(Front) Photo by John Williams (Booklet of Finer Moment) Photo by John Williams

Live

One shot deal

 

  1 Bathtub man {Cosmik debris} [Napoleon Murphy Brock, George Duke, Frank Zappa]
  2 Space boogers {Big Swifty}
  3 Hermitage {Envelops the bath tub}
  4 Trudgin’ across the tundra
  5 Occam’s razor (on the bus) {Inca roads}
  6 Heidelberg {Yo’ mama}
  7 The Illinois enema bandit
  8 Australian yellow snow {Don’t eat the yellow snow + Nanook rubs it + St. Alfonzo’s pancake breakfast + Mar-juh-rene}
  9 Rollo

 

All compositions by Frank Zappa, except as noted above.


Album notes by Gail Zappa
OK. This is where all the zany miscellany can be found - on the inside of the package - in the notes. Not like what you would line the bottom of your birdcage with - but really, like the notes you might keep for some fabulous trip across an ocean on a major seagoing vessel. For me, it’s usually a little bit reminiscence and mostly documentary steerage about what, how and sometimes why we got here from out there.

You will note the bandwidth on this recording is wide and the era septidecant. Since this is literally a quickie - a sort of us daring ourselves to get this together on the fly without the wall - it turns out that Joe had already set aside 2 sections of FZ “build reel” material so we decided one would open and the other would close what just might be a one-shot deal . Now, we just had to fill in the blanks. The guitar was the main element for me and the instant I heard “Occam’s Razor” I knew that this was where we had to go. Meanwhile, concurrently trapped in Spring Cleaning mode, I happened upon a drawer that surely had not been opened for maybe 20 years. And right there it was - the cover shot!…
A One-Shot Deal if ever there was a roadmap in Serendipity. Amusing that FZ had always maintained that he was in the business of connecting the dots and here they were…

Now appearing for the first time on CD these recordings is a sandwich - the Bun being 2 FZ Constructs. The Crux of the Biscuit here really is the confinement loaf , comprised of Tracks 1 - 4, and Tracks 8 and 9 - all put together (sequenced / edited) by FZ and just as we found them in the Vault. For me the Burger is “Occam’s Razor”. But all of these tracks were Produced - Recorded / Composed / Arranged / Conducted / Constructed / Mixed by FZ and set aside by him for some project about which we can only speculate. Still, you can say Darker and Darker and we can say yes, we have fries with that. And the special sauce.

1. Bathtub man {Cosmik debris}


[George Duke] Ah, look, you know they tried to tell me
[Napoleon Murphy Brock] Whoa, get me out of gay Paris, oh yeah
[George Duke] Lord, that broad in the bathtub was a man
[Napoleon Murphy Brock] What did you say?
[George Duke] Oh Lord, don’t you know he tried to tell me
[Napoleon Murphy Brock] Did you see that string around her back, George?
[George Duke] Lord, that broad in the bathtub was a man
[Napoleon Murphy Brock] Oh, you know you gotta look so you’ll understand y’all
[George Duke] Well, did you know the source I heard from was fairly reliable? Whoa, don’t you know that […] be jivin’ sometimes […] I told that fool, I said: “Listen that, that was a man. Jive around the big lips on them. I said that’s got to be a lady”.
[Napoleon Murphy Brock] You better, you better
[George Duke] Look out!
 
[Instrumental]

2. Space boogers {Big Swifty}


[Instrumental]

3. Hermitage {Envelops the bath tub}


[Instrumental]

4. Trudgin’ across the tundra


[Instrumental]

5. Occam’s razor (on the bus) {Inca roads}


[Instrumental]

6. Heidelberg {Yo’ mama}


[Notes by FZ on “The Guitar World according to Frank Zappa” - 1987] This type of solo was a nightly feature of live shows during that period. It’s not the best of its kind, but I like the atmosphere and little noises from the audience. I didn’t own a recording truck then, and all live concert tapes were being done on a Scully 4-track at 30 ips with Telefunken C4D noise reduction. We were printing two stereo pairs taken ambiently with AKG stereo mics. Audible background hiss is the result of a whole stage full of amplifiers idling, combined with residual noise inherent in the recording.
 
[Instrumental]

7. The Illinois enema bandit


[Ray White] The Illinois enema bandit
I heard he’s on the loose
I heard he’s on the loose
Lord, the pitiful screams
Of all them college-educated women…
He’d just be tyin’ ‘em up
(They’d be all bound down)
He just be pumpin’ every one of ‘em up with all the bag fulla…
The Illinois enema bandit juice
He just be pumpin’ every one of ‘em up with all the bag fulla…
The Illinois enema bandit juice
He just be pumpin’ every one of ‘em up with all the bag fulla…
The Illinois enema bandit juice
He just be pumpin’ every one of ‘em up with all the bag fulla…
The Illinois enema bandit juice
 
The Illinois enema bandit
I heard it on the news
I heard it on the news
Bloomington, Illinois… he has caused some alarm
Just sneakin’ around there from farm to farm
He’s got a rubberized bag and a hose on his arm
Lookin’ for some rustic co-ed rump
That he just might wanna pump
Lookin’ for some rustic co-ed rump
That he just might wanna pump
Lookin’ for some rustic co-ed rump
That he just might wanna pump
 
[Instrumental]
 
[Ray White] The Illinois enema bandit
One day he’ll have to pay
Someday he’ll have to pay
 
[FZ] The police will say: “You’re under arrest!”
And then the judge would have him for a special guest
And then the D.A. will order a secret test
Stuff his pudgy little thumbs in the side of his vest
Then they’ll put out a call for the jury folks
And then the judge would say: “No poo-poo jokes!”
They’ll drag in the bandit for all to see
Sayin’: “Don’t nobody have no sympathy…
Hot soapy water in the third degree”
And the bandit might say… (Ha ha!)
 
Did you cause (What is it, Ray?) this misery?
(You see a good one down there?)
Well, did you cause this misery?
Well, did you cause this misery?
Well, one girl shout: LET THE BANDIT BE!
 
Bandit, are you guilty?
Tell me, did you do these deeds?

Another girl shout: “WOW, LET THE FIEND GO FREE!
 
Bandit, are you guilty?
Tell me, did you do these deeds?
You know what he said?
“It must be just what they all needs…”
“It must be just what they all needs…”
“It must be just what they all needs…”
(I believe that)
“It must be just what they all need…”
 
[Ray White] He just be pumpin’ every one of ‘em up with all the bag fulla…
“It must be just what they all need…”
He just be pumpin’ every one of ‘em up with all the bag fulla…
“It must be just what they all need…”
He just be pumpin’ every one of ‘em up with all the bag fulla…
“It must be just what they all need…”
The Illinois enema bandit juice
He just be pumpin’ every one of ‘em up with all the bag fulla…
“It must be just what they all need…”
The Illinois enema bandit juice
 
The Illinois
The Illinois

Ain’t talkin’ ‘bout Fontana

Ain’t talkin’ ‘bout Potato-Headed Bobby
Talkin’ ‘bout the Illinois
Illinois enema bandit
JUICE!
 
[FZ] Alright!

8. Australian yellow snow {Don’t eat the yellow snow + Nanook rubs it + St. Alfonzo’s pancake breakfast + Mar-juh-rene}


No, no, don’t eat it
No, no, don’t eat it
No, no, don’t eat it
No, no, don’t eat it
 
[FZ] Dreamed I was an Eskimo
Frozen wind began to blow
Under my boots an’ around my toe
Frost had bit the ground below
Was a hundred degrees below zero
And my momma cried:
Nanook! Nanook!
Nanook! Nanook!
Nanook, no, no
Save your money: don’t go to the show”
And I turned around an’ I said:
“HO HO”
An’ the northern lites commenced t’glow
An’ she looked at me
With a tear in her eye
And she said:
“Watch out where the huskies go
An’ don’t you eat that yellow snow
Watch out where the huskies go
An’ don’t you eat that yellow snow”
 
Well, right about that time, people
A fur trapper
Who was strictly from commercial
Strictly commercial
Had the unmitigated audacity to jump up from behind my igyaloo
Peek-a-boo woo-ooo-ooo
And he started in to whippin’ on my fav’rite baby seal
With a lead-filled snow shoe…
 
I said:
“With a lead…
Lead…
Filled…
Lead-filled…
With a lead-filled snow shoe…”
Snow shoe
Peak-a-boo
Peek-a-boo
“With a lead…
Lead…
With a lead-filled…
Lead-filled…
With a lead-filled snow shoe…”
Snow shoe
And he said: “Peak-a-boo”
Peek-a-boo
 
He jumped up from behind my igyaloo and he said: “Peak-a-boo”
With a lead-filled snow shoe…
Right on… Right upside the head of my favorite baby seal, he said: “Peak-a-boo”, with a lead-filled snow shoe
Hit him on the nose and hit him on the fin
 

You know, that got me just about as evil as an Eskimo boy can be…
 

Got me evil as an Eskimo boy can be…
So I reached down with my patented Nanook of the North whale blubber mitten
And I scooped down an’ I reached down an’ I bent down an’ I gathered up a generous mitten full of the deadly…
Yellow snow
The deadly yellow snow from right there where the huskies go
 
And then, in a fit of anger
I pounced
And I pounced again
I jumped up an’ down on the chest of the…
I injured the fur trapper
And then I took my mitten with the deadly yellow snow crystals and I proceeded to rub it all into his beady little eyes with a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to Sydney

But destined to take the place of THE MUD SHARK in your mythology
Here it is, hey!
 
Really cheap, isn’t it?
Goddamn, that’s cheap
That’s so cheap we’re gonna do it again
That’s enough, OK
 
Well, by that time
The extract of the northern dog
Had induced in the fur trapper
A terrible case of temporary
Snow blindness
And he turned around and he said:
“I CAN’T SEE
I CAN’T SEE, TEMPORARILY
I CAN’T SEE
I CAN’T SEE, TEMPORARILY
WHAT IF THERE’S SOMETHING GOOD ON TV
I… I CAN’T SEE, TEMPORARILY
AND I CAN’T SEE
I… I CAN’T SEE, TEMPORARILY
 
He took a dog… a dog-doo snow cone an’ stuffed it in my right eye
An’ he took a dog-doo snow cone an’ stuffed it in my other eye
An’ the huskie wee-wee, I mean, the doggie wee-wee has blinded me
Temporarily
And, oh Lord, I can’t see”
 
Well, here we have a deflicted fur trapper, folks
Wandering around in the middle of the desolate northern wasteland
Can’t tell where he’s going
And he wants to get home in time to watch something good on TV
Well, he doesn’t know it but he’s got a lot of time
But he… maybe there’s something that he likes
He has to fix up his eyes before he can watch the television so…
Scratches underneath of his Parka, tries to figure out what he’s gonna do
And remembers an ancient Eskimo legend
Where it is… it is written
On the little things that they write it on, whatever they are
That if anything bad ever happens to your eyes
As the result of physical combat
With anybody named Nanook
And if, therefore
He rubs some dog-doo crystals in your eye
And you have problems
(It actually says this, folks!)
That the only way that you can fix it up
Is you gotta go trudgin’ across the tundra…
Mile after mile
All the way down to the Columbia River delta
It’s really funky down there, I’m tellin’ ya
And he’s gotta go down to find
The parish of Saint Alfonzo
Saint Alfonzo was the patron saint of the smelt fishermen of Portuguese extraction
And he’s gotta bust into the pantry
At Saint Alfonzo’s parish
And he’s got to locate
A mysterious elixir
Disguised as a box of mar-juh-rene
And his instructions are
To rub it on his deflicted eyes
Until some sort of miraculous cure will take place
In the next episode
We follow the fur trapper as he trudges across the tundra
Direct to Saint Alfonzo’s parish…
And it goes something like this…
Hoopla!
 
Well, here we are!
 
At Saint Alfonzo’s pancake breakfast
Where I stole the mar-juh-rene
An’ widdled on the bingo cards in lieu of the latrine
 
I saw a handsome parish lady
Make her entrance like a queen
Why, she was totally chenille and her old man was a Marine
 
As she abused a sausage pattie
And said: “Why don’t you treat me mean?”
(Hurt me) Hurt me (Hurt me) Hurt me (Hurt me, oooooh!)
 
At Saint Alfonzo’s pancake breakfast
Hah! Good God! Get off the bus!
Where I sto-o-ole…
Where I sto-ole…
Where I sto-o-o-wo-wo-wole…
Woo woo woo
The mar-juh-rene
 
Yeah, I made it down to Saint Alfonzo’s parish, I did
Made it into the pantry down there
I finally discovered what I was looking for
I groped my way past the peas
And I groped my way past the asparagus
And I groped my way past the cauliflower
Groped my way and I groped my way
I don’t mind groping my way
And I groped my way and I found the mar-juh-rene
There it was, there was a little left over from the pancake breakfast
Reached in
Pulled out a lump of the stuff
Then I rubbed it on my right hand eye
And I took it and I
Rubbed it on my left hand eye
Started feeling a little bit better
And I contemplated on the mystery and the majesty of the mar-juh-rene
I said to myself the “M”
The “M” of mar-juh-rene
Must under these circumstances
Symbolize
“Marsupial”
And the “A” under these circumstances
Must symbolize
The constellation of “Andromeda
And the “R”
Under these circumstances
Must constitute
“Ridiculous”
Which is what these circumstances actually are!
Then there’s a hyphen
“M-A-R”
Don’t lose the continuity, folks, there’s a
“M-A-R” hyphen
And as I said last night
And I’ll say it again because I liked it
The first hyphen in mar-juh-rene
Could be used for erotic gratification
By a very desperate stenographer
“M-A-R” hyphen, “J”
“J”
Wha What’s a “J” tonight? Uh…
“J” is for Jesus, and we all know he loves you, ha ha ha ha!
Well, some of you people will go for that and some of you won’t
What’s the difference?
Just thought I’d throw it in. Then there’s a “U”
That “U” is for everybody who believes what the “J” stood for
And also we have a subordinate “U” for the rest of you who go: “Huh?”
And then there’s an “H” which stands for

Or used to about two years ago, stand for “homunculus”
And then there’s another hyphen
“M-A-R”, hyphen, “J-U-H”, hyphen
The second hyphen tonight, ladies and gentlemen
Could be used…
Could be used…
Ha ha ha!
It could be used on you if you bent right over
And then… if you were very short, of course
And sensitive
“M-A-R”, hyphen, “J-U-H”, hyphen, “R”
There’s another “R”
This “R” will stand for “Rebus”, which is a… puzzle with pictures in it
Then there’s an “E”
It’s a very long obnoxious “E” to the n-th degree
And then there’s an “N”
Which is the “N” of the “E” with the n-th degree
And then there’s a tiny weeny dwindling-off little “E” on the end of the thing
By the time I’d finished spelling mar-juh-rene
Correctly, including two hyphens
My eyes felt a lot better and I was ready for the next part of the song

9. Rollo


[Instrumental]


English lyrics from site Information Is Not Knowledge.