin' drunk at the Palomino
# They give him thirty days in San Ber'dino
# This is a song about being in jail, specifically the San Bernardino County
# Jail (San B is the "county seat" of the county where Lancaster, California.
# When Zappa was arrested on porno charges and pleaded guilty to this
# entrapment, he was given six months with all but 10 days suspended. He
# served the 10 days in San B jail. He was in *TANK C*
# While awaiting trial he was in Lancaster City Jail which had been
# comfortable with pancakes every morning. In contrast San B was appalling
# (most of this is quoted from Poodle Play book which quotes from the Real FZ
# book): one shower for 44 men, cockroaches in the food, 140 degrees of heat,
# lights left on all night,"They got some dark green air and you can choke all
# day.
# Bobby with the potato head was echoed later in the closing lines of Advance
# Romance (Bongo Fury) and of course in the ppotatoe headed Mammy Nuns
# of Thingfish. Thus the potatoe head is developed as a sympbol of the
# government inflicting citizens with incarceration and experimentation (if
# you believe that Thingfish is a story of how the US Government caused AIDS
# to control undesireables).
# Back to the general meaning Of Tank. There is the obvious tank as in fish
# tank, a vessel for water. Gas tank Water tank. All wet places. In the most
# benign jail sense tank is a place for drunks to go overnight to sober up:
# The Drunk Tank. It is low security and holds alot just like a fish tank. In
# fact the word tank is a verb also. To tank up means to fill up a tank. Tank
# up on gasoline. Tank up (on bier). But to "get tanked" means to get drunk.
# But tank is a dry hot place also. Of course the military armored vehicle,
# roasting its occupants is a tank. In WWII, the small metal boxes for
# solitary confinement and baking in the sun were "the tank." So the "Tank"
# also refers to the entire jail or prison or in the extreme specific meaning
# (the exact opposite of a wet, open, crowded jail, it can refer to the most
# secure, solitary confinement cell.
# In the song, Bobby gets drunk (at the Palomino, the name of a type of horse,
# but here most likely referring to a bar/tavern/pub in Lancaster) and is
# sentenced to 30 days in the drunk tank, with 44 other men. There's only one
# shower but it don't apply to Bobby suggests that because of his stupid love
# for "her" he does not participate in the shower games (drop the soap) of the
# male inmates (i.e. anal sex).
# The joke of the song is that after getting out of jail Bobby and his girl
# stay in the town in a trailer park- in a metal mobile house parked in the
# hot desert sun. So he's still in jail and still has a potato head.
Sofa #2
~~~~~~~
# From: Vladimir Sovetov
# This is Flo'n'Eddie epoch song. And it was performed as early as
# 1970. In those ancient days Sofa was part #1 of the long story ( more
# than 20 minutes on Swiss Cheese bootleg ) about Genesis. FZ version
# of world creation of course. The part #2 ( depictin' 7th day of Creation
# it seems :-) was Stick It Out later innocently incorporated into Joe's
# Garage.
# Below is a transcription from
# You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, volume I.
# Track: Once Upon A Time, recorded December 10, 1971, Rainbow Theater,
# London, England.
# which really helps to dig the meaning not only of the song's language
# but also of one tiny but cool maroon detail on the front cover of OSFA
# LP/CD :-)).
#
# From: hank@jasper.music.mcgill.ca (Hank Knox)
# "Way back a long time ago, when the universe consisted of nothing more
# elaborate than Mark Volman trying to convince each and every member of this
# extremely hip audience here tonight that he was nothing more, nothing less
# than a fat, maroonisch sofa suspended in the midst of a great emptiness,
# a light shined down from heaven... And there he was, ladies and gentleman,
# the Good Lord. And he took a look at the sofa, and he said to himself,
# 'Quite an attractive sofa... This sofa could be commercial, with a few more
# margharitas in the right company... However, I digress... What this sofa
# needs', said the Big G, 'is a bit of flooring underneath of it.' And so,
# in order to make this construction project possible, he summoned the
# assistance of the celestial corps of engineers. And, by means of a cute
# little song in the German language, which is the way he talks whenever it's
# heavy business, the Good Lord went something like this (take it away, Jim
# Pons):
# Gib zu mir, etc..."
#
# For an explanation of other OSFA front cover tokens is very helpful
# Swiss Cheese version with long and proud name
#
# Give Me Some Floor Covering Under This Fat Floating Sofa
#
# From: joe@paris.cs.tu-berlin.de (Johannes Labisch)
#
# Ein Licht scheint vom Himmel herab (Means: A light shines down from Heaven.
# Kometen und alle rasenden TrŸmmer Comets and all rushing wreckages
# Dunkle Gase und tiefgefrorene ?????? Dark gas and deep-frozen ???
# Zittern bei der Ankunft des Herren Are trembling at the arrival
# of the Lord )
#
# A light shines down from Heaven
# A dense ecumenical patina
# At the right hand of God big sofa
# The Lord put aside his huge cigar
#
# And concidered it was time now
# to entertain himself
I am the author of all tucks & damask piping
I am The Chrome Dinette
I am The Chrome Dinette
# From: rickhall@aol.com (Rick Hall)
# Chrom-dinett = Chrome Dinette (Set) a post-war-50's table and chair set
# for meals. A dinette, usually an alcove off the kitchen, or a space carved
# out of a kitchen, or a 'small' dining room, would hold, usually, a Dinette
# Set, it could also be used as the kitchen table, my mom did. The times and
# fashions what they were, there was lots of chrome, legs and molding around
# the table.
BONGO FURY
==========
all lyrics except marked by *
from
Johannes Labisch
* from
ck7263@csc.albany.edu (C. Gordon Keeble [gordo])
** from
Rob Sweet (sweet@skat.usc.edu)
Debra Kadabra
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
shit-ass Charlotte, aint that a bitch?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: David=Lane%HQ%Rational@Vines1.ratsys.com
# There's at least one other instance of this in the Beefheart world.
# In the "Blue Collar" theme song, the line "Foremen always wanna fight" was
# originally (only available on bootlegs) something like
# "Shit-ass foreman always wanna fight". I'd guess it was a local
# colloquialism where little Donnie was raised up.
#
# From: Vladimir Sovetov ( sova@kpbank.kemerovo.su )
# And Frankie too 'coze this song although been performed by CB is credited
# nevertheless to FZ.
Debra Kadabra, haw that's rich.
June, a rancho granny,
Shook her wrinkled fanny
^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# fanny = heinie = behind = rear end = ass = buttocks ...
#
# From: joe@cs.tu-berlin.de (Johannes Labisch)
# Webster says:
# fan-ny \'fan-e^-\ pl fannies
# [perh. fr. Fanny, nickname of Frances] (1928) :BUTTOCKS
Witch goddess, witch goddess of Lankershim Boulevard.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: nudeadguy@aol.com (NudeAdGuy)
# Lankershim is a long diagonal street that cuts through beautiful downtown
# Burbank and comes to a stop near Universal Studios. I got lost on it during
# my Honeymoon in 1981. I did find a great Pakistani restaurant and the
# chamber of commerce there, though.
#
# From: saul+@pitt.edu (Alan Saul)
# Lankershim Blvd. is the main drag in North Hollywood (that, incidentally,
# has little to do with Hollywood, which is perhaps, what, 10 miles away I'd
# guess). There were a lot of clubs on or just off Lankershim in N. Hollywood
# and it was generally a reasonably hip place to be for some people.
Cover my entire bodice, with Avon Cologna.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: jh@cadre.com (Joe Hartley)
# Avon ladies used to go (maybe they still do) door to door selling
# cosmetics.
#
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Avon is a famous door-door cosmetics sales outfit. Periodically
