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.
Secret Greasing
Frank Zappa Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It′s time actually for an unofficial commercial
And, um, this is a commercial for an album called Ruben & The Jets
It's a secret greasing
It′s a secret greasing?
And this commercial has not been paid
For which, I might add, violates all the rules of the Federal Communications Commission
That's it, stick it to 'em
Tell ′em how avant-garde you are!
...the music can start?
It′s on already
Oh, I can't hear it
Oh, can I hear it while I′m doing this?
No way for you to hear it, Frank, you just have to...
Oh, start it again, I wanna make it perfect
Okay
Well, at least, get close to it
Okay, we're gonna start that again
Here we go, this is our greasing
Okay, I think it′s about ready to start, Frank, if you're ready
Ruben Sano was 19 when he quit the group to work on his car
He had just saved up enough money to buy a 53 Nash and four gallons of gray primer
His girlfriend said she would leave him forever
If he didn′t quit playing in the band and fix up his car
So they could go to the drive-in and make out
There was already 11 other guys in the band
So when he quit, nobody missed him except for his car
When they had to go to rehearsal or play for a battle of the bands at the American Legion Post in Chino
They are all still good friends even today
The other main guys in the band
Natcho, Louie, Pana and Chuy still come over to Ruben's house on Tuesday or Wednesday
To listen to his collection of Richie Valens records and also "Eddie My Love"
Generally speaking, they save "Cherry Pie" and "Work With Me Annie" 'til the late part of the evening
So they can have something to hum on the way home or to Burger Lane
Some of them continue to hum and pop their fingers even the next day, working in the car wash
Now that they have gotten their big break in show business
Each one of the main guys in the group voted at the band meeting to keep the name Ruben on the jets
Not only because it sounds real fine and gives it class, but also because it makes it real sharp
Ruben even likes it too and thinks it is real sharp
All the guys in the band hope that you are sick and tired
Like they are of all this crazy far out music some of the bands of today are playing
They hope you are so sick and tired of it that you are ready for their real sharp style of music
They are good socially acceptable young men who only want to sing about their girlfriends
They want everybody to start dancing close back together again like 1955
Because they know that people need to love and also want to hold on to each other
Even holding hands is okay to them
They want you to hold hands and dance the bop and fall in love to their music
One of the main guys in the band was telling me a couple of weeks ago
When we were talking about how about only half the guys in the band ever show up at rehearsals most of the time
"If people would just hear my plea, I would give everthing just to sing the songs that was turning me on high school"
Ruben has three dogs
Benny, Baby and Martha
The above lyrics are from Frank Zappa's song "Secret Greasing." The song starts with a mocking reference to a commercial for an album called "Ruben & The Jets." The song then transitions into storytelling about Ruben Sano, one of the band members who left the group to work on his car with his girlfriend. This decision did not impact the band, but Ruben has maintained close associations with the other main guys in the group. They visit him weekly and listen to his collection of Richie Valens records. The band members hope that people will tire of far-out music and embrace their style, which is influenced by classic songs from 1955. With a focus on girlfriends and love, they aim to bring people together on the dance floor or just holding hands.
The song is a part of the album "Cruising with Ruben & the Jets," which is also known as "Ruben & the Jets." Frank Zappa and his band, The Mothers of Invention, released the album in 1968. "Ruben & The Jets" is a concept album that pays tribute to doo-wop music, a style popular in the 1950s. Zappa wrote and produced the songs in a doo-wop style, and the album deals with teenage love and rebellion themes. Zappa and The Mothers of Invention formed a fictitious band for the album, Ruben & The Jets.
Line by Line Meaning
During some of the great sounds from out of the past
The advertisement happens during a time of nostalgic music
It′s time actually for an unofficial commercial
The advertisement is unofficial
And, um, this is a commercial for an album called Ruben & The Jets
The advertisement is for the album called Ruben & The Jets
It's a secret greasing
The commercial is a secret form of promotion
It′s a secret greasing?
Asking for confirmation that the advertisement is a secret greasing
Yeah
Affirmation that the advertisement is a secret greasing
And this commercial has not been paid
The advertisement was not paid for
For which, I might add, violates all the rules of the Federal Communications Commission
Not paying for the advertisement goes against the rules of the Federal Communications Commission
That's it, stick it to 'em
Encouraging the secret promotion and going against the rules
Tell ′em how avant-garde you are!
Encouraging the advertisement to be avant-garde
...the music can start?
Asking if the music can start playing
It′s on already
Confirming that the music has already started
Oh, I can't hear it
Frank cannot hear the music
Oh, can I hear it while I′m doing this?
Frank asks if he can listen to the music while working
No way for you to hear it, Frank, you just have to...
Frank cannot listen to the music and has to continue with his work
Oh, start it again, I wanna make it perfect
Frank wants the music to restart to make his work perfect
Okay
Confirmation to restart the music
Well, at least, get close to it
Frank wants to get close to the perfect music
Okay, we're gonna start that again
Restarting the music
Here we go, this is our greasing
Introducing the secret promotion
Okay, I think it′s about ready to start, Frank, if you're ready
The music is ready to start playing again
Ruben Sano was 19 when he quit the group to work on his car
Ruben Sano left the group to work on his car when he was 19 years old
He had just saved up enough money to buy a 53 Nash and four gallons of gray primer
Ruben had saved enough to buy a car and car paint
His girlfriend said she would leave him forever
If he didn′t quit playing in the band and fix up his car
So they could go to the drive-in and make out
His girlfriend threatened to leave him if he did not fix his car so they can go to the drive-in and make out
There was already 11 other guys in the band
So when he quit, nobody missed him except for his car
When they had to go to rehearsal or play for a battle of the bands at the American Legion Post in Chino
They are all still good friends even today
The other main guys in the band
Natcho, Louie, Pana and Chuy still come over to Ruben's house on Tuesday or Wednesday
To listen to his collection of Richie Valens records and also "Eddie My Love"
Generally speaking, they save "Cherry Pie" and "Work With Me Annie" 'til the late part of the evening
So they can have something to hum on the way home or to Burger Lane
Some of them continue to hum and pop their fingers even the next day, working in the car wash
The rest of the group did not miss him when he left
They continue to be friends and listen to music at Ruben's house on Tuesdays or Wednesdays
They listen to specific songs so they can hum and pop their fingers the next day
Now that they have gotten their big break in show business
Each one of the main guys in the group voted at the band meeting to keep the name Ruben on the jets
Not only because it sounds real fine and gives it class, but also because it makes it real sharp
Ruben even likes it too and thinks it is real sharp
The group voted to keep Ruben's name on the band
The name is catchy and they all like it
All the guys in the band hope that you are sick and tired
Like they are of all this crazy far out music some of the bands of today are playing
They hope you are so sick and tired of it that you are ready for their real sharp style of music
They are good socially acceptable young men who only want to sing about their girlfriends
They want everybody to start dancing close back together again like 1955
Because they know that people need to love and also want to hold on to each other
Even holding hands is okay to them
They want you to hold hands and dance the bop and fall in love to their music
The band members do not like the current music trends and hope people are just as tired
They want people to dance closely and fall in love with their music
One of the main guys in the band was telling me a couple of weeks ago
When we were talking about how about only half the guys in the band ever show up at rehearsals most of the time
"If people would just hear my plea, I would give everthing just to sing the songs that was turning me on high school"
One of the members in the group wishes he could sing the songs he listened to in high school
Ruben has three dogs
Benny, Baby and Martha
Ruben owns three dogs named Benny, Baby and Martha
Writer(s): Frank Zappa
Contributed by Jackson A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.