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.
Sleeping In a Jar
Frank Zappa Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And your mommy & your daddy are sleeping
It's the middle of the night
And your mommy & your daddy are sleeping
Sleeping
Mom & dad are sleeping
Sleeping in a jar... (the jar is under the bed)
The lyrics to Frank Zappa's song Sleeping In A Jar are quite bizarre and open to interpretation. One could interpret the song as a metaphorical representation of the confinement and restrictions of middle-class suburban life. The theme of sleeping parents could symbolize the complacency and lack of enthusiasm in the household. The jar under the bed, where the parents are sleeping, can represent the trapped environment of conformity and tradition that the child is growing up in. The child may feel suffocated and stuck in their current situation, but cannot do anything about it until they become an adult.
Another interpretation of the song could explore themes of innocence and childhood. The child may be finding comfort in their parents' presence, even though they are sleeping. The act of putting the parents in a jar could be a playful and imaginative act of the child, wanting to keep their parents close and protected. The jar can represent a sense of security, shielding them from the outside world and its dangers. However, the child's innocent and sheltered world contrasts with the harsh reality of the world around them, which they will inevitably have to confront.
Overall, the lyrics of "Sleeping In A Jar" leave a lot of room for interpretation and analysis, but ultimately depicts a sense of isolation and confinement, whether it be the confinement of social norms or the sheltered innocence of childhood.
Line by Line Meaning
It's the middle of the night
The current time is late at night
And your mommy & your daddy are sleeping
Both of your parents are currently unconscious
It's the middle of the night
The current time is still late at night
And your mommy & your daddy are sleeping
Both of your parents are still unconscious
Sleeping
Both of your parents are in deep sleep
Mom & dad are sleeping
Both of your parents are in deep sleep, but it's the casual way to address them
Sleeping in a jar... (the jar is under the bed)
Both of your parents are sleeping in a confined space that is situated under the bed like a jar
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Frank Zappa
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@SICRECORDS
@@mustafaabdullah5756 my personal recommendations:
One size fits all LP
We’re only in it for the money LP
Shut up n play yer guitar LP
Sheik Yerbouti LP
Apostrophe LP
Hot Rats LP
A token of his extreme live LP
Chungas Revenge LP
@f1guremeout
Thank you Madlib for bringing this
Madvillany!
@jakedelhinski3849
Nassem, Also Tyler the Creator's song called Fuck this Election.
@gavinoh
It’s awesome how MF DOOM is bringing this genius’s work to this generation.
@theaniolraca
actually it is a Madlib's beat
@joeb.4204
tripping off the beat kinda
dripping off the meat grinder
@AbhNormal
Thank you 46th President of the United States Joseph Robinette Biden
@salxero144
man biden aint never did me no good
@SICRECORDS
Y’all gotta get more into zappa, I love the madvillainy LP but zappa’s work is absolutely monolithic in the greatest way possible, incredibly underrated as a guitar player let alone a music composer. Love the fact this is recognized as a madlib sample but let’s not let it stop there
@flyinghigh990
gimme some recommendations then plsssss
@petesimmons3856
@@flyinghigh990 Burnt Weeny Sandwich.. The melody of Holiday in Berlin on it was also sampled by Doom (Though a different track. It used Would You Like A Snack off 200 Motels which is wank)