# suburbanites would be paid a solicitation visit from the "Avon Lady"
#
#CC: This corrupted pronounciation of Cologne (perfume for men) features
# prominently in Thing Fish.
#
# From: mdryden@cix.compulink.co.uk ("Martyn Dryden")
# "Don's mother, who sold Avon products door-to-door, had all this stuff from
# Avon stashed at the house, which everybody used. Y'know, it was free beauty
# aids. Don, being neurotic, and a bit of a narcissist, was quite prone to
# dumping any kind of beauty aid that he could find on to his body. He made
# the unfortunate mistake of taking some Avon cologne and putting it in his
# hair, one day, which made it start falling out. He also put some kind
# of Avon cream on his face, which made him break out in this giant rash. His
# face looked like an alligator. He was losing a great deal of status at the
# high school, and he moved out of our little desert community, Lancaster,
# where he went to school, and moved down to East LA to stay with his aunt
# for a while while he got his chops back together."
# -- FZ quoted in Society Pages, No 7, September 1991
# -- re-quoted in The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play
# by Ben Watson, Quartet Books 1994.
and maybe watch the rubber tongue, when it comes out
from the puffed, and flabulent Mexican rubbergoods mask.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: larryh@ssd.intel.com (Larry Huntley)
# Probably related to "blobulent" (from "The Radio is Broken"); it's a
# Zappa-word. I figure it means lumpy, rubbery, cheesy-looking.
#
# From: ap368@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (John Gillies)
# flabulent Mexican Rebel Goose mask"
# -a clin d'oeil at Trout Mask, see also Mexican Art History
Next time they show the Brnokka
^^^^^^^^
# From: linetramp@delphi.com
# I think he is saying "Binaca", a concentrated breath-freshening fluid
# in a tiny bottle. Hey, it's Beefheart...it doesn't have to make sense to us!
#
Give me bas relief!
^^^^
# From: jh@cadre.com (Joe Hartley)
# Yep, it's a pun. Bas-relief is a type of decorative molding or sculpture.
#
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# An artistic style. I believe it is a basically two dimensional raised
# sculpture. In other words basically flat, but the objects are raised from
# the two dimensional surface to give a wee bit of depth.
Learn the pachuco hop, and let me twirl you!
^^^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# I think it is a mexican american word that's kind of like "dude". "Pachuco
# hop" is obviuosly some sort of dance.
#
# From: larryh@ssd.intel.com (Larry Huntley)
# Slight historical note:
# "Pachuco" was a term used to refer to male persons of the Mexican-American
# persuasion. It was used a lot in So. Calif. in the 50's and 60's. I don't
# know how widespread the usage was. Another reference to the Pachuco Hop
# is on "Crusin' with Reuben and The Jets."
#
# From: Vladimir Sovetov ( sova@kpbank.kemerovo.su )
# The song name is _Jelly Roll Gum Drop_
# Got my eyes on you
# The way you do the bop
# Like a spinnig top
# The Pachuco Hop
# -from _Plastic People Songbuch_
Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I coulda swore her hair was made of rayon
She wore a Milton Bradley Crayon
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: joe@cs.tu-berlin.de (Johannes Labisch)
# I know "Milton Bradley~ as a company, making indoor games. (I don't know
# any favorite game by them.) Maybe they were also doing cosmetica???
#
# From: larryh@ssd.intel.com (Larry Huntley)
# They also make colored wax crayons. The best-known US crayon manufacturer,
# Binney & Smith, makers of "Crayola" crayons, probably didn't meter out.
# There's also a phenomenon of large inflatable crayons that are given away
# as prizes at state fairs, carnivals, etc. No idea which is meant in this
# verse.
#
# From: tom.brunetti@dscmail.com (Tom Brunetti)
# The phrase probably refers to wearing too much makeup.
#
# From: todd@cup.hp.com (Todd Poynor)
# A popular piece of clothing was (is?) a T-shirt that featured a giant
# picture of the business end of a crayon, complete with "Crayola" or
# "Milton-Bradley" (or whatever, I'm not sure) label. Maybe these go back
# to the time of this song?
I had a Roger Daltrey cape on
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: jh@cadre.com (Joe Hartley)
# It was notable for its sheer pretensiousness.
#
# From: tom.brunetti@dscmail.com (Tom Brunetti)
# CAPE: garment that drapes over the shoulders.
# In the early Who days the cape was Daltrys trade mark. Look at it like the
# line in Joes Garage
# "we had matching suits and Beatle Boots "
# ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ <-- their early trademark
# In other words if you wore Beatle Boots, you were in the "IN" crowd.
# Probably the cape held the same meaning.
Then she gave a pair of shoes to me...
Plastic leather, 14 Triple D
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# 14 Triple D is fucking HUGE. I didn't know there was triple D, there is
# triple E and that is the widest possible shoe size. The Widths are
# basically AAA AA A B C D E EE EEE. There are men's sizes and women's
# sizes. 14 is large for either of them. I doubt women's even go up to 14.
* Sam with the Showing Scalp Flat Top ( Captain Beefheart )
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sam with the showing scalp flat top,
particular about the point it made.
Sam was a BASKET CASE!
# From: linetramp@delphi.com
# The picture of "Sam" I have in my head is that of a paraplegic (no legs)
# ex-marine with a military crew-cut sitting on a wooden dolly with rubber
# castors (an image from some old movie I saw once). He leads a bitter and
# solitary life on the second floor of a tenement slum and his only contact
# with the world is the view from the fire escape. He is also quite insane.
Poofter's Froth Wyoming Plans Ahead
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is merely just a note about
Performance to our quota
^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Quota would be referring to the amount of stuff they are expecting to sell.
Well, we've all come out to show dem,
And the Elks have helped us
^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# The Elks are an organization. These clubs are always involved in community
# activities.
#
# From: jh@cadre.com (Joe Hartley)
# The Bevevolent Protective Order of Elks (B.P.O.E.) is a lodge, a club of
# sorts, where overweight balding middle-aged American men drink , smoke
# cigars, use secret handshakes and initiations, be patriotic, then drive
# home in their Lincolns.
Little Poofter-Cloth Appointments
Little Pofter's Froth Anointments
Little hoods, little goods
Little doo-dads from the woods
^^^^^^^^
# From: jh@cadre.com (Joe Hartley)
# Doo-dads: gizmos, bric-a-brack, widgets.
#
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Just a term which basically means "things". The subtlety of meaning is
# "small" or even "useless" things.
Yes, a special beer for sports
(and paper cups that hold two quarts)
^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# He's referring to a big festival so they will be selling beer in disposable
# paper cups, but REALLY big ones so everyone can get drunk. (It's the
# American way, dont you know).
This is Buy-Cent-Any-All Salute (HYULK!)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Pun on Bicentennial (two hundred year anniversary).
Two hundred years have gone ka-poot!
Ah but we have been astute!
Signed: Anon. - Wyo. Galoot!
^^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Galoot is an archaic term for a big dummy.
#
#CC: Thing Fish: Galoot Calogna
#
# From: larryh@ssd.intel.com (Larry Huntley)
# ga-loot [origin unknown] slang (1866): FELLOW: esp. one that is
# strange or foolish.
# See Warner Brothers cartoons starring Yosemite Sam for further usage
# examples.
#
# From: jh@cadre.com (Joe Hartley)
# Galoot: slang for an old man; a codger.
Cucamonga
~~~~~~~~~
Out in Cucamonga
Many years ago
Near a Holy Roller Church
There was once a place
Where me and a couple of friends
Began practicing for the time
We might go
On TV
# From: Colin Gateley
# In 'The Real FZ Book' he writes about moving into Studio Z in Cucamonga.
# Motorhead Sherwood also lived there. "North, up Archibald, were an
# electrician's shop, a hardware store and the recording studio. Across the
# street was a Holy Roller church . . . " p.42.
All we ever really knew:
That it was crazy (Nanook, no-no)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: Vladimir Sovetov ( sova@kpbank.kemerovo.su )
#CC
# Our young brave Don't_it_the_yellow_snow boy once again. HOTCHA!
Advance Romance
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I can't stand it no more
Told me she loved me
I believed what she said
Took me for a sucker, boy
All corn-fed
^^^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Corn-fed basically means "fat". Refers to pigs and cows who are fattened
# for the kill on corn, but often used in reference to people.
#
# From: jh@cadre.com (Joe Hartley)
# In terms of pigs and cattle, corn-fed indicates that they weren't fattened
# for slaughter with just any old feed, but with corn. It's more expensive,
# but you get a fatter, tastier pig. As a slang term, it indicates someone
# who's fat, dumb and happy.
She took George's watch
Like they always do
(It was a Timex, too!)
