THING-FISH: AN OPERA
In 1983 Zappa was again debating with his record company, now CBS, about sales figures and
their unwillingness to distribute "Thing-Fish". He switched CBS for EMI and "Thing-Fish" got
released at the fall of 1984. It's a theatre piece in the form of an opera, with the libretto
added to the CD, but musically more remindful of a Broadway musical. The 22 pieces are made
up of dialogue sections with basic accompaniment, the re-using of earlier material, adapted
for the opera, and seven new songs.
A play as "Thing-Fish" doesn't stand by itself in Zappa's oeuvre. On various occasions he was busy writing plays and movie scripts
as there are:
- "I was a teenage maltshop". This idea for a mini opera stems from 1964. It didn't get any further than a demo, but can be
reconstructed about halfway. See the Mystery disc #2 section.
- "Captain Beefheart versus the Grunt people". A science fiction movie script, existing as an unpublished 94 page text
from 1969 and photos of cardboard backdrops from 1965. Zappa once mentioned "Duodenum" as its opening theme.
- "Uncle meat". A movie project completed in three phases. Because of budgetary problems and people withdrawing themselves,
Zappa almost had to rewrite the script on the instance.
- "200 Motels". Only a third of the 100 pages of script got actually filmed, again due to the limited budget and people
leaving the set.
- "Hunchentoot". A science fiction musical Zappa wrote in 1972. No budget could be raised; most music would be used on later
albums, most notably "Sleep dirt", that today also has the original lyrics.
- "Joe's garage". This triple album/double CD follows the outlines of a play.
- "Them or us", the book. This writing has the set-up of a screenplay, revisiting the earlier pieces and "Thing-Fish"
(the whole "Hunchentoot" libretto is included).
In the case of "Thing-Fish" Zappa typed out the blueprint during the Christmas days of 1982. Though an actual performance
of "Thing-Fish"
couldn't be brought together, this time Zappa had the means and contractual freedom to get the whole piece on album exactly
as he wished. It's unlikely that
"Thing-Fish" will ever be performed on theatre stages in full on a commercial basis, though an adapted version
premiered in 2003 at the Battersea Arts Centre (BAC), London. For that its content is too much far-fetched
and musically it has little news to offer. Imagine how absurd stage directions as "Opal rides the bull while Francesco
gives her an enema" should be executed. The opera has become much more palatable by its re-release on CD. Now you can select the new musical songs far more easily, listen
to the textual pieces once in a while and include the recycled pieces when you're in the mood for them.
Above to the right: FZ and Ike Willis singing "He's so gay" (Does humor belong in music DVD). Ike helped
creating Thing-Fish's old southern accent and sings more than half of the libretto.
1.1 Prologue (1984)
The entire show is hosted by the mammy nun "Thing-Fish", a part sung by Ike Willis, who first
appeared as Joe on "Joe's garage" and continued working with Zappa through the last tour of 1988.
As a title "Prologue" also exists as a track recorded in 1968 for the play on "Ahead of their time".
Prologue, 0:00-0:12 (midi file).
Prologue, 0:00-0:12 (transcription).
During the "Prologue" from 1984, Thing-Fish introduces the play, accompanied by an ongoing bass lick in A Mixolydian. A rhythm guitar
is ticking the A chord in a loop, with some variation being achieved by its rhythm and the accents of the notes. Regarding sound
it's tuned down or re-positioned lower than a guitar normally gets.
The bass figure extends this harmony to the A7 chord and you can hear keyboards chords gliding over it.
From 2:21 onwards Thing-Fish gets supported by the chorus. It's one of a number of tracks where the music is subservient
to the text, spoken by Thing-Fish, rather than sung.
1.2 The mammy nuns
The mammy nuns introduce themselves in the chorus singing of the second song. The example below from "The mammy nuns" has its basis in F# Mixolydian.
The mammy nuns, 2:29 till 2:45 (midi file).
The mammy nuns, 2:29 till 2:45 (transcription).
In staff 1, bars 1-2, Zappa lets two major 5ths chords
follow upon each other, rather than doing I-III, thus moving to an A chord instead of A#m-5.
The A# thus alters to A natural doing so.
Staff 1 mostly proceeds via 5th chords. See also the Freak out! and YCDTOSA vol. II sections (at "The idiot bastard son") for more about
parallel chord types. Staff two is a melody sung against
it in parallel fourths. The bass makes its own movement. The combination of these three parts makes it another
example of Zappa creating harmonic fields that mingle about all notes of a scale.
1.3 Harry and Rhonda
The pieces, where the lyrics stand central, is the following set:
- "Prologue".
- "Harry and Rhonda".
- "That evil prince".
- "Harry as a boy".
- "The massive improve'lence".
- "The crab-grass baby".
- "The white boy troubles".
- "Brief-case boogie".
- "Drop dead".
In some cases the background music is pretty interesting, making one wish it could also be listened to with the lyrics
mixed to the background. In other cases the music is clearly subservient to the text. Smaller outtakes are shown below, while
briefly describing their content.
The couple Harry and Rhonda from the audience gets integrated into the show. They discuss what they've seen thus far,
first whispering but soon talking and sometimes singing a little. The musical basis is a bass movement of two bars
in Ab Mixolydian. It keeps being varied upon. The central element is Ab moving to Gb in the first bar and Ab moving
to Eb in the second bar.
Harry and Rhonda, 0:00-0:16 (midi file).
Harry and Rhonda, 2:30-2:48 (midi file).
Harry and Rhonda, 0:00-0:16 (transcription).
Harry and Rhonda, 2:30-2:48 (transcription).
The first example shows this bass theme as played at the beginning with Rhonda starting
to talk to Harry (the text isn't included in the example). The second example demonstrates how the piece evolves.
It's the section between 2:30-2:48 where Rhonda is both singing and speaking a series of notes. The phrase
"I want fairies on the string" is clearly sung (bar 1, beats 3-4), while "... real Broadway entertainment. I want
spot-lights, guilt..." etc., is spoken in an aggressive manner (bar 2, from beat 2 onwards). The bass theme gets
accompanied by a slow chord progression (Ab7-Db-Ab) and an improvised descant melody.
1.4 Galoot up-date
"Galoot up-date" is the first of a number or recycled songs from preceding albums, adapted for the play. Zappa didn't record
the musical tracks anew, but these songs are different because of their vocal parts. In this case the song got a new title
as well. The opening of the original song, "The blue light", gets dealt with in the Tinsel town rebellion
section of this study.
Galoot up-date, 4:21-4:42 (midi file).
Galoot up-date, 4:21-4:42 (transcription).
This section from "Galoot up-date" is played towards the end. Bars 1-6 are as on "Tinsel town rebellion" with the chorus singing in A Mixolydian.
In bars 7-8 Thing-Fish is replacing the original lyrics, like Zappa singing speech-wise.
It contains a bass vamp in E Dorian with two times a 3+3+2 rhythmic subdivision. Over it a keyboard and a trumpet
are playing a figure, the keyboard lightly in the background. To the right a photo from the 2003 stage performance of "Thing-Fish" in an
adaptation by Wolf Rahlfs, BAC, London. Source: http://regie.wolfrahlfs.de/en/portfolio/thing-fish-2003-2/.
1.5 The 'torchum' never stops - The evil prince
In "The 'torchum' never stops" the evil virus experimenting prince sings a lengthy aria, also released as an
individual piece, "The evil prince", on "You can't do that on stage anymore, vol. IV". It's sort of a newly composed
intermezzo within the returning material from
"The torture never stops" from "Zoot allures". The section below is in 3/4 and, like the original Zoot allures track, in G Dorian.
You can see the characteristic bass motif return once in bars 4-5, the motif that's used all through in staff 5 of the
transcription of the opening from "The torture never stops" from the Zoot allures section.
The 'torchum' never stops, Evil prince aria, section (midi file).
The 'torchum' never stops, Evil prince aria, section (transcription).
The evil prince curses gay people and everybody creative.
While the evil prince sections seem to be sympathetic of the gay community, most of "Thing-Fish"
is quite opposite. Gay people are ridiculed as men unable to deal with liberated women.
It culminates in Rhonda's severe feminist monologue in "Drop dead".
Next are two examples from the mentioned live version of "The evil prince". It belongs to the type of songs that know a multitude of sections that you might call
themes or phrases:
- 0:00 Intro and first theme. Ike Willes starts as Thing-Fish, "well well well now ...". Ray White continues as
The evil prince, "somewhere over there ...".
- 1:03 Theme two, "his clothes are quite stupid ..."
- 1:23 Continuation of theme one, "he thinks he knows something ...".
- 1:42 Theme three, "he knows not a drop ...".
- 1:55 Theme four, "because it is writ ..."
- 2:06 Theme five, "only the boring and bland will survive ...". This corresponds with the "The 'torchum' never stops" example
from above. All of "The evil prince" got arranged anew in a pretty different manner, compared to "The 'torchum' never stops".
For this theme the connection with the bass line from "The torture never stops" got skipped.
- 2:22 Variation upon theme five, "ferries and faggots ...".
- 2:42 Theme six, "soon my great zombies ...".
- 2:54 Theme seven with a couple of phrases, "the lovely producers ...", "the flying potatoes ...", "take place shortly after my ..."
and next, at 3:19, "I've a special review ...". This is where the next example starts. Over a G pedal by the bass a
chromatic chord progression Gm-D-Bb-C is played.
The evil prince, 3:19-3:56 (midi file).
The evil prince, 3:19-3:56 (transcription).
