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.
Don't Eat The Yellow Snow (Sin
Frank Zappa Lyrics
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Frozen wind began to blow
Under my boots and around my toes
The frost that bit the ground below
It was a hundred degrees below zero
And my mama cried
And my mama cried
Nanook, a-no-no
Don't be a naughty Eskimo
Save your money, don't go to the show
Well I turned around and I said oh, oh oh
Well I turned around and I said oh, oh oh
Well I turned around and I said ho, ho
And the northern lights commenced to glow
And she said, with a tear in her eye
Watch out where the huskies go, and don't you eat that yellow snow
Watch out where the huskies go, and don't you eat that yellow snow
The lyrics of Frank Zappa's Don't Eat the Yellow Snow describe a dream in which the singer, a self-identified Eskimo, is traversing through the harsh, frozen terrain of the Arctic. The opening lines paint a vivid picture of the inhospitable environment: "Frozen wind began to blow / Under my boots and around my toes / The frost that bit the ground below / It was a hundred degrees below zero." The humor of the song comes through in the chorus, where the singer's mother warns him not to be a "naughty Eskimo" and to "save your money, don't go to the show." The repeated refrain advises the listener to "Watch out where the huskies go, and don't you eat that yellow snow."
The imagery of the song juxtaposes the chilling, unforgiving environment of the Arctic with the silly warning not to eat yellow snow. It's a clever play on words that suggests that something expelled from the body could be mistaken for something benign like snow, but could be dangerous if ingested. On a deeper level, the warning could be seen as a metaphor for avoiding harmful or toxic situations in life. The song is also a humorous critique of modern consumer culture, with the singer's mother urging him to save his money and not fall into the traps of consumerism.
Line by Line Meaning
Dreamed I was an Eskimo
The singer is describing a dream where he was an Eskimo
Frozen wind began to blow
The wind was cold enough to make everything freeze
Under my boots and around my toes
The cold wind was making the singer's feet feel numb
The frost that bit the ground below
The artist is talking about how the frost was so cold that it felt like it was biting the ground
It was a hundred degrees below zero
The temperature was extremely cold
And my mama cried
The singer's mother is upset about something
Nanook, a-no-no
The singer's mother is warning against doing something like Nanook, a character from a movie who makes bad choices
Don't be a naughty Eskimo
The artist's mother is warning him against doing something foolish
Save your money, don't go to the show
The artist's mother is telling him to save his money and not waste it on something frivolous like going to the movies
Well I turned around and I said oh, oh oh
The artist is surprised by something and is exclaiming
Well I turned around and I said ho, ho
The singer is laughing
And the northern lights commenced to glow
The aurora borealis started to appear in the sky
And she said, with a tear in her eye
The singer's mother is emotional and possibly worried about her child's safety
Watch out where the huskies go, and don't you eat that yellow snow
The singer's mother is warning him to be careful about where he goes and not to eat yellow snow, which could be harmful
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Frank Vincent Zappa
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind