Zappa—Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

I'm all alone
Feeling so blue
Thinking about you
And the love we once knew
And each time I do
It brings back those memories
Of El Monte

If I could go back
To those days of the past
I'd show you a love . . .
A love that would last
Oh, I remember
Those wonderful dances
In El Monte

Remember the dance
I held you so tight
The Satins were singing
"In The Still Of The Night"
You gave me your heart
And your love undying
Today I'm alone . . .
I'm sitting here crying

If only they would have
Those dances again
I would know where to find you
And all my old friends
Because The Shields would sing . . .
"You cheated. You lied . . ."
And the Heartbeats would croon . . .
"You're a thousand miles away . . ."
And Don Julian along with The Meadowlarks would sing . . .

"Heaven and Paradise
That's where I want to be
Just you and me
In Heaven and Paradise"

"Nite Owl" . . .

"Here comes the night owl
(Oh, night owl)
Walking through the front door
(Oh, night owl)
But I told you, baby
(Oh, Night owl)
I don't love you no more"

The Jaguars . . .

"Some day, when I'm awfully low
And the world is cold
I would feel a glow just thinking of you
Just the way you feel tonight"

And The Jacks . . .

"Why don't you write me, darling
Send me a letter
Tell me you love me, dear
Make me feel better
I love you
Yes, it's you I adore"

The Paragons . . . singing "Oh! In The Sky" . . .

Oh, in the sky
Oh, in the sky
Oh, in the sky
Oh, in the sky
Oh, in the sky
Oh, in the sky
In the sky

In the sky
Oh, in the sky
Ah, ah
Oh, in the sky
Oh, in the sky
Oh, in the sky

Oh, night owl
Oh, night owl
Oh, night owl
Oh, night owl
Oh, night owl
Oh, night owl
Oh, night owl
Yeah, yeah
Oh oh oh oh oh
Oh, in the sky

All right, this is a song that— that we've been working on in secret for a while now. We're gonna make an attempt to record it. If we mess it up, we'll just stop and do it all over again. It doesn't have a name yet. But, uh, doesn't really need one.

The reason that has kept us together is not because people appreciate great musicians. The reason we have stayed together is because musicians like to play music. And if we had not been musicians the band would have folded long time ago. It just so happens that everybody in the band is sort of masochistic about. They like to play well enough [...] the other. The troubles and stuff that we go through. And already do it. You know like being on the road is no fun, there's a lot of funny stories that you can tell when you get home but the actual process is something of a drain in your energy and it gets pretty imposing sometimes, especially in Europe.

So uh, the only time you really get to rock out is when you're playing, you know. It's worth it. You know, it's quite a feeling to be up there, uh . . . It's blowing your brains out. Even if there's only five people in the audience who can really understand what you're getting into, you know? And it's irrelevant whether or not they clap for it or even walk out in the middle of it, because the band knows when it's played good and also knows when it's played bad, and no amount of applause after a bad show is gonna make you feel right. Sometimes people clap for the crappiest things.

FZ:

Well, the fact of the matter is if I had a power trio and just a wall of Marshall amplifiers and a minimum P.A. system that all you put through was the vocals and we traveled around in limousines and lived in first class hotels forever, I could still make ten times the amount of money that I make on tour right now.

But that's not the reason I tour—I like to play music and I like to hear music come out as good as possible for the largest number of people. And so if I earn a profit from doing concerts and making records, a large portion of that is reinvested into the equipment that produces the sound on stage. Or to use for extra amount of studio time, to try and get a better performance both technically from the musician standpoint and from the audio standpoint of the music that I write. And I think that Varèse would have done the same thing.

He was hampered by composing at a time when the electronic facilities to make his ideas a reality were not readily available to him. I have that luxury, and I don't think that I should [...] just let it go on. I started writing so called serious music, or non rock & roll music, 'bout the time I was 14, and I didn't write anything that even resembled rock & roll or rhythm & blues until I was 20.

I reject most of 20th Century music. I've made quite a study of it, I buyed just about every record that's available of new pieces, and most of them are horrible, you know. They don't have any musicality to 'em, they're intelectual exercises that don't do anything for me. And I liked Varèse's music from the minute that I heard it, and it's just that it was uh, it was beautiful, you know. And I couldn't understand it when my mother would start screaming at me to take it in the other room 'cause it bothered her while she was ironing, you know. And I said, "But listen to the siren in this!"

Craig Eldon Pinkus:

Yeah! Ha ha ha . . .

FZ

"Listen to the drums!"

Craig Eldon Pinkus:

Ionisation.

FZ:

She wouldn't get off on that. And I found that—I would bring people home from school and say, "Have I got a record for you!"

Craig Eldon Pinkus:

Heh heh heh . . .

FZ:

And I would play that for 'em and they would look at me like I was crazy. But I insisted that what he was writing was really beautiful and I would tell everybody about it whenever I got a chance. And uh, in putting that little quote on the first three albums that 20th Century composer are—

Craig Eldon Pinkus:

Present day.

FZ:

Yeah. Present day composer refuses to die. By putting that on the albums and putting his name on the albums I led a lot of people on the direction of his music, and uh, people still come up to me and say that they're glad that I put that on there because they heard the music and it really got off on 'em, you know. And I think that—if you got a chance you'd have to check it out too.

The works I like the best is the performance of Arcana by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and uh, there's a good record on Nonsuch that has some interesting recording techniques and a good performance of some of these pieces.

 

Pretty good!

While you work the wall
Work the floor
Work the pipe
In serious pain

Some take the Bible
For what it's worth
When it says that the meek
Shall inherit the Earth
Well, I heard that some sheik
Has bought New Jersey last week
'N you suckers ain't gettin' nothin'

Is Hare Rama really wrong
If you wander around
With a napkin on
With a bell on a stick
An' your hair is all gone
The geek shall inherit nothin'

You say yer life's a bum deal
'N yer kinda up against the wall
Well, people, you ain't even got no kinda
Deal at all
'Cause what they do
In Washington
They just takes care of Number One
An' Number One ain't you
You ain't even Number Two

(Push the button
Pull that chain
Out comes a little brown navy train)

Those Jesus Freaks
Well, they're friendly but
The shit they believe
Has got their minds all shut
An' they don't even care
When the church takes a cut
Ain't it bleak when you got so much nothin'

(So whaddya do? Hey!)

Eat that pork
Eat that ham
Laugh till ya choke
On Billy Graham
Moses, Aaron 'n Abraham
They're all a waste of time
'N it's your ass that's on the line
(Think about it!)
(It's your ass that's on the line)
(Oh, yeah!)

Do what you wanna
Do what you will
Just don't mess up
Your neighbor's thrill
'N when you pay the bill
Kindly leave a little tip
And help the next poor sucker
On his one way trip
Some take the Bible . . .
(Aw, gimme a half a dozen for the hotel room!)