It's the Arts: Frank Zappa Edition

[Darth Rotor]

Today was an experience in the Zombie Woof, what with my office mate playing a lot of Zappa. As much fun as I've had with the album Overnight Sensation, I have always wondered if Camarillo Brillo was done just for fun, or as a follow up to Cosmic Debris. Cosmic Debris was his send up of religion. Was Camarillo Brillo his send up of California contemporary culture? Was it a sideways shot at the sexual revolution, and thus more of a sister piece to Dynamo Hum and Dirty Love? It seems a prequel to Valley Girl, which his daughter Moon Unit performed some years later, if it's just a shot at how whacky California was in those days.

Lyrics: what does they mean, precious?

She had that Camarillo Brillo!
Flaming out along ahead--
I mean her Mendecino Beano--
By where some bugs that made it red!
The refs here for non Californians are obscure. Mendocino I get, the rest are beyond me.
She ruled the toads of these short forests...!
And every newt in Idaho...
And every cricket who had chorused--
By the bush in Buffalo!

She said she was a magic mama,
And she could throw a mean Tarot!
And carried on... without a comma,
How she was someone I should know.
Our subject was into some sort of witchcraft magic thing ... a send up of the earthy/crystal/spiritual/voodoo rage in 70's California pop culture? Or just general woo?

Chorus:
She had a snake for a pet
And an amulet!
And she was breeding a DWARF
But she wasn't done yet--
She had gray-green skin!
A doll with a pin!
...I told her she was alright,
But I couldn't come in...!
More modern witchcraft, new age, earthy fun in California sun.
And so she wandered through the doorway...
Just like a shadow from the tomb...
She said her stereo was four-way...
And I just love it in her room...!

Well I was born to have adventure!
So I just followed up the steps...
Right past the fuming incense stencher...
To where she hung... her castanets!

She stripped away her rancid poncho--
And laid out, naked, by the door!
We did til we were unconscio'
And it was useless anymore!
We now find that beneath all that facade of witch/spiritual/voodo stuff, she's just another wanton wench looking for a good time, which our hero kindly provides.
...


Standard Zappa taking the piss out of commercial icons.

Or is there more to this?

I am relistening to the [I]Zombie Woof, and loving it. Overnight Sensation is an underappreciated work of art. Ah, here 's Dynamo Hum, coming through the door, and you can't blame my thumb.

DR

[ParrotPirate]

A lot of Franks work is under appreciated, I think. Some people have a hard time getting past the goofy lyrics and really listening. (Not that the goofy lyrics are bad.) Musically there is so many things going on, serious complicated things.

[A.A.Alfie]

A true genius.

Sheik Yerbouti (1979) remains one of my most played.
- Bobby Brown goes down
- Flakes
- Jewish Princess
It's a real pity I can't get the kids into it yet - they're a bit young.

[applecorped]

We're only in it for the money.

[Vortigern99]

She had that Camarillo Brillo!
Flaming out along ahead--
I mean her Mendecino Beano--
By where some bugs that made it red!

"Camarillo Brillo" is a reference to her hair, which must have been fuzzy-curly like a brillo pad.

As to "Mendecino Beano", it's hard to say exactly, since beano could mean a variety of things, including a British comic book, an anti-flatulence pill, a nickname for a 60s Mayall/Clapton record, an experimental hand grenade, and a submarine sandwich! "By where some bugs had made it red" is totally inscrutable to my mind.

The rest of the lyrics are pretty self-explanatory, I should think, if a bit silly and typically Frank-ishly absurd. You've nailed it, I think, when you say it's "a send up of the earthy/crystal/spiritual/voodoo rage in 70's California pop culture". Spot on analysis, that.

Meanwhile, yeah, Overnite Sensation is probably my favorite Zappa record alongside Apostrophe and Hot Rats.

Rock on!

[Hokulele]

I always thought the song was a send-up of the California/granola/New Agey scene. Beano used to be (still is?) a must-have for vegetarians, as tofu and tempe have certain, erm, digestive effects.

[rockinkt]

I had always heard that the song referenced the Camarillo Mental hospital.

[ParrotPirate]

Baayby snaaakes! They're pink and they're wet and they live in a hole!

[ingoa]

Don't eat the yellow snow!





Don't eat it where the Huskies go.... :)

[fuelair]

So, anybody like the Fugs - from the same period?

[ferd burfle]

I had always heard that the song referenced the Camarillo Mental hospital.


Yes, as did Steely Dan, in "Parker's Band":

You'll be riding by, bareback on your armadillo
You'll be grooving high or relaxing at Camarillo

A reference to Charlie Parker's 6 month stay at Camarillo State Mental Hospital

ferd

[bokonon]

Ever since I had the epiphany that "fuzzy dice and bongos" was a reference to testicles and buttocks, I have a hard time not seeing adolescent body imagery in Zappa's lyrics.

While I agree that Camarillo Brillo and Mendocino Beano refer to her head and the hair thereon, by the time we get to the toads of the short forest and the crickets chorusing by the bush, I think we're getting commentary on a general lack of hygiene south of the border.

But maybe that says more about me than it does about Zappa's intent...

[calebprime]

Yes, as did Steely Dan, in "Parker's Band":

You'll be riding by, bareback on your armadillo
You'll be grooving high or relaxing at Camarillo

A reference to Charlie Parker's 6 month stay at Camarillo State Mental Hospital

ferd

Wow. I have a PHD in Dan Studies and I did not know this.

Parker was in for 6 months? Yikes. It's a wonder he got out somewhat intact.

found this:

Parker wrote this about the time he spent at Camarillo State Hospital in Ventura County, California. He was sent there after spending 10 days in jail, charged with indecent exposure, resisting arrest, and suspected arson.
Parker's arrest was for an incident on July 29, 1946 where he fell asleep while smoking and set his hotel bed on fire after wandering through the hotel lobby wearing nothing but socks.
While in Camarillo, Parker played saxophone in the hospital band on Saturday nights. He also passed time there by tending a lettuce patch. He wound up spending six months there. His third wife, Doris Sydnor, moved to California so that she could visit him three times a week. She had to take a job as a waitress to support herself.


cp: The story I heard of his breakdown was that he couldn't get heroin, so he was in withdrawal. With all the agonies. A doctor gave him benzedrine, which made things a lot worse.

This may or may not be when he recorded his (famously, uncharacteristically bad) version of Lover Man, where you can hear him turning around, off mic, etc. ?

[Jeff Corey]

So, anybody like the Fugs - from the same period?

I saw them in Tomkins Square Park with Country Joe and The Fish in '68 or so. Ed Saunders and Tuli Kupferberg.
"Slum Goddess of the Lower East Side" and "Claire June" are two songs I still remember parts of.
Also, Sanders published "**** YOU, a Magazine of the Arts".

[ferd burfle]

Wow. I have a PHD in Dan Studies and I did not know this.


I have a BSc and I've never been sufficiently motivated to go back for anything more. But I would eat broken beer bottles to have this degree. Please tell me how and where I can apply. :cool:

[Darth Rotor]

I have a BSc and I've never been sufficiently motivated to go back for anything more. But I would eat broken beer bottles to have this degree. Please tell me how and where I can apply. :cool:

Eh, guys, this is a Frank Zappa thread, not a Steely Dan love fest. I appreciate the Charlie Parker Linkage, but let's get back to that Sears poncho ... :cool:

[calebprime]

Sorry, DR, and sorry ferd: I'm just another internet blowhard. I really only have a Master's degree in Danology. My thesis was rejected for including too much stuff about my nervous breakdown/rehab.

[ThatSoundAgain]

A lot of Franks work is under appreciated, I think. Some people have a hard time getting past the goofy lyrics and really listening. (Not that the goofy lyrics are bad.) Musically there is so many things going on, serious complicated things.

Couldn't agree more.

I can't find a better online source for this quote than here (http://marqueemag.com/zappa-plays-zappa/2009/11/01/), but I recall hearing Frank's wife Gail Zappa saying it (on this DVD (http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/frankzappa.php), I think):

I always knew that I lived with a composer who, luckily, through rock and roll, was able to afford his habit which was writing music — writing dots on paper.

But what do you expect from someone whose only wish for his fifteenth birthday was permission to make a long-distance call to Edgard Varése.

[quadraginta]

Frank Zappa is my hero.

Thank you, DR. Any Frank Zappa thread is a good thread.

Curse you, DR. Any mention of any Zappa lyric or phrase of music means instant long-term earworm for me.

Thank you DR. Any Frank Zappa earworm is a good earworm.

(I got caught by a Wayne Newton one once. I used Zappa to cure it. :cool:)

[Darth Rotor]

Sorry, DR, and sorry ferd: I'm just another internet blowhard. I really only have a Master's degree in Danology. My thesis was rejected for including too much stuff about my nervous breakdown/rehab.
No need to apologize, my friend, I think a thread on Charlie Parker/Steely Dan might be fun and fine discussion, no matter my nervous Danish Breakdown, which IIRC was a Rolling Stones' lyric that Zappa didn't lampoon ... since it was useless, anymore.

(I got caught by a Wayne Newton one once. I used Zappa to cure it. )
Well played! :)

[themusicteacher]

You guys can have your confusing lyrics, I'm more concerned with his musical chops. While I can't say that I've ever been really "in" to Zappa, he arranged some very musically interesting stuff for wind ensemble with electronic instruments (keyboard, amplified bass). The Wind Symphony at the University of North Texas recorded a few of his tunes (Dog Breath Variations, Envelopes) and they are quite challenging without being unnecessarily so as well as being sonically diverse. This was a guy who went beyond the "pop" milieu and really challenged himself and his audience musically. Honestly, how many "rock" musicians can cite Stravinsky as being an influence?

[quadraginta]

You guys can have your confusing lyrics, I'm more concerned with his musical chops. While I can't say that I've ever been really "in" to Zappa, he arranged some very musically interesting stuff for wind ensemble with electronic instruments (keyboard, amplified bass). The Wind Symphony at the University of North Texas recorded a few of his tunes (Dog Breath Variations, Envelopes) and they are quite challenging without being unnecessarily so as well as being sonically diverse. This was a guy who went beyond the "pop" milieu and really challenged himself and his audience musically. Honestly, how many "rock" musicians can cite Stravinsky as being an influence?


How many "rock" musicians have two albums of original work performed by the London Symphony Orchestra?

[SimonD]

My first taste of Frank Zappa was 'Billy the Mountain' (and his stunning wife Ethel, a tree). Man, what a trip. I was about 15 at the time and a listened to the tape till it broke.

The Man from Utopia is my next favourite
- Cocaine Decisions
- The dangerous Kitchen
- Stick Together
- Sex

All standout tracks
-

[Able]

You are What You Is... In my opinion, it's his most underrated album. Not even taking into account his dissection of organized religion. Who is this Doreen lady, and why do I want to marry her?

[riptowtan]

You are What You Is... In my opinion, it's his most underrated album. Not even taking into account his dissection of organized religion. Who is this Doreen lady, and why do I want to marry her?

I agree. Gotta love the solo in "If only she woulda".

[joobz]

Listening to saint Alfanzo's, I can't help but be impressed by the duets. THey are solos. They are duets. Wow.