Zappa's earliest influences were 1950s pop and rock (such as doo-wop and rhythm and blues), and 20th-century classical composers including Igor Stravinsky and Edgard Varèse. His output was divided between adventurous instrumental compositions and succinct, catchy rock songs with ribald, satirical, or comically absurd lyrics. On stage he demanded virtuosity and spontaneity from his musicians, and employed many performers who would later go on to achieve fame in their own rights. He directed and released a number of films featuring himself, his musicians and entourage, including 200 Motels and Baby Snakes.
His career started in 1955. His earliest recordings date from the mid-1960s, and include collaborations with his school friend Captain Beefheart. In 1965 he joined a bar-band called The Soul Giants, quickly dominating its musical direction and rechristening it The Mothers. Their first release (as The Mothers of Invention; the name alteration requested by their record company) was the 1966 double album Freak Out!. The line-up of the Mothers gradually expanded to accommodate Zappa's increasingly ambitious and avant-garde music, but by 1969 he decided to work outside the band structure, focusing on his solo career, and effectively disbanding the Mothers in 1971.
The beginnings of his solo career in the late sixties and early seventies was characterised by a strong free jazz influence, with albums containing little, if any, lyrical content, such as Hot Rats, Waka/Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo. Towards the mid-seventies his albums became more rock-orientated, with a combination of Jazz Fusion instrumentation and Rock song structures. This more accessible sound bore reasonable mainstream appeal, especially with the release of the well-advertised albums Over-Nite Sensation and Apostrophe (') (which both went Gold), but Zappa's unpredictably eclectic output never led to solid mainstream recognition. He received uniformly lukewarm reviews from popular music publications such as Rolling Stone throughout his career. In his late seventies' output, the gulf between his humorous songs and more lengthy, complex instrumental music widened, and albums, such as Zappa in New York, Joe's Garage: Acts I, II & III, and Sleep Dirt displayed, by track, both sides firmly segregated.
Zappa saw a second run of success in the early eighties with the release of many albums with predominantly comedic rock songs, but later continued to experiment with virtually every style of music through the eighties, and was productive as ever until his death. His output in this later-career period included two albums of strikingly original classical music with the London Symphony Orchestra, an electronic take on 18th-century chamber music (written by the obscure Italian composer 'Francesco Zappa', no relation), an album of Synclavier compositions (misleadingly titled Jazz From Hell which garnered a Grammy award), a double-CD release of electric guitar instrumental music (the laconically titled Guitar) and a plenitude of official live releases, revisiting fan-favourites as well as showcasing Zappa's talent for reinventing the music of others; his version of Stairway to Heaven becoming a word-of-mouth favourite.
Zappa produced almost all of his own albums, spending many hours in the studio recording and manipulating tracks, and was always at the forefront of emerging technologies; from tape editing, collage, multitrack and overdubbing in the sixties to digital recording, electronic instruments and sampling in the eighties. Conversely, Zappa was also a obsessive self-archivist, recording virtually every one of his live performances, and often using live recordings of new material without needing to enter the studio. The archive of tapes at his family home in Los Angeles continues to be a source of posthumous releases for the Zappa Family Trust. He was also noted as a spotter of talent and his shifting line-up of musicians included Lowell George, Jean-Luc Ponty, Terry Bozzio, Chad Wackerman, George Duke, Mike Keneally, Adrian Belew and Steve Vai, as well as giving Alice Cooper his first break in music and working again with his old collaborator Captain Beefheart when his career was in decline.
In the late 1980s he became active in politics, campaigning against the PMRC's music censorship scheme and acting as culture and trade representative for Czechoslovakia in 1989; and considered running as an independent candidate for president of the US.
His death in Los Angeles, California, on 4th December 1993 came three years after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Carved In the Rock
Frank Zappa Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
This thing wiggles too much
Hey, that's more like it, mm-mm mmh, yes
Okay?
Bruce Fowler on trombone
Napoleon Murphy Brock on tenor sax
And vocals
Ruth Underwood on percussion
All right!
Okay
The gong always gets 'em
Ralph Humphrey on drums
Chester Thompson on drums
Tom Fowler on bass
George Duke on keyboards
Alright now
Let me get myself tuned up and then
We'll do a suave program for you
Hi, Frank!
Hi!
Alright well, Ian's busy he's uh, he's
With his parents in uhm, uh
Yugoslavia
Florida but he'll be back in town soon
Ladies and gentlemen yeah
Now, we're gonna open up with
Some Hey! Brian Krokus, ladies
And gentlemen, right back there!