- 3:32 Theme eight, "I'll say it's disgusting ...". The G pedal continues, an octave lower. This bass and keyboards construct a flow of chords with notes, each sustained
for a couple of beats:
Bar Chord Lower range Middle range Higher range
5 1 G1-G2 - -
5 2 G1-G2-D3 - -
6 1 G1-G2-D3-A3 - -
6 2 G1-G2-D3-A3 E4 -
7 1 G1-G2-D3 E4-Bb4 -
7 2 G1-G2-D3 Bb4-Eb5 -
8 1 G1 Eb4-Eb5-Ab5 -
8 2 G1 Eb4-Gb4-Eb5-Ab5 Db6
9 1 G1 Eb4 Db6-Gb6
9 2 G1 Eb4-Ab4 Db6-Gb6-B6
10 1 G1-Ab3 Eb4 Gb6-B6
10 2 G1-Ab3 Eb4-Ab4 E6-Gb6-B6
11 1 G1 Eb4-Ab4 E6-Gb6-B6
11 2 G1-Ab3-B3 D4-Ab4 E6-Gb6-B6
It starts suggesting G Dorian, becoming chromatic soon. Also Ike Willis starts singing chromatically from bar 8 onwards. The whole sounds peculiar and dissonant towards the end.
The table from above is not very precise as it comes to how long notes are exactly sustained, they come up and go.
- 3:53 Theme nine, "at a Tupperware party ...". A little side theme or phrase of two bars, of which the first bar is included in the example above.
Now it gets diatonic again, C Mixolydian, though with a Gb as passing note.
- 4:00 Theme nine, "Hold on to the dollar ...".
- 4:09 Theme ten, "What has happened to Broadway ...".
- 4:22 Theme six returns, "After this deadly review ...".
- 4:44 Guitar solo.
This guitar solo knows a vamp of four bars with the following pattern:
- The bass alternates G and D, except for the final bar, where it has G-Eb-Ab.
- A keyboard plays the progression F-E-Eb-D-Gm7-C-Eb-Bb. Except for the Gm7 chord, it's a parallel playing of major triads.
Nominally this solo is in G minor, the overall best fitting scale, as well as the scale followed upon the G by the bass.
Every second half of a bar the bass-chord combination contains altered notes.
- A second keyboard plays arpeggios, consistently using a pentatonic set. It avoids the notes that are altering.
- The solo follows G minor with many instances of chromatic notes added to it.
The example from above contains the first two instances of soloing over the four-bar vamp. The notes and chords involved are:
The evil prince, 4:44-5:07 (midi file).
The evil prince, 4:44-5:07 (transcription).
Bar, beats Bass Keyb. chord Keyb. arp. Solo
1, 1-2 G F D-F-G-A A
1, 3-4 D E C-D-F-G-C D-F-G-Ab
2, 1-2 G Eb C-D-G-A C-D
2, 3-4 D D D-G-A F-G-Ab-A
3, 1-2 G Gm7 C-D-G-A G-A
3, 3-4 D C C-D-G-A G-C
4, 1-2 G Eb D-F-G-A C-F-G-A-Bb
4, 3-4 Eb, Ab Bb - F-F#-G-A
Bar, beats Bass Keyb. chord Keyb. arp. Solo
5, 1-2 G F D-G-A F#-G
5, 3-4 D E C-D-F-G-C C-F#-G
6, 1-2 G Eb C-D-F-A A-Bb-C
6, 3-4 D D D-G-A D-F-F#-G
7, 1-2 G Gm7 C-D-G-A G-A
7, 3-4 D C C-D-F-G-A C#-D
8, 1-2 G Eb C-D-F-G-A C-C#-D-Bb
8, 3-4 Eb, Ab Bb C+F A-Bb
- 6:28 Theme nine returns, "Hold on to that g-string ..."
- 6:40 Theme ten returns, "What has happened to Broadway ...".
- 6:51 Theme six returns, "After this deadly review ...".
- 7:11 End.
Above: Still from one of Zappa's appearances at the David Letterman show, talking about his upcoming
Thing-Fish project. CBS Television, 1983.
1.6 That evil prince
During "That evil prince", Harry and Rhonda discuss the scene with the Evil prince in his dungeon, eating raw chitlins (pig intestines).
The title of this track is very similar to the "The evil prince" from above, but not related to it.
It contains the first appearance of the melody from the later "Amnerika" track from "Civilization phaze III" (1992).
Much is done to avoid rhythmical steadiness, which makes transcribing "Amnerika" difficult. Here I've limited myself to the opening bars. Harry and Rhonda
have started their conversation over a pulsing Fsus4 chord. The lead melody from "Amnerika" still has to begin.
That evil prince, bars 1-3 (transcription).
There are a couple of other appearances of this melody, discussed in the Civilization phaze III section and below at "The white boy troubles". In this study
a trancribed section from the "Frank Zappa for president" version is included, which is a version with lyrics of the instrumental rendition you can hear here,
on that occasion sung by Napoleon Murphy Brock. Rhythmically these two versions go somewhat differently.
Ike Willis, Chad Wackerman and Napoleon Murphy Brock in 1984.
Outtake of a photo by Steve Schapiro of the 1984 band (Getty images). Napoleon was in Zappa's band between 1973 and 1976 and returned in 1984 for playing the Evil prince
and a brief membership of the 1984 touring band.
1.7 You are what you is
With the "You are what you is" title track we're getting at a sequence of three songs from the "You are what you is" album. The title song, "Mudd club", and the next track below follow the same following order as on the original album. These three songs are included to give the opera some more body. They are only lightly adapted for "Thing-Fish". The main theme from "You are what you is" can be found in the corresponding section from this study.
1.8 Mudd club (1984)
Next is a fragment from "Mudd club".
The construction of "Mudd club" goes as:
0:00 Intro, sung by Ray white.
The intro follows a two-bar accompanying pattern, alternating F and Eb as bass pedal notes. A rare instance of the use of the Locrian scale,
F Locrian in this case. The chords used on top of this are Db-Cb, as during the main theme. For that reason many might rather interpret the bass notes as
steps III and II from the Db Mixolydian scale from the main theme.
In this study I'm letting the bass notes determine the key. When doing this consistently this would be a brief instance of Locrian.
0:11 Main theme by the chorus.
The accompanying pattern becomes a Db-Cb alternation, bass and chords. The key is now clearly Db Mixolydian.
When you're listening to "Mudd club" from the beginning, you can hear this is reggae. I made a mistake when I first included this example in 2020
by concentrating upon the singers and placing the downbeat at the wrong spot (where they start singing "Hey ...", which is actually off-beat).
Mudd club, 0:23-0:40 (midi file).
Mudd club, 0:23-0:40 (transcription).
0:34 Monologue.
On this occasion Thing-Fish is doing the monologue instead of Zappa, portraying sceneries at the Mudd club.
The accompanying figure continues as a vamp for this monologue.
Background voices and sounds are happening at the beginning, suggesting the presence of people in a night club. Between 2:31 and 2:37 a brief
instrumental intermezzo can be heard over the vamp.
2:54 The main theme returns.
3:16 End, seguing into "The meek shall inherit nothing" with the lyrics "while you work the wall ..." etc.
Some information about the Mudd club from Wikipedia. Above to the right a photo, the Mudd club is the red building at the corner.
Zappa performed at the Mudd club in 1980, with one track landing on YCDTOSA IV, "Love of my life". In 2023 the ZFT released "Zappa '80 Mudd Club/Munich",
containing the entire one hour Mudd Club concert. The opening bars of "Mudd Club" from this specific version are included in the You are what you is section
of this study.
1.9 The meek shall inherit nothing
A section from "The meek shall inherit nothing" is included in this study as well. Purely from the musical perspective, the recycled titles function better in their original context. They remain strong songs on "Thing-Fish", but the overdubbed texts by Thing-Fish are more literary focused than the refined chorus singing from the original recordings.
1.10 Clowns on velvet
"Clowns on velvet" is new material, in fact a little instrumental. It's
both used as background music, with Thing-Fish talking, and as an independent interlude. After a small introduction the theme from "Clowns on velvet" gets played four times. It's a through-composed theme,
a sequence with variations upon a motif of one bar. Between 0:51 and 1:11 it gets played louder, just by itself, and with extra overdubs.
It's played fast and the overdubbed instruments are positioned in very high registers. Like this, with a number of layers, the transcribing of it from CD is getting unrealistic.
At some points it's more guessing than positively
hearing each note. So I've limited myself to presenting a single bar. One would need the mastertape and a mixing panel to get everything bright.
Nor can a listener be expected to hear every detail at once. A lead melody can be followed, that is getting bombarded with additional embellishments.
Bar from Clowns on velvet (midi file).
Bar from Clowns on velvet (transcription).
This bar, the first bar of the theme, can be heard between 0:50 and 0:53. The theme begins in A Mixolydian for its first two bars, next the scales change per bar.
As a whole it's multi-scale oriented.
1.11 Harry-as-a-boy
The juvenile Harry enters the show, confessing he decided to turn gay as a reaction upon
women becoming executives, looking like males. There's a drum pattern played in a loop (bars 1-4 of the transcription). The chords
played over it are led through various scales and sound very interesting as a composition by themselves. The section below runs from 1:36 through 1:51.
It contains broad chords with slow melodic fragments played over them, that further widen the harmonic fields you can hear.
Harry-as-a-boy, background music (midi file).
Harry-as-a-boy, album mix (midi file).
Harry-as-a-boy, section (transcription).
It's played in the background and it's hard to hear the exact notes from the chords and their positioning. There are no clear key notes;
the Bb and F# pedal notes in the bottom staff are more part of the entire harmony than individually audible, functioning as key note.
When you're looking at it as if in major, three scales would be passing by: Ab (bars 1-5), Bb (bars 5-8) and D (bars 8-9).
The transcription above contains both the accompaniment and Harry's text. The first midi file above presents the background music
by itself. The second one is mixed as on record with Harry's line in the foreground, but it's hard to get a spoken text properly represented
in a midi file (here by a sax following the pitches of the lyrics).
1.12 He's so gay
"He's so gay" is a newly composed title for "Thing-Fish". In the next Does humor belong in music section I'm dealing
with both an outtake from the "Thing-Fish" studio version and the tail of the "Does humor belong in music" live version of this song. It's basically
the same song, but with many detail differences. As usual in Zappa's output.
The libretto of "Thing-Fish" deals with several topics taken from actuality as:
- the spreading of aids,
- the fact that it had become known that the U.S. government had experimented with viruses upon its own population in the fifties beyond their knowledge,
- the women's liberation movement,
- the popularity of gay pop groups as The village people.
These subjects are combined into a weird piece of fiction that, just as in "Joe's garage", shows several aspects of
more-sidedness. In it the idea is uttered that the government could have caused the deaths among its gay population
by spreading viruses as well as that it is sponsoring gay life, because it halts population growth. Apparently Zappa
liked toying with diverse ideas and considered their consistence irrelevant. He had developed a kind of distrust towards
governmental institutions in his younger years, helped by the fact that he got busted in a set up in 1965
and his difficulties at schools. In fact he had some sort of paranoid attitude towards anything institutionalized,
including churches, unions and schools. All designed to dumb people down in his opinion. He attacked them frequently in his lyrics and a scent of paranoia
runs all through "Joe's garage" and "Thing-Fish". "Freak out!" opened with an attack upon American schools and how real this was
came out in the eighties, when he wouldn't pay scholarships for his children himself. They could go to college, but on their
own expense. Dweezil was indeed making enough money at the age of sixteen to do so if he wanted to. As children of a
rock star Zappa's children got drawn into adult life rather fast. Moon and Dweezil were in their mid-teens when
they got into the spotlight via "Valley girl" and the 1984 tour.
1.13 The massive improve'lence
In "The massive improve'lence" the teen-age Harry shows interest for starting a relationship with a mammy-nun,
Artificial Rhonda it becomes. It's for over five minutes accompanied by a jazz type improvisation with only the upright bass and a drum set.
The massive improve'lence, opening bars (transcription).
As in most classical operas, all sections have music to it. As it comes to composing music this one is the most minimal one. Zappa limited himself
to asking his rhythm section to jam, following a walking bass type of accompaniment. An ommission occured in the booklet of the Rykodisc CD release
for it doesn't mention the instrumentalists. These are listed in the libretto of the first EMI triple album release as:
So Jay Anderson and Chad Wackerman form the little jazz combo during this song. The example above are the first two-and-a-half bars, played between 0:00 and
0:06. The bass line is mostly diatonic, sometimes chromatic, not following a specific scale. Thing-Fish speaks over it, following the beats to some degree.
1.14 Artificial Rhonda
"Artificial Rhonda" is "Ms. Pinky" from the "Zoot Allures" album, being retitled. See the corresponding section
for an example taken from that album. The song goes back to 1975. On "YCDTOSA vol. VI", Zappa
introduces Miss Pinky as a lonely persons device. She's not a person but a sex toy, just the head, with her eyes closed and mouth wide open ... and washable.
Artificial Rhonda, 0:20-0:42 (midi file).
Artificial Rhonda, 1:13-1:24 (midi file).
Artificial Rhonda, 2:05-2:27 (midi file).
Artificial Rhonda, 0:20-0:42 (transcription).
Artificial Rhonda, 1:13-1:24 (transcription).
Artificial Rhonda, 2:05-2:27 (transcription).
"Ms. Pinky" is one of three Zappa songs, that are using only one theme. He was more inclined to write multi-theme pieces than to do something as simple as this.
The others are "You are what you is" and "Stick together". All three have the standard verse-refrain set-up, but for the lyrics only. Their themes get
played in the manner of a perpetuum mobile, like the Rolling Stones are doing in "Claudine". In order to keep your attention such a theme needs
a good drive by itself and to maintain this drive variations upon this theme are necessary. "Ms. Pinky" could fit in easily into the opera, only the name
of Miss Pinky had to be changed to Artificial Rhonda. The rubber head being replaced by a rubber mammy nun doll. All instrumental tracks are from the
"Zoot allures" recording sessions. In this case the overdubbed vocal parts actually add flavour to the song. Staves 5-6 of the first example
are the first appearance of the main theme, with the verse part of the lyrics sung over it in bars 5-8. The chorus part is one line at first during bars 1-4,
though not entirely sung synchronically. So I needed two staves to notate it. In bars 6 and 8 the chorus is forming chords. The second example is the first
half of the harmonica solo by (probably) Don van Vliet. Nobody gets credited for playing harmonica during this song, but Don does get mentioned on the
next track. A second acoustic guitar is added for the main theme with its chords positioned somewhat differently, most conspicuously in the shape
of the diminished F#m triad in bar two. The C# turns up regularly as altered to natural during this song, giving it something of a mix of A Mixolydian
(its basis) and A Dorian. Bars 1-4 of the third example contain the refrain as sung during the second half of the song.
It goes the same as during the first half, but the bass is playing something you might call a character variation upon the central theme (the bass still moving
from A to D and the A chord becoming A7). In bar
5 the theme returns in its original form. Bar 6 contains a deviating movement, again using the C natural. The chorus is functioning quite
well in enriching the whole with chords. Above to the right the corresponding part from the libretto. The text is prescribing every detail, even
Thing-Fish saying "yow". I guess it's a transcription from the recording as it became, rather than everything being premeditated.
2.1 The crab-grass baby
A baby has been born and Harry thinks he's the father. The baby first babbles, but half-way
the song its words become understandable.
The crab-grass baby, section (midi file).
The crab-grass baby, section (transcription).
The music of "The crab-grass baby" consists of an ongoing bass lick in C Mixolydian, first accompanied
by the chorus, later on replaced by keyboard chords. Via a loop the chorus sings the progression
II 7th-VII-V-V-I (plus possibly an F, Csus4, though I can't hear this for certain). The bass figures lasts 4/4,
while the chorus theme has a duration of 6/4, thus another example of Zappa using two meters simultaneously.
2.2 The white boy troubles
Artificial Rhonda seems to be more interested in starting a career. "The white boy troubles" is musically
made up of three blocks:
a) Bass motif following the blues scheme. The bass is the only instrument playing, not being double-channeled but moving across the stereo
field per note. I've indicated this in the transcription. The midi file only includes a left or right side accent.
The white boy troubles, 0:24-0:44 (midi file).
The white boy troubles, 0:24-0:44 (transcription).
It's blues in D Mixolydian with the chord on step V being major, a common practice in blues. The CD booklet only includes the lyrics of the ensemble, staves 2-3. Ray White
is sister Owl-Gonkwin-Jane-Cowhoon, represented by staff 1. The example above is the second half of the blues scheme with I-V-IV-I, being followed
by the transition to block b).
b) The "Amnerika" melody re-appears, first solo, next over a bass line.
The opening bars of this piece in a vocal version are included in the Civilization, phaze III section. Here I've limited myself to a midi fragment
and two bars with the bass vamp.
The white boy troubles, 1:24-1:37 (midi file).
The white boy troubles, 1:24-1:26.
The note durations of the melody are irregular and its melodic line moves along varying scales.
The fragment included in the midi example goes as D-D-E-A-G-D,
followed by D-Eb-D-C-C-B-C-D. It's played over a steady bass line, here alternating Bb and Ab, thus not interacting with it.
On the CD you hear Harry and Thing-Fish conversating over it.
c) Second bass motif following a blues-like pattern.
2.3 No not now
Another one of the re-used songs is "No not now" from "Ship arriving too late to save a drowning witch". Again Zappa
is using the original tracks unaltered with new tracks added to them. Here we get Thing-Fish doing
all the comments instead of Zappa.
The original "Drowning witch" version goes as:
No not now, 0:21 till 1:28 (midi file).
No not now, 0:21 till 1:28 (transcription).
"No not now" is using three themes. The set up with the starting times on the CD is:
- 0:00 Intro, theme A instrumentally.
- 0:21 "No not now", theme B.
- 0:36 "Maybe later", theme C.
- 0:43 "She say I'm free", theme B.
- 0:58 "But I like her sister", theme C.
- 1:05 "She can't decide...", first variation upon theme A with lyrics.
- 1:33 "She changed her mind", theme B.
- 1:48 "And I don't blame her", theme C.
- 1:56 "No not now", theme B.
- 2:10 "Maybe later", theme C.
- 2:17 "Giddy-up...", second variation upon theme A with lyrics.
- 2:42 "The big old hat...", theme B.
- 2:57 "String beans to Utah", theme C.
- 3:05 "Ah the wife...", theme B.
- 3:19 "String beans to Utah", theme C.
- 3:26 "Deliver string beans...", second variation upon theme A with lyrics.
- 3:54 "No not now", theme B.
- 4:09 "Maybe later", theme C.
- 4:17 "She changed her mind", theme B.
- 4:32 "And I don't blame her", theme C.
- 4:41 "She sorta wild...", first variation upon theme A with lyrics.
- 5:07 "There she goes...", theme B.
- 5:50 End.
As it comes to the bass line in this song, Zappa commented in Guitar Player, February 1983:
- GP: "On "No not now" there's an extremely distinctive bass line. Did you write it?"
- FZ: "I just made it up. The bass part was done as this: Arthur Barrow came in to play bass, and bar by bar I would hum it to him.
We'd play it, and he'd go as far as he could, and then he'd make a mistake, and the I'd show him the next part, and then we'd punch him in.
And that's how it was done: like eight bars at a time. It's a wonderful bass line."
Because of this bass line, it's difficult to assign this song to keys. The bass sort of floats.
Continued below at "Won ton on".
2.4 Briefcase boogie
In "Briefcase boogie" the real Rhonda mocks Harry and uses a briefcase for sexual stimulation. At first you hear
a fast drum pattern with some loosely improvised notes played over it. Next the drum set goes to a normal tempo and the
bass enters with a little boogie.
Briefcase boogie, end (midi file).
Briefcase boogie, end (transcription).
The example above is the end of this song, the part about the fountain pen, played between 3:45 and 4:05.
The boogie part starts at 2:26. The bass part is in Ab, moving over to a little sequence at the end involving altered notes.
Bars 4-7 represent this sequence: Ab-Eb-Ab => C-B-C => F-C-F. The final bar in 15/16 isn't a genuine meter change, but a 4/4 bar being cut off at the end of the track. The spoken parts are of course atonal, only following the beats of the bass to a certain degree.
The term boogie is also present in "Transylvania boogie" from "Chunga's revenge" (as a song title), and in the lyrics of "Stink-foot", ending
with "ain't this boogie a mess". The ZFT has included "D.C. boogie" on their "Imaginary diseases" release. Examples from these titles are present in this study, though
not the boogie part from "D.C. boogie". Boogies are characterized by up and down going bass patterns as in the example from above.
Archetype boogie figures along Wikipedia. In a traditional boogie these figures get repeated following the blues scheme.
2.5 Brown Moses
"Brown Moses" features Johnny Guitar Watson, who worked with Zappa as a vocalist on three occasions. See the Mothers
of prevention section for more about him contributing. This song sets off in Bb minor/Dorian, where it stays till 1:39.
Brown Moses, section (midi file).
Brown Moses, section (transcription).
The example above is played between 2:04 and 2:19, when this song has evaded to F# major (bar 1). Bars 2-3 have D# as pedal
note, but aren't stable in one particular scale. Bars 4-6 are in Db major. It's strongly vocally oriented. Only a bass
pedal (bottom staff), sustained keyboard notes (staff 3 in bars 1-3) and a rhythm guitar (staff 2 in bars 1-3) are instrumental.
2.6 Wistful wit a fistful
The newly written songs give "Thing-Fish" musically its theatre
appearance, most specifically "Wistful wit a fist-full". This piece is
a joyful musical closing number, sung almost unrecognizably by Terry Bozzio, in this song appearing as the evil prince (thus not Napoleon Murphy Brock,
as I suggested in the printed editions of this study).
Wistful wit a fistful, section (midi file).
Wistful wit a fistful, section (transcription).
Its set up is quite difficult with varying meters, scales and tempi, as the transcribed part indicates:
- The figure in the 4/8 bar sounds modernistic. The notes don't form a traditional chord and in combination with
C and D sharp a G sharp is more common in diatonic scales than a G natural. From bar 14 onwards this exact figure is played minor
second lower. In bars 25-29 this theme ends with a little coda.
- In bar 25 the tempo gets slower. The music transforms from a modern style to a style used in musicals.
It's in 4/4, played rubato. The music keeps moving through varying scales till the end of the transcription.
- In bar 38 the meter moves to 12/8. It goes a bit slower, but sounds as an acceleration because the main time unit
in the accompaniment goes from a half note to three eighth notes.
- Bars 43-44 are two joyful exclamatory bars, typical of musicals.
Head of the Warning/Guarantee label, that first appeared in the "Thing-Fish" album booklet. It's a reaction upon CBS's refusal
to release "Thing-Fish" and the actions by the PMRC (see the FZ meets the Mothers of prevention section at "Porn wars").
2.7 Drop dead
With "Drop dead" the show comes to an end. The Evil prince and the crab-grass baby re-appear. A variation upon the
bass theme from "Harry and Rhonda" is now vamping unaltered throughout this 7-minute track. The evil prince sings over
it, but Rhonda delivers her feminist monologue without further musical embellishments. The vamp gets louder and
Zappa lets the text at this point entirely prevail. The "Amnerika" briefly returns once more starting at 1:19 and fading out around 1:43.
Drop dead, section (midi file).
Drop dead, section (transcription).
The example above is played between 0:36 and 0:58. The bottom staff is the two-bar vamp in A Mixolydian. The pianissomo staves offer some
embellishment in an irregular manner to create some variation upon hearing the vamp in a loop. Bars 2-5 are the only bars that are normally sung,
including a chorus and sustained harmonies (the A and G chords).
Dale and Terry Bozzio in 1984, who are playing the Harry and Rhonda couple during "Thing-Fish". At that time they were also a couple in real life.
Outtake of a photo by Ron Galella (Getty images). Terry was Zappa's drummer between 1975 and 1978, while Dale took care of the Mary character from "Joe's garage".
2.8 Won ton on
The closing song of "Thing-Fish", "Won ton on", is using the vocal "No not now" tracks played backwards.
See above at track 2.3 for the construction of "No not now".
"Ya Hozna" from the preceding Them or us section is another example.
"Won ton on" has a rhythm section of its own.
If you play the three themes of the above "No not now" score backwards you get the following:
Won ton on, themes (midi file).
Won ton on, themes (transcription).
This example has the backward themes in the following order A (bars 1-7), C (bars 8-11) and B (bars 12-17).
The sound of the midi file misses to a degree the effect of the reverse fade outs of the notes, but it's good
enough to recognize the melodies. See the transcription for details about the backward fade out. The reverse fade outs and
reversely pronounced consonants give the backwards playing its strange effect. Whereas the D of
"chile" in No not now fades out descending towards an A, in Won ton on it swells and
sounds like "iesh".
The "No not now" vocal tracks in "Won ton on" start at 0:18 on the CD, corresponding with
5:37 on the original "Drowning witch" CD and then going backwards.
The "Won ton on" following order is:
- 0:18 Theme B.
- 0:48 Theme A.
- 1:11 Theme C.
- 1:19 Theme B.
- 1:33 Theme C.
- 1:42 Theme B.
- 1:56 Theme C.
- 2:23 Theme A.
- 2:31 Theme C.
- 2:46 Theme B.
- 2:53 Theme C.
- 3:08 Thing-Fish's epilogue.
- 3:39 Theme B.
- 3:55 Theme C.
- 4:02 Theme B.
- 4:18 End.
COVERS
Since this study is about Zappa's own music, the music he covered is left
out of the picture. Still the pieces that he did cover support the
findings of this study to a point. Namely that his integration of all styles into his own
music reflects itself in the eclectic way he chose the music he covered.
An overview is given in the
songlist of the globalia.net site, where you can use the following link:
http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/songs/index.html. This is a list of all songs
Zappa ever played on record or live, where you can readily recognize the covers
by looking at songs with names between brackets behind them. Just to mention a number:
- Francesco Zappa. Opus I and IV.
- W.A. Mozart. Piano sonata in B flat.
- J. Strauss. An der schönen blauen Donau (quoted in the Eric Dolphy memorial barbecue, 1991 version).
- P. Tchaikovsky. Symphony #6.
- M. Ravel. Bolero.
- B. Bartok. Theme from the Piano Concerto #3.
- I. Stravinsky. Royal March from "L'Histoire du Soldat".
- G. & I. Gershwin. It ain't necessarily so.
- G. Holtz. The planets (quoted in the Invocation and ritual dance of the young pumpkin; see the Absolutely free section).
- E. Varèse. Octandre.
- O. Nelson. Stolen moments.
- R. Barry. Loui Loui.
- Lewis/Robinson. The closer you are.
- Evins/Livingston. Theme from "Bonanza".
- Kilgore/Carter. Ring of fire.
- Trad.: Wedding dress song/Handsome cabin boy.
- J. Hendrix. Purple haze.
- N. Rota. Theme from the "Godfather, part II".
- G. Allman. Whippin' post.
- Page/Plant. Stairway to heaven.
The project to record some music by Francesco Zappa was of course triggered
by the idea that Frank Zappa had a namesake from the baroque era, rather
than the music itself. Zappa called the music typical of that period. In the CDs section of the left menu you can find
a quotation from the "New Grove Dictionary" as well as a description of a
more recent recording of Francesco's symphonies. "Francesco Zappa" is the only CD in Zappa's
official catalogue that you might call a cover album. There is no track
by Zappa himself on this release. The recording, released in 1984, belongs to synclavier period
of his career. In 1984 the synclavier could not yet
work with sampled acoustic notes. At first sounds were chosen that approached
acoustic instruments, but later on this idea was abandoned for more typical
synclavier sounds. So you've got baroque music with a sound very untypical
of that era.
Francesco Zappa worked in Italy, but is also reported to have spent some time
at the court of The Hague in Holland. Manuscripts of some of his works
are kept at the Library of the Dutch crown:
The text says:
"Sonate for pianoforte, ca. 1790.
Music by Francesco Zappa.
Coming from Milan, Francesco Zappa settled in The Hague around 1768 as a music
teacher. From then to 1795 has name appeared on the list of the court
ensemble of governor William V as a cello player, but, like other famous musicians
from that period, he wasn't a steady member."