JOE'S GARAGE: THE EMOTIONAL DIMENSION
The unlimited popularity of the tonal system in western music has a lot to do with its capacity, combined with instrumentation and the way music is performed, to translate emotions into music in a for everybody recognizable form. It's also the way most people like to talk about music, often giving highly subjective interpretations of what the music means in their opinion along with it. Sections of music can express feelings of joy, sadness, anger and relaxation. Why this effect exists is usually not very clear. Dissonants and shouting can be associated with anger or tension, but why some melodic lines have the effect of joy and others don't is hardly explainable. It's better to take it for granted that the three downwards played notes of a minor third have the effect of sadness, and composers looking to maximize recognizable emotional impact probably have a good catalogue in their mind of melody types and their effect (compare "Debra Kadabra" from "Bongo Fury" from 2:44 onwards for a minor third effect).
Music can also be on a more emotionally abstract level, but certainly not less emotional, where it becomes difficult to translate the emotions into words other than "expressive" or "intense" and where the emotions seem to rely more on the pleasure of the listening to the music itself.
Zappa prefers the more abstract level, confirmed by his unwillingness to take his personal life as the subject of his lyrics. He may talk about his lovely wife and children in "The Real Frank Zappa book", but never on his albums.
Zappa's music can be very expressive, but speaking for myself I have no idea how I could describe for instance
the guitar solos on "Shut up 'n play yer guitar" in emotional terms as happiness or tension.
In Zappa's music the whole palette of emotions occurs in such a manner that it gets indefinable in easy terms. This is related to his attitude towards music,
being that he can use any chord in any scale as well as atonal music. He can, but does not specifically look for progressions that express drama in a classical sense.
I'm continuing with this subject with my comment upon the
"San Antonio" guitar solo from "Guitar" (1988). The more abstract level of
musical expression is possibly indicated as a piece of poetry by Zappa himself in "Packard goose":
"Information is not knowledge
Knowledge is not wisdom
Wisdom is not truth
Truth is not beauty
Beauty is not love
Love is not music
Music is THE BEST"
Specifically this last sentence has become well-known, because Zappa frequently used it as a slogan ever since the release of "Joe's garage" (next to "Don't
forget to register to vote."). As I'm interpreting this, it means that one can listen to music entirely as a goal by itself.
Above to the right FZ and Ray White singing "Joe's garage" (Paris 1980
show as broadcasted by Antenne 2).
Related to this is his instrumentation, that is functional for the composition, meant to make the notes audible in a
clear way and not to create ornamental atmospheres or to overwhelm the listeners through sound building. Some exceptions
do exist like the ornamental harp and percussion part at the end of the "Zoot Allures" guitar solo, that have a relaxing
effect. There are also compositions that are specifically about sound effects, like "N-lite" from "Civilization Phaze III".
In general Zappa chooses instruments that are unrelated in their sound so that they can play separately as well as together
in different combinations, and always remain clearly distinguishable. Alternation of sound is the issue rather than the
creation of an overall sound. Furthermore he doesn't raise or bend his voice while singing and he doesn't dance on stage,
which is for pop music standards unusual. Zappa during the Larry King Live interview on this topic (CNN, 1989):
- LK: "How would you describe to someone, who had never heard it, the Zappa sound?"
- FZ: "Well, I do a lot of different kinds of music, and uh, you know, ranging from orchestral music to big band music
to fuzz tone music, so...".
- LK: "There's no Zappa sound then?".
- FZ: "There are many Zappa sounds and you could specialize in one if you want to listen to only guitar type stuff,
then I can give you a list of albums that have that. If you like orchestral music, that's another list, so it's a variety."
JOE'S GARAGE
As far as I'm concerned most note examples presented in this site are of the emotionally abstract kind. With the ones in this section and the previous Ruben and the Jets section, we're getting at songs with a better translatable emotional dimension. Most of them can be found on "Freak out", "Cruising with Ruben and the Jets" and "Joe's garage". Of the infinite range from deepest inner sorrow to sound related expressions as feeling the groove, some basics are passing by in some of the examples from below.
Act I
1.1 Central scrutinizer
During the opening song, the Central scrutinizer character introduces the play. Speaking through a megaphone,
he's trying to convince people why rock music should be made illegal. This piece gets accompanied by a lengthy vamp,
lasting eight bars. Halfway the song, this vamps steps into the foreground, being played as an instrumental interlude (1:04 through 1:21).
Central scrutinizer, vamp (midi file).
Central scrutinizer, vamp (transcription).
It's another example of Zappa using closely related scales next to each other. Bar 1 follows D Mixolydian, bar 2
is in D Dorian. Bar 5 is step IV of D Dorian. Bar 7 transposes the marimba part up with a major second. This
causes a key change to A Mixolydian. The harmonies are a series of thirds and triads. The synthesizer and duck
quack sounds are only there as irregular embellishment. Towards the end the vamp is drawn back. Here Zappa
is deliberately creating a chaotic atmosphere, letting the scrutinizer stumble over its words with a line taken
out of its context. The white zone refers to the area in airport parking spaces, meant for loading and unloading only.
It has nothing to do with the plot of "Joe's garage".
Originally "Joe's garage" was released as a single album with act I and a double-album with acts II & III.
Above and below are two outtakes from these original albums showing this. Both covers feature photos by Norm Seeff, with
Zappa's face being all black by motor oil and grease.
1.2 Joe's garage
Relaxation and the building up of tension are present in the title track of "Joe's garage".
It opens with a slow I-IV intro in E and then, as the sung melody begins, proceeds with I-IV-V.
This movement continues in several shapes, alternated with divers interrupting bars, all in a slow tempo.
The ease of the I-IV-V progression expresses Joe's fine memories
of the good old times when he was playing a tune like this with friends in his garage.
At the end of the song, when Joe is complaining about all the new fashions in rock music,
the comfortable I-IV-V environment is left and the tension starts to rise, ending with police
interference.
Joe's garage (midi file).
Joe's garage (transcription).
In the transcription above I've combined the opening and some sections, the last
bar containing the start of tension. In the last two bars beats 1 and 2 of the first one
still contain the I chord from E; on beat 3 this chord gets enlarged to I 9th. In the following bar
the D# and G# are altered to natural and the whole harmony becomes an 11th chord over A.
1.3 Catholic girls
The outlines of "Catholic girls" go as:
- 0:00 Instrumental intro.
- 0:11 Theme 1. A melody of two bars in F#. The accompanying chord progression is I-IV-I-VI-V,
like "Joe's garage" at this point quite conventional. See bars 4-6 from the example below.
This theme gets repeated three times, before it ends with a final bar with B-E-C# as chord progression.
- 0:28 Theme 1 four times again, now ending with A-B as chord progression.
- 0:44 Theme 2, a sequence following a modulation scheme: C# Dorian, Gb Lydian, Db Dorian, Ab Mixolydian,
E Dorian, A major/Mixolydian. So here all conventionalism is gone.
- 1:11 Theme 3, another sequence over a chromatically descending bass line.
- 1:22 Theme 1.
Catholic girls, 2:01-2:14 (midi file).
Catholic girls, 2:01-2:14 (transcription).
- 1:38 Interlude. This part is an instrumental variation upon theme 1 with odd rhythms.
The transcription above contains the end of this section with:
a) Bar 1 in 18/16 with a repeated figure, lasting 9/16. The two altered notes, E and A natural, that
you could hear earlier at the end of theme 1, turn up more explicitly here. It
makes this part more volatile as it comes to what scale it is using. Instead of I-IV
in F# major, you're now hearing I-III in F# Mixolydian with an E natural.
The whole interlude gets characterized by an ongoing stream of notes using D#m7 and Bsus2 as broken chords.
b) Bar 2 in 14/16 with a repeated figure, lasting 7/16. The chords are the same as bar 2 from theme 1.
c) Bar 3 in 22/16 with a repeated figure, lasting 11/16. This figure follows the A-B progression
as played at the end of the first repetition of theme 1. By itself you could call it A Lydian.
d) Bars 4-6 with theme 1.
- 2:09 Themes 1-3 again.
- 3:01 Theme 1 some more, with minor variations.
- 3:17 Theme 1 keeps being repeated to the end as a coda, with improvisations and additions.
- 3:54 With the coda almost faded out, the Central scrutinizer turns up, closing the song.
- 4:18 End.
1.4 Crew slut
The Central scrutinizer continues talking, introducing the next song, "Crew slut". This song
follows the verse-chorus structure and includes solos by Denny Walley on guitar and Craig Stewart on harmonica.
The verse has a characteristic vamp (F-E-D, A-C-A), played over a D by the bass as pedal note. This vamp
continues during the solo. The basis is thus D Dorian, but it gets mingled with D Mixolydian by the soloists,
who are playing the Mixolydian F# just as well. A crude earlier version of this song can be found
on the ZFT release "Chicago '78". There it's a part of a piece called "Paroxysmal splendor".
Crew slut, 0:41-0:57 (midi file).
Crew slut, 0:41-0:57 (transcription).
The example above contains bars from the verse and chorus, bars that are getting repeated. To a degree
the mingling of Dorian and Mixolydian can also here be recognized by the harmonica using an F#/Gb next to an F natural.
The harmonica is staff 2 from bars 1-4 and staff 4 from bars 5-8 from the example.
Crew slut, 5:15-5:46 (midi file).
Crew slut, 5:15-5:46 (transcription).
This second example is the outro of the song. It starts with the progression V-IV from D Dorian. Next the Bb from bar 4 comes
in as a surprise. So it's a deceptive cadence. This returns three more times, alternating the Bb chord a with Db chord:
Bars 1-4: A-G (three times) - Bb.
Bars 5-8: A-G (three times) - Db.
Bars 9-12: A-G (three times) - Bb.
Bars 13-16: A-G (three times) - Db.
Also rhythmically the final bar is breaking the steady pattern the preceding bars had. It ends with the final chord being sustained with
Zappa and the Mary character talking over it about the gift, that looks like a Telefunken U47, followed by the Central scrutinizer.
Youtube footage from 2019 with the cover band 2000 Motels performing Crew slut.
1.5 Fembot in a wet T-shirt
The opposition of tension and relaxation is more directly present in the "Run home cues #3" example
from the Movie scores section and
the chamber music section at the end of "Lumpy Gravy, part I". After the dissonant notes in
this section a little dialogue
follows with one saying "not okay" and the other one complaining in response "no, man, no, I
can go through this again?".
After this some charming consonants follow. Happiness has already come by. Controlled in "Jelly roll gum
drop" and "Deseri" from "Cruising with Ruben and the Jets". Euphorically in "What will this evening bring me
this morning" from "200 Motels". Here's one from "Joe's garage":
Fembot in a wet T-shirt, opening (midi file).
Fembot in a wet T-shirt, opening (transcription).
The harmonic basis in bars 1-4 is a I-IV alternation in E. Staff 1 in bar 1 adds in extra passing through chords: the II chord over I and
the V chord over IV. These passing through chords are responsible for making the opening sound so cheerful. Bar 5-6 have something
of the VII-I cadence of E Mixolydian.
"Fembot in a wet T-shirt" knows an instrumental interlude that used to be available on the official scores list of the ZFT (starting at 0:52).
It's listed at the group with "Numbers 7-9" in it as well, so probably it initially had such a numbered title. The rhythm of its opening is for
Zappa standards unusually simple, an even ticking of eighth notes when you're notating it in 4/8 as in the example below. The harmonies are a different matter.
This section begins with a melody using only seconds-steps with the chords being major triads, sort of a wave during bars 1-4. The chords during these first four bars
are played as perfect parallels, thus not belonging to one diatonic scale.
Also for the lead melody the B switches to Bb in bar 3. As a result, the interlude sounds chromatic right from the beginning, rather than diatonic.
The bass is giving a C pedal beneath it at first. From bar 4 onwards the bass starts playing in a counterpoint manner. From bar 5 onwards the intervals for the melody
become more varied. After the sustained chord from bars 6-8, the playing of chords temporarily comes to a halt, to return in bars 13-15 from the example below
in a free form.
Fembot in a wet T-shirt, 0:52-1:08 (midi file).
Fembot in a wet T-shirt, 0:52-1:08 (transcription).
In Arthur Barrow's site you can find some comment upon a little section from "Mo's vacation" included in it (starting at 2:11), at
that time played as a duet for bass and drums. More details about "Mo's vacation" were known via bootlegs (see "Lobster girl", where
I've included a Youtube image of a 1978 concert where it was played), but its score must exist in the ZFT archives.
The comment by Arthur Barrow upon Mo's vacation.
It's an earlier stage of music that got later on reworked upon for inclusion in "Mo 'n Herb's vacation". In 2020
the ZFT released "Zappa - Original motion picture soundtrack" with an official recording of "Mo's vacation".
See the L.S.O. section of this study for its opening.
Fembot in a wet T-shirt, 1:59-2:25 (midi file).
Fembot in a wet T-shirt, 1:59-2:25 (transcription).
The first time the main theme from above gets played it ends with the phrase "and they all crave some big delight". After the interlude
the main theme returns at 1:37. This time the lyrics for this ending phrase are "you know I think it serves them right", bar 1 from the last example here above. It gets
followed by an instrumental bar with a rhythmic figure including two quintuplets, that is also present during the next track.
The combination of these two bars gets repeated a couple of times. Next the quotation of "Mo's vacation" begins. Bar 6 corresponds with the pick-up
bar from "Mo's vacation". The pitches of the notes from bar 7-10 follow bar 1 of "Mo's vacation", also being the lead melody in bar 1 of "Mo 'n Herb's vacation", mvt. I.
The rhythm, however, goes similar but not identical to "Mo's vacation". It's a variation upon it, an "isomelism", as Brett Clement likes to call it.
To a large degree this can be explained by the addition of lyrics, which make it more speech-influenced.
1.6 On the bus
Via interviews it is known that the guitar solos from "Joe's garage" were recorded live. They sound as if they stem from
the same recording sessions as the other songs, because Zappa recorded the accompaniment anew in the studio. The method
he applied for creating the illusion that everything got played simultaneously, he himself called xenochrony. How this
technique worked, and why he used it so intensively, can be followed in detail by comparing
"On the bus" to "Occam's razor", the original solo. Two sections are present
in the previous One shot deal from this study. The riff that is used as a transitional figure for this track is coming over from the previous track (bar 2 from the third example).
It can also be heard at the beginning of "Diseases of the band".
See the corresponding section for a transcription of that specific title.
Joe's garage, Act I, tracklist from the original album. As you can see, Zappa re-titled two songs for
the CD release. "Wet T-shirt nite" became "Fembot in a wet T-shirt" and "Toad-O line" became "On the bus". The
"Scrutinizer postlude" is still part of "Lucille".
1.7 Why does it hurt when I pee?
The outlines of "Why does it hurt when I pee?" are sketched on page 227 of the Ludwig study (see the references).
It's a compact rock song with an interesting instrumental interlude. The song has a basis in A minor/Dorian
with both F natural en F sharp being used (part a, "Teil a", of the outlines).
Why does it hurt when I pee?, outlines.
The interlude is to a degree
a variation upon the sung part with most of its chord sequence
re-appearing in a different set-up.
Why does it hurt when I pee?, interlude, 0:57-1:25 (midi file).
Why does it hurt when I pee?, interlude, 0:57-1:25 (transcription).
Bars 1-8 of the interlude are in A minor, playing around the I and VI 7th chords.
Next you're getting at a series of major triads, interrupted once by a minor triad:
E, F, G, E, Am and ending with D, sustained for various bars. They are the same chords
as indicated by Ludwig for parts ("Teilen") b and c.
Such a series can't be attributed to one specific scale. Keys are implied per chord, like A minor returning in bar 13.
The D pedal part (bars 14-18) can be called D Mixolydian.
This parallel playing of chord types is also addressed at in the Freak out and YCDTOSA II sections of this study.
Bars 9-11 form a little sequence, with a figure being transposed upwards. First with a minor second, next with
a major second.
1.8 Lucille has messed my mind up
"Lucille has messed my mind up" is one of many examples of Zappa doing something one time only. In this case a sentimental ballad,
a slow love song following easy patterns. It's yet another example of him doing exactly what he himself claimed to dislike. See
the Real FZ book, chapter IV, section "purely a mistake", about his dislike of love songs. Stating for instance: "When they start lingering about love as a romantic concept -
especially in the lyrics of the sensitive singer/songwriter type - we're even one step closer to total mental decay".
This is a recurrent factor in his output,
that can be confusing. This particular song is also an example of reggae. Some of its elements are related to "Sy Borg" (see below), but that latter song
is harmonically far more complex.
Lucille has messed my mind up, opening (midi file).
Lucille has messed my mind up, opening and main themes (transcription).
"Lucille has messed my mind up" is in A minor. The instrumental opening, bars 1-7, is using a subset of six notes from this scale. It's made up of A-B-C-D-E-G, thus
avoiding the F. You have to wait till bar 9 to know that the song is in minor for certain. The song displays a simultaneous use of 4/4 and 12/8, a very mild form of polyrhythms. Four beats can get subdivided into two or three ticks. The basis
is the reggae rhythm by the bass and the two rhythms guitars. They are consistently playing in 12/8, so I've notated this song in 12/8.
W. Ludwig, page 273, transcribed the lead melody of the two themes, that I've added to the example to show the polyrhythms more explicitly. These sung themes are in 4/4, so it's logical that
he chose 4/4 for his transcription.
The keyboard players and the drummer alternate between 4/4 and 12/8.
Since 4/4 is the standard in pop-music, you've also got some authors who prefer to avoid notating in 12/8. Then you get triplets all the time or
- when applicable - a note that two eighth notes should actually be played as a triplet (a fourth and an eighth note). These are all valid notational variants,
but what's more simple than noting that four times three is twelve. The reggae rhythm, that Zappa is using here, is standard. There's a weak downbeat
and a stronger accent on the third beat. The rhythms guitars are playing two ticks on beats two and four. The outlines of the song go as:
- 0:00: Bars 1-7 contain the instrumental opening bars, introducing the reggae rhythm. The keyboard players are improvising
during the intro.
- 0:15: Main theme. Bars 8-13 feature most of theme 1. It's sung over a chord progression. C mingled with Am (or Am7), Dm mingled with F (or Dm7),
G and Am. So it comes to rest upon the tonic at the end, rather than at the beginning.
- 0:49: Second theme, phrase 1 (bars 18-20 from the Ludwig transcription).
- 1:13: Second theme, phrase 2 (bars 21-24 from this transcription).
- 1:19: Main theme.
- 1:53: Second theme.
- 2:24: Playing around the main theme till the end of this song.
- 5:42: End.
1.9 Scrutinizer postlude
On the original vinyl album the "Scrutinizer postlude" was part of the previous song. They got separated on the CD version.
"Scrutinizer postlude" is now an individual track of 1:54 minutes with only the Central scrutinizer talking. At the end
he introduces the L. Ron Hoover character, head of the Church of Appliantology. His name is a contraction of L. Ron Hubbard,
founder of the Scientology church, and J. Edgar Hoover, former head of the FBI. Hoover might also be a reference to the Hoover
vacuum cleaner, shown on both the "Chunga's revenge" and "Joe's garage" album covers.
Act II
1.10 Tush-tush-tush - A token of my extreme
"A token of my extreme" is a relaxed song, part of a set of three such songs following closely upon each other. The others are "Lucille has messed my mind up"
and "Sy Borg", these last two with a slow reggae rhythm underneath them. With different lyrics you could call these songs ballads. For "Joe's garage
acts II & III", Zappa could return to a number of unreleased songs he had in stock as well as guitar solos from the last tour. See the One shot deal section
for the "On the bus" solo. "A token of my extreme" draws upon a 1974 concert opener, called "Tush-tush-tush". This predecessor got released itself
on the later 1988 "YCDTOSA Vol. II" release. "Tush-tush-tush" is built over a I-VII alternation in F# minor (E-F# when the pick-up bar moves over to bar 1;
from bar 1 onwards you've got two bars with F#, followed by two bars with E). A bit later on, starting at 1:38, you
can also hear a II-I progression being used at the pick-up point, G#m-5 - F#m). Both Napoleon Murphy Brock and George Duke had the ability to improvise lyrics combining understandable parts
with meaningless and strangely pronounced text blocks. It creates an illusion of an interesting story being told and you're blaming yourself for
not understanding it to the full. You can listen to it again and the same thing reiterates. George Duke and Napoleon Murphy Brock also do this on
"Smell my beard" and "The booger man" from "YCDTOSA Vol. IV", for which songs they get most of the credit. Zappa makes fun of this with his introduction
to "Dupree's paradise" on "YCDTOSA Vol. II", another such example ("... confronted with a partial - how shall we say this - language barrier here.
We don't want to press the issue too much folks, but the chances that you figuring out what he [George Duke] is going to say during the song are nil.").
In the midi file below the lyrics aren't included except for the three
returning "Tush-tush-tush" notes that George and Napoleon jointly sing.
Tush-tush-tush, opening (midi file).
A token of my extreme, themes (midi file).
Tush-tush-tush, opening (transcription).
A token of my extreme, themes (notes).
The three pick-up notes with a VII-I progression in the "Tush-tush-tush" example form the starting point for theme I from "A token of my extreme".
Its full melody is presented in bars 1-4. It's also played over an F#-E (I-VII) alternation by the bass, thus the same F# minor key is used again,
but the chords in this case are played softly
in the background and are mostly used for harmonic fill-in. The melody and the two bass pedal notes stand central. Bar 5, with just the Fmaj7 chord gliding
downwards, makes the transition to theme II. The drummer beats syncopically through this bar: four dotted eighth notes, followed by two normal eighth on beat 4.
The remainder of the transcription is this second theme. It's made up of two phrases. The first, bars 6-9,
gets played three times with variations. Bars 6-8 are in A minor.
In bars 6-7 you have
the minor variant with a major 7th (G#). In bar 8 you get the Aeolian variant with a minor 7th (G natural). For bar 9 the music modulates to D Mixolydian.
Bars 10-13 are mostly identical, only some melody
notes are different because the lyrics have a different amount of syllables.
In bars 14-17 you get at a more serious variation. The notes for "cra-zy" are now B-G# instead of an only a G#. Notable is the chord used for the "-zy" syllable,
namely Ab. Hence I've notated G# as Ab at this instance. It implies a modulation, but the bass persists in playing A pedal, so a modulation doesn't
actually take place. Bars 18-22 form the second closing phrase of theme II. Bars 18-20 continue with D Mixolydian. Bars 19-20 contain improvised keyboard
notes along the Dsus4 chord, played lightly. Bars 21-22 are in C# minor (or Dorian, the A/A# that makes the difference isn't used). The keyboard is now
playing along Bsus2.
1.11 Stick it out
"Stick it out" is the oldest track from "Joe's garage", going back to 1971. At that point it was part of a sequence, known as the "sofa suite".
See the Just another band from L.A. section for a description of this suite. There you can find what the original reason was to partially sing the lyrics in German.
When re-using this song for "Joe's garage", Zappa decided to keep this in and integrate it into the plot. The "sofa suite" remained unreleased for quite a while.
To the left a sample from the album's cover art by John Williams, featuring collages of all kinds of scientific graphs, drawings
and photos. The text has L. Ron Hoover inciting Joe to learn a foreign language in case of "Joe's garage" ... "German for instance?".
Stick it out, 0:00-0:30 (midi file).
Stick it out, 0:00-0:30 (transcription).
The example above is the opening of this song. Its general outlines are:
0:00 Intro.
Bars 1-4 from above are the intro following an articulated rhythm:
- The singers are sometimes on beat, sometimes before or after beat. As 16th notes the counting goes as 3-2-1-1-1, followed by 1-2-5.
- The slapped bass, staff 5, is always before or after beat.
- The picked bass and the drumming are on beat.
In German:
0:12 Theme 1, "Fick mich ...".
Next the example continues with themes one and two in a more regular rhythm within a 4/4 meter. The slapped bass continues with playing
before or after beat. The key is B Mixolydian with some occasional chromatic notes.
0:24 Theme 2, "Streck ihn aus ...".
The last two bars from the example are its opening.
0:41 Theme 3, "Mach es ja schnell ...".
0:52 Theme 4, "Biss es spritzt ...".
1:06 Theme 5, "Aber bekleder ...".
1:30 Transition with the intro returning.
In English:
1:44 Theme 1, "Fuck me ...".
1:54 Theme 2, "Stick it out ...".
2:11 Theme 3, "Make it go fast ...".
2:22 Theme 4, "Till it squirts ...".
2:35 Theme 5, "Don't get no jizz ...".
3:01 Outro with the rhythm of the intro getting varied upon.
4:18 The central scrutinizer introduces the next song.
4:33 End.
1.12 Sy Borg
If it wasn't for its lyrics, "Sy Borg" could be called a ballad. The lead melody of its main themes can be found in the Ludwig study, pages 273-4,
while I've transcribed theme A including the accompaniment. Its structure goes as:
- 0:00 Instrumental intro in F Lydian. Here the same is happening as above at "Lucille has messed my mind up". The rhythm section is following
a reggae pattern in a 12/8 meter, while the sung melody goes more like 4/4.
Sy Borg, 0:16-0:39 (midi file).
Sy Borg, opening and main themes (transcription).
- 0:16 Theme A (midi file from above). Switch to, nominally, E minor, with altered notes turning up frequently. The rhythm guitars and keyboards
are playing triads while the bass guitar is often playing notes, that aren't part of these triads. It makes this song harmonically quite complex.
It's starting with Em7-C7-Gmaj9 during bars 1-3. Because of this first chord Ludwig probably chose to notate
this song as if in E Dorian, but notes are getting altered all the time. The second chord already includes a Bb, played by the bass. Theme A only involves
an E natural, so I've notated it as in E minor. The song can also be heavily syncopic. At the transition from bar 1 to 2, the singer and bass
are sustaining their notes, but also the drummer doesn't hit anything at all at the downbeat. Everybody floats over the downbeat, as if it doesn't exist,
and recommences playing at beat two. Bars 4-5 are a repetition and bar 6 is a cut-off version of bar 3. Bar 7 begins with the C and D chords mingled
(in total a 13th chord) and ends with D. At beat two of bar 8 an E is mingled with this D chord. Next a sustained B by the singer gets mingled
with F, C and E7, as well as sort of a tremolo (A-B). Thus with F natural and G# turning up as altered notes. Theme A ends with the progression
Amaj9 - Gmaj9, a parallel playing of chord types.
- 0:40 Theme A gets repeated, a little shortened.
- 1:02 Theme B ("Little wires ..."), bars 16-25 from the Ludwig example.
- 1:22 Theme C ("Maybe I'm crazy ..."), bars 26-36 from this example. This theme sounds as a modulation, the key being A Lydian.
- 1:50 Theme A, played instrumentally.
- 2:14 Themes A-C return with variations and many alternative bars.
- 3:24 Themes A-C as at the beginning.
- 4:52 A keyboard solo, with the song getting more stable in C Lydian.
- 7:04 The ending block is sung and played in a jazz-like semi-improvised manner.
- 8:54 End.
2.1 Dong work for Yuda (1979)
This song is standard blues. During the 1978 tour Zappa played a somewhat different version of "Dong work for Yuda (1978)" live.
A section from the latter edition can be found in the Hammersmith Odeon section of this study. The 1979 version is in E (major/Mixolydian). Its general
outlines are sketched on page 228 of the Ludwig study, with the lead melodies included below. The drum part by Vinnie Colaiuta has been transcribed by Chris Brady,
included in Modern Drummer, August 1989. When playing as a band, the drummer about always is clarifying the meter. During the opening bars in the example below,
the bass plays on beat for beats 1 and 4, but after beat and off-beat during bars 2 and 3. But the drummer plays on beat all the time. Combined the 4/4 meter is well audible.
For many of his synclavier pieces Zappa typed in the drum part, using a wide range of percusssion elements, and without following the standard rock patterns.
It contributes to the specific character of these works, but it also makes them very hard to transcribe. This also goes for a number of his chamber music works, when there
is no drummer or percussion part and nobody is playing downbeats for longer periods. This goes for instance for "Mysterioso", but also for "The perfect stanger" and the 1992
version of "Amnerica". When you don't have examples from the original score, or the opportunity the see the conductor, you simply dont get clues how the meters should be notated.
Dong work for Yuda (1979), 0:56-1:16 (midi file).
Dong work for Yuda (1979), 0:56-1:16 (transcription).
Next to the drum part the 1979 version also includes an electronic percussion part. Its notes have pitches, not well discernable, and they are played as trills. In the example
from above they are only indicated as trills with 32nd notes, the actual pace they are trilling with varies. This example contains the opening bars and the first two bars
from the blues scheme. The 1978 version follows the blues pattern too, but at
a detail level there are many differences. The little instrumental intro and the 23/16 bar from the 1978 version are for instance absent in the 1979 rendition. Instead
it has an introduction by the Central scrutinizer and the comments of the John figure are much more extensive.
2.2 Keep it greasy (1979) - Outside now (original solo)
"Keep it greasy (1976)" goes back to 1976. A section from the 1976 version is included
in the FZ:OZ section of this study, containing the main theme. In this section I'm concentrating upon the 1979 guitar solo.
Like the "Catholic girls" interlude, the 1979 rendition of "Keep it greasy" knows an odd meter.
This time it's an articulated vamp in 19/16, used for a guitar solo in G Dorian.
Keep it greasy (1979), end of the solo (midi file).
Keep it greasy (1979), end of the solo (transcription).
There's a page about how to learn the drum part of this vamp in Vinnie Colaiuta's site
(http://www.drummerworld.com/Drumclinic/vinniecolaiutagreasy.html). In Modern Drummer, November 1982, Vinnie commented:
"There's this one part where the actual time signature is 19/16. The feel is like it is 4/4 with three 16th notes
tacked onto the end of it. Then there's another part in 21. It was all one live take; no splices or adds or anything.
We just rehearsed it. We used to play it on the road and Frank said, "Okay, we're going to elongate that in the studio
and that's going to be a solo. You're just going to vamp out until I give you a cue and then we'll go into something
else." And bingo, he gave us a cue and zipp, we were in 19/16. We just cut that track with guitar, bass and drums. I
don't recall if there was electric piano in that particular solo section or not. We went to Village Recorders one day
and just churned out tune after tune, all live, no edits or anything."
The vamp is played fast in a nervous manner, thus
forming a sharp contrast with the following song, "Outside now", that has a much slower sentimental vamp. Because of this
the emotions from "Outside now" never come out as outspoken as at the beginning of this song in the "Joe's garage" version.
The example above contains the ending
of the guitar solo. After that the vamp plays solo for a while before "Outside now" starts off.
In 1987 Zappa released "Guitar", containing a 1979 live rendition of "Outside now", calling it "Outside now (original solo)".
Sections from this solo can be recognized as being used for the "Keep it greasy" solo. So this is an example where you can check in detail
how xenochrony worked on "Joe's garage". Another one is included in the previous section at "Occam's razor".
Outside now (original solo), 1:42-2:00 (midi file).
Keep it greasy (1979), 4:04-4:17 (midi file).
Outside now (original solo), 1:42-2:00 (transcription).
Keep it greasy (1979), 4:04-4:17 (transcription).
In this case a solo in 11/8 got superimposed over a vamp in 19/16, showing the almost infinite possibilities xenochrony offered for combining unrelated tracks.
I don't know how it technically worked, but it must have been time-consuming. In the examples you can see that:
- The speed, thus in effect the rhythm, gets adopted almost all through to create instances of the live solo to be equal with the 19/16 vamp.
In effect, without knowing that xenochrony got applied, you could never tell just by listening to it.
- Below the second example I've encircled a block from "Outside now (original solo)", that got skipped on "Keep it greasy". This is also
happening during "On the bus", in my opinion the main reason why Zappa chose for xenochrony.
- The single F note from bar 7 from "Outside now (original solo)" returns as getting repeated in bar 5 from "Keep it greasy". Of the
E note there's one instance less. So this was another possibility to adapt the tape. Bar 5 is also a very clear example of how the rhythm
got adapted to be in line with the 19/16 meter.
The pitch didn't have to be adapted, because Bb Lydian and G Dorian are overlapping. When necessary, this could be done as well, without changing the speed.
2.3 Outside now (1979)
On "Joe's garage" Zappa depicted what can go wrong if you decide to start a career in the rock 'n roll business,
with the accent on sexual abuse. It's also an example of the always present two-sidedness in his ideas. On the album
sleeve we are warned that people exist who would like to make (rock) music illegal, but the so called central scrutinizer
presenting and commenting the little play on the album, gives you some reasons why it should be. Whatever the purpose (if
there is any), the play ends with the main character Joe winding up in prison, being able to play his music
and guitar solos only in his imagination.
Outside now (1979), 0:00-0:14 (midi file).
Outside now (1979), 4:17-4:34 (midi file).
Outside now (1979), 0:00-0:14 (transcription).
Outside now (1979), 4:17-4:34 (transcription).
The first example is the opening of this song. It's also present in this study in the 1988 with an additional brass section.
See the Broadway the hard way section for this "Outside now, 1988 version",
where I've included a description of it.
The guitar solo from "Outside now" returns on the Perfect stranger from 1984 in a version for synclavier, called "Outside now again".
The second example above is an outtake from this solo, that corresponds with the
"Outside now again" example in this study (Perfect stranger section).
The guitar solo part from "Outside now" got transcribed by Steve Vai, The Frank Zappa guitar book, pages 243-9. The notes got entered into the synclavier, though not 100%
identically. See the Guitar section for the opening bars of the guitar solo.
Act III
2.4 He used to cut the grass
"He used to cut the grass" begins with Joe trying to cope with a society where music has become forbidden. Most part of this
song is taken up by a guitar solo, sometimes interrupted by Mrs. Borg. There are four solos from "Joe's garage" available
in the Frank Zappa Guitar book:
- Outside now, pages 243-249.
- He used to cut the grass, pages 250-267.
- Packard goose, pages 226-242.
- Watermelon in Easter hay, pages 214-225.
Above are the opening bars from the solo, including the drum part by Vinnie Colaiuta. Steve calls it "super spacey Lydian".
Two more sample bars from "He used to cut the grass" are included in the quartertones subpage from the Trance-Fusion section.
All of the solo from 1:13 through 7:36 can be found in the Guitar book. As you can see in the Guitar book, and hear
of course, the song knows a modulation to Mixolydian halfway:
- 0:00 Sung intro in E Lydian.00
He used to cut the grass, 0:00-0:43 (midi file).
He used to cut the grass, 0:00-0:43 (transcription).
The example above is the first half of the sung section. The bass is giving an E pedal, while two keyboards are filling this in with
harmonies and glissando notes, playing lightly. Bars 2-4 contain a sung melody that serves as a kind of a theme for the opening.
It gets varied upon in very free manner. This sung part is necessary for continuing the story, a bit like a recitative, at other points done by the Central Scrutinizer
speaking through his megaphone.
- 1:13 Start of the guitar solo, continuing in E Lydian.
- 3:31 The Central scrutinizer enters the picture, commenting. Modulation of the solo to F# Mixolydian by a switch of the pedal note.
- 4:34 The Central scrutinizer has faded out. The solo continues in F# Mixolydian.
He used to cut the grass, 4:34-4:47 (midi file).
He used to cut the grass, 4:34-4:47 (transcription).
In the Shut up 'n guitar section at "Shut up 'n play yer guitar some more" I'm showing an instance where you can see that Zappa could further edit the tapes
he had given a copy of to Steve Vai, before putting them on the albums. This goes for the five bars from the example from above too. It's not something I tried to check by
listening to solos while following the Guitar book, I just happened to come across this. So his "AAAFRNA" principle even applied here. In the five bars of this last example:
- First bar: the final D# is a D natural on the album, but this could be a writing or printing error instead of an intentional adaptation.
- Second and third bar: here I'm not hearing substantial differences. During "Joe's garage" you can sometimes hear accelaration and diminuendo effects
while repeatedly picking on a note on the guitar or drums. Steve Vai came up with a creative idea for notating this as you can see for the tom part ("bounce") in the second bar:
14 beats are played during the time of a half note, with the first starting like an eighth note and the last one ending like a 32nd note.
- Fourth bar: now Zappa created a serious difference between the Guitar book and the final album version. Very well to recognize is that the tempo
of especially the 11-tuplet got diminished (4:42-4:44). It makes this bar last 2/4 longer (more or less), which I've notated as an extra bar.
In it the G is sharp again instead of natural.
- Last bar: compared to the first 3/4 bar, this bar lasts 4/4 on the album.
I haven't checked this any further, so I can't tell to what extent this was done. I have to admit this came as a surprise to me.
"He used to cut the grass" is already an edited solo, the Guitar Book contains the Mrs. Borg part, so I never expected that
Zappa might still further edit it. The Guitar Book is official material, so if this was done on a larger scale, you might get at two
official versions of this solo.
- 6:36 Mrs. Borg returns with her lines from the earlier "Joe's garage" title track.
- 7:36 End of the solo. The Central scrutinizer rounds off the song, speaking all by himself, introducing the next song.
- 8:35 End.
2.5 Packard goose (1979)
The next example is the opening theme of "Packard goose", to be heard between 0:00 and 0:35. It shows an almost constant
changing of meters. It begins instrumentally with playing a phrase four times, that is alternating:
- A bar in standard 4/4 with normally picked bass notes and slapped higher notes.
- Second bar in 9/8 with a sequence of two-note-chords for the vibes. The bass line makes this phrase sounding as a cadence
in E Dorian, following IV-VII-I.
- Bar 9: Joe begins singing. The rhythm is speech-influenced, making this bar last 14/8.
The key switches to E Mixolydian.
- Bar 10: the chorus sings in 12/8 without words.
- Bar 11: as bar 9.
- Bar 12: pattern-breaking bar in 10/8 with only the guitar and drums playing. While thus far the eighth note
has been the time-unit, it now becomes a dotted eighth note.
- Bar 13: the last B note gets sustained for a 4/4 bar, beginning with a heavy drum beat.
- Bars 14-5: another line for Joe that is speech-influenced. I've notated this as 13/8 and 6/8.
- Bars 16: this line ends with an E, also accompanied by the E-chord, sustained for a 6/4 bars.
- Bars 17-8: final line, that rounds off the opening theme with a C#m-B chord progression, also present in bar 10.
Packard goose, opening (midi file).
Packard goose, opening (transcription).
In the case of "Packard goose" the direction of the emotions lie mostly in the lyrics. The melody itself is fluid diatonic
material, that you could just as well use for a love song. Subtle and effective is a chord change in bars 5-6 compared
to bars 7-8, returning in bars 9-10 compared to bars 11-12. It's just the A# going to A natural, but it changes the climate
in bars that are otherwise mostly the same. Here it's sung by Joe for fulminating against imaginary reviews
of his guitar solos. Touching is also the re-appearance of Mary, just the soft intonation of her voice makes an impression.
Her little speech includes Zappa's favorite phrase "Music is the best". "Packard goose (1988)"
got played live during the 1988 tour, as included in the ZFT CD "Zappa '88: the last U.S. show". Two examples are included in the
Make a jazz noise here section from this study. In 1988 the Mary part got re-arranged totally anew.
Packard goose, section (midi file).
Packard goose, section (transcription).
It's also the non-imaginary Zappa himself, who once referred to rock journalists as people who know
nothing about music, who write for people who know nothing about music. His irritation stems from the time "Absolutely free" was released.
The album was for a rock album unprecedentedly complex and its details went unnoticed in reviews. There is more to this remark
however. He also knew that it would get quoted by these same journalists, who can always comfort themselves with the
thought that it's about their colleagues and not about themselves. Rock journalism is a strange business indeed. It's
the only type of journalism I know of where it is considered normal to have no technical knowledge about the subject
you're writing about whatsoever.
Their articles are mostly about the lives of the artist, the music gets only vaguely described by naming styles and mentioning
who's influenced by whom. It leads to bizarre individual reviews that don't contain any specific information about the music itself. Only when you're looking for a common denominator and
average things out, something more sensible comes out. Another song in which the lyrics are responsible for the impact
is an unreleased tribute Zappa wrote for his wife, called "Solitude". It was rehearsed in 1981 and premiered by the
Band from Utopia. It's known by fans via a bootleg copy, indeed a touching piece, still waiting for an official release.
Packard goose solo, section (album version) (midi file).
Packard goose solo, section (Guitar Book version) (midi file).
Packard goose solo, section (transcription).
During "Packard goose" a solo block is played between 3:40 and 8:29, containing two guitar solos and a drum solo, all three played over an ongoing vamp.
This vamp is an eight-bar figure in 3/4, alternating the F# and E chords in an articulated rhythm. The key thus being F# Mixolydian. All of this has been
transcribed by Steve Vai for the Frank Zappa Guitar book, including the drum solo. The first solo starts with sustaining notes and letting them glide and fluctuate for a while.
As a guitar player Steve can add instructions how to realize this.
The example from above contains two cycles of this vamp when the soloing has started with picking notes in a regular way, to be heard between 3:57 and 4:14.
It's peculiar to see that, like during the previous title, Zappa appears to have
been continuing editing the tapes after he had given a copy of it to Steve. During bars 1-8 of the example from above, I'm hearing more or less the same as notated in the Guitar Book.
But in bar 9, the first bar of page 228 from the Guitar Book, Steve notates two chords of which I'm only hearing two individual on the final album cut. So the dissonance of the first
chord, indicated by Steve as "grosse", got eliminated. In the next couple of bars
the rhythm of the notes has been further edited. The fourth bar from page 228 begins with a lower F# and C#: these two notes have been edited out on the album.
These differences are too big to be explained as, say, me hearing things differently or less accurately. On this occasion I've included midi files of both
the Guitar Book and the final album version.
2.6 Watermelon in Easter hay
Zappa's two most famous vamps have probably become the two ones from "Joe's Garage",
that are thus touching by their emotional impact. The "Outside now" vamp from above he himself
was much fond of, because he used it so often. For the 1984 solo on "Guitar" (1987) he returned to
the wailing "Watermelon in Easter hay" theme. Beneath are the theme in its 1984 phrasing
and the closing bars of the 1979 version. They go as:
Watermelon in Easter hay, theme (1984, midi file).
Watermelon in Easter hay, coda (1979, midi file).
Watermelon in Easter hay, theme (1984, transcription).
Watermelon in Easter hay, coda (1979, notes).
These last two midi files lack the richness and warmth that you can hear on the album. Not only because
of sound quality (at least on my pc), but also because my midi
editor can't do things as crescendo, decrescendo, glissando and vibrato. To the right: Zappa playing
"Watermelon in Easter hay" in 1988 (Barcelona concert).
Both "Outside now" and "Watermelon in Easter hay" are unusual solos in their use of meters. Zappa
normally plays over 4/4 in his solos, but these two have odd additional metres, namely 6/8 + 5/8
and 4/4 + 5/4. Apart from the phrasing, the 1984 version of the theme also deviates from the 1979
execution in its rhythm. The one from "Joe's Garage" places the A of the theme on the fourth beat of the vamp,
whereas the "Guitar" version does this on the fifth beat. The vamp is a string of nine fourth notes, moving from
C# downwards to E over an octave and then going up again to D#. The chords formed by the vamp in the two bars are
IV 7th and I 9th of E. The E, being the lowest note of both the vamp and the bass, takes the weight of
being the key note, more than the first A of the bass. This gets confirmed by the coda at the end. The core of the guitar motif,
played over it at the beginning, is a D#-B-A-G# movement. The D# and B of bar 3 aren't part of
the IV 7th chord of the vamp, thus
extending the harmonic field to almost the whole scale. Likewise the A of the second bar isn't part of the I 9th chord.
The guitar coda, that's
eventually played over the vamp on "Joe's garage", is much more in line with vamp (which makes it functioning as a coda
so clearly recognizable). It only has an extra V chord added between the two vamping chords. It goes as IV-V-I-V-IV etc., where the root bass
note from the IV and I chords is sustained during the V chords.
The closing bar contains I being sustained (the E chord).
An earlier version of this composition is coming by as
"Watermelon in Easter hay (prequel)" in the
"Hammersmith Odeon" section. Other instances to raise our tears are the classical broken heart song "How could I've
been such a fool" from "Freak out" and the fragment from "You didn't try to call me", included
in the "Cruising with Ruben and the Jets" section.
2.7 A little green rosetta (1979)
The original recording of "A little green rosetta (1975)" is present in the Läther section.
At that point it got combined with an outtake from the later "Ship ahoy". With "Watermelon in Easter hay" the story of "Joe's garage"
came to an end, but there was still space left on side 4 of the vinyl album, so Zappa decided to use the "Green rosetta" theme
to start a studio jam. The people working at Village Recorders could participate in the chorus. It lasts 8:14, much longer than the original
recording that only states the theme a couple of times before it gets abruptly cut off.
A little green rosetta, theme (midi file).
A little green rosetta, theme (transcription).
The example from a above is the theme as played between 1:45 and 2:03, when the chorus has joined in. The theme is made up of eight
bars, to be subdivided into two phrases:
- Two times a 2-bar progression with Dm-Em-F-G.
- Two times a second 2-bar progression with C-G (extended)-A-C.
The 1975 version has only Zappa singing and George Duke playing on keyboards. This one has many more people playing and singing.
The bass line sets the key to D Dorian and the harmonization is different.
A little green rosetta, section (midi file).
A little green rosetta, section (transcription).
This theme gets repeated and varied upon in an improvised manner through the end with only a little coda in its tail.
Zappa himself takes the lead in improvising the lyrics. The chorus must have been included in more than one take, because they can respond to his improvising.
For instance when Zappa says "because this is a stupid song" they react with "and that's the way we like it". The example from above can be heard between 5:19 and 5:36.
At that point everybody is playing and singing quite loose. Only the bass stays in line with the main theme, playing a D pedal for four bars, followed by four bars a C pedal.
Above an outtake from the original album text leaflet. The text introducing "A little green rosetta" ("get a tip from Joe, hock your imaginary guitar" etc.)
is part of scene 17 with "Watermelon in easter hay". On the original album this text block was also part of the "Watermelon in easter hay" track, but on the CD re-release it became part of the next
"A little green rosetta" track (Rykodisc RCD 10530/31). The lyrics from "A little green rosetta" show Zappa toying with words and ideas in an absurd manner. It's
something he liked to do occasionally, it doesn't have to be realistic. In an interview with Den Simms and Rob Samler, Society Pages
fanzine 09-1991 (https://www.afka.net/Articles/1991-09_Society_Pages.htm) he commented:
"A Little Green Rosetta was originally done as a demo at a session at Studio D at the Record Plant ... circa 1974 ... about
the time we were recording Greggery Peccary ... '73 or '74, and it was just George Duke playing a tack piano and me singing on top of it.
It was just a little stupid song. I always thought it was just a nice little stupid song.
It was put into Joe's Garage to function as a replica of a "cast party," like "OK! The show's over! Now everybody in the cast is gonna get
together and sing a stupid song!" If it were being staged, that's what it would look like."
TOUCH ME THERE
In 1979 Zappa produced L. Shankar's album "Touch me there" for his new Zappa Records label. Shankar had made some guest appearances during Zappa's 1978 US tour. See also the previous Halloween section and the YCDTOSA section for "Thirteen". The album consists of five instrumentals with Shankar soloing on electric violin and three songs for which Zappa wrote the lyrics. One of them, "Dead girls of London", is also known via YCDTOSA vol. V. The title track shows Zappa's flexibility. During the seventies he took an anti-love song attitude on his own albums, but this one is a sensitive song, sung by Jenny Lautrec. Apparently Zappa had no problems delivering the lyrics that go as "Touch me there, I like it. Touch me there, again. Touch me there, some more" with several repetitions. On paper rather simple, but in combination with Shankar's music it works.
No more Mr. nice girl
For "No more Mr. nice girl" Shankar and Zappa co-wrote the music, all other music on the album is by Shankar alone. The opening
and outchorus are included in this section because it's such a merry feel good song. It opens with a syncopic disco type vamp in A Lydian,
with the chord progression I 7th- II. It's followed by a melody in E, played consequently by various instruments.
Then follows a violin solo, that ends with the repeated outchorus as presented below. The bass lick from the beginning returns,
whereas staff 2 contains a repeated E2 chord. Over this the violins play a sequence of 5th chords, followed by the keyboards,
doing a sequence of thirds.
No more Mr. nice girl, opening (midi file).
No more Mr. nice girl, outchorus (midi file).
No more Mr. nice girl, opening and outchorus (transcription).
More about collaborating with Shankar in the Documentaries section with "Strat vindaloo". In this song Zappa is
creating Indian music. Shankar himself played only western music on "Touch me there".
Touch me there album cover and photo of L. Shankar.
Source: CD booklet, design by Carol Friedman.