Cops & Buns
Frank Zappa Lyrics
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The lyrics to "Cops & Buns" by Frank Zappa are a conversation between Patrolman Lefemine and the occupants of a recording studio on East 10th Street in New York City. Patrolman Lefemine and his fellow officers frequently respond to noise complaints from the studio but have yet to issue any summons. Lefemine explains that they look bad coming to the studio without taking any action and warns that they may be subpoenaed to produce records that show how many times they have responded to noise complaints at the studio. Lefemine ultimately issues a warning to the studio occupants that if he returns and they are still making noise, he will issue a summons. The conversation wraps up with Zappa offering Lefemine a bun from a platter of breakfast rolls.
The song offers a humorous critique of police work and the interactions between law enforcement and New York's music scene in the 1960s. It also comments on the nature of power and who holds it in different situations - in this case, the occupants of the studio feel they are in charge, but are ultimately at the mercy of the police and the legal system. The song is also an interesting snapshot of a specific place and time in New York's cultural history.
Line by Line Meaning
Now, we don't come up here because we feel like walkin' four flights at three o'clock in the morning.
We don't come here to patrol aimlessly. This is a troublesome area with a noisy studio that we have to investigate.
We were up here last night.
We patrolled this area yesterday, and we are doing it again today to keep track of any noise complaints.
For us to continually come up to this here place every night and not show no action other than to say, yes a corrective indictment . . .
We keep finding noise complaints here, but we have yet to do anything except to issue a warning about violating noise restrictions.
We look kinda bad. I mean, let's be honest.
Our reputation as law enforcers is at stake if we are not able to show that we have taken action to respond to noise complaints.
Now if you had to give me any kinda reccomendation, or mark my word, you'll say, 'Who the hell's kiddin' who? This guy's a mistake, every night, 3 to 4, 2 to 4, betwen those hours you guys are at 53 E 10 st, what are you doin' there every night? You mean you, you permit this condition to continue on without once giving a summons?'
If you had to advise me on what to do, I'm sure you'll agree that we should issue a summons to that studio for violating noise restrictions. We cannot keep coming here without taking action and expect the public to trust us.
Well this is, if we're up here once we're up here twenty times.
If we come here once to investigate a noise complaint, we'll have to come back here again and again to make sure that we have done our job properly.
Now if these people wanna subpoena these rekkids, they can subpoena these rekkids.
If the people in this area want to get hold of our records of all our visits here, they are free to do so by issuing a subpoena.
An' they say, 'Officer, what did you do? Warn 'em? You mean to tell me you were up here about twenty times an you never issued a summons?'
If the issue becomes a matter of court proceedings, the judge could ask us why we never issued a summons despite our repeated visits here.
ONE! ONE! And how many times have I, eh, uh, hey listen! As I say, if I've been up here once I've been up here twenty times already.
The studio has only received one noise complaint summons so far, but we have visited this place many times to check for noise violations.
Now, as of tonight . . .
Starting today, I am issuing a warning that we will not hesitate to issue a summons the next time we have to come back here due to another noise complaint.
Who gets, who gets the summonses, is the, the organization?
Whoever is in charge of the organization, whether it's a person or a group, will receive the noise complaint summons from us.
Nighty-night!
Goodbye for now. See you later.
Contributed by Isabella B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.