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.
Help I
Frank Zappa Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Ahahahahahahaaa
Help I'm a rock, help I'm a rock, help I'm a rock!
Somebody, please, please!
Help I'm a rock, help I'm a rock...
Wow man, it's a drag being a rock
Help I'm a rock...
I wish I was anything but a rock
Hey, you know what, you know maybe if I practised, you know
Maybe if I passed my driving test
I could get a gig drivin' that bus and pick some freaks up
In front of Ben Franks, right!
Help I'm a cop, help I'm a cop, help I'm a cop!
(Help I'm a rock...), help I'm a cop, help I'm a cop!
It's a drag being a cop, I think I'd rather be the mayor
Always wondered what I was gonna be when I grew up, you know
Always wondered whether or not, whether or not I could make it,
You know, in society, because,
You know, it's a drag when you're rejected
So I tore the cover off a book of matches and I sent in
And I got this letter back that said, UHU, AHA
It can't happen here
It can't happen here
I'm telling you, my dear
That it can't happen here
Because I been checkin' it out, baby
I checked it out a couple a times, hmmmmmmmm
And I'm telling you
It can't happen here
Oh darling, it's important that you believe me
(Bop bop bop bop)
That it can't happen here
Who could imagine that they would freak out somewhere in Kansas...
Kansas Kansas tototototodo
Kansas Kansas tototototodo
Kansas Kansas
Who could imagine that they would freak out in Minnesota...
Mimimimimimimi Minnesota, Minnesota, Minnesota
Who could imagine...
Who could imagine
That they would freak out in Washington, D.C.
D.C. D.C. D.C. D.C. D.C.
It can't happen here
Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba
It can't happen here
It can't happen here
Everybody's safe and it can't happen here
No freaks for us
It can't happen here
Everybody's clean and it can't happen here
No, no, it won't happen here
I'm telling you it can't
It won't happen here
(Bop bop didi bop didi bop bop bop)
Plastic folks, you know
It won't happen here
You're safe, mama
You're safe, baby
You just cook a TV dinner
And you make it
(Bop bop bop)
No no no no
Oh, we're gonna get a TV dinner and cook it up
Go get a TV dinner and cook it up
Cook it up
Oh, and it won't happen here
(No no no no no no no no no no no
Man you guys are really safe
Everything's cool).
Who could imagine
Who could imagine
That they would freak out in the suburbs!
I remember (tu-tu)
I remember (tu-tu)
I remember (tu-tu)
They had a swimming pool
I remember (tu-tu)
I remember (tu-tu)
They had a swimming pool
I remember (tu-tu)
I remember (tu-tu)
They had a swimming pool.
And they thought it couldn't happen here
(duh duh duh duh duh)
They knew it couldn't happen here
They were so sure it couldn't happen here
But...
Suzie...
Yes yes yes--I've always felt that
Yes I agree man, it really makes it...yeah...
It's a real THING, man
And it really makes it
(Makes it)
Suzie, you just got to town,
And we've been, we've been very interested
In your development.
Forget it!
Hmmmmmmmmm
(It can't happen here)
The song "Help, I'm a Rock" by Frank Zappa is a commentary on societal expectations and the search for identity. The repeated refrain of "Help I'm a rock" represents the feeling of being stuck in an unfulfilling identity, while the wish to be something else, such as a policeman, represents the desire to fit within societal norms. However, even being a policeman is unfulfilling, and the song extends to explore the illusions of safety and control that we build for ourselves. This is evident in the repeated assertion that "it can't happen here" and the mocking of suburbanites who believe they are immune to chaos and disorder.
The song's structure, with its repeated chorus and nonsensical verses, is purposefully disorienting and a representation of chaos. The references to Kansas, Minnesota, and Washington D.C. indicate that chaos and disorder can occur anywhere, regardless of location or societal norms. The song's final lines, "Suzie, you just got to town, /And we've been, we've been very interested/In your development. / Forget it!/Hmmmmmmmmm/ (It can't happen here)", indicate that the cycle of societal expectation, rejection, and search for identity continues to repeat itself.
Line by Line Meaning
Help I'm a rock, help I'm a rock, help I'm a rock!
Requesting help as being a rock is a drag
Wow man, it's a drag being a rock
Being a rock is boring and uneventful
I wish I was anything but a rock
Dreaming of being anything but a rock
Heck, I'd even like to be a policeman
Preferring to be a policeman over a rock
Help I'm a cop, help I'm a cop, help I'm a cop!
Requesting help as being a cop is also a drag
It's a drag being a cop, I think I'd rather be the mayor
Being a cop is not desirable and would rather aspire to be the mayor
Always wondered what I was gonna be when I grew up, you know
Contemplating what to be in life
So I tore the cover off a book of matches and I sent in And I got this letter back that said, UHU, AHA
Applying for a job and receiving an unhelpful response
It can't happen here
Believing that unusual behavior or events cannot happen here
Who could imagine that they would freak out in Kansas...
Speculating about where unpredictable events may take place
Everybody's safe and it can't happen here
Feeling assured of safety and being protected from unusual behavior and events
Plastic folks, you know You're safe, mama
Feeling safe with a plastic surrounding and a loving motherly figure
No no no no no no no no no no no Man you guys are really safe Everything's cool
Emphasizing the safety and normalcy of the surrounding environment
That they would freak out in the suburbs!
Surprised that unusual behavior and events can occur even in the suburbs
But...Suzie...Yes yes yes--I've always felt that Yes I agree man, it really makes it...yeah...It's a real THING, man And it really makes it (Makes it)
Agreeing that unpredictability is a real issue and is affecting lives
(It can't happen here)
Repeating the mantra that unusual behavior and events cannot happen here
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@scotta.5681
I used to play this when I wanted people to leave my house. I'd let it play over and over and they would quickly leave. It is wonderful!
@christopherpetersen9956
😂😂
@100GTAGUY
Dang, I would've just stayed and kept on groovin haha
@bittertriumph2045
Why'd you have people with terrible taste over in the first place?
@TubeScrewed
I had a friend who's Dad owned a traveling fair. When it was time to close, there was always these too cool trouble making types hanging around. He'd play this extremely corny music, I have no idea where he got this music, but it was the corniest of the corny. It's hard to be cool with that kind of music playing. They'd leave every time.
@floydLmiller
And if that didn't work I'd pull out Space is the Place by The Sun Ra Archestra.
@captpogossian
Before the album was released in UK I read a review by someone who had heard an import copy. The review said something along the lines "this album should be banned as it is liable to induce a psychotic episode in vulnerable people". Terrific advertising - I bought a copy the day it was released.
@BrownSoldier96
Haha Good man.
@williammcintosh6450
It helped through self-induced psychotic episodes immensely.
@juanmanuelferrand
Nice comment sir. Do you know what lyrics are talking about?
Thanx. Greetings from B.A. Argentina.