^^^^^
# From: joe@cs.tu-berlin.de (Johannes Labisch)
# They were very popular at that time.
#
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# They were semi-valuable when they first came out.
Potato-head Bobby
^^^^^
# From: Vladimir Sovetov ( sova@kpbank.kemerovo.su )
#CC
# He got slabbering drank at Palomino and they gave him thirty days
# in San Ber'dino.
was a friend of mine
Open three of his eyes
In the food stamp line
Open four of his eyes
In the food stamp line
Open five of his eyes
In the food stamp line
Open six of his eyes
In the food stamp line
^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Food Stamps is a welfare type program for feeding the poor.
# In England: Dole Queue.
#
# From: jh@cadre.com (Joe Hartley)
# Food stamps are an American invention; rather than give our poor people
# actual money, we give 'em vouchers that we call food stamps that they can
# buy food with, and not much else.
She had frenched his fry
^^^^^^^^
# From: joe@cs.tu-berlin.de (Johannes Labisch)
# French fries. Fried potato sticks
# (You can see them forming the word "Thing Fish" on the cover of "Thing
# Fish".)
#
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# In america we call them French Fries. The French call them pommes frites,
# the Belgians call them just frites, The Dutch patat frites?, The English
# call them Chips. Each nation claims to have invented them, but in the U.S.
# we credit the French. No one knows why.
#
# From: Colin Gateley
# I always took this to be a poetic reference to The Blow Job....
# and, sure enough - my Concise Oxford backs me up on this -
# "French . . . (sl.) fellatio".
** The Man With the Woman Head ( Captain Beefheart )
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Are you with me on this people?
A coil of ashes collected on the white-on-yellow dacs.
^^^^^
# From: ap684@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (William Moon)
# I think I've got it, trivia hounds. I once saw Captain Beefheart on
# Letterman. This was in the early years of the show - he sang Ashtray Heart
# - and he remarked that he had spent some time working at Kinney Shoes as a
# salesman. Kinney shoes. Where they sell a popular old fashioned type of
# men's shoes - big clunky jobs that my dad wears called DACKS!
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 procceds to dump these
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
#a.f.f.-z. FAQ p.1
# From: zajac@bnr.ca (Ron Zajac)
# Here's what it is; two little cloth & paper icons of Mary, Jesus
# and/or some Saints bound by two thin ribbons (about 2.5' long):
#
# +---+ +---+
# | |===================================| |
# | | | |
# | |===================================| |
# +---+ +---+
#
# You drape the ribbons over your shoulders (over your t-shirt, under
# your over-shirt) so one icon sits on your breastbone, another in the
# middle of your back. I forget what sacrament the issuing of this
# thing is associated with; perhaps Confirmation. There were all kinds
# of associated cool legends that the kids passed around; that if you
# wore it when you died, you'd go straight to Heaven; that there was
# once a soldier who cussed/swore/drank/etc--but he Wore His Scapular,
# and bragged between swigs and pelvic thrusts that he'd go to heaven
# because he always wore his scapular. Well, he died during combat and
# they miraculously found the scapular 50' away from where he died.
# WHAT do you THINK of THAT?!??!
#
#CC
# From: Vladimir Sovetov ( sova@kpbank.kemerovo.su )
# It seems that Muffin Man is a direct relative or may be Father O'Blivion
# himself busy with scientificaly conceived and approved Saint Alfonzo's
# Pancake:-) In other words religion and cheap flour-based fried stuff were
# inseparable for FZ. And mean rancind oil stink of charity muffin or
# pancake from Joe The Lost Soul amend making. Amen.
He turns to us and speaks:
"SOME PEOPLE LIKE CUPCAKES BETTER. I FOR ONE CARE LESS FOR THEM!"
# From: Colin Gateley
# It's difficult to explain: like trying to explain why a joke is funny
# and succeeding in only confusing your victim.
# "I FOR ONE CARE LESS FOR THEM!" - sounds portentious, pretentious,
# rhythmically amusing, silly, a lot of emphasis for such a seemingly
# trivial matter...
Arrogantly twisting the sterile canvas snoot of a fully charged icing
anointment utensil he poots forths a quarter-ounce green rosette
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# It's not a wall ornament object. Rosette means a small Rose. When you
# squirt out a small (quarter-ounce) dollop of icing onto a cake or muffin it
# makes a little rose like pattern. This is what the muffin man is doing
# with green icing.
ZOOT ALLURES
============
Lyrics was originaly
transcribed by
C. Gordon Keeble [gordo] (ck7263@csc.albany.edu)
Special thanks to
Mr_Gigabyte@mindlink.bc.ca (Mike Quigley)
# From: Vladimir Sovetov (sova@bank.kemerovo.su)
# Interesting thing to note about the album title.
# In France they say _Zut Alors_ when mean _Goddamned_.
# So it seems that the only language Frank have no time to abuse
# is Russian. Ne zappelos', tovarischee :-(
#
# From: U001350@vm.uci.kun.nl (Jan van Kemenade)
# The explanation that was given a while ago for the 'Zoot Allures'
# title (from the french : Zut Alors) is confirmed by what FZ says
# on the boot Titties & Beer (Zoot Allures live in Paris) :
# 'And now from our almost french title album Zoot Allures ..'
#Front-cover mistery :-)
#
# From: JOHNSCIALLI@delphi.com
# From left to right: Patrick O'Hearn, Terry Bozzio, FZ, Eddie Jobson.
# I am not familiar with the answers altho I've seen some speculation on
# affz. I don't remember the details but the photo had to do with some time
# period aother than that album.
Wind Up Workin' In A Gas Station
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This here song might offend you some.
If it does, it's because you're dumb.
That's the way it is where I come from.
If you been there too, let me see your thumb.
Let me see your thumb. [Let me see your thumb]
Let me see your thumb. [Let me see your thumb]
Show me your thumb if your really dumb.
# From: harring@helios.phy.ohiou.edu (Peter B. Harrington)
# The thumb reference explains an obvious way to identify anyone who makes
# a living working on automobiles. Automechanics typically have black
# grease under the finger and thumb nails. In addtion, the thumb has a
# tendency to take some abuse in this occupation, and after a while will
# have a hammered on appearance. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would be proud.
#
# From: jsuder@moose.uvm.edu (Jane P. Suder)
# Speaking from personal experience? I think the grease thing is not
# exactly right, although they do have dem greeeesy fingerz.... but the
# hammered thumb thing might be it.....
#
# From: linetramp@delphi.com
# As a general rule, the thumbs and fingers of mechanics are noticably
# scarred and calloused from working with cast iron and stamped steel. A
# seemingly permanent black stain from the carbon in grease and oil is also
# common in that line of work. In addition, mechanics are seldom regarded
# as members of the intellectual elite, so the stigma of a black, scarred
# thumb could translate to "destined for a lifetime of failure and
# mediocrity". i.e. "Wind up working in a gas station"...
#
# From: wilds@netcom.com (William D. Sterling)
# I recall, back in the 50's the big joke on the playground was to say:
# Look up (victim looks up)
# Look down (victim looks down)
# See my thumb? (victim nods "yes")
# You're dumb. (end of joke).
Hey now, better make a decision.
Be a moron, and keep your position.
You oughta know now, all your education,
won't help you no-how.
^^^
# From: Robert Moore
# In this sentence it is used in the sense of "anyhow" or "anyway".
# Many uneducated people in this country use the phrase "no-how" instead of
# "anyhow" or "anyway" as in the phrase "I don't care if the library
# burned down - I never went there no-how".
Many da camper wants to buy some white. [Wind up workin' in a gas station]
