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.
For The Young Sophisticate
Frank Zappa Lyrics
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Ike willis (rhythm guitar, vocals)
Ray white (rhythm guitar, vocals)
Steve vai (rhythm guitar, vocals)
Warren cucurullo (rhythm guitar, vocals)
Denny walley (slide guitar, vocals)
Tommy mars (keyboards, vocals)
Peter wolf (keyboards)
Ed mann (percussion)
Arthur barrow (bass, vocals)
Vinnie colaiuta (drums)
Baby baby why you cryin'
Feeling sorry what she said
Put down the rag, I told her then
Don't wanna hear you cry again
Dear heart, dear heart
Tell me, tell me what's the reason
Dear heart, dear heart
Tell me, tell me what's the reason
You know she went to see the doctor
And then she read a magazine
Forget that book, I told her then
Don't wanna hear about the book again
Dear heart, dear heart
Work out, vinnie
Tell me, tell me what's the reason
Dear heart, dear heart
I thought you were in love, vinnie
Tell me, tell me what's the reason
There was a picture on the story
That showed a young sophisticator
Who falls in love three pages later
With some aggressive agitator
And by and by he comes to hate her
'cause she don't shave her underarms
And he can't go for that
'cause he's a young sophisticator
Baby baby why you cryin'
It made me wonder what she said
Forget that book I told her then
Don't wanna hear 'bout the book again
Dear heart, dear heart
Tell me, tell me what's the reason
Dear heart, dear heart
How you doin', vinnie?
Tell me, tell me what's the reason
Would you still love me if my hair grew
All down the side of my kimono
Well of course I would, it might be hip
If it did not cause you to trip
Dear heart, dear heart
Or radiate a bad aroma
Dear heart, dear heart
Or radiate a cheap aroma
Dear heart, dear heart
Or radia-iate, or radia-ia-ia-iate a butzis aroma
Ha ha ha ha ha ha
The song "For The Young Sophisticate" by Frank Zappa is about a man trying to understand his partner's unhappiness. The opening lines, "Baby baby why you cryin' / Feeling sorry what she said / Put down the rag, I told her then / Don't wanna hear you cry again," reveal that the woman's tears are causing the man distress, and he wants her to stop crying. He tries to get her to tell him what the problem is, but she avoids the question or responds with evasive answers, such as "You know she went to see the doctor / And then she read a magazine / Forget that book, I told her then / Don't wanna hear about the book again."
The song takes a humorous turn when the man starts talking about a magazine, and the picture he saw in it. The picture, he reveals, is of a young sophisticate who falls in love with an aggressive agitator, only to start hating her later because she doesn't shave her underarms. The man finds this ridiculous and expresses it through the lines, "And he can't go for that / 'cause he's a young sophisticator." The last lines of the song are light-hearted, asking if the woman's hair would still be loved even if it grew down the side of her kimono.
Line by Line Meaning
Baby baby why you cryin'
Asking someone why they are crying
Feeling sorry what she said
Feeling upset about something someone said
Put down the rag, I told her then
Tell someone to stop crying
Don't wanna hear you cry again
Expressing displeasure about someone's crying
Dear heart, dear heart
Term of endearment for the person in question (Vinnie)
Tell me, tell me what's the reason
Asking why they feel the way they do
You know she went to see the doctor
Referring to someone who went to the doctor
And then she read a magazine
Someone reading a magazine after going to the doctor
Forget that book, I told her then
Asking someone to forget something (book)
Dear heart, dear heart
Term of endearment for the person in question (Vinnie)
Work out, vinnie
Encouragement to get better
I thought you were in love, vinnie
Expressing surprise that someone is not happy in love
There was a picture on the story
Referring to something that happened in a story
That showed a young sophisticator
Picture showed someone who is sophisticated
Who falls in love three pages later
Referencing a plot point in a story where someone falls in love
With some aggressive agitator
The person falls in love with someone aggressive
And by and by he comes to hate her
Someone falls out of love with the person they previously fell in love with
'cause she don't shave her underarms
Reason why someone fell out of love with the person they were with
And he can't go for that
The person who falls out of love can't accept the other person's armpit hair
'cause he's a young sophisticator
The person who can't accept the armpit hair is too sophisticated for that
It made me wonder what she said
Something someone said made the artist wonder
Or radiate a bad aroma
The artist would not like someone's bad smell
Or radiate a cheap aroma
The singer would not like someone's cheap smell
Or radia-iate, or radia-ia-ia-iate a butzis aroma
Joking about someone's bad smell and calling it a different name
Ha ha ha ha ha ha
Laughing at the joke made in the previous line
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Frank Vincent Zappa
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind