FZ album(s) in which song has appeared

• Sheik Yerbouti (1979), as Yo' Mama, performed in London, UK, January 27 and February 28, 1978; Neunkirchen am Brand, Germany, February 25, 1978 (with overdubs)
• One Shot Deal (2008), guitar solo as Heidelberg, performed in Eppelheim, Germany, February 24, 1978
  • same recording on The Guitar World According To Frank Zappa (1987) as "A Solo From Heidelberg"
• Chicago '78 (2016), as Yo Mama, performed in Chicago, IL, September 29, 1978
• The Frank Zappa Guitar Book (1982), unreleased guitar solo transcribed as Mo' Mama, performed in New York, NY, October 29, 1978
• Halloween 81 (2020), as Yo Mama, performed in New York, NY, October 31, 1981, early show

 

Tour(s) on which song is known to have been performed (main source: FZShows, v. 7.1)

• January-February 1978 (Europe)—known performances: 21
• August-October 1978 (Europe & North America)—known performances: 10
• September-December 1981 (North America)—known performances: 18
• March-April 1982 (rehearsals)—known performances: 1

 

Comments

Foggy G, "The Songs That Were Played," We're Only In It For The Touring

1978 Jan-Feb: During the Fall '77 tour, Frank would perform a guitar solo as the climax to the "Wild Love" improvisational festivities. After Belew's disco-vamped solo, the band would start from scratch and Frank would play his piece over a dramatic, slowly building vamp. For this tour, Frank kept his post-"Wild Love" solo spot, but he spruced it up with lyrics and a simple song structure. That song is, of course, "Yo' Mama". The guitar monster. During this short 5 week tour, the "song" essentially stayed the same, but Frank's solo spot evolved through three distinct styles. The first is the most freeform of the lot, in which Frank simply played maniacally while the band attempted to support him. About a week into the tour, the initial freeform section remained, with a new, "this sounds like YAWYI" vamp supporting the remainder of the solo. By the third week, the song had transformed itself again, into the three part monster we know and love from "Sheik Yerbouti". Now, I really should go on and on about what a treat this song was- especially on this tour- but I think this is something that we all already know. This song usually ends up as one of the top 5 favorite songs in most FZ polls- as does the guitar solo among favorite guitar solos- which is particularly amazing considering that there exist many a live tape with "Yo' Mama" solos that are better than the officially released one. Probably THE highlight on a tour with many.

1978 Aug-Oct: Essentially played as on "Sheik Yerbouti", with the standard deviation coming in Frank's solo. Not quite the monster guitar spot that it was on the previous tour (possibly due to O'Hearn's absence?), but a showstopper, nonetheless. [See the 10/29 review for the exception to this "not-quite-a-monster-guitar-spot" rule. Frank whips out what may be his best solo ever during that climatic "Yo' Mama" show closer]

1981: Essentially played as on "Sheik Yerbouti", accounting for obvious differences in instrumentation, and with the standard deviation coming in Frank's solo. Sadly, this is one song that never really relived its heyday after its initial tour. The Spring '78 tour saw an overwhelming number of simply orgasmic "Yo' Mama's". Unfortunately, the song seemed spent after that tour, as each subsequent performance never reaches the climatic heights of a Spring '78 Mama. The performances from this tour are no exception. They are not bad- I am not saying that- but they are not the show stopping tour-de-force's that we frequently heard three-and-a-half years earlier.