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.
Going for the Money
Frank Zappa Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
?: Smurf meee!
?: Metz
Jeff: Right Howard?
Howard: Right Jeff, we're going for the money, all the way
The lyrics in Frank Zappa's song "Going for the Money" are quite unusual and seemingly nonsensical, but upon closer inspection, they reveal a deeper message about the corrupting influence of greed and the cutthroat nature of the music industry. The unintelligible phrases at the beginning of the song, "Smurf mee!" and "Metz," are likely references to Zappa's use of unconventional vocalizations and nonsense syllables in his music. The repeated refrain of "Going for the money" emphasizes the idea that success and financial gain are the primary motivations of the characters in the song, regardless of any artistic integrity or true passion for music.
The lines "Right Howard? / Right Jeff, we're going for the money, all the way" provide a glimpse into the inner workings of the music industry, where ambitious managers and agents are often more concerned with making a profit than with promoting genuine talent. Zappa's biting satire is evident throughout the song, as he skewers the greed-driven mentality that pervades the business world. By coupling scathing lyrics with his trademark avant-garde musical style, Zappa creates a searing commentary on the morally bankrupt nature of the industry.
Line by Line Meaning
?: Smurf mee!
Would you please pass me the marijuana?
?: Smurf meee!
May I have some LSD as well?
?: Metz
We're in a city in France called Metz.
Jeff: Right Howard?
Jeff is checking with Howard to make sure they are on the same page.
Howard: Right Jeff, we're going for the money, all the way
Howard and Jeff are fully committed to their pursuit of financial gain.
Contributed by Blake S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Hans-Edgar Gundlach
Zappa
a jumping jack flash
always
in
everything
a honest clown
a highness
of the so called underground
grounded in a warm humanism
fearless
a prophet
practised
extraordinnary
live spectacles
He liked to be dirty in his sense
shocking
the so called establishment
He widened the limits in music
He is a modest master
Marvin Gershowitz
@Thomas Mittemeyer I don't have them anymore (the albums.)
... I grew up in Brownsville back then all the stores downtown survived by the massive trade that Mexico brought us.
.... I know the guy that along with some Dallas people started 'Goodwill' for instance and bought BAILS of Clothing.
..... CUT OUTS the same thing we were in knee deep with Records selling then often for 10 for $1 and occasionally 30 for a $1.
..... Most of the Record Cut-Outs were less than a year old and over runs and less popular albums were DUMPED on the market for an 8 Cent U.S. to 1 Peso economy... but back then that is how CUT OUTS seemed to be sold.
I never thought of myself as a collector (like a coin collection) of albums. And I still Don't.
I got married and my x-wife for nearly 20 years seemed to love to move from one place to another with the excuse she wasn't happy where we were.
..... Moving Records is hard on Records and nearly 50 moves in less than 20 years harmed 1/2 my collection with problems.
..... OR.... When I got Drafted I left my albums with someone I thought was my best friend. HE Loaned them to a RADIO Station (in Larado) and then he Joined a Commune and left them.
..... His brother saved about 4,000 albums for me, but I lost about 4,000.
I was still buying heavily so I rebuilt, but the moving was crazy.
Finally 2004 I was wanted by the LAW and I had Run so I left the most Famous Hippy in Austin Texas my remaining 3,000 albums and RAN.
.... Most of those Albums a few years later he told me were Donated to the ROCK n ROLL Museum they built Austin.
.....
The Only Album I saved from my original batch between 1967 and 2004 was my copy of 'The Masked Marauders.' I thought it was fitting to own a 'fake group with fake members singing 'Can't Get No Nookie.'
dadeque
This album is very melodic, between the experimental kind of Varese references (or others that escape me).
Face A
No Titre Durée
1. Are You Hung Up? (en) 1:25
2. Who Needs the Peace Corps? (en) 2:34
3. Concentration Moon 2:22
4. Mom and Dad 2:16
5. Telephone Conversation 0:49
6. Bow Tie Daddy 0:33
7. Harry, You're a Beast 1:21
8. What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body? 1:03
9. Absolutely Free (en) 3:24
10. Flower Punk 3:03
11. Hot Poop 0:26
Face B
No Titre Durée
12. Nasal Retentive Calliope Music 2:02
13. Let's Make the Water Turn Black (en) 2:01
14. The Idiot Bastard Son 3:18
15. Lonely Little Girl 1:09
16. Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance (en) 1:32
17. What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body? (Reprise) 1:02
18. Mother People 2:26
19. The Chrome Plated Megaphone of Destiny
FZ
I almost forgot how beautiful this record is.
duster71
@David Goodwin never judge a person by the length of their hair, or if their fat or short.or if they take their clothes off when they dance.
duster71
@Steven Sprouse same for me I was into Alice Cooper and Deep Purple in 73 when I was 13 and just another Italian kid playing guitar like all the rest of the Italian boys in my neighbor hood.Frank became our God,our Savior from "normal music".
Greg W.
Don't ever forget that
Nick Nickerson
Same here.
Steven Sprouse
I was 13 the first time I heard this when it came out. I was like - huh? So it began!
Martian Sunset
2021. Still as amazing, fresh and bizarre as it was 53 years ago. Still ahead of its time. (Someone will say this again in 100 years)
Paul Borneo
Don't let your children hear it. It will corrupt them.
KIRKHAUS
Hopefully without the word "fresh!"....🤮💩
mtnnoonan
This album is both a creative masterpiece and hilarious comedy.