BONGO FURY: WORKING WITH DON VAN VLIET

In 1975 Zappa started working with Don van Vliet again, his friend from high school days onwards. Don had also been succesfull in starting a career in music, releasing several albums as "Captain Beefheart". Zappa cooperated with Don on record on two occasions. In 1969 Don sang the lyrics of "Willie the pimp" on Zappa's "Hot Rats" and Zappa produced Beefheart's "Trout mask replica" for his Discreet Records label. Then Don started accusing Zappa of all sort of things in the press and their friendship appeared to have halted. But in 1975 he was without a record contract and returned to Zappa for help, tuning down his hostile tone of the past years. They decided to do a short tour with the Mothers including Beefheart and a deal was made that Beefhaert could do a new album for Discreet. It wasn't something that could last because Beefheart was only of limited use for The Mothers, singing the pieces suit for him, but most of the time he sat at the side of the stage making drawings.
From the tour the "Bongo fury" album was done, also including some studio material. Because the tour was short Zappa couldn't have everything develloped as thoroughly on the road as he usually did, if he wanted the album to be coherent. For the live albums from the seventies Zappa recorded the tracks mostly at one location, so that the listener could get the idea of being at a specific concert. From "Sheik Yerbouti" (1979) onwards he changed this approach to combining the best tracks from different locations. The "Bongo Fury" live songs stem from the two concerts in Austin, Texas, May 1975. Here he allowed or was forced to allow imperfections as one time too much "he-he-he" on "Advance romance", less sparkling solos and seconds with voids in "Carolina hard core extasy". So when he had to laugh during the reciting of the lyrics from "Muffin man", he may have decided he might leave that in just as well. It doesn't do much harm though.

"Debra kadabra" featuring Beefheart is a song where the melody is made up of several sections with motives, that can get repeated and varied upon, going from one motive to another, often changing the tempo. The quick movement through various motives is a way of structuring that Zappa would repeatedly return to. It became dominant in "St. Alphonso's pancake breakfast/Father O'Blivion" from "Apostrophe (')" and "Zombie woof" from "Overnite sensation". On "Bongo fury" "Cucamonga" is another example and I'll return to this topic in the "Drowning witch" paragraph. Here's a transcription of a section of the opening of Debra Kadabra.

Debra Kadabra, opening (midi file)

Debra Kadabra, opening (transcription)

It's build as:
a) Tempo I, moderate tempo.
- Bars 1-3 in 4/4. Opening guitar riff motive, repeated from the beginning of the song through 0:23, with Captain Beefheart reciting the text.
b) Tempo going from tempo I to tempo II, much faster.
- Bar 4-5. Transitive bars. The guitar ends in tempo I. The drummer starts with 5/8 in tempo II.
c) Tempo II.
- Bar 6 in 12/8. A twice repeated motif starts. Beefheart has begun singing.
d) Tempo going from tempo II to tempo III, a little faster.
- Bar 7-8. Transitive bars. Beefheart ends with "(con)-fetti" in Tempo II. The base guitar starts with 5/8 in tempo III.
e) Tempo III.
- Bar 9, 14/8. Instrumental motive, played once.
- Bar 10, 11/8. Eleven drumbeats.
- Bar 11-13, 12/16. Three times repeated motive.

The first three motives in bars 1-10 have in common that they are build upon A. The first one has off beat drumming; the guitar plays through Am7. The second motive in bar 6 is a 12/8 on beat movement with a IV-I progression in A Minor (aeolian). The third one in bar 9 begins with fourth intervals and also ends on A. The chromatic fourth motive in bars 11-13 sets a new direction. This procedure continues till the end of the song. It needs time for rehearsing and memorising to play pieces like this.

On most of "Bongo fury" however Zappa is on more familiar grounds like blues in "200 years old". He liked the blues as a teenager and he would repeatedly return to it during his career. On "The lost episodes" we can hear him playing through the blues scheme with his brother Bobby in "Lost in a whirlpool", when he had just learned to play guitar in 1958. Some other later blues recordings are "Big leg Emma" on "Zappa in New York" and "In France" on "Them or us". "200 years old" starts with a riff build around a traditional blues motif, here played in G Minor as G-C-B flat-G by the piano. Some extra is given to it by a counter-movement F-C-F sharp-G by the synthesizer.

200 years old, opening (midi file)

200 years old, opening (transcription)

During the song the traditional blues chord pattern is followed (I-IV-I-V-IV-I). Here in G Minor with starting points:
- I. 0:29. The melody as above continues. Zappa tells about his thoughts at an early breakfast.
- Basically I. 0:57. Beefheart sings the theme of the song.
- IV. 1:26. Harmonica solo starts.
- I. 1:32.
- V. 1:39.
- IV. 1:42.
- I. 1:46.
- I. 1:52. Guitar solo begins. The blues scheme recommences.
Or in "Big leg Emma" from "Zappa in New York" (see also the Irregular rhythmic groupings section for this album) in B Minor:
- I. 0:07.
- IV. 0:14.
- I. 0:18.
- V. 0:22.
- IV. 0:24.
- I. 0:25. Etc.
For a complete scheme transcription, see the "Guitar" section with "Sexual harassment in the garage".

"Bongo fury" ends with the hilarious concert closer "Muffin man", a song that everybody seems to like. It has a four bars central theme. After being sung, it's used as a vamp for a guitar solo. The album has a studio recorded introduction with George Duke on keyboard and Zappa reciting about the laboratory of the muffin idolater. The second midi file includes the last bars, but it's hard to catch the words of someone speachwise singing/talking into midi format. It has no alfabet and sounds as a cheep imitation. You can open it for what it's worth.

Muffin man, theme and solo opening (midi file)
Muffin man, recitative, end (midi file)

Muffin man, section (transcription)

In 1976 Zappa's partnership with Herb Cohen came to an end. Cohen had been succesfully managing The Mothers, especially in the first years, and had set up Discreet Records with Zappa as a label of Warner Brothers. Discreet was used as a vehicle for Zappa's albums but the main reason for its existance was business, namely earning money be contracting groups for it. In 1976 Zappa found that Cohen was allocation the incoming money with too much liberty. The financing of the recording of Beefheart's new album "Bat chain puller" for the label was the direct cause for the breach; Zappa thought that it had been paid for with money that was his. So Zappa as president of Discreet set Cohen aside and Cohen counterattacked with a lawsuit, demanding that Zappa's assets to be frozen during the trial and that he would have no access to the tape archive, which was granted. At the same time Zappa had started dealing with MGM, who had brought out the first five records. They were bringing out compilations without paying him appropiate credits. This case was solved relatively quickly. Zappa obtained the mastertapes and a financial compensation. But since the tapes went into the Discreet inventory it was to no direct avail.
Zappa's next "Zoot allures" album and Beefheart's new album were to be released on Discreet. He had safety copies of the tapes in his house and could release his album on the Warner Bros. main label, on condition that he indemnified them in case Cohen could lie any claim upon it. But Beefheart was forced to record several tracks anew for his later "Shiny beast" album with "Bat chain puller" added to the title in brackets. The original recordings are still in Zappa's vault today. Beefheart made two more albums in the early eighties and then had enough of the music business. Since then he continued with his second career as an art painter.