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.
Telephone Conversation
Frank Zappa Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
FZ: Hello?
Operator: Yes, sir . . .
FZ: Ah, can you call 6-7-8-9-8-6-6?
Operator: Same area code?
FZ: Yes
Operator: Alright
FZ: Is that Vickie?
Vickie: Hello?
Pam: Vickie?
Vickie: Yeah
Pam: What's happening?
Vickie: Listen: your father has called me up this . . .
Pam: Now look, just don't panic but just tell me . . .
Vickie: I'm not panicking!
Pam: OK
Vickie: I think my phone's tapped too
Pam: Well don't worry, that's quite alright
Vickie: Alright . . . Your father called me up this afternoon
Pam: Just a second . . .
The song "Telephone Conversation" by Frank Zappa is a humorous and satirical take on the telephone conversations happening in the 1970s. The song features a conversation between two women, Pam and Vickie, and a man, presumably Frank Zappa. The conversation starts with Pam asking the operator to hold and then switches to Zappa who is trying to contact Vickie. The women discuss the possibility of being wiretapped, and Vickie reveals that Pam's father had called her earlier that day.
The lyrics hint at the paranoia around phone tapping in the 1970s, a time when the public was becoming increasingly aware of government surveillance. Zappa uses this as a backdrop to showcase the absurdity of everyday conversations over the phone. The song can be seen as a commentary on how even everyday conversations can be filled with fear and anxiety, a reflection of the times.
Overall, the song is a witty and humorous take on the conversations that were happening over the phone in the 1970s, a time when people were becoming increasingly aware of the government's surveillance policies.
Line by Line Meaning
Pam: Well -just . . . operator? Hold for a minute, please . . .
Pam asks the operator to hold for a minute while she connects the call
FZ: Hello?
Frank Zappa answers the phone call
Operator: Yes, sir . . .
The operator responds to Frank's call
FZ: Ah, can you call 6-7-8-9-8-6-6?
Frank asks the operator to connect him to a phone number
Operator: Same area code?
The operator confirms if the phone number is in the same area code
FZ: Yes
Frank confirms that the phone number is in the same area code
Operator: Alright
The operator agrees to connect the call
FZ: Is that Vickie?
Frank asks if Vickie is on the call
Pam: Yeah . . . He's gonna bump you off yet, he's got a gun, you know . . . (heh heh heh . . . ) If he didn't get ya in Laurel Canyon, he won't get you here
Pam warns Vickie that someone is after her and suggests that they weren't caught in Laurel Canyon
Vickie: Hello?
Vickie answers the phone
Pam: Vickie?
Pam confirms that she is speaking to Vickie
Vickie: Yeah
Vickie confirms her identity
Pam: What's happening?
Pam asks Vickie for an update on what's going on
Vickie: Listen: your father has called me up this . . .
Vickie starts to explain the reason why she received a call from Pam's father
Pam: Now look, just don't panic but just tell me . . .
Pam tries to calm Vickie down and asks for more information
Vickie: I'm not panicking!
Vickie assures Pam that she is not panicking
Pam: OK
Pam acknowledges Vickie's statement and encourages her to continue
Vickie: I think my phone's tapped too
Vickie suspects that her phone is being tapped
Pam: Well don't worry, that's quite alright
Pam tries to reassure Vickie that it's not a big deal
Vickie: Alright . . . Your father called me up this afternoon
Vickie explains that Pam's father called her earlier that day
Pam: Just a second . . .
Pam asks for a moment to process the information
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Frank Zappa
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind