APOSTROPHE ('): COLLABORATIONS
With "Apostrophe (')" Zappa continued the success he had with "Overnite sensation". Every now and then he would co-write a song with band members. "Apostrophe (')" contains two of them. Others included in this study are "Scum bag" and "No more Mr. nice guy". The title track stems from a 1972 recording session. Originally this song carried the title "Energy frontier", with "Down in the dew" as the main theme and "Apostrophe (')" as a large interlude. More from this session is included in the ZFT release "The crux of the biscuit", with alternative recordings and mixes of most "Apostrophe (')" tracks. "Down in the dew" only got postumely released on "Läther". It looks like Zappa aimed at "Apostrophe (')" being commercial, because the more complex songs he had in stock got skipped. He convinced Warner Bros. to advertise for it on TV. He was so delighted when this album reached number 10 in the LP chart, that he let a marching band parade in front of their office. The "Crux of the biscuit" CD booklet contains photos of this event as well as of the Billboard top LPs list.
1. Don't eat the yellow snow
"Don't eat the yellow snow" is a short song built around a riff in 7/8 in D Mixolydian. It begins with pole winds blowing for 13 seconds
and ends with a second riff in 4/4 for four bars ("watch out where the huskies go, don't you eat that yellow snow"). The riff turns up
in various appearances, as there are in the examples below:
1st example
- Bars 1-8: the characteristic 7/8 bass line with I-I-I-I-II 7th as chord progression.
- Bars 9-10: a different bass line in 7/8. A keyboard is playing a chromatic melody. Zappa has started singing.
- Bars 11-12: as bars 1-8. Low vocals are doubling the bass.
- Bars 13-14: as bars 9-10 without keyboard additions.
1st example
- Bars 1-2: as bars 1-8.
- Bars 3-4: idem with alternative chords: I-VII 9th (including the D by the bass).
- Bars 5-6: as bars 1-8, now with vocal harmonies.
Don't eat the yellow snow, 0:13-0:34 (midi file).
Don't eat the yellow snow, 0:44-0:56 (midi file).
Don't eat the yellow snow, sections (transcription).
There are three live versions of "Don't eat the yellow" available, performed as a suite. To the right: Napoleon Murphy Brock and Zappa in the studio,
1974, rehearsing "Don't eat the yellow" in the Australia version (source: Roxy, the movie DVD). This suite is made up of
tracks 1-4 from "Apostrophe (')" with some extras:
One shot deal: Australian yellow snow
- 0:00 Don't eat the yellow, Australia version with the instrumental intro skipped.
- 0:57 Nanook rubs it.
- 7:41 St. Alfonso's pancake breakfast. According to the Crux of the biscuit liner notes the sung version of "Father O'blivion"
was included in this performance, but omitted from the CD edit (like the "Don't eat the yellow" intro). The next suite
is presented as the full version of how it was performed in Australia.
- 8:40 The MAR-JUH-RENE spelling event.
- 12:26 End.
The crux of the biscuit: Don't eat the yellow snow/St. Alfonso's pancake breakfast
- 0:00 Don't eat the yellow, Australia version incl. the instrumental intro.
- 1:10 Nanook rubs it.
- 6:50 St. Alfonso's pancake breakfast.
- 8:58 Father O'blivion.
- 11:24 St. Alfonso's pancake breakfast, played faster.
- 12:26 The MAR-JUH-RENE spelling event. See the liner notes for a detailed description of the event.
- 16:06 The band soloing in mostly G Dorian, followed by the Father O'blivion text, spoken by Zappa
over a bass G pedal note. See below at Father O'blivion for the version from "YCDTOSA Vol. VI".
- 18:54 "Join the march and eat my starch". A section from the later "Greggery Peccary" composition, with
bars 1-5 being included in this study (as how it's played here, two months later in Sweden, and eventually on "Studio Tan").
- 19:24 End.
YCDTOSA Vol. I: Don't eat that yellow snow (February 1979)
- 0:00 Don't eat the yellow. Again a slightly different version: the descending bass riff is played parallel
on guitar with the chords turning up explicitly only at 1:18. There are quite some alternative bars to make this version
of interest, like the "you don't really look like an Eskimo" line. A little instrumental add-in is included towards the end (2:04-2:16).
- 2:25 Nanook rubs it incl. the fur trapper pounding and poetry reciting event.
- 13:23 St. Alfonso's pancake breakfast.
- 15:11 Father O'blivion.
- 17:26 Rollo variant.
- 20:16 End
The first two suites are taken from two subsequent shows the band played in Australia, June 1973. It has a
pretty different version of "Don't eat that yellow". Performed like this it could never have been the album opener
of "Apostrophe (')", because it doesn't begin with the catching riff of this song.
Don't eat that yellow snow (Australia), opening (midi file).
Don't eat that yellow snow (Australia), opening (transcription).
"Don't eat that yellow snow" (Australia) begins as an instrumental with the example from above (0:00 through 0:27). During the years 1973-74 Zappa experimented
with irregular note strings to be played as fast as possible. The title of "Approximate"
refers to this and the score of this song compared to the live performance shows how it worked. See the YCDTOSA Vol. II section.
The band had to follow the rhythm and the direction of the string, but the individual pitches of the notes were left at choice.
I can't absolutely proof that this is also happening here, but that this is the case is quite obvious. In bars 1 and 6 the band members
are following the same movement but with different chromatic notes. These bars get repeated, but not identically. The recording is not
bright enough to notate everything per player. It's transcribed by approximation with the notes reasonably audible in it. It goes as:
- Bar 1: a string lasting 30/16, following pattern 1. The band members play it chromatically, beginning on different pitches.
It's totally atonal with harmonies being created at random, but the pattern comes out clearly.
- Bars 2-5: a normal pop music figure in 4/4. It's a repeated bar with I-VII-II in D Lydian.
- Bar 6: another string lasting 30/16, this time following pattern 2. The descant players end with a note during up to a whole note.
This space is filled in by the bass and drum.
- Bars 7-8: patterns 2 and 1 get repeated.
- Bars 9-12: the main "Don't eat that yellow snow" riff. It's a different version of the above example regarding the chords and bass line.
It's also in 7/8 and in D Mixolydian, but the construction and harmony are a more basic progression of triads: D-D-C-C#-D or I-VII with a chromatic passing chord between them. Other than
above, the directions of the bass and chords are played parallel.
This is done to let the riff turn into a vamp for the remainder of the song, while on the "Apostrophe (')" CD the riff is the core of the song.
It's tuned down with Zappa speech-wise singing the lyrics, much shorter than on the "Apostrophe (')" CD.
Above to the right: cover of
Don't eat that yellow, pop music wisdom, a collection of painted quotes from various popsongs by Marcus Kraft. It became a best-seller.
2. Nanook rubs it
In most of "Nanook rubs it" a bass riff of two bars is used as a vamp. Only at the
beginning there are some pattern breaking bars in 4/8, for the remainder the bass keeps vamping. It's
a relaxed song in a slow 6/8 meter with Zappa sometimes speechwise singing and sometimes normally
singing about the clash between a fur trapper and an eskimo. As the song progresses short guitar solo comments
and an interlude ("no, no, I can't see") pass by. The vamp is used at length in the 1979 live version
on "You can't do that on stage anymore, vol. I", where it is accompanying the pouncing and poetry reciting event.
Nanook rubs it, opening (midi file).
Nanook rubs it, opening (transcription).
The basis of these two examples is by Andy Aledort, published in the Apostrophe Guitar Book, 2002, Hal Leonard series. His scores are arrangements for guitars.
There are two conventions in the Hal Leonard series:
- All is notated for guitar without inclusion of the bass guitar part. Andy indicates the bass pedal notes here indirectly by
notating a D#m7 and B9 chord alternation with their symbols. I've added the bass part in detail for my midi file.
- Songs are notated in major or minor only, also when the actual scale is modal. Andy notates the key here as normal D sharp Minor.
Since the E is always played natural I've notated no E sharp in the presets. The key is then modal, D sharp Phrygian.
At a detail level I'm hearing things somewhat differently at various points. In the first example I think
the pitches of some parts are different (a fur..., strictly..., peek...), and in the spoken parts Zappa speaks more flatly and the rhythm is more irregular. Maybe
you'd need to resort to quarter tones as well. The 4/4 bars are an obvious writing error for 4/8 bars. In the second example below Andy is hearing more details
than I can discern. When you would have access to the master tapes he might very well be right.
Nanook rubs it, section (midi file).
Nanook rubs it, section (transcription).
This second example can be heard between 2:45 and 3:16. Like the previous song, this song knows only one vamp, but it's getting varied upon all the time.
Specific for the bars from this second example are:
- Bars 1-9: low harmony vocals in staff three.
- Bars 3-8: higher harmony vocals in staff two.
- Bars 9-12: a chord progression by the brass in staff five.
- Bars 9-12: Zappa soloing on guitar in staff four.
- Bars 10-11: middle range vocal harmonies in staves 2-3.
Andy calls bars 9-12 the first half of the instrumental interlude from this song. There are a few sung words to it, but these are referring to the previous.
3. St. Alfonzo's pancake breakfast - Rollo interior
"St. Alfonzo's pancake breakfast" begins with an instrumental intro portraying the fur trapper's journey through the tundra, heading for the parish of St. Alfonzo.
It ends with Zappa commenting "yes, indeed, here we are", which makes it clear it should be interpreted in this manner. The example below is the opening through 0:26.
During bars 1-6 vibes are playing a melody in a diatonic manner. During bars 3-6 a second melody is played on keyboards. It's a string of 16th notes without downbeats or
accents. Andy Aledort chose to notate this in 4/4, leading to 13/16 for bar 5 to let it end. This keyboard melody is chromatic and deliberately irregular. As
minor-seconds-distances the intervals are (plus: upgoing, minus: downgoing):
bar 3: -1-0-2-0-0+2-4-5-0+3+2+1+2-1+2.
bar 4: +1-1-1-2+2-4+5-1-1+1-1-1-2+5+1-4.
bar 5: +2-4+2-4+11-3+2-3+2-1-4+3-4.
bar 6: -1.
There's very little in it that you might call a pattern.
St. Alfonzo's pancake breakfast, opening (midi file, tempo change not included).
St. Alfonzo's pancake breakfast, opening (transcription).
Only in bar 6 the drums start participating with toms, followed by the bass in bar 7. Bars 7-9 contain a figure over a Bb pedal played three times.
The key at this point might be called Bb Lydian with the descant following the progression Em-5 - Dm, followed by a stacked fourth.
Next phrase one from the verse begins. It sets off in standard 4/4 with Andy indicating the basic harmony as C. The bass sets the key to G Mixolydian.
Characteristic of the verse are the little instrumental interruptions of the sung part, like in bar 13 from the example above.
These can contain chromatic elements.
To the right a section of a screenshot of Ruth Underwood showing her copy of the "Rollo interior" lead sheet, handwritten by Zappa
(source: "Overnite sensation/Apostrophe(')" DVD).
She expresses how Zappa pushed the right buttons by writing pieces like this, exactly what she wished to play. Next she
evolves about the 2-chords he prescribed for the harmony, contrary to the more usual triads (in this study these chords can also get called 9th
and 5th chords respectively). "Rollo interior" got used as the second instrumental half of "St. Alfonzo's pancake
breakfast" on "Apostrophe(')", leaving the harmony chords out or mixed to the background where I cannot hear them no more. The same happened
to "The black page". Apparently Ruth liked the presence of these chords
in Zappa's music a lot. In the "Roxy by proxy" CD liner notes she continues as "[...], the very chords that had always attracted me to FZ's music and that
gave it such a distinctive sound". Zappa does indeed use sus2-chords - and sus4-chords - more than average. To mention some instances of sus2-chords from my study:
- "Peaches on regalia", bar 7.
- "Little umbrellas", 1st example, staff 2.
- "Little house I used to live in", melody during bars 27-30 (F#-G#-C#).
- "Rollo", bars 15-16, staff 1.
- The example Ruth plays on the "Overnite sensation/Apostrophe(')" DVD is from
the "Idiot bastard son" (see the YCDTOSA II section), a clear example of Zappa using 2-chords.
- "Punky's whips", chord from the 33/32 bar.
- "No more Mr. nice girl", outchorus.
- "Alien orifice", 1st example, accompanying chords.
- "One man - one vote".
- "Outrage at Valdez", opening bar (F-G-C).
Some more on this subject in the Zappa in New York section at the Black page #1 with Ruth's piano version of this piece. She started working with Zappa as a percussionist on "Uncle meat". In 1972 she joined the Mothers as a steady member,
taking her marimba with her on the road. Zappa already had used vibes and similar percussion instruments for playing lead melodies,
and with Ruth in the band for five years, the relatively uncommon marimba grew out as a trademark of Zappa's instrumentation during that period.
Next are the closing bars of "St. Alfonzo's pancake breakfast", segued by the opening of "Father O'blivion". Both are
complex songs on an album that mostly is accessible, that is to say for Zappa standards. They contain constantly changing
themes, meters, rhythms, keys and tempi.
The next example discussed here is also based upon Andy Aledort's 2002 "Apostrophe(')" songbook, who
got commissioned to transcribe all of this album (thus including the solos).
St. Alfonzo's pancake breakfast/Father O'blivion, transition (midi file).
St. Alfonzo's pancake breakfast/Father O'blivion, transition (transcription).
St. Alfonzo's pancake breakfast part of the transcription:
- Bars 1-6: the ending of the so-called "Rollo interior" section (see also "Rollo" from the Wazoo section). A highly irregular melody. It does use diatonic material from various scales,
but without key notes. The bass keeps moving freely with a counterpoint line and virtually nowhere traditional chords are formed. The rhythm however
is constant: an ongoing stream of 16th notes. As the sheet Ruth is holding during the DVD shows, everything is prescribed, thus also
the bass line (sample to the right). The intervals of the descant melody during the first bar are -2+5-2+4-2+4-2+4-2+5-2+3-1+3-2.
So, other than the keyboard melody from the first example, this melody can follow what you might call patterns.
- Bars 7-9: closing bars from "St. Alfonzo", forming a transition to "Father O'blivion".
4. Father O'blivion
Continuation of the last example:
Father O'blivion part:
- Bars 1-8: instrumental opening in E Mixolydian with a guitar lick. It gets joined with a second lick in bars 5-8.
Up till the chorus notes keep altering frequently.
- Bars 9-14: main theme. The first guitar lick stops, the second lick now gets accompanied by the bass.
- Bars 15-18: second theme in varying meters.
Father O'blivion, chorus and interlude (midi file).
Father O'blivion, chorus and interlude (transcription).
Through the end Zappa keeps coming up with new themes. The example above is from the middle of "Father O'blivion". It can be heard between 1:01 and 1:28, containing:
- Bars 1-2: two bars with the main theme returning, in fact the only recurring phrase during this song.
- Bar 3: an intermediary bar.
- Bars 4-13: a section that Andy calls the chorus, being the only section from this song that
is in straightforward on-beat 4/4. Most other parts include syncopes or strings of 16th notes.
It begins with a sung chord progression in E, and ends instrumentally upon an F# pedal, step II of E or becoming F# Dorian by a pedal substitution.
During bars 10-13 you can also hear two synthesizers playing glissando notes in a wave, and another playing fast high notes. This is done ad lib.,
in the example I've roughly indicated what's happening.
- Bars 14-16: this gets followed by a little interlude using a Latin type of rhythm. It has a syncope between beats 1 and 2, while beats 3 and 4 are off-beat.
Father O'blivion, end (midi file).
Father O'blivion, end (transcription).
"Father O'blivion" is made up of a number of themes, rather than following a standard pop structure. You could give these themes section identifiers with letters,
as Zappa often does in his written scores. Andy Aledort does this too in for instance his transcription of "It must be a camel", but on this occasion
he chose to call the section with "Oh St. Alphonzo would be proud of me" the chorus and most other sung parts simply "verse". There are no rules for how
this should be done. When you call it "verse" you have to be aware that each appearance of the verse contains new phrases, which is in effect
the same as saying that each time it's a new theme. At the end of "Father O'blivion" you can hear the following two new phrases:
- Bars 1-4: a repeated phrase over a Amaj7 - G#m7 bass-chord alternation.
- Bars 5-10: another repeated phrase over this alternation, now spread out over two bars.
Andy calls this last phrase the outro. It fades out rapidly to about inaudible, after which some marimba notes follow with someone laughing and
somebody else saying "that shit is fast". This last sentence is present very quietly, you have to turn up the volume to notice it's actually there.
Andy calls this last addition the "tag". It's a short interruption between songs, unrelated to their content. Zappa would do that more often on "Läther" and
systematically on "Shut up 'n play yer guitar". The key of the end by itself might be called A Lydian. The overall key of this song is E Mixolydian/major,
so one could also indentify this as steps IV-III from E.
Apparently the lyrics for "Father O'blivion" were written before the music as we know it from "Apostrophe (')" existed. During his Sydney concerts from June 1973,
Zappa is reciting these lyrics over a bass pedal in 12/16.
Father O'blivion (Sydney), 0:35-0:50 (midi file).
Father O'blivion (Sydney), 0:35-0:50 (transcription).
The example above is an outtake of this recording, where bars with text are alternating with bars
with him soloing. It's another example of mingling Mixolydian and Dorian. During the first bar everybody is following G Mixolydian with George Duke playing G7.
There's also a lower F-note/F-chord on keyboards present, pulsing through much of this song. During this section in the background, of which I've indicated only a few notes. From
bar 3 onwards Zappa switches to G Dorian, while George Duke continues in G Mixolydian. The bass avoids the note that is making the difference (B/Bb).
There are two writing errors in the booklet of "YCDTOSA Vol. VI", where the Sydney version got included: the concert year should be 1973 instead of 1972 and the title should better be
"Father O'blivion" instead of "Farther O'blivion". This last title, with an extra "r", was also in the setlist but used for a composition dealt with in the Imaginary diseases section.
5. Cosmic debris
The scores of all songs from "Apostrophe (')" are available as the Apostrophe (') guitar book from the Hal Leonard series.
As already mentioned, the transcriptions are done by Andy Aledort, who earlier transcribed "Hot rats" as well. Next is the opening lick
of this song, where I'm showing his transcription compared to the "Crux of the biscuit" version.
Cosmic debris (Crux of the biscuit), 0:00-0:19 (midi file).
Cosmic debris (Crux of the biscuit), 0:00-0:19 (transcription).
The "Crux of the biscuit" release by the ZFT has this lick first being played by brass instruments. It lasts six seconds and got edited
out for the album. In this version the chords aren't only implied as with the guitar intro from "Apostrophe (')" (C7#9 and Bb, with the asterisk saying
that these chords are implied). While the bass keeps giving a C as pedal note, the harmonies over this go somewhat like:
- bar 1, beat 1: C7.
- bar 1, beat 2: Ebsus2.
- bar 1, beat 3: C7.
- bar 1, beat 4: F.
- bar 2, beats 1-2: Fsus2 followed by passing notes.
- bar 2, beats 3-4: Bb.
So the implicated chords by Andy happen to be in line with how the band actually played this at the time Zappa had it harmonized.
"Cosmic debris" keeps vacilating between C Dorian and C Mixolydian, thus yet another example of mingling two closely related scales, in this case
with the accent lying upon Dorian. The major third from the C7-chord shows the Mixolydian aroma to the opening riff.
Cosmic debris (Apostrophe (')), 3:21-3:46 (midi file).
Cosmic debris (Apostrophe (')), 3:21-3:46 (transcription).
This mingling of Dorian and Mixolydian continues in this second example, played towards the end of the song. It begins with what sounds as
a third theme (next to the verse and chorus), though Andy interprets it as a variation upon the verse with a double-time feel (the verse starts with
the last two bars of the previous example). The rhythm is at some points speech-influenced, which makes the first bar look a bit odd on paper.
When you play it like this, it sounds natural. Andy indicates the basic harmonies as a C-F alternation with again the C-chord being the Mixolydian element.
It's difficult to hear the exact notes involved in each bar, but in bar 4 I'm indeed hearing an E natural during beats 1-2. Mostly it's a Dorian Eb.
With bars 7-8 the chorus returns once more. At this particular instance one of the singers is singing an F# instead of an F natural in bar 7, beats 3-4.
Halfway Zappa is playing a guitar solo following the standard 12-bar blues scheme. He himself is following C Dorian, though with notes frequently being altered.
Above are the first two bars of the scheme. Andy indicates the chords from the scheme as follows, not belonging to one particular scale:
- bars 1-4: C7#9 (as at the opening lick).
- bars 5-6: F7.
- bars 7-8: C7#9.
- bar 9: G7 (a switch to a major chord upon step V is common in blues).
- bar 10: F7.
- bars 11-12: C7 and F7, followed by C7 and G7.
"Cosmic debris" gets described by Wolfgang Ludwig on page 218 of his study as above. I'm presenting this to show that there's often some degree of choice as it comes to
analyzing Zappa's music:
- Andy notates "Cosmic debris" in 4/4 consistently, which leads to various bars using triplets all the time. With a tempo change (like 3 eighth notes = 2 eighth notes from
the previous bar), one might also notate such bars in 12/8 or 6/8, as Wolfgang is suggesting. Seen his example and counting of the blues bars, you can also see that he would split
Andy's 4/4 bars into two times 4/4, using a larger note value as time unit.
- It's a convention in the Hal Leonard series to allways notate songs in major or minor. Andy chose for major, while Wolfgang did the opposite, going for minor.
This confirms my reading that it's moving in between: switching between Dorian and Mixolydian.
- What I'm calling a new theme above, is also referred to as still being the verse by Wolfgang, consisting of a new phrase "c".
The 2022 ZFT release "Waka/Wazoo" shows that "Cosmic debris" already got played by the "petit wazoo" band in 1972, as also
was "Montana" from the "Overnite sensation" album.
6. Excentrifugal forz
"Excentrifugal forz" begins instrumentally in A Mixolydian. The bass riff, that
is introduced during this opening, continues being used and varied upon as the basis for the remainder of the song in a couple of appearances
(the main riffs are indicated as A, B and B1 in the Apostrophe Guitar Book).
Following upon the opening you've got Zappa speech-wise singing the lyrics in an irregular manner, interrupted by a little guitar solo.
Various synthesizer effects are included as well.
Excentrifugal forz, 0:00-0:13 (midi file).
Excentrifugal forz, 0:00-0:13 (transcription).
The instrumental opening, included above, is all about the parallel playing of fifths over a bass pedal and riff. Bars 1-2 are just the A5 chord ticking
over a voluptuous synthesizer A pedal. The rhythm during bars 4-6 is quite articulated. It goes fast and virtually every beat has a rhythm of its own.
The meter is standard 4/4, except for bar 2, that gets extended with an eighth note. In bars 3-6 you've got three parts playing the descant line:
- A higher sax in the soprano range (staff 3 in bar 2, staff 2 for the remainder).
- A sax in the alt range (staff 4 in bar 2, staff 3 for the remainder).
- A synthesizer playing along with the last (alto) sax, though not fully identically (staff 5 in bar 2, staff 4 for the remainder).
These three descant lines are playing around a series of parallel fifths: F#5-D5-E5-F#5-E5. The bass lick supports this with mainly an A pedal,
so the total harmony can become F#m and Esus4.
7. Apostrophe (')
The title track from "Apostrophe (')" is one of two instances on this album of Zappa collaborating with others regarding songwriting. Next to Zappa himself, it gets credited to
Jack Bruce and Jim Gordon. Without inside information it's impossible to know who exactly contributed what. Since Jim Gordon plays the drums, I felt obliged to
include the drum part in the note examples in this case. "Apostrophe (')" got recorded as a quartet with also Tony Duran on rhythm guitar. Jack Bruce plays the fuzz-like
bass. The Apostrophe (') guitar book comes in handy for following the structures of the included songs, because they are subdivided into blocks with capitals. I'm following
these blocks in the overview below.
A (0:00-0:17). Opening theme. The central theme of "Apostrophe (')" is a guitar-bass riff presented in bar 1 of the next note example. It is using notes from the Em7
chord, only at the end getting at an A outside this chord. It gets played without accompanying chords but with some
synthesizer sounds added to it as shown in staves 2-3, probably overdubbed. The riff is played four times and it gets followed twice by a chord progression: G-A-Em. Because the
riff begins on E and the chord progression ends on it, the key can be identified as E Dorian. Rhythmically the riff is half on-beat and half syncopic. The A and Em
chord of the progression appear in syncopic positions as well.
Apostrophe ('), section #1 (midi file).
Apostrophe ('), section #1 (transcription).
B (0:17-1:19). Alternation between D Mixolydian and C major, each played for two consecutive bars every time they appear. Here the bass is leading, playing the melody, while
the guitar plays a number of chords on D or C. The two scales, that are being used,
differ by one note, namely the F# from D Mixolydian and the F natural from C major. In the note example you can see the F# in the chords from bars 3-4. The
F natural turns up in the bass line from bars 5-6. The following note example begins around the middle of this block with the alternation being at
C major, though the bass line in bars 1-2 is chromatic.
Apostrophe ('), section #2 (midi file).
Apostrophe ('), section #2 (transcription).
C (1:19-1:24). Two transitional bars in B Dorian.
D (1:24-3:22). Bass and guitar duet in B minor or Dorian. These two scales differ by one note, G versus G#, and they both are being used. In the example below you have a G by the bass.
In the guitar book you can see both G and G# turn up for the guitar part. Andy Aledort apparently marked this block as a guitar solo, rather than a duet. Indeed
you could say this is the part with the guitar soloing being the most active contributor. The guitar solo itself starts with a riff played four times, not returning elsewhere
in this piece.
Apostrophe ('), section #3 (midi file).
Apostrophe ('), section #3 (transcription).
E (3:22-3:44). Closing notes of the guitar solo and bass, a faint C# for the guitar and the tonic B for the bass. With it four bars of drum soloing start.
F (3:44-5:31). Variations upon the previous:
- The central theme returns four times.
- Mix of free variations upon the central theme by all parts and improvised melodic lines. The lead guitar is little by little moving towards the background
till in the last five bars it's only the rhythm guitar and the bass left. In these last bars a closing riff gets repeated, not directly related to the central theme.
G (5:31-5:50). The central theme returns once more, while this instrumental fades out to its end.
8. Uncle Remus
"Uncle Remus" is a collaboration between Zappa and George Duke. When I included this example during the update of the summer of 2013, I had no information
about who contributed what. In the "Crux of the biscuit" liner notes, George Duke gets quoted from an unreleased interview with Andy Hollinden from 1997,
saying: " [...] So he was going to do a demo for me. We did three songs and "Uncle Remus" was one of them. Frank decided, after we recorded it - I didn't get
a deal out of it, by the way - but, basically, he said, "I think I'd like to use this track on my album and I'm going to write some lyrics to it".
And so I said, "Hey Frank, you paid for it. Go ahead". [...] I was very happy and honored by the fact that he'd even consider doing it, because I didn't think
it'd be the kind of song he'd be interested in". In 2022 the ZFT released "Waka/Wazoo" with the first recordings of these songs for an upcoming George Duke album.
So as a musical collaboration it's a lesser example than the above "Apostrophe (')" track or
"No more Mr. nice guy" from the Joe's garage section from this study. These two songs contain no lyrics, so the cooperation can only have been musical.
Still there's some musical contribution by Zappa in the sense that he plays solo guitar on it, as well as being the producer of the song.
But the music is written by George Duke alone, and the lyrics by Zappa alone.
The example below contains a part of the instrumental interlude with Zappa soloing on guitar along the chord progression of the central theme. George Duke of
course is playing the keyboard part.
It's a progression drifting along a number of scales. Andy Aledort notates it as D minor, but that's only a relatively best fitting choice. The chord progression
here is, mostly as indicated by Andy:
bar 1: Dm - Dm plus C by the bass.
bar 2: G - Gm - Am.
bar 3: Gm7 - Dm - C plus D by the bass.
bar 4: Gm7 - Bb - Eb - Bb.
bar 5: F - Bb - F - Fsus2 - Gm.
bar 6: Bbmaj7 plus C by the bass - C - Bbmaj7 plus G by the bass - C - Bbmaj7 - C - Bb.
bar 7: Dm7 - G7/G.
bar 8: Bbm - Eb - Bbm - D.
The scales passing by briefly are: D Dorian for bar 1, bar 2 is transitional, D minor for bar 3, G minor/Bb major for bar 4, F major or Mixolydian for bar 5,
C Mixolydian for bar 6, D Dorian/G Mixolydian for bar 7. Bar 8 follows a Bb minor variant, the series of notes being Bb-C-Db-Eb-F-G-A. With the last chord from bar 8 you're getting back
at D Dorian. The rhythm of this song is standard playing in 4/4. The lyrics have Zappa accompanied by a female chorus all through (staff 1 in bars 1 and 8). The Ikettes without Tina now get mentioned by their first name (Debbie and Lynn; see
also above). The album also mentions Susie Glover, so she might be in the chorus too. These lyrics refer to black people and the riots they could get involved in in the
sixties and seventies. As in many of his songs Zappa sings it in the I-form, while it's obviously not about himself, with its purpose remaining cloudy. Maybe it was just for
portraying some aspects of what was going on in these days.
Uncle Remus, interlude (midi file).
Uncle Remus, interlude (transcription).
The two collaboration pieces
from above, however, never appeared live on official albums. "Apostrophe (')" was used as a concert opener during the Bongo Fury tour, an interesting version
that fans know by for instance the El Paso bootleg. Since the ZFT steadily releases live albums, we might get to hear more from this tour one day too.
Other collaborations included in this study:
- Breaktime: with Ron Williams and Paul Buff.
- Memories of El Monte, Hey Nelda, Surf along and Everytime I see you: with Ray Collins.
- Alley cat: with Don van Vliet.
- Would you like a snack? (1968): with Grace Slick for the lyrics.
- Scumbag: with John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Howard Kaylan.
- Say please and Aaawk: with John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
- Eddie are you kidding: with Howard Kaylan, Mark Volman and John Seiter.
- Magdelena: with Howard Kaylan for the lyrics.
- Dummy up: with Jeff Simmons and Napoleon Murphy Brock.
- Smell my beard: with George Duke.
- The booger man: with George Duke and Napoleon Murphy Brock.
- Wonderful wino: with Jeff Simmons for the music, Zappa plays a solo.
- Lobster girl: with Patrick O'Hearn and Vinnie Colaiuta.
- Rubber shirt: with Patrick O'Hearn and Terry Bozzio.
- No more Mr. nice girl: with Lakshmirnarayna Shankar.
- Canard du jour: with Jean-Luc Ponty.
- Lisa's life story: with Lisa Popeil.
- Frogs with dirty little lips: with Ahmet Zappa for the lyrics.
- Little rubber girl: with Denny Walley.
- Chana in de Bushwop: with Diva Zappa for the lyrics.
- Yo cats: with Tommy Mars.
- Calculus: with Todd Yvega.
9. Stinkfoot (1974)
In the Halloween section of this study you can find the live version of "Stinkfoot (1978)"
compared to the studio version from "Apostrophe (')". The main vamp goes pretty differently. This goes for all
live editions of "Stinkfoot", the other ones appearing on "YCDTOSA Vol. II", "FZ:OZ" and "Make a jazz noise here".
All have a guitar solo in C Mixolydian in them, making each version of interest.
In 2022 the ZFT released "Zappa '75 Zagreb/Ljubljana" containing yet another version of this song, an outtake
of the soloing during its opening being present as the "Stinkfoot (1975)" example
from the FZ:OZ section of this study. Regarding the music the common denominator is the 12/8 meter, subdivided as four times 3/8.
To the right an outtake from the Billboard top LPs as reproduced in the "Crux of the biscuit" CD booklet (with Zappa's position encircled), dated June 29, 1974.
"Don't eat the yellow snow" was released as a single, which helped to get some air-play. Other photos in the booklet concern the Rolling Stone review
and the golden record, granted in 1976.
"Stinkfoot" knows no chorus, only a verse in a couple of appearances, and solos. Globally "Stinkfoot" is constructed as:
- 0:00 Verse, shape 1, "In the dark, where all the fevers grow ..." (see the Halloween section for bars 1-4).
- 0:44 Verse, shape 2, "Out through the night ..."
- 0:59 Smaller guitar solo.
- 1:06 Verse, shape 3, "This has to be the disease for you ...". Zappa continues singing speech-wise.
- 1:27 Verse, shape 4, "Y' know, my python boot is too tight ...". Sung again as during shape 1, now with a guitar soloing
along with it.
- 2:03 Side theme, "Here Fido ..."
- 2:17 Larger guitar solo.
Much of the solo is played over a vamping figure as in bars 1-7 from the example below. It's a figure in C Mixolydian along the line C-C-Bb-G-F-G.
Bar 8 interrupts this pattern with an alternative line. The harmonies are predominantly C7/C and Bb, being played around in an improvised manner by George Duke.
There are many chromatic elements happening in this solo with an Eb being used frequently next to an E natural. So it might be called another
instance of mingling Mixolydian and Dorian, as is also happening during the opening (see the Halloween section for the details).
The opening bars of the solo from below are more brightly in Mixolydian, with the D# (Eb) appearing as a passing note.
Stinkfoot solo, 2:17-2:44 (midi file).
Stinkfoot solo, 2:17-2:44 (transcription).
At the onset of the seventies, Zappa started using the possibility of double-channeling a guitar, using a different exit for the right and left channel.
Not only does the sound get different, also the volume accents vary. In case of the "Stinkfoot" solo the stereo effect is outspoken, which in this case I've tried
to indicate in the transcription for its notes. During bars 1-2 there's probably a second guitar for the middle field, the remainder is the lead guitar.
Visually the effect can be such that some of the notes are about only audible left or right, but it's mostly the difference in sound that creates this stereo
effect, hard to capture on paper.
Apart from that Zappa kept varying the sound of his guitar all through his career, as well as the other instruments. The result is that most of his albums
have a sound that is specific for that album only. Combined with the wide range of styles, his total output could be called extreme as it comes
to a desire for variation and exploring musical possibilities.
- 3:20 Instrumental interlude.
- 3:34 The solo continues.
- 3:52 Verse, shape 5, with the vamp from the solo continuing slightly different. At 4:49 the accompanying guitar starts soloing some more.
- 5:11 Outro. This outro is polyphonic, built up using the following layers:
"Stinkfoot" outro (the meter is 12/8). Source: Apostrophe (') Guitar book, transcription by Andy Aledort.
a) Vocal figure 1: the chorus singing "the poodle bites, the poodle chews it".
The chord progression in C Mixolydian is I-II alternating, ending with VII.
b) Guitar 5/riff G: bass figure ticking Bb-C-C etc., establishing C as tonic.
c) Vocal figure 3/rhythm figure 1: Zappa singing "poodle bites" along harmony chords, following
V-I-VII-IV. All parts are in 12/8 without syncopes, but only half of the time
coinciding, stressing the polyphonic character of the outro. The combined notes of a) and c) create wider harmonies.
d) Guitar 2: solo guitar. As during much of "Stinkfoot", the guitar is playing an improvised solo-like part. Again you can see
an Eb being involved next to the E natural from the vocal parts. Thus again a mingling of Mixolydian and Dorian.
These figures appear in a couple of variants. d) continues soloing, while a)-c) gradually fade out towards the end.
- 6:37 End.