DOES HUMOR BELONG IN MUSIC?: THE LYRICS

When asked what he regarded as his best quality in writing lyrics, Zappa answered his sense of humor. With the title of his 1985 CD "Does humor belong in music" he's referring to this aspect. In general Zappa's lyrics can cover:
- Social citicism, tending towards cynicism.
- Absurdities.
- Comedy of a provocative nature.
- Love songs (sixties).
The lyrics can be about anything, but the thing Zappa wouldn't do is expressing personal involvement, fake or real. "Freak out" (1966) starts right out with a sharp attack on the school system ("Hungry freaks, daddy") and attempts to manipulate the public opinion ("Brain police"). Absurdities turn up with for instance "Call any vegetable" (1967), where you're adviced to invest in personal friendship with vegetables because they are good for your health and keep you regular.
Zappa did some common love songs in the sixties, but later on took a stand against such lyrics. "Tell me you love me" (1970) and "Babette" (1974) are the last ones he allowed. In 1970 Flo & Eddie joined the band and comedy got introduced. Zappa and Flo & Eddie stimulated each other into a form of humor that is allways on the edge.
The bounderies of humor can be a problem when you play it sharp. I recall a Dutch comedian, Freek de Jonge, telling about a tour he did in the U.S. One act was about racism and he told about an uncle of his who, as he noticed that his niece was playing with a black doll, said something like don't play with that, it makes your hands dirty. The idea was to ridiculize the narrowmindedness of racist thought, but a black guy in the audiance stood up saying I don't like this and went. When you know a bit about Freek you know what he means, but when you don't the reaction of the black guy is just as valid.
Zappa deliberately allways looked for the bounderies between humor and offensiveness and the interpretation of it formed a debate during his lifetime and problably will continue to do so. "For those who in the rush to be offended forgot to listen", he wrote on the backside of the "Shut up 'n play yer guitar" box.
Whether you find Zappa's lyrics entertaining or not is personal and when Neil Slaven in his book calls "The jazz discharge party hats" tasteless, then I don't have a problem with that. But I'm less pleased when interpretations are getting added in. Barry Miles in his biography is accusing Zappa of sexism, based upon three lyrics from "Tinsel town rebellion", namely "Bamboozled by love", "Easy meat" and "Fine girl". Within the framework of Zappa's output I think they rather belong to social citicism, being about stupid male behaviour (beating up women) and stupid female behaviour (walk around in a see through blouse). "Fine girl" is cryptical, it looks at first as if it's about enjoying the benefits of a woman doing housekeeping tasks, but when you get at the sentence "She was build like a mule, her head was kinda flat", it can't be serious no more. "Build like a mule" doesn't fit into sexist thinking. I go along with Barry however in the sense that I find these three lyrics plain rude.
The next example is a friendly song from "Them or us" about false teeth. I think most people will find this song funny, unless you're born with bad teeth.

Baby take your teeth out, opening (midi file)

Baby take your teeth out, opening (transcription).

The lyrics here go as:
"Baby take your teeth out
Try it one time/It'll be fine/You look divine/I will recline
Baby take your teeth out
Try it one time/It'll be fine/You look divine/I will recline
Leave 'em on the kitchen table." Etc.

Zappa was always rapid in applying new techniques. It already started in the early sixties in Paul Buff's studio, when he got a chance to learn how to use multitrack recording equipment. The sound quality of "Sheik Yerbouti" is for a 1979 album amazing. I know virtually nothing about recording techniques, but you can look into the Ludwig study for this topic. With "Does humor belong in music" Zappa immediately responded to the just introduced CD by putting a half of a concert program from the previous 1984 tour on a disc. The humor from the title in this case not only refers to the lyrics in general but also to the inside on stage jokes of the band members, like Ike willis adding in the "hi-ho silver" phrase from a then popular song.
"Does humor belong in music" is a coherent album with known pieces in interesting new versions and three unreleased pieces. One of them is "Let's move to Cleveland", a sort of a reggae waltz, reggae in 3/4. As more often Zappa's songs exist a while before they reach an album. In this case an earlier version of this song was part of the 1976 tour program and got released on the Zappa Family Trust release "FZ:OZ" as "Canard toujours" (French for always duck for dinner).

Let's move to Cleveland, opening (midi file)

Let's move to Cleveland, opening (transcription).

"Does humor belong in music" was also used as the title for a DVD, that regarding songs partly overlaps with the CD, but is entirely taken from a single different concert, namely at the New York Pier. The idea behind the CD and DVD was an all across selection from the 1984 tour, not specifically the release of new material, otherwise zappa could for instance have included "Ride my face to Chicago". Still, when you include the solos, more than half of the 60 minutes on the CD is unreleased music. Eventually the 1984 tour would become very well covered, with apart from "Does humor belong in music", about three CDs in the YCDTOSA series and many solos on "Guitar".

Right: FZ in 1982 (still from the "Ein leben wie ein extravaganza" documentary by Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher).

Zappa's solos are sometimes independent pieces, but normally they are part of songs. Some of the fanatics, the ones with all the bootlegs and giglists, are therefore able to identify which songs they stem from and even to correct Zappa's dates occasionally. "Hot plate heaven at the Green hotel" for instance is good for four solos in total. For the 1984 tour it was agreed upon that halfway the solo the accompaniment would accelerate to double density. What used to be one bar then becomes two bars. It can be heard this way on the "Does humor belong in music" CD. Since the "For Giuseppe Franco" solo on "Trance-fusion" is in the same key and doing exactly the same, it is obviously another "Hot plate heaven" solo. The song reappeared in the 1988 tour, again with a solo, but this time without an acceleration. It's on "Broadway the hard way" in total and again a similar solo was released on "Trance-fusion", called "Finding Higgs' Boson". Next are the theme from "Hot plate heaven at the Green hotel" and a section from "For Giuseppe Franco" with the double density. The song's theme is in E Dorian and the solo in A Myxolydian (same notes but with A pedal). In the transcribed section below however the accompaniment is playing a progression.

Hot plate heaven at the Green hotel, opening (midi file)
For Giuseppe Franco, 2:30 till 2:48 (midi file)

Hot plate heaven at the Green hotel, opening (transcription).
For Giuseppe Franco, 2:30 till 2:48 (transcription).

On the "Does humor belong in music" DVD "Hot plate heaven" gets interrupted by an interview section and the solo isn't included. The song's lyrics and the interview part are about Zappa's aversion of the Republican party and his political ideas would become more and more present on his albums and in his other activities. In 1985 he opposed the idea of parental advisory stickers on rock albums, doing many interviews on the subject, and the 1988 tour had an outspoken anti-Republican character. During the turnover in Eastern Europe he was seen by various people as a herald of intellectual freedom, among them the newly elected president Vaclav Havel of Czechoslovakia. He visited Russia several times, trying to interact for business deals and his encounter with Havel reached the international press. In 1990 he talked a while about the idea of running for president in interviews, but no real steps were taken. His ill health at that time would have ruled out campaining anyway. Probably he was more interested in the publicity effect, than that he thought he had any chance.