# From: sweet@skat.usc.edu (Rob Sweet)
# The most mysterious line in the song was clarified for me on this
# newsgroup sometime back. It's Frank doing a pseudo-German accent saying:
#
# "Manny de camper wants to buy some white."
#
# Apparently a reference to white gas, something nearly every camper needs.
#
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# It refers to white gas, which is something like propane that an RV would
# require. This is verified in the interview that the editors of Society
# Pages conducted with FZ.
#
# From: Jack Fleming
# White gas is a fuel used in camp stoves & lanterns. It is basically pure
# gasoline (no poisonous additives like lead). Coleman was the
# manufacturer of gas stoves & lanterns.
The Torture Never Stops
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# From: Vladimir Sovetov (sova@bank.kemerovo.su)
# Interesting to note that this very, very long song :-) was first time
# performed in April 11, 1975 at Claremont College, California FZ concert
# by Don Van Vliet ( aka Captain Beefheart ) under the name
# Why Doesn't Somebody Get Him a Pepsi?
Wonderful Wino
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Give me a five dollar bill, and an overcoat too.
#CC
# From: Robert Moore
# This connects with You Are What You Is
A five dollar bill, and an overcoat too,
a five dollar bill, and a Florscheim shoe.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Famous U.S. shoemaker.
#
# From: Rob Sweet ( sweet@skat.usc.edu )
# "Florcshiem" is a shoe manufacturer and retailer. Kinda like Kinney's.
#
# From:
# Florsheim is a brand of mens shoes that have been around for 75
# years and they are of a pretty conservative fashion. When working in a
# Florsheim retailer most of our customers were Business men/Frumpy old guy
# types. A dirty overcoat and a worn out old Florsheim shoe would probably
# make perfect "Wino-wear". Then again I could be wrong, hope this helps.
Disco Boy
~~~~~~~~~
Disco boy, do the bump every night, 'til the disco girl
who's really right, gonna fall for your line,
and feed you a box full of chicken delight.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Chicken Delight was a fried chicken fast foodery, similar to Kentucky
# Fried. I can't explain it, but the above lyrical excerpt really captures
# the 70's.
#
A disco drink, a disco wink,
you never go duty that's what you think.
You never go duty that's what you think.
You never go duty that's what you think.
Duty. Go duty!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# You never go doody. Children's slang for shit. I always thought that
# lyric was on the stupid side.
#
# From: Gregorie@LFGMS.logica.com (Martin Gregorie)
# Slang round here used to say 'A girl like that don't shit' if she was
# really a cracker. Maybe this explains the 'never go doody' reference?
#
# From: C. Gordon Keeble [gordo] (ck7263@csc.albany.edu)
# Yeah, it's something like saying "You think your shit don't stink."
#
# From: Robert Moore
# But there is yet LOTS more in the folklore of doody. Lots of American
# males between 8 and 50 truly enjoy a certain amount of "bathroom and
# otherwise gutter humor" and find it extremely hilarious (myself included).
# Things like sitting around talking about tremendous shits you have had (or
# found in restrooms), farts of Blessed Memory, times you had to take a dump
# real bad and almost didn't make it (i.e. you nearly had a "brown-out" as
# in Pound For A Brown); stuff like that. Anyway, in almost 100% of females
# of similar age this sort of humor is highly unappreciated - you have to go
# "out with the guys" to find sympathetic ears - this is why it usually
# becomes "a guy thing". Most women act as if they don't even have a
# butthole, much less periodically extrude waste materials through it. This
# ties in with Broken Hearts Are For Assholes. Evidently Frank shared at
# least some affinity with this kind of "gutter humor" as references of this
# nature abound in Frank's music - a good example is the line "Don't let your
# meat loaf - heh heh heh" from The Blue Light (Tinseltown Rebellion). Oh
# and by the way, it's DOODY, not "Duty".
#
# From: Paul Adel <75613.34@compuserve.com>
# Never go doody, thats what you think - a reflection on disco boys self
# image, i.e. he thinks he so clean, polished, sexy that he denies
# association with bodily functions. Note also that in Japan, women's rest
# rooms are equipped with noise machines that mask the sound of bodily
# functions because of sensitivity about self image.
--
Robbert Heederik | Worst goalie of the UvA indoor soccer competition.
heederik@fwi.uva.nl | Current score: 156 goals in 19 matches.
St. Alphonzo's Pancake Homepage - http://www.fwi.uva.nl/~heederik/zappa/