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.
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.