He is our mixer
And of course there's another mixer out
In the truck and you can't see
Him but he's awfully cute, his
Name is Kerry McNabb and he can
Hear us talking about him, but
Well, you're missing the best part of what's
Going out on out in the truck
We're gonna open our program with a song
That deals with the subject of
The possibility of extra-terrestrial
Beings visiting this planet a long time ago
Now, some of you might have
Read a book called
Chariots Of The Gods by Erich Von Däniken
And there's a little thing in there
It's a picture of this
Area in the Andes called the plains of Nazca
Ladies and gentlemen and
There's these carvings on the top of the
Rock that you don't know what
They're supposed to be
For it doesn't look like it
Would have been a road, because it doesn't
Go anywhere, and there's a bunch of
'em, and some people think
Well maybe it was a
Landing field but the carvings are very, very
Old and they're very, very big, you
Know, indicating that the people
Who made them
Were highly, uh, well, they were
Heh heh they really had their together for
The things that carved in the rock
And it's possible that if
They were landing fields
That the things that landed on them
Were NOT OF THIS EARTH
And so we have a song
Which features the lovely voice of Mr george
Duke, and the name of this song
Is "Inca Roads" Take it away, george
The lyrics to "Carved In the Rock" are actually spoken words by Frank Zappa, introducing the band and setting the context for the upcoming song, "Inca Roads." In this introduction, Zappa mentions the musicians who will be performing and acknowledges the technical crew working behind the scenes. He also references a book called "Chariots Of The Gods" by Erich Von Däniken, which explores the possibility of extraterrestrial beings visiting Earth in the past. Zappa talks about the Nazca lines in Peru, suggesting that the carvings on the rocks could have been landing fields for otherworldly beings due to their age and size. He then introduces the song "Inca Roads," which features George Duke on vocals and highlights this theme of ancient civilizations and possible extraterrestrial connections.
Overall, the lyrics to "Carved In the Rock" provide a humorous and intriguing introduction to the song "Inca Roads," setting the stage for a musical exploration of the mysteries and possibilities surrounding ancient civilizations and extraterrestrial visitations.
Line by Line Meaning
Hello, folks!
Greetings, everyone!
This thing wiggles too much
This situation is very unstable
Hey, that's more like it, mm-mm mmh, yes
Ah, now that's better, exactly what I was hoping for
Okay?
Is that alright?
Bruce Fowler on trombone
We have Bruce Fowler playing the trombone
Napoleon Murphy Brock on tenor sax
And vocals
Napoleon Murphy Brock will be showcasing his talent on the tenor saxophone and vocals
Ruth Underwood on percussion
We have Ruth Underwood handling the percussion
All right!
Fantastic!
Okay
Is that acceptable?
The gong always gets 'em
The sound of the gong never fails to captivate the audience
Ralph Humphrey on drums
Ralph Humphrey will be demonstrating his skills on the drums
Chester Thompson on drums
Chester Thompson will also be showcasing his talent on the drums
Tom Fowler on bass
Tom Fowler will be handling the bass
George Duke on keyboards
George Duke will be playing the keyboards
Alright now
Let me get myself tuned up and then
We'll do a suave program for you
Now, let me prepare and tune my instrument before we begin a sophisticated program for your enjoyment
Hi, Frank!
Greetings, Frank!
Hi!
Hello!
Alright well, Ian's busy he's uh, he's
With his parents in uhm, uh
Yugoslavia
Florida but he'll be back in town soon
Unfortunately, Ian is currently occupied visiting his parents in Yugoslavia, or possibly in Florida, but he will return soon
Ladies and gentlemen yeah
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you
Now, we're gonna open up with
Some Hey! Brian Krokus, ladies
And gentlemen, right back there!
He is our mixer
We will begin our performance with the assistance of our wonderful sound mixer, Brian Krokus, who is located in the back. Please give him a round of applause
And of course there's another mixer out
In the truck and you can't see
Him but he's awfully cute, his
Name is Kerry McNabb and he can
Hear us talking about him, but
Additionally, we have another mixer in the truck, although you cannot see him. His name is Kerry McNabb, and despite not being visible, he possesses an undeniable charm and can hear every word we say about him
Well, you're missing the best part of what's
Going out on out in the truck
Oh, you're missing out on the most exciting aspect happening inside the truck
We're gonna open our program with a song
That deals with the subject of
The possibility of extra-terrestrial
Beings visiting this planet a long time ago
To kick off our program, we will perform a song that explores the intriguing idea of extraterrestrial beings having visited Earth in the distant past
Now, some of you might have
Read a book called
Chariots Of The Gods by Erich Von Däniken
Perhaps some of you are familiar with a book titled 'Chariots Of The Gods' by Erich Von Däniken
And there's a little thing in there
It's a picture of this
Area in the Andes called the plains of Nazca
Within the book, there is a fascinating image depicting an area in the Andes known as the plains of Nazca
Ladies and gentlemen and
There's these carvings on the top of the
Rock that you don't know what
They're supposed to be
Within this location, there are mysterious carvings atop a rock, the true nature and purpose of which remain unknown
For it doesn't look like it
Would have been a road, because it doesn't
Go anywhere, and there's a bunch of
'em, and some people think
Well maybe it was a
Landing field but the carvings are very, very
Old and they're very, very big, you
Know, indicating that the people
Who made them
Were highly, uh, well, they were
Heh heh they really had their together for
The things that carved in the rock
These carvings do not appear to serve as roads, as they do not lead anywhere. Instead, there are numerous carvings that some speculate could have been a landing field, although their ancient and significant nature suggests that the individuals responsible were highly skilled and knowledgeable in their craft
And it's possible that if
They were landing fields
That the things that landed on them
Were NOT OF THIS EARTH
Considering the notion that these carvings were indeed landing fields, there is a strong possibility that the entities that descended upon them were extraterrestrial in nature
And so we have a song
Which features the lovely voice of Mr george
Duke, and the name of this song
Is 'Inca Roads'. Take it away, george
Therefore, we have prepared a song titled 'Inca Roads,' in which the beautiful voice of Mr. George Duke takes center stage. Begin when you're ready, George.
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Frank Zappa
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind