FAQ 14: Notes and Comments from Vladimir, part 4 of 4
From: heederik@fwi.uva.nl (Robbert Heederik)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.frank-zappa
Subject: alt.fan.frank-zappa FAQ: Notes and Comments 4/4
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Date: 4 Jul 1995 08:54:41 -0000
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| alt.fan.frank-zappa FAQ Notes and Comments |
| Part 4 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 4 of 4 |
+------------------------------+
Put together by
Vladimir Sovetov
STUDIO TAN
==========
lyrics was bravely transcribed
by
patrick.gaumond@fsa.ulaval.ca (Patrick Gaumond)
and
Dave Winsor
The Adventure Of Greggery Peccary
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The adventures of GREGGERY PECCARY!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# Is it kind of funny coincidence or an intentional pun on the name of famous
# Hollywood star?
Oh, here comes GREGGERY,
Little GREGGERY PECCARY
The nocturnal gregarious
Wild swine
# From: kerryy@bnr.ca (Kerry Yackoboski)
# I assumed it was FZ, with the voice the result of tape-speed twiddling.
# One way to confirm this would be to play it back slower and see if it sounds
# like him... I have a deck that can do this so I can try it.
#
# From: mitch.goldman@turner.com (Mitch Goldman)
# It's definitely FZ...play it slow and you'll hear it... plus, I thought he
# was credited with the vocals on this track on the CD liner notes...
#
# From: 92ul08@chestud.chalmers.se (NAURIN, JON)
# I've also always assumed it was Frank, but come to think of it, isn't
# George Duke credited for vocals? And I can't remember hearing his voice
# elsewhere on GP.
#
# From: kerryy@bnr.ca (Kerry Yackoboski)
# I slowed down a tape of the song to check out the voice... it's definitely
# FZ as the nocturnal gregarious wild swine.
#
# From: segue@ix.netcom.com (Scot Beidelman)
# I always felt it was George Duke with a little tape tinkering. To me,
# Duke's phrasing is unique and unmistakable, even post-tinker.
A peccary
Is a little pig
With a white collar
That usually hangs around
Between Texas and Paraguay
Sometimes ranging as far
west as Catalina
^^^^^^^^
# From: mike_quigley@mindlink.bc.ca (Mike Quigley)
# And island just off the coast of California near Los Angeles.
#
# From: Charles Ulrich
# Santa Catalina is an island off the coast of California, near Long Beach.
#
# From: segue@ix.netcom.com (Scot Beidelman)
# Catalina is an island off the coast of Southern California. It's a big
# tourist attraction, and there's these big glass-bottom boats that take
# you out there.
Voodn, Voodn!
Boy it's so hard to find a place to park around here!
GREGGERY PECCARY takes the elevator
Up to the eighty-third floor of a grim,
Gray, evil-looking building
With a sign on the front reading:
'BIG SWIFTY ASSOCIATES. TREND-MONGERS'.
^^^^^^^^^^^^
#CC
# OK, it is a name of beautiful piece from Waka/Yawaka. But may be there are
# also some meaning behind it?
And so it was, one fateful morning,
GREGGERY PECCARY made his way through the Steno Pool . . .
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: Robert Moore
# A Steno Pool refers to a Stenographer Pool and is a feature-ette of many
# large corporations. Many times these large corporations place all the
# stenographers in a central location (in THE BIG UGLY CORPORATE BUILDING) so
# that documents requiring editing or dictated documents requiring
# transcription can be processed by stenographers in one central location (as
# in "Hey, send this prospectus on down to the steno pool."). The main
# stereotyped image of a Steno Pool consists of: a bunch of air-head females
# who, since they are air-head females, are not particularly suited to
# anything but stenography and (probably) fellatio.
All the girls in the BIG SWIFTY
Steno Pool
KNEW . . .
Here was a
Nocturnal,
Gregarious
Wild swine
ON HIS WAY UP!
A Peccary of Destiny,
Adventure
And
ROMANCE!
# Any CC connection here with _Sleep Dirt_ Spider of Destiny or _Bongo's
# Advance Romance?
SWIFTY'S!
THIS IS BIG SWIFTY'S!
AT BIG SWIFTY'S WE ALL KNOW-OW-OW
YOU'LL GO
FOR ANY GIMMICK OR GIZMO!
^^^^^^
# From: segue@ix.netcom.com (Scot Beidelman)
# Gizmo is just another word for gadget; just a random object used in
# performing some trivial task (such as a calendar).
WOULDN'T YOU RATHER BE INVOLVED
IN A SERIES OF COLORFUL
TIME-WASTINC TRENDS?
AIR HOCKEYs . . . biff . . . dush-h-h!
^^^^^^^^^^
# From: segue@ix.netcom.com (Scot Beidelman)
# Maybe it's a U.S. thing, or maybe just a California thing, I don't know.
# Air hockey is a game played usually in arcades. It's the size and shape of
# a billiard table, but instead of green felt, there's a white, smooth surface
# with holes punched all over it. Tiny airjets blow through those holes. Two
# people play, standing at opposite ends of the table, and on the table at
# each end something like a pocket or a slot. There's a plastic puck that
# glides over the table's surface (hovering smoothly over the airjets) and
# gets batted around by the opponents wielding these things that look like
# plastic bagels with handles sticking out of the middle. With those paddles,
# the opponents try to knock the puck into each other's slot. Much like
# hockey. The puck action is pretty smooth, so a good game can get pretty
# frantic with this mini-guillotine frantically zipping all over the table.
# Trust me... much fun.
Does it matter that this waste of time
Is what makes a LIFE for you? Hmmmmm?
I must plummet boldly
forward
To my ULTRA-AVANT
Laminated,
Simulated
Replica-mahogany desk,
With the strategically-placed,
Imported, very hip water pipe,
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: segue@ix.netcom.com (Scot Beidelman)
# Well, last I knew, "water pipe" is a polite way to refer to a "bong", which
# is something used to smoke copious amounts of marijuana.
#
# From: mike_quigley@mindlink.bc.ca (Mike Quigley)
# This is a pipe for smoking certain kinds of drugs ... it is like a hookah.
And with that.
GREGGARY turned
And strode nonchalantly
Into his dinky little office
With the desk and the catalog
And the very hip water pipe.
And proceeded,
With a vigor and determination
Known only to piglets
Of a similarly diminutive
proportion,
To single-handedly invent
THE CALENDAR!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: mike_quigley@mindlink.bc.ca (Mike Quigley)
# I wonder if there's supposed to be some kind of pun here between Greggary
# and "Gregorian" calendar??
Because NOW. AT LAST,
CRECGERY PECCARY's exciting new
invention
Had made it possible
For everyone
To find out
HOW OLD THEY WERE!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: segue@ix.netcom.com (Scot Beidelman)
# Now, I don't know if this is strictly a U.S. fascination, but here there
# is a tremendous superficial concern over aging (particularly here in
# California, where FZ spent most of his time). Everybody wants to stay young
# and beautiful, and the commercialization of products and services intended
# to aid this process has gotten totally out of hand, and in my opinion, the
# whole thing is an embarrassment to our society. Zappa's attacking our
# obsession with age.
What hath GOD wrought?
# From: davewpkn@aol.com (DaveWPKN)
# First complete telegraph message sent over newly constructed line by
# Samuel F.B. Morse from Washington DC to Baltimore (!) on May 24, 1844.
Unfortunately,
There were some people
Who simply DID NOT WISH TO
KNOW,
And that's why,
On his way home from the office
one night,
GREGGERY was attacked
By a RAGE OF HUNCHMEN!
^^^^^^^^
# From: bzavitz@fres2.glfc.forestry.ca (Brian Zavitz)
# The hunchmen are the hip young people. A hunchman is someone who is usually
# hired for money to carry out shady tasks.
#
# From: Charles Ulrich
# That's a henchman, with an E. FZ's term also suggests hunch (a premonition
# or suspicion) and hunchback (like Quasimodo).
Making his way through the
evening traffic, GREGGERY notices
that the other vehicles which
crowd and bump his little red car
are all inhabited by slowly-aging
'VERY HIP YOUNG PEOPLE',
# From: alxs_ltd@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Alex Slotkin)
# Anyways, I was listening to "The Adventures of Greggery Peccary" off of
# _Studio Tan_ the other day with one of my friends for the 20th time (no
# small feat), when I heard it! I made him rewind it a little bit, and lo
# and behold, there it was! When Frank is talking about Greggery driving
# home from work in his little red Volkswagen, and right after he mentions
# that all of the cars that are bumping him are driven by a bunch of "slowly
# aging, very hip young people...." you can hear a couple measures of
# Herbie Hancock & the Headhunters' classic jazz-funk tune, "Chameleon"!
#
# From: epcordes@umich.edu (Pheezy)
# I have always thought the significance was that the young 'n' hip yuppies
# would be interested in this music, and Frank was most definitely pokin fun
# (he does that once in a while) at this fact.
#
# From: ken@claris.com (Ken Walter)
# Zappa is making fun of the the "slowly aging, very hip young people," who
# are trying to show how hip they are by listening to fusion music. At least
# that's how I hear it.
To elude them, GREGGERY takes the
SHORT FOREST EXIT off the express-
^^^^^^^^^^^^
#CC
# _Overnite Sensation_. Camarillo Brillo
#
# She ruled the Toads
# Of the Short Forest
#
# and also instrumental piece from _Weasels_ Toad Of The Short Forest
# Where is it? I really want to know.
GREGGERY takes a bumpy trail
off the main SHORT FOREST ROAD,
which leads him up the side
of a FAMOUS (and convenientlv
placed) MOUNTAIN, and into a strange
^^^^^^^^^
cave on the edge of a cliff, not far
from a LITTLE TWISTED TREE. . .with
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
eyes on it.
#CC
# Billy The Mountain and his wife Ethel The Tree.
# See _Just Another Band From L.A. N&C.
Meanwhile, the enraged HUNCHMEN
(and HUNCH-'WOMEN) rumble
through the SHORT FOREST until
(realizing the little swine has
escaped, they decide to park their
steaming vehicles in a circular
pseudo wagon-train formation. . .
^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: Charles Ulrich
# The wagons formed a circle for defense against hostile Indians.
and have a LOVE-IN!
^^^^^^^^
# From: mike_quigley@mindlink.bc.ca (Mike Quigley)
# A love-in doesn't necessarily involve sex, though it might. Usually it just
# refers to a gathering by hippie types and others to indulge in cosmic vibes!!
Under the influence of a fantastic
amount of TRENDY CHEMICAL AMUSEMENT
AID, they proceed to perform lewd
acts, rip each other off for small
personal possessions, and dance
with depraved abandon in the vicinity
of a six-foot pile of transistor radios
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
each one tuned to a different station).
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: Robert Moore
# This is an oblique reference to the music of recently-deceased avant-garde
# composer John Cage. One of his works was for 6 radios each tuned to a
# different station.
GRECGERY doesn't realize
He has concealed himself
Inside the very mouth of
BILLY THE MOUNTAIN!
#CC
# See _Just Another Band From L.A. N&C.
HO! HO! HO!
And, as you all know,
Whenever BILLY laughs,
Rocks and boulders hack up,
And the air for miles around
Is filled with tons of dust,
Forming a series of huge
BROWN CLOUDS!
WHO IS MAKING THOSE NEW BROWN CLOUDS?
WHO IS MAKING THOSE CLOUDS THESE DAYS?
HO IS MAKING THOSE NEW BROWN CLOUDS?
BETTER ASK A PHILOSTOPHER 'N SEE WHAT HE SAYS!
^^^^^^^^^^^^
# Was it someone who will cure your asthma too?
#
# From: Robert Moore
# While I don't know of any textual CCC clues in this passage (aside from
# the obvious Billy The Mountain Connection), the music which accompanies
# this bit is a direct quotation from "The Grand Wazoo" occurring 3:16 into
# "For Calvin (And His Next Two Hitch-Hikers)".
And now, here he is,
'The Greatest Living PHILOSTO-
PHER Known to Mankind',
QUENTIN ROBERT DeNAMELAND!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# Who could be he in real life :-)
"Folks,
As you can see for yourself.
The way this clock over here
is behaving,
TIME IS OF AFFLICTION!
Now this might be cause for alarm
Among a portion of you, as,
From a certain experience,
I TEND TO PROCLAIM:
'THE EONS ARE CLOSING'!"
# From: Robert Moore
# I would appreciate further info on whether this is an actual person or
# perhaps a twisted version of the name of some noteworthy person (or
# neither). The overall quotation ties in with another bit from the liner
# notes on "Sleep Dirt":
#
# "The Eons are closing...200 years ago (September 25, 1791) exactly
# 12 amendments to the Constitution of the United States were referred to
# the states for ratification. 10 were approved by December 15, 1791,
# and of course we here from a certain experience have come to know them as
# the Bill of Rights."
Make your checks payable to
'QUENTIN ROBERT DeNAMELAND,
Greatest Livin Philostopher
Known to Mankind'!
WHO IS MAKING THOSE NEW BROWN CLOUDS?
WHO IS MAKING THOSE CLOUDS THESE DAYS?
WHO IS MAKING THOSE NEW BROWN CLOUDS?
IF YOU ASK A PILOSTOPHER, HE'LL SEE
THAT YOU PAYS!
Lemme Take You To The Beach
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Can I kiss you,
Maybe I'll just hold your handy.
Lemme take you to the beach again,
La La La La La La La La La La La La
Lemme take you to the beach again,
La La La La La La La La La La La La
Have a freak out!
Later we'll peak out
You're on restriction,
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
So you'll probably sneak out!
# From: Robert Moore
# "You're on restriction" refers to a common punishment
# tactic practised by bewildered parents trying to come to grips with the
# rebellious nature of their teenage offspring. If you break "the rules",
# you run the risk of being "put on restriction", which has many meanings.
# Some of these are probably:
# 1. You can't go out at night to hang out with your friends and do "fun
# stuff".
# 2. You can't watch TV.
# 3. You can't .
# A time-honored tradition among teenagers who have been "put on restriction"
# is to defy the parental authority figures and sneak out of the house in
# order to surreptitiously enjoy "the joys of youth".
RDNZL
~~~~~
# From: james@astro.as.utexas.edu (James McCartney)
# My guess at this is: Ruth Doesn't Need Zappa's Lyrics.
#
# From:
# That's a good one! When I first saw the title on Studio Tan as "Redunzl",
# I always assumed that it was a pun on Rapunzel ("the chick with the long
# hair," as Peter Wolf - the J. Geils frontman, not the ex-FZ keyboardist -
# once put it). For some reason, that interpretation has stuck with me.
#
# From: Mark Kemper <72302.653@CompuServe.COM>
# RNDZL = Your automatic gear shift. Reverse, Neutral, Drive, 2, 1
#
# From: james@astro.as.utexas.edu (James McCartney)
# Oh yeah, (sorry to post twice) the song's name is RDNZL, not RNDZL.
# I've never seen a car that had the gears in RDN21 order.
#
# From: hackbod@python.CS.ORST.EDU (Dianne Hackborn)
# Heh, whenever I see that song title, I always think: "Ruth, Napolean, Duke,
# Zappa..." Dunno what the L could be, though. :)
#
# From: mdryden@cix.compulink.co.uk ("Martyn Dryden")
# I recall an FZ explanation based on the idea that if the Z were a 2 then it
# would be like the legend on a car's automatic transmission control, ie
# Reverse, Drive, Neutral, 2, Low. Who would guess it could inspire a song?
# No-one would guess. Sorry to say I've no documentation of that, though.
#
# From: "Ottis R."
# I believe all (certainly most) automatics have neutral between reverse and
# drive (RNDZL vs. RDNZL). Hmmmmm .... maybe this is the real reason Frank s
# topped driving.
BROADWAY THE HARD WAY
=====================
lyrics mostly :-) from
CD booklet
special thanks to
Yury July
and
Robert Moore
# A few words to begin with
#
# From: TERHORST@KUB.NL (Greggery Peccary)
# Broadway means that the kind of material that we play is not necessarily
# rock, but some of it is theatrical, and the hard way means going to Madrid
# and play in a place with mud, or the hall we played in Gent (Belgium),
# where you couldn't hear anything, now that's the hard way.
#
# This is what Frank said in answer to a similar question [ Does anyone know
# why Zappa's '88 tour was called Broadway the Hard Way? ]. Not exactly these
# words, but, well, almost. I typed it from memory.
Elvis Has Just Left The Building
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
#:-)
# Yes indeedy. [ Is it Kenealy who parodying Presley vocal here and in
# Rhymin' Man?]
He gave away Cadillacs once in a while;
Had sex in his underpants,
Yes, he had style!
# From: Mr_Gigabyte@mindlink.bc.ca (Mike Quigley)
# Elvis Presley was famous for being very generous to certain people. He
# did give away cars and other expensive presents. Dunno about sex in his
# underpants, though.
#
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# I wouldn't be surprised if he did all of these things. Elvis grew up to be
# a very quirky, reclusive super-star.
#
# From: kerryy@bnr.ca (Kerry Yackoboski)
# He was too shy to remove his white cotton briefs.
Bell-bottom jump-suits?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That's them in a pile,
# From: Mr_Gigabyte@mindlink.bc.ca (Mike Quigley)
# Bell-bottoms are pants which are very wide at the bottom of the legs.
# Presley used to wear these when he was performing on stage towards the
# end of his life.
#
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# A jump suit is a one piece outfit. The name comes from parachuting.
# Bell bottoms were popular in the 70's and had the end of the leg flared out
# resembling a bell. Some of Elvis' most memorable costumes were
# Bell-bottomed jump-suits (the white one with all the glitter on the
# oversized collar).
So what if he looks like a wart-hog in heat?
^^^^^^^^
# From: Mr_Gigabyte@mindlink.bc.ca (Mike Quigley)
# Just an ugly fat pig. I think someone once did a cartoon which made
# Presley's face like a pig.
So take down the foil
From his hotel retreat,
# From: Mr_Gigabyte@mindlink.bc.ca (Mike Quigley)
# In some hot places in North America, like Las Vegas, people put aluminum
# foil in the windows to keep the sun out.
#
# From: rickhall@aol.com (Rick Hall)
# Howard Hughes had the walls of the rooms of his residences covered in
# aluminum foil. (Because he was NUTS!) Either Elvis did something similar
# or its a HH reference.
#
# From: markp@ksgrsch.harvard.edu (Mark Parisi)
# Elvis did the same thing, primarily because he slept during the daytime,
# and wanted complete darkness in his suite. His advance men always made sure
# the windows were done before Elvis arrived.
Elvis has just left the building --
Those are his footprints, right there
Elvis has just left the building --
To climb up that heavenly stair
He's up there with Jesus, in a big purple chair
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
#CC
# From: Vladimir Sovetov
# Seems to be a piece from well-known God's livin' room fat maroonish OSFA
# suite.
#
# From: mdryden@cix.compulink.co.uk ("Martyn Dryden")
# Zappa owned a big purple chair, in which he sat while being interviewed for
# the recently televised BBC2/A&E documentary, to name but one. Whether it's
# double-knit or not, I couldn't determine.
Planet Of The Baritone Women
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They keep it as low
As they possibly can,
And sometimes they walk
Like an E-GYP-TIAN
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Ah-ha-ha-ha-hah!
# From: Charles Ulrich
# "Walk Like an Egyptian" was a hit for the Bangles (an all-female group)
# sometime in the 1980s.
#
# From: chettri@kitune.ec.t.kanazawa-u.ac.jp (Deus Ex Machina)
# I suppose Zappa is parodying them. Also (this is far-fetched) in SLEEP DIRT
# (CD/ALBUM) we have a piece entitled "Regyptian Strut," which is nothing like
# "Walk like an Egyptian".
#
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# "Walk like an Egyptian" very silly and thus very popular.
Any Kind Of Pain
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She has moves up now;
She's come a long way --
They give her bunches
Of words she can say!
When she's in a bold mood,
"Confinement Loaf" sounds good --
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: martak@cs.bu.edu (Michael Martak)
# CNN ran a story on that, as FZ said on the album.
#
# From: Vladimir Sovetov
# On the LP, not on the CD, FZ himself explained the meaning of C.L. in
# introduction to DICKIE'S SUCH AN ASSHOLE
#
# From: doron@lion.dgt.co.il (Doron Zifrony)
# For those of you without the introduction that explains what "confinement
# loaf" is, there it is:
#
# Confinement loaf is apparently a bean by-product that is beeing
# administered to problematic prisoners. A ration of a troubled prisoner is
# a slice of confinement loaf and a glass of water. Apparently, this seems
# to mellow them down.
#
# After introducing the Confinement Loaf, FZ asks: How long will it be
# before confinement loaf will find its way to US high schools?
#
# From: laham@Milori.CCIT.Arizona.EDU (Darrell Laham)
# From the previous explanation from Ike W., it sounds to me like C-loaf
# was used as an afterthought, probably only for 1 or a couple of shows.
# So what originally sounded good to our heroine when in a bold mood?
#
# From: todd@cup.hp.com (Todd Poynor)
# On a bootleg also named "Broadway the Hard Way" (not the official release),
# the lyric, "sodomy", is sung here. However, it's accented in a way that
# still has a "fill in the blank" flavor to it, so maybe this lyric changed
# alot.
#
# From: Charles Ulrich
# On another bootleg, it's "tunafish". Again, this sounds like an
# instance of lyric mutation. What does it say in the tour book?
#
# From: pepke@scri.fsu.edu (Eric Pepke)
# In actual fact, confinement loaf does not contain drugs but is merely
# exceptionally bland and boring. It is also served without utensils. It
# was proposed that it be served to unruly inmates as a punishment, but this
# ran into constitutional problems. Apparently, food that doesn't taste very
# good is considered either cruel or unusual.
# I am STILL looking for the recipe for confinement loaf which appeared in
# the local paper back in the 80's.
#
# From: Robert Moore
# Although I have never myself been a guest at "La Casa Grande" (or
# "The Greybar Hotel", or just plain JAIL), I hear that there are several
# versions of "Confinement Loaf" under different names here and there.
# The one I heard of before I heard of "Confinement Loaf" is a Special
# Concoction called "Jute Ball". This vile substance is created from the
# leftovers of the other inmates, scraped together and compacted into a
# ball of "stuff" that is then served with water to troublesome inmates.
Dickie's Such An Asshole
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(The San Clemente Magnetic Deviation)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# San Clemente is where Nixon lived during his retirement. Not sure what he
# means (if he means anything) by Magnetic Deviation
# It's just a tagline for this updated version of the song which was
# originally performed during or shortly after Nixon's term in office.
#
# From: Vladimir Sovetov
# For original Dec.73 sound check YCDIOSA Vol.3
One 'n one is eleven!
Two 'n two is twenty-two!
Won't somebody kindly tell me,
What's the government is tryin' t' do...
Dickie's just to tricky
^^^^^^^
#CC
# From: Vladimir Sovetov
# Late Richard Nixon of course. Richard Milhous Nixon. And about his wicked
# soul along with the Agnus's(sp?) too being up his sleeve boasted Terry the
# Devil before rough Motorcicle Man on Zappa In NY _Titties and Beer_ number.
For a chump like me to use
You take that sub-committee seriously, boy
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Sub-committee is a unit of congress. The smallest working unit, where
# presumably everything get's done. The Watergate investigation was
# performed by a sub-committee. (The PMRC "porn wars" hearings were also a
# sub-committee in session). Committees listen to the reports of
# sub-committees and vote and argue, and Congress itself listens to the
# reports of committees and votes and argues. Recipe for partisan gridlock.
Quadraphonic desperation!
(FZ: Oh, pinch that loaf now)
Just might be some confinement loaf all up under your bed
^^^^^^^^^^^
# See comments to ANY KIND OF PAIN
If you just might pinch a little loaf in your slumber
# From: Robert Moore
# Here again, FZ is dabbling in some treasured "gutter humor". The phrase
# "pinch a loaf" is one of a galaxy of descriptive metaphors in American
# English for taking a shit. Others include:
# Lay some cable, Squeeze some cheese (In fact, in the article "Say Cheese"
# from YAWYI, every time the word "cheese" appears, you can comfortably
# exchange it for the word SHIT.) Force a grunt.
Have a guy in Virginia
^^^^^^^^
with the [????] soup for you
GONNA GET YOUR NUMBER
etc.
# From: chettri@kitune.ec.t.kanazawa-u.ac.jp (Deus Ex Machina)
# Virginia is the home of the CIA, the NSA (National Security Agency) and the
# FBI. Each of these "spy" groups may be represented in the above line. Also,
# Virginia was to show up in THING FISH as a, "top secret Gubmint laboratory
# underneath Virginia."
Let me tell about this right now
Let me tell about this right here
Make this perfectly clear
Let me tell about this right here
You know you put me in office
For you musta wanna me in office
I've did you no harm
I used to have twenty five tapes
Now I've only got ten
Don't remember what happened to the rest
[ May be gave them to the friends?]
Have a couple of Bebe Rebozo
^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: booda@lynx.navo.navy.mil (Martin H. Booda)
# Bebe was the good friend and former business partner of a certain Richard
# Milhous Nixon.
#
# From: detboy@aol.com (Detboy)
# Bebe Rebozo was deeply involved in the american watergate scandal of the
# early 70's, although his exact role eludes me at the moment. I seem to
# remember that he did some of his nigbiz on a boat in some harbor.
#
# From: p.previte@mail.utexas.edu (Paul Previte)
# Bebe Rebozo was a close personal friend of the late Mr. Nixon. When
# Trickey Dick's world was falling apart Mr. Rebozo provided a Florida
# sanctuary from the shame he may or may not have deserved.
Have a couple of Pat Boone
^^^^^^^^^
# From: Charles Ulrich
# Pat Boone was a clean-cut white popular singer of the 1950s. At that time,
# many whites did not listen to music played by blacks. Boone redid several
# Little Richard songs and had hits with them. I seem to recall Little Richard
# saying that he wrote the chorus of "Tutti Frutti" specifically to be
# difficult for Pat Boone to sing.
#
# From: Mr_Gigabyte@mindlink.bc.ca (Mike Quigley)
# Pat Boone was an American teenage idol of the 1950's. He is probably the
# cleanest guy you could ever see! I think he is now involved with some
# religious ministry.
#
#CC
# Well, wonders never cease ... I found the excerpt from Ample Annie's
# autobiography where she tells about working with Frank... Here it is:
#
# Zappa decided that he first wanted me to do publicity for his new
# album, "Thing-Fish." In it, he had a song about a rubber doll. He'd heard
# about Slutty Suzy and Sluts Are Us in my act, and thought that Suzy and I
# would fit right into his plans. As part of the promotion, he was producing
# a celebrity layout for HustIer magazine. That was fine with me as long as I
# didn't have to do any acrobatic shots. It took three of the wildest days of
# photography I'd ever gone through. I was paid $2,000 a day. The magazine
# got twenty-one pages out of it. As usual, I was underpaid given the
# results.
# ............
# The set, like Zappa, was bizarre. They must have spent thousands of
# dollars on it. There was a house with phony snow and dozens of pink
# flamingos in front of it. In the background, there was a huge poster of Pat
# Boone with his penis hanging out. Someone had found a Polaroid and sold it
# to Larry Flynt, HustIer's publisher. Since he couldn't use it anywhere
# else, he used it here. Don't ask what the significance of any of this was.
# I was just doing my job.
I just wanna lie about one thing right now
The gangster stepped right up,
^^^^^^^^^^^^
'N kissed him on the lips good-bye
Made him a cocksucker by proxy, yes he did,
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Not sure who exactly is referred to but a close friend of nixon's who was a
# gangster (and called a cocksucker here) kissed nixon on the lips, therefore
# making Nixon a "cocksucker by proxy" proxy=substitute.
#
# From: kerryy@bnr.ca (Kerry Yackoboski)
# A proxy is someone who does something in your place; in some instances
# you might be able to vote by proxy, that is, give someone the right to
# cast your ballot for you. Cocksucker by proxy means that you didn't do
# the deed, but someone else did it for you, on your behalf.
#
# From: Robert Moore
# For those who are unaware, this is referred to in Mafia circles as
# "the kiss of death". One version of its practise goes: You kiss the
# victim in the presence of others as a sign to one and all that here sits
# a dead man - then later you hire somebody to kill them (or do it yerself).
#
#CC
# From: Vladimir Sovetov
# Btw, on 1973 YCDTOSA III version it was innocent Phydeau who step up 'n
# kissed him on the lips good bye.
An' he didn't even bat an eye!
The man in the White House -- oooh!
He's got a conscience black as sin!
There's just one thing I wanna know --
How'd that asshole ever manage to get in?
Now let's bring the Republican Party up to date
# Karl Oberlander
# Easy there dude, what makes you think all FZ fans or even FZ himself would
# want to continue the downward spiral of liberalism and socialism. He
# looked pretty much like a man who made an upper level living to me.
# There are conservative Republican FZ fans out here like moi!
# Thats because I started appreciating FZ back in the mid-60s and my
# opinion of him and his work have not changed a bit since. Maybe it
# is because he and I shared a less than politically correct membership in
# the "white European male descendant" club.
#
# From: ivester@utkvx.utk.edu (Stan Ivester)
# Frank distinguished between two different types of Republicans--the
# low-tax, pro-business type (assuming they're sincere, which I seriously
# doubt) and the religious nutzo type. He didn't mind the former and even
# identified with them at times since he was after all running a business
# that had to turn a profit. But I think we all know what he thought of the
# latter.
# He was also not fond of Republican or Democrat presidents' tencencies to
# attack third-world countries for fun and profit, nor the complicity of the
# US media in promoting these adventures.
# I'd advise any FZ fans of similar inclination to check out the writings of
# Noam Chomsky for a view of US foreign affairs that is quite similar to
# Frank's, though expressed with far fewer entertaining colloquialisms. (He's
# just as ironic, though, in his own way.)
When The Lie's So Big
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When the lie's so big
As in Robertson's case,
^^^^^^^^^
(That sinister face
Behind all the Jesus hurrah)
# From: Mr_Gigabyte@mindlink.bc.ca (Mike Quigley)
# Pat Robertson. Frank had a special place in his heart for this guy. "Case"
# here means "as in the example of pat Robertson"
#
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Robertson is a TV Evangelist who had close involvement with the most
# unsavory, religious right-wing fascist element of the Republican party.
# This was written during his '88 presidential bid. Robertson way outdid
# himself during the '92 campaign when he said that the ERA (Equal Rights
# Amendment) was not about Equal Rights for Women, it was about a movement
# which encourages women to divorce their husbands, kill their children,
# practice witchcraft and become lesbians.
# Yes he really said that.
# It's a large part of the reason why Clinton won the election. The
# Republican party had sold too much of its platform to this extremist
# element.
Criminal saints
With a 'Heavenly Mission" -
A nation enraptured
By pure superstition
(Do you believe in Invisible Army?)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: Vladimir Sovetov
# Seems to be something from Pat agitprop:-) arsenal.
#
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# You got it. Apocalyptic visions from his TV show.
The Republican trick
(Ketchup is a vegetable)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
can be played out again"
# From: Robert Moore
# This refers to some dubious reclassifications of food groups and
# substitutions allowable for US school-lunch programs perpetrated by the
# government during the Reagan years as one of the many ways in which the
# Reagan White House cut massive amounts of money from social and educational
# programs and re-directed those funds in more "useful" directions (like
# large corporate bodies and defense subcontractors). When these
# school-lunch program reclassifications came out sometime around 1982 I
# remember reading with astonishment some of the substitutions. The one that
# stood out most prominently in my mind (and I guess in Frank's as well) was
# the one referred to in this song: instead of serving an actual vegetable
# dish, a small cup of ketchup was listed as a suitable nutritional
# substitute.
Rhymin' Man
~~~~~~~~~~~~
They say when Doctor King got shot,
Jesse hatched an evil plot,
Dipped his hands in the Doctor's blood,
'N rubbed his shirt like playin' with mud
Looked around for all the press
'N said: "Check me out, my name is Jess!
I'll be known from towns 'n farms --
Doctor King died in my arms!"
# From: "Michael Zielesny"
# PLAYBOY: You've also used your songs to level political attacks. You wrote
# Rhymin' Man about Jesse Jackson. What made you so angry?
#
# ZAPPA: An article raised some questions about whether or not Martin Luther
# King actuallyy died in Jesse's arms. There were reports that Jackson
# dipped his hands into King's blood or even used chicken blood and
# rubbed it on his shirt, which we wore for a few days afterward as he
# met the media. So I did this song about the idea of communicating
# through nursery rhymes, as Jackson is prone to do. It rubs me the
# wrong way. I'm not saying that all of Jesse's ideas are bad;
# I agree with some of them. But I'm not confident that Jesse Jackson
# would be the person I would look to to implement any of them. I don't
# want to see any religious people in public office because they're
# working for another boss.
#
# From: joe@cs.tu-berlin.de (Johannes Labisch)
# I have an interview from 88 (SFB, Radiostation in Berlin).
# (This is quoted from memory..)
# Q: Do you think Jesse Jackson is the right man for president?
# FZ: No, I don't thin Jesse Jackson is the right man. I thin Mario Quomo
# is the right man.
# Q: Who is Muriel Como?
# FZ: Quomo.
A few years later, legend says,
Rhymin' man made a run for Prez
Farrakhan made him a clown,
^^^^^^^^^
#
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Louis Farrakhan is a very popular (infamous) preacher within the Nation of
# Islam, a modern Islamic Extremist organization of American black.
# Farrakhan is well known for his public racism and anti-semitism. He has a
# fairly large following, but he is very divisive. A black running for
# public office in anything other than an all-black community is committing
# political suicide by associating himself with Farrakhan in any way.
Over there near Hymie-Town
^^^^^^^^^^
# From: kerryy@bnr.ca (Kerry Yackoboski)
# Jesse once referred to New York City as Hymie-Town. This is a slur on
# Jewish people.
#
Said he was a diplomat --
Hobbin' an-a-knobbin' with Arafat
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: Charles Ulrich
# The actual verb is "hobnob", meaning "to associate on very friendly terms".
# Normally, one would say "Hobnobbing with Arafat", but of course that doesn't
# scan.
#
# From: kerryy@bnr.ca (Kerry Yackoboski)
# It's a Zappafied way of saying "hobnobbing", as in "with the Goblin Girl".
Any fool can make a rhyme --
Cowboys do it all the time
# From: Robert Moore
# On the surface this refers to Country & Western music. This also refers to
# the rise at the time of a certain number of homespun "Cowboy Poets" who
# have by now apparently used up all of their 15 minutes of fame since we
# don't hear about them anymore. These guys used to appear from time to time
# on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson (and other talk shows) dressed in
# standard ridiculous cowboy attire and read from their collections of
# homespun, highly jingoistic doggerel poetry usually touching on mildly
# humorous subjects and making vague statements about the wide-open vistas of
# American Opportunity and shit like that.
Horse manure!
That's for sure!
You been cheatin' --
We kept score!
Are you "this"?
Or are you "that"?
Oh, you naughty
Democrat!
# From: Bartosz Blacha
# I remember seeing a quote of FZ going something like, "Republicans are
# the worst of what's possible... and Democrats is just a bunch of guys
# trying very hard to be Republicans." Well, that makes sense: both
# parties are just trying to make us into a nation of check-mailing
# braindead slaves, only Republicans are less willing to admit it...
#
# From: ivester@utkvx.utk.edu (Stan Ivester)
# He wasn't too keen on Lyndon Johnson, thanks to LBJ's involvement in U.S.
# atrocities in Vietnam. I don't remember his saying much about Carter. He
# ended up endorsing Clinton fairly late in the 1992 campaign. He said
# something like Bush and Quayle were such monstrosities that he'd endorse
# Clinton and Gore despite his disagreements with Tipper--or at least that's
# the way it was reported in the media.
# BTW, I read in at least one interview that he was briefly excited by the
# Perot candicacy in 1992 but was disillusioned pretty quickly once he
# figured out that Ross wasn't playing with a full deck.
#
# From: sweet@skat.usc.edu (Rob Sweet)
# For a good look at BOTH parties via Zappa, check out "Hot Plate Heaven At
# The Green Hotel"
# And don't forget how Frank "skewered" the Gores during the Porn Wars.
# They made up though. He and Tipper were actually on very good terms before
# Zappa's departure. Before the election, he said he would much rather have
# the Clinton/Gore team elected, than to have four more years of "those
# cowboys" (Reagan/Bush/Quayle, etc.).
#
# From: joe@zirconium.mcc.com (Joe Newman)
# Could you provide some evidence for this? What constitutes "very good
# terms"? The last comment I saw from Zappa on the buoffant-encrusted turd
# from Tennessee was on the Today show interview around Summer '93. After
# conceding that he had received a nice letter from the Gores when his
# condition became public, he went on to sneer at the notion of Tipper in a
# rock group. He hardly seemed to be in the mood for a love-fest.
# ... reaching the conclusion that two lying sacks of shit are preferable to
# two lying, fascist sacks of shit hardly seems like a ringing endorsement.
# You make it sound like Zappa wanted to hang out and party with these
# assholes.
#
# From: sweet@skat.usc.edu (Rob Sweet)
# "Very good terms" may seem like an over - exaggeration, but considering
# the terms they HAD been on (during the Porn Wars), I can feel justified in
# saying they were on "much better terms".
Promiscuous
~~~~~~~~~~~
The Surgeon General, Doctor Koop
^^^^^^^^^^^
S'posed to give you all the poop
# From: "Michael Zielesny"
# PLAYBOY: You also assailed former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop in a song.
#
# ZAPPA: HBO ran something like "Dr. Koop Answers Your Questions About
# AIDS." On it, I saw him explain how AIDS got from the green monkey
# to the human population. He speculated about a native who wanted to
# eat a green monkey, who skinned it, cut his finger and some of the
# green monkey's blood got into his blood. The next thing you know,
# you have this blood-to-blood transmission of the disease. I mean,
# this is awful fucking thin. It's right up there with Grimm's Fairy
# Tales. And Koop was such a cartoon character with that uniform and
# everything. Before Ronald Reagan, when did you ever see a surgeon
# general dressed up like the guy in the Katzenjammer Kids?
But when he's with P.M.R.C.
^^^^^^^^
The poop he's scoopin'
Amazes me
# From: Vladimir Sovetov
# "...by mid-1985, a Washington, D.C.-based antirock committee called the
# Parents Music Resource Center was gathering steam. The PMRC was formed to
# combat what it deemed "blatant explicit lyric content" in rock records.
# Among the PMRC's founder was Tipper Gore, wife of Tennessee Senator Albert
# Gore; Susan Baker, wife of Treasury Secretary James Baker; Georgei Packwood,
# and Nancy Thurmond, wife of South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond. These
# women's spouses are relevant information because it was their political
# clout that that was at least partially responsible for the group's ability
# to get a September 19 Senate Commerce Committee hearing scheduled on
# deleterious effects of rock music on its listeners.
# .......
# The ultimate goal of the PMRC was to institute a rating system that would
# alert parents to what the committee heard as offensive material.
# At the Senate hearing, an unlikely trio of pop stars - Frank Zappa, John
# Denver, and Dee Snider (lead singer of Twisted Sisters) - testified against
# any such rating system."
# Rock of Ages. The Rolling Stones History of Rock and Roll.
# p.619
#CC
# The voices of mentioned Senate hearing participants are an essential part
# of Porn Wars on Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention album.
#
# From: joe@cs.tu-berlin.de (Johannes Labisch)
# There is also a chapter in "The Real Frank Zappa Book" about Dr. Koop and
# the "Porn Wars".
C-Span showed him, all dressed up
^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# A cable [TV channel] (costs extra $$) network that is dedicated to
# washington news.
#
# From: chettri@kitune.ec.t.kanazawa-u.ac.jp (Deus Ex Machina)
# C-Span is a TV channel that shows debates in Congress.
In his phoney Doctor God get-up
^^^^^^^^^^
# From: Charles Ulrich
# A pseudo-military uniform with epaulets. "What is he, the admiral of
# health?"--Frank Zappa
#
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# He wore a very gaudy admiral's uniform - white with big gold epaulets and
# lots of decorations. Supposedly it is the proper uniform for the Surgeon
# General, however before Koop no Surgeon General was ever a public figure.
He looked in the camera and fixed his specs
'N gave a little lecture
'Bout anal sex
The A.M.A. has just got caught
^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# American Medical Associaion. Basically the doctor's lobby (political
# voice).
For doin' stuff it shouldn't ought
Surgeon General? What's the deal?
Is your epidemic real?
Are you leaving something out?
Something we can't talk about?
A little green monkey over there
Kills a million people?
# See Playboy Interview excerpt above
The Untouchables
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monologue by Ike Willis
# From: pdherzog@aud.alcatel.com (Paul D. Herzog)
# Others around here have covered most of the references on BTHW except for
# "The Untouchables", where Ike Willis goes off on most of the American
# political figures over the band vamping on the Nelson Riddle theme.
# Basically, Willis is talking about the Ronald Reagan presidency (which was
# ending in 1988) and the Iran-Contra affair, where government officials sold
# weapons to Iran in order to raise money to finanace the rebel war in
# Nicarauga. After this whole scheme occurred, they lied to Congress about
# it....
Rico! Youngblood! Wake up!
^^^^
# From: Charles Ulrich
# I believe these were two of Elliot Ness's assistants on "The Untouchables",
# a 1960s TV show about real-life government agents battling Al Capone during
# Prohibition.
#
# From: rickhall@aol.com (Rick Hall)
# Rico & Youngblood were 2 of Elliot Ness' agents from the original TV show
# "The Untouchables", as was Nelson Riddle's music
Okay -- let's look at some mug-sheets
^^^^^^^^^^
of the suspects from the 80's...
# From: Robert Moore
# "Mug-sheets" refers in part to photographs of criminals (part of "getting
# busted" is getting your fingerprints and a photograph taken which then go
# into vast law enforcement files). These photographs are then collected
# together in several large volumes and kept in the police station. Then,
# when somebody is a crime victim and the perpetrator wasn't caught, they
# bring the victim down to the station and have them flip through the
# "mug-sheets" or "mug-books" in the hopes that perhaps the victim will
# recognize the perpetrator from a previous arrest photo.
# The other part of "mug-sheets" refers to posters of wanted criminals which
# are put on display at the post office. These posters include the standard
# 2-photo "mug-shoot" (face view and profile), copies of the person's
# fingerprints (which always baffled the fuck outta me - like you're going to
# step up to some guy who matches the photo and say "Hey, mind if'n I just
# check your fringerprints real quick? I think you might be a murderer."),
# and a brief criminal biography.
ADMIRAL POINDEXTER!
# From: pdherzog@aud.alcatel.com (Paul D. Herzog)
# One of the main figures in the Iran-Contra affair, Oliver North's boss.
# Lied in front of a Congressional investigative panel and would have served
# a felony conviction if it wasn't for the pardon from George Bush.
Get back on Felix The Cat where you belong!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Yes it is [cartoon character], and one of the characters on the show was
# a geeky guy named Poindexter. For anyone growing up in America, the primary
# association of the name Poindexter is with Felix the Cat.
OLIVER NORTH!
# From: pdherzog@aud.alcatel.com (Paul D. Herzog)
# The most famous player in the Iran-Contra affair. North took thousands of
# government documents detailing the transactions, shredded them, and then
# stood in front of Congress and defended his actions. Convicted of several
# felonies, but the charges were dropped when he appealed on the argument that
# his conviction was obtained by using his testimony in Congress (they can't
# do that). He is now [mid-1994] running for the United States Senate from
# his home state of Virginia, but nearly all Republican strongmen (including
# Ronald Reagan) are not supporting him.
BILL CASEY!
You're dead!
# From: pdherzog@aud.alcatel.com (Paul D. Herzog)
# Director of the CIA during the Iran-Contra affair. Died in a hospital
# during the investigation by Congress, and then became the big scapegoat.
# Nearly everything that North and company didn't want to take responsibility
# for, they blamed on Casey, and the corpse didn't have much to say in
# response.
BUSH!
# From: pdherzog@aud.alcatel.com (Paul D. Herzog)
# Vice-President under Ronald Reagan. Claimed to know nothing about the
# Iran-Contra deal, but most people didn't (and still don't) believe him.
# After all, this man's rise through government started with the CIA, and the
# intelligence business is his specialty. He probably not only knows, but
# busted his butt to hide it.
DEAVER! NOFZIGER!
# From: pdherzog@aud.alcatel.com (Paul D. Herzog)
# Michael Deaver & ? Nofzinger - White House assistants during the Ronald
# Reagan presidency, served jail time for felonies they committed trying to
# cover up the Iran-Contra affair.
You're crooks! Book 'em Dan-o!
^^^^^
# From: Mr_Gigabyte@mindlink.bc.ca (Mike Quigley)
# This is a reference to Danny Williams, who was the second lead character
# on the TV cop show Hawaii Five-O. At the end of many episodes, his boss,
# Steve McGarrett would say "Book 'em, Danno", meaning "Charge them with
# such-and-such offense". This reference also appears in Thing-Fish and
# Ship Too Late albums.
#
# From: Charles Ulrich
# Danno was a supporting character on Hawaii Five-O, another old TV
# show. "Book 'em, Danno" was the catch-phrase used by star Jack Lord to
# end episodes, " 'em" (i.e. "them") referring to the criminals who
# have just been caught.
#
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# From the program Hawaii Five-O. Danno was the sidekick and many programs
# ended with the hero (forgot his name) saying "Book-em Danno, murder one"
#CC
# You Are What You Is/Thing Fish - "Book 'em Danno - mammy one"
# Obviously though, it's the wrong show.
#
# From: chettri@kitune.ec.t.kanazawa-u.ac.jp (Deus Ex Machina)
# Dan-o was a character from "Hawaii-five-O" which was one of the longest
# (if not the longest) TV series in US history.
Dan-o? How'd he get in the show?
Get outta here!
REAGAN!
You're asleep! Wake up!
The country's in a mess!
You're history anyway, buddy --
You're meat -- you're trough!
You're vapor -- you're baloney without the mayo!
^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Yes, mayonnaise.
You're outta here, buddy --
In fact, it's Robin Leach!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: Mr_Gigabyte@mindlink.bc.ca (Mike Quigley)
# Robin Leach is the host of the TV show Lives of the Rich and Famous.
#
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Nothing bad, he's just an annoying celebrity with a very recognizable voice
# that's easy to imitate/parody.
#
# From: Charles Ulrich
# Ike has (intentionally or otherwise) slipped into an impersonation of Robin
# Leach's voice.
Hey, fellas -- take me to the bridge!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Classic James Brown call to his band.
#
# From: Charles Ulrich
# A standard request by the singer/speaker for the band to play the bridge
# of the song.
#
# From: Robert Moore
# You're forgetting that this also has a classic naval/sci-fi meaning as well
# which should not be forgotten. As the command and control center of a ship
# (both naval and sci-fi types - particularly Star Trek) is referred to as
# "the bridge", "Take me to the bridge" is also used in the sense of "take me
# to your leader".
I want it now!
Why Don't You Like Me?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# From: Robert Moore
Am I really that bad?
# From: Robert Moore
# While this song refers to Michael Jackson, these li'l referents might need
# clarification, so: "Bad" was the name of the album that followed that Real
# Famous One that MJ did (shows ya how much I know about Michael Jackson - I
# can't even remember the name of the album - it had that stupid "Beat it"
# and "Billie Jean" songs on it). Anyway, at the time MJ evidently felt that
# he needed to tweeze his public image in a new direction away from the
# popular conception that he was generally a weirdly androgynous li'l rich
# fuck - but that ploy didn't work. The "Bad" album featured MJ on the cover
# in an outfit and demeanor somewhere in that gray area between Heavy Metal
# and S&M gear. The overall effect was similar to what you'd get if you
# dressed the Pillsbury DoughBoy in black leather, spikes, 'n chains and took
# a snapshot of him attempting to sneer. In short, it only made MJ look even
# more weird and ridiculous.
I hate my mother
I hate my father
I am my sister
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# It's
# I hate my sister
# in CD booklet printed lyrics, but as Robert Moore once pointed it out
# this line was actually sung another way. See his comment below.
And Germaine is a negro!
^^^^^^^^
A NEGRO! A NEGRO!
A NEGRO! A NEGRO!
# From: Robert Moore
# Germaine is one of MJ's sibling brothers - he's continually involved in
# failed projects of one kind or another and is sort of a mirror image of
# Michael (he's definitely a negro AND a male, while MJ gets whiter with time
# and closer towards complete sexual neutral)
"Please read this pamphlet."
"I'm so BAD"
# From: Robert Moore
# This line refers to the Jackson Family Religion, which is Jehovah's
# Witnesses. Jehovah's Witnesses (or JWs as we call 'em) are a
# Brooklyn-based sub-cult of the general cult of christianity. I won't bore
# you with their theology but they do distinguish themselves by producing
# avalanches of pamphlets, tracts, and newsletters (the most prominent of
# these is "The Watchtower") which they distribute in neighborhoods
# door-to-door. They are also identified by their fanatical evangelism.
You take the monkey, I'll take the llama,
# From: Robert Moore
# Among MJs numerous weird practices is that he keeps a menagerie of wildlife
# rather like a private zoo at his home.
We'll have a party: get me a Pepsi --
# From: Robert Moore
# A famous episode in the life of MJ was the time he was hired to be the
# spokeshuman for a big Pepsi-Cola ad campaign of the 80s. During the
# filming of one of the commercials MJs hair caught on fire as a result of
# close proximity to flash pots and fireworks. The joke at the time was
# generally about MJ asking for a Pepsi - to put out his burning hair.
Michael is Janet, Janet is Michael --
I'm so confused now --
# From: Robert Moore
# This refers to MJ's continuing evolution towards the female side of
# androgyny - he's now a pretty good clone of his sister Janet Jackson
# (except that her tits are way better - that's the area I think MJ should
# concentrate on in future editions of himself).
Who is Diana?
# From: Robert Moore
# Diana Ross (famous Motown singer) is MJs idol and it seems that
# he re-tailors himself to look as much like her as possible.
He's oxygenated
# From: Robert Moore
# This refers to unverified tabloid reports that s'more of MJs weirdness
# includes a special oxygen-only environment habitat of some kind wherein it
# is rumored he spends a lot of time "getting healthy and stuff".
His nose is deflated
# From: Robert Moore
# MJs nose is most definitely deflated compared to the gorilla nose
# he sported back in the 70s.
And he thinks he looks good to you
And he thinks he looks good to you
# From: Robert Moore
# Actualy, he probably does.
# It may not need to be mentioned, but: there may be a few folks who don't
# know that this song is a tweezed version of "Tell Me You Love Me" (from
# "Chunga's Revenge" and "Tinseltown Rebellion"). This song also has the
# "riff" from MJs "Billie Jean" stuck in it during the "monologue" section
# near the end. The thing that's interesting to me is the statement made by
# considering the 2 versions of this song's title: Tell Me You Love Me - Why
# Don't You Like Me? The statement and the question.
Bacon Fat
~~~~~~~~~
While I was down in W.D.C.
Certain folks were not glad to see me
I just tried to get out the vote
But some little weasel must 'a dropped 'em a note
^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: kerryy@bnr.ca (Kerry Yackoboski)
# A weasel is a type of animal, a rodent with sharp teeth. Calling someone
# a weasel is like calling someone a rat, and you mean that they might not
# be trustworthy; like a used car salesman.
It said:
"Check out the politics
Practiced by this oaf
And if they ain't just right
Feed him Confinement Loaf."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# See Any Kind of Pain comments
Stolen Moments
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trumpet solo by Walt Fowler
# From: robert@sybase.com (Robert Garvey)
# ["Stolen Moments"] is an Oliver Nelson tune, one of ten or twelve FZ picked
# out on a Castaway's Choice radio program first broadcast in 1988 on NPR.
# Frank cited it as one of the few jazz tunes that had appeal for him over the
# years. It has a nice trumpet solo.
#
# From: Michael Bell
# Stolen Moments is pretty much a jazz standard. I am sure its been recorded
# dozens of times. I used to play it in my high school jazz band.
#
# From: gdnewton@nickel.ucs.indiana.edu (gregory david newton)
# I don't know if it's the _original_ version but you'll find it along with
# five other great Nelson tunes on "Blues and the Abstract Truth" on MCA
# Impulse. The album was originally released in the early 1960s; it features
# a great band that included Eric Dolphy, Freddie Hubbard, and Bill Evans among
# others. I have it on CD from '86 (mediocre remastering job is a bit
# disappointing). It should be fairly easy to find at any music emporium
# with a decent or better jazz selection.
#
# From: madigan@birkhoff.math.nwu.edu (Kevin M. Madigan)
# There is an album by Eddie Lockjaw Davis titled Stolen Moments, which has
# an excellent cover of the title track, featuring, among others, Eric Dolphy.
Murder By Numbers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Performance by Sting
# From: Pat Buzby
# This was the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, March 3, 1988. Just in case
# there are any severe Stingheads reading.
#
# From: robert@sybase.com (Robert Garvey)
# Oh yes, and Mr. Sting does step up to the microphone for "Murder by
# Numbers" saying he wrote that tune, not Beelzebub.
Jezebel Boy
~~~~~~~~~~~
# From: Vladimir Sovetov
# "Jezebel - n. shameless or profiligate woman; woman who puts garish colour
# on her face. [ ~, wife of Ahab (1 Kgs. 16, 19, 21)]"
# The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English
#
# From: Robert Moore
# A Jezebel Boy is a male prostitute.
You know all the guys
In the Sheriff's Patrol
They leave you alone
When they round up the whores
Up on Hollywood Boulevard
# From: Robert Moore
# I forget the actual street names, but I recall reading an article in some
# nudie magazine which talked about the locational proximity between the male
# and female prostitutes in LA. It said that the females hang out on
# Hollywood Boulevard and the males hang out on a street that runs parallel
# to that street (maybe Sunset Strip? I dunno - Help me out LA people).
Sometimes that nasty D.A.
^^^
# From: Vladimir Sovetov
# District Attorney
That's when
The short-pants girls
# From: Robert Moore
# Many times, prostitutes will wear extremely short pants with their
# butt-crack hangin' out for the benefit of any and all prospective
# "renter/leasers". Also, at this point in the music FZ uses a classic
# "cheap sex sax riff" as one might hear in any number of James Bond movies
# and cheap detective thrillers when the Hot Girl enters a room. In the same
# vein as the presence of the theme music from "The Untouchables", just
# before the above verse is another musical quotation from a TV
# law-enforcement-type show - I'm about 88% sure it's from "Perry Mason".
# One very noteworthy aspect of this tune from a compositional standpoint is
# the beautifully consistent and concentrated way that FZ used the harmonic
# language he chose for this work. It's a "controlled dissonance" which
# comes from a skillful use of the octatonic scale. The parallel 9th chords
# (which remains throughout as an intervallic device in the bass part) evoke
# a sort of Post-Bartok-Woody-Herman sound that packs a big wallop in a small
# controlled space. Plus it makes the "Perry Mason" bit sound totally
# natural to boot (as well as retaining Conceptual Continuity with the
# general law-enforcement theme) If his work on The Grand Wazoo, Drowning
# Witch, and Teenage Prostitute wasn't enough to convince us of FZs
# consummate skill as a band orchestrator, Jezebel Boy removes all doubt.
Waitin' through that night
Waitin' for that distinguished-looking
Wilshire District Gentleman
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
With snow-white hair,
# From: Robert Moore
# Enter a musical quote from "Jingle Bells".
To drive up in his Lincoln,
And whisk away the Jezebel Boy
# From: Robert Moore
# As you might or might not have guessed, Wilshire District is a very ritzy
# and high-price LA area in which to live.
There he goes now!
Old Ralph will make him put that wretched
Sausage in his mouth again
# From: Robert Moore
# ["gobbling" sound plus sax and synclavier sample]
# The "gobbling" sound plus sax/synclavier bit here actually springs from the
# American Cartoon Tradition and is absolutely fuckin' hilarious - especially
# with Ike and FZ laughing like they are.
Another day,
Another sausage --
Jezebel Boy
Outside Now
~~~~~~~~~~~
# From: Vladimir Sovetov
# See Joe's Garage Notes & Comments. Yet to be compiled :-)
Hot Plate Heaven At The Green Hotel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Republicans is fine,
If you're a multi-millionaire
Democrats is fair,
If all you own is what you wear
# See comments to Dickie's Such An Asshole and Rhymin' Man
'Cause I'm in Hot-Plate Heaven,
at the Green Hotel
# From: Robert Moore
# Many "transient individuals" (i.e. poor single people) have to live in
# tiny hotel/apartment houses. These are characterized by being in a very
# shabby building in a very shabby and dangerous part of town. The rooms are
# often rented on a daily or weekly basis (instead of the common 6-12 month
# lease plan), are usually about the size of a walk-in closet and have only a
# single electrical outlet (no bathroom, no kitchen, and if you're lucky
# they'll have a piss-soaked mattress for your comfort and safety). Since
# there's no kitchen, the tenant often resorts to illicit cooking (you're not
# supposed to cook in them either because of the fire hazard) on a
# "hot-plate". A hot-plate is a plug-in appliance consisting of a single
# burner element suitable for pan-frying or making soup. As often as not, in
# winter the hot-plate doubles as a heat-provider for the room.
Things is slightly better now;
They hope we will forget
The misery of 'TRICKLE DOWN',
# From: Robert Moore
# "Trickle-Down" refers to a phrase used by Ronald Reagan and his economic
# gurus to describe what would allegedly happen if the rich were taxed less.
# The myth goes that if the rich pay less taxes, they have more money to
# invest in other things. This in turn "creates jobs" and all of the other
# "benefits" of American Life as that untaxed cash "trickles down" through
# the system to eventually result in some poor schmuck getting paid the
# minimum wage to be abused by assholes in some god-forsaken mall outlet near
# you.
# Of course, when taxes for the gentry were cut, the money sorta never
# managed to flow downhill to the peasantry because it kept ending up
# overseas where it bought more (but as always, the bullshit slid downhill
# right to the bottom).
An' jelly-bean etiquette
# From: Robert Moore
# One of the many image tools deployed by the White House Image Spin Doctors
# to great propaganda effect was that of Ronald Reagan and his fondness for
# jelly-beans (jelly-beans are small candies made from god-knows-what that
# taste nasty and stick to your teeth). I mean, this guy likes jelly-beans,
# of COURSE we can trust him - how can a man who likes jelly-beans be
# untrustworthy? (or a senile and incompetent aristocratic figurehead/boy
# for the corporate weasels who really run things).
Pass me the dog food.
What Kind Of Girl?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What's a girl like you
Doin' in a Motel like this?
"I left my place after midnight,
When I first got the call...
The escort service I work for
Said you wanted it ALL!"
#CC
# From: Vladimir Sovetov
# Fillmore East, June 1971.
# What Kind of Girl Do You Think We Are
# ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# What's a girl like this
# Doin' in a place like this?
#
# I left my place after midnight
# And I came to this hall
# Me and my girlfrien, we came here
# Lookin' to ball
# And so on...
This unfortunate little vixen wouldn't let just ANYBODY
Spoo all over her lap --
# From: Vladimir Sovetov >>
# Aber bekleer nicht das Sofa, Sofa?-))) Don't get no jizz upon that sofa,
# sofa?-)))))))))))
#
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Same idea. Perhaps a reference to Swag's claim that he just put the tip
# in. He may have pulled out to spoo in her lap. One of the '88 shows had
# excessive "secret wordism" surrounding the phrase "just the tip"
# Was it in Best Bend you never heard? I forget - in any case there was
# "Lonesome Cowboy Jim" You only get the tip of him" or something close.
#
# from _The Real FZ book_
# ... Ike had used the word 'spoo' - roughly the equivalent of jizz - in a
# conversation. I don't know where it came from, or if he made it up.
# p.170 ( Poseidon Press, 1989 )
She wants an ignorant Cracker TV Evangelist
Who's reciting all that crapp...
# From: jh@cadre.com (Joe Hartley)
# Jimmy Swaggart is an American televangelist, one of those yutzes who
# claims to be saving your soul as he picks your pocket. He was caught
# with his pants down, fondling himself, in a cheap hotel, with a cheap
# hooker.
# I saw FZ in Boston the night that all this was exposed (so to speak).
# Frank couldn't have been happier. At the show after the Boston one, in
# Providence, he started doing a *lot* of Swaggart related material, twisting
# the World Famous Beatles Medley into a Swaggart lampoon.
# Some of this stuff ended up on "The Best Band You Never Heard".
Jesus Thinks You're A Jerk
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There's an ugly little weasel 'bout three-foot nine
^^^^^^^^^^^^
# See comments to Bacon Fat
Face puffed up from cryin' 'n lyin'
'Cause her sweet little hubby's
Suckin' prong part time
(In the name of The Lord)
Did he really choose Tammy to do His Work?
^^^^^
# From: Mr_Gigabyte@mindlink.bc.ca (Mike Quigley)
# Tammy is the wife of Jim Bakker (sp?) a television evangelist, who went
# to jail for embezzling church members' funds. Tammy was famous for
# wearing this really horrible mascara.
#
# From: kerryy@bnr.ca (Kerry Yackoboski)
# Jimmy Bakker's wife, Tammy Faye Bakker.
Robertson says that he's The One
Oh sure he is,
Now, what if Jimbo's slightly gay,
^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# Jimbo is Jim Bakker. A classic deep south nickname.
Perhaps it's their idea
Of an Affirmative Action Plan
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# ...A liberal government scheme to tip the balance back in order to give
# minorities and the underpriviliged a fair chance. It manifests itself in
# terms of quotas where a company or school would be forced to hire/admit a
# percentage of certain groups. They are controversial, they don't work and
# often result in qualified applicants being rejected in favor of
# underqualified ones.
To give White Trash a 'special break';
^^^^^^^^^^^
Well, they took those Jeezo-bucks and ran
# From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller)
# This is the tie in. It's their affirmative action for "White Trash" (a
# racist term), who tend to really get the short end of any real "Affirmative
# Action Plans", which assume that simply because you are white you are
# privileged, which is certainly not the case.
# From: Robert Moore
To the bank! To the bank! To the bank! To the bank!
And every night we can hear them thank
Their Buddy, up above
For sending down his love
# From: Robert Moore
# The music which accompanies this section is a quotation from the "Light
# Cavalry Overture" by Franz Von Suppe. This same quote has also been widely
# used in cartoons and it is this aspect which flavors it in the Iconography
# of Americana.
Jim and Pat should take a pole
(Right up each saintly glory-hole),
^^^^^^^^^^
# From: Robert Moore
# The main use of the phrase "glory-hole" in American English refers to
# places (adult movie theaters with private booths, bathrooms in some gay
# bars, whatever) where gay males can go, stick their schlong through a
# "glory-hole" in a wall and the considerate person on the other end will
# perform various "acts of fun" on it.
With tar and feathers too --
Just like they'd love to do to you
# From: Robert Moore
# In the Old West (and up until maybe the 1930s), if you pissed off the folks
# in a small town you ran the risk of them banding together into a vigilante
# group at which time they'd capture and "tar and feather" you. As the name
# implies, they dunk you in hot tar and then stick chicken feathers all over
# your body. This is also a Ku-Klux-Klan activity (see below) which still
# goes on.
Conviced they are 'The Chosen Ones' --
And all their parents carry guns,
And hold them cards in the N.R.A.
^^^^^^
# From: Charles Ulrich
# National Rifle Association. They are the most vocal opponents of any
# proposed gun control legislation.
(With their fingers on the triggers
When they kneel and pray)
With a Ku-Klux muu-muu
^^^^^^^
# From: Robert Moore
# A muu-muu is a "traditional" dress which is worn by many Pacific Island
# peoples. It is not in fact a genuine traditional dress but was imported
# and imposed upon these peoples by Christian missionaries who were totally
# shocked at the generally casual nudity of said peoples. With that in mind,
# a muu-muu is more or less a large sack dress in multi-colored flower
# designs which covers quite a lot of otherwise dangerous and sinfully
# exposed flesh.
# In this context, FZ is making fun of the "traditional" costume worn by
# members of the Ku Klux Klan (in short, the KKK is a white hate organization
# dating from the end of the Civil War which practises murder and
# intimidation upon any and all "non-white" [whatever the hell that is]
# neighbors). When they're out doing their thing "for the white race", KKK
# members wear a white costume (or sometimes "royal purple", if you're the
# Big Cheese) rather like a monk's robe with the addition of a pointed hood
# (which presumably covers a pointed head) with 2 eye-holes cut in it.
In the back of the truck,
# From: Robert Moore
# I can think of no Klan member I've ever heard of who didn't qualify as "A
# Redneck" (a generic referent to ignorant white males from the South whose
# neck, face, and arms are red from sun exposure [but the rest of 'em is
# purest fish-belly-white]). This is not to say that every redneck is
# necessarily a Klan member and/or a racist (most are just "simple
# countryfolk"), but the standard stereotype is that a redneck is a dumb
# gun-toting, God-fearing, Super-patriotic fool who drives a truck. The
# truck is Standard Equipment and very important. In fact, you can expect to
# see a rebel flag displayed somewhere on the truck (maybe an actual flag
# whippin' from an 8-foot radio aerial, or a bumper sticker - there are other
# variants).
If you ain't Born Again,
# From: Robert Moore
# When you are inducted into the ranks of Christianity, you are said to be
# "born again" as a NEW PERSON. Yeah, right.
"Life's too precious, can't you see!"
(What's that hangin' from the neighbor's tree?
Why, it looks like 'colored folks' to me --
Would THEY do THAT...seriously?)
(FZ: They've been doing it for years)
# From: Robert Moore
# Another reference to the KKK. Klan members (who more often than not are
# Pillars of the local Christian community) still get together for fun and
# lynch "uppity niggers" (though not as often as in years past - progress
# y'know). If there was a local non-white person who deeply offended the
# white community in some way (say, glancing in the general direction of a
# white woman, or attempting to vote), late at night the Klan would ride out
# (in their trucks), capture the "uppity nigger", torture him for a while and
# then hang from a prominent local tree as a warning to others.
Claims not to be a "Faith Healer",
But has, in the past,
Dealt stearnly with everything from hemorrhoids to hurricanes
# From: Robert Moore
# A number of years ago, a hurricane (I forget the name) was threatening the
# US East Coast (including the general area where "Brother Pat" lives and
# lies). So, Pat Robertson went on his "700 Club" TV program and used his
# Awesome Powers as Jesus' Best Friend to make the hurricane veer away from
# the coast (and millions of dollars worth of Pat's real estate holdings).
# Of course this is pure bullshit - but when the hurricane veered off as it
# would have anyway, Pat "gave the credit to God" but somehow managed to keep
# a bunch himself - truly a Force to be reckoned with.
There's an old rugged cross
In the land of cotton --
It's still burnin' on somebody's lawn
And it still smells rotten
# From: Robert Moore
# The music in this section is in part a mixture of quotations from an old
# spiritual called "The Old Rugged Cross" and from Stephen Foster's famous
# "Dixie".
# This is also another KKK reference. Another "fun" thing the good old boys
# in the KKK do is get together and intimidate people they don't like by
# erecting a burning cross on their lawn in the middle of the night. They
# also burn great big crosses at their Secret Rally Meetings (with prayer).
Imagine if you will
Claims to be a MAN OF GOD;
Currenty seeking the United States Presidency,
Hoping we will all follow him into --
The Twilight Zone
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
# From: Mr_Gigabyte@mindlink.bc.ca (Mike Quigley)
# The Twilight Zone was a famous TV show during the 1960's which dwelt on
# supernatural events. It was remade with new episodes several years later.
#
# From: Charles Ulrich
# Another old TV show (CBS, 1959-1964). It's the mysterious place (between
# sleep and waking? between reality and illusion?) where spooky and horrible
# things happen. You wouldn't want to go there.
#
# From: kerryy@bnr.ca (Kerry Yackoboski)
# A great TV show made in the 1950's and 1960's. It was science fiction
# of a sort, and each episode (30 minutes) featured a completely different
# story; there were no repeating characters. The stories were always
# about something strange and inexplicable that not happen on our planet,
# except in... the Twilight Zone.
______________________________________________________________
--
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/