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.
The Crab-Grass Baby
Frank Zappa Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Steve Vai (guitar)
Ray White (guitar, vocals)
Tommy Mars (keyboards)
Chuck Wild (piano)
Arthur Barrow (bass)
Scott Thunes (bass)
Jay Anderson (string bass)
Chad Wackerman (drums)
Ike Willis (vocals)
Terry Bozzio (vocals)
Dale Bozzio (vocals)
Napoleon Murphy Brock (vocals)
Bob Harris (vocals)
Johnny "Guitar" Watson (vocals)
CRAB-GRASS BABY:
Stroke me pompadour, pompaduooor, pompaduooor, pompaduooor. Stroke me pompadour, father. Stroke it nicely while I tell you about the problems I am having with my car an my girlfriend. Ooo-wo-woo, the white man's burden!
Her and her girlfriend used to go out and booze it up and tear up the upholstery; rip the seats completely out, and so I got a fifty-six Olds. About the time I got it running decently, she got in it and wrecked the trans...tore it completely up, so I had to get another Oldsmobile (either that or go to Tijuana or go to BROWN MOSES way down in Egypt-Land). It's so hard on a child when his car is fucked up. Buy me a Volvo, faaather.
HARRY-AS-A-BOY:
Isn't it terrific, artificial RHONDA!
CRAB-GRASS BABY:
One-Adam-Twelve...see the enormous white pompadour! Ha-Ha-ha-ho! That's a good one! Hoo-hoo-hoo.
HARRY-AS-A-BOY:
He's so young, and yet, SO WISE!
CRAB-GRASS BABY:
I pooped my pants, pooped my pants, pooped my pants! I went doody, faaather, sob-sob-sob-sob-sob.
HARRY-AS-A-BOY:
His vocabulary is astonishing!
CRAB-GRASS BABY:
So what if you suck a little cock every once in a while?
HARRY-AS-A-BOY:
Ohhh...I'm so lucky to have a son like this...
CRAB-GRASS BABY:
Barf me out...gag me with a Volvo!
HARRY-AS-A-BOY:
I can't wait to show him to all the fellas down at the MINE-SHAFT!
CRAB-GRASS BABY:
Take me to the movies. Buy me a balloon. Stroke me pompadour!
HARRY-AS-A-BOY:
Look! Look! Look at the pecker on him, wouldja! Goodjy-goodjy-goodjy-goo! Hoo hoo hoo!
THING-FISH:
Dis boy have a 'PROVLEM'! However, how 'bout a nice round of applause fo de three 'WISE MAMMIES', comin' atcha outa chute numba five!
The Crab-Grass Baby is a bizarre and absurd song by Frank Zappa that satirizes the white man's burden, a concept that was used to justify Western colonialism and imperialism in the past. The song starts with the persona, the Crab-Grass Baby, asking his father to stroke his pompadour while he complains about the problems in his life, which include his girlfriend wrecking his car and breaking up with him. He then asks his father to buy him a Volvo as he sings in a melancholic tone about how hard it is for a child when his car is messed up.
In the next verse, Harry, who is either the father or another character, comments on the Crab-Grass Baby's wit and intelligence, fawning over his son's poetics and vocabulary. The Crab-Grass Baby continues to spout absurd phrases such as, "so what if you suck a little cock every once in a while?" and "barf me out...gag me with a Volvo!" Harry is then heard raving about his son's pecker, while Thing-Fish, another character in the song, comments on the Crab-Grass Baby's issues.
The song is an example of Zappa's use of absurdist humor to critique societal structures and politics. The lyrics may seem nonsensical at first, but upon closer inspection, they reveal a scathing commentary on the ridiculousness of the white man's burden and the ways in which society obsesses over material possessions.
Line by Line Meaning
Stroke me pompadour, pompaduooor, pompaduooor, pompaduooor.
Please comb my hair father.
Her and her girlfriend used to go out and booze it up and tear up the upholstery; rip the seats completely out, and so I got a fifty-six Olds.
My girlfriend and her friends got drunk and tore up the car seats, so I bought a 1956 Oldsmobile in decent condition.
About the time I got it running decently, she got in it and wrecked the trans...tore it completely up, so I had to get another Oldsmobile (either that or go to Tijuana or go to BROWN MOSES way down in Egypt-Land).
Just when I fixed it up, she broke the transmission and destroyed the car, so I had to buy another Oldsmobile or go to places like Tijuana, or Brown Moses down in Egypt-Land.
It's so hard on a child when his car is fucked up. Buy me a Volvo, faaather.
It's difficult for a person when their car is ruined. Please, father, buy me a Volvo.
One-Adam-Twelve...see the enormous white pompadour! Ha-Ha-ha-ho! That's a good one! Hoo-hoo-hoo.
I'm joking about my bigger hair. It's Amusing.
I pooped my pants, pooped my pants, pooped my pants! I went doody, faaather, sob-sob-sob-sob-sob.
I made a mess in my pants, please help me.
So what if you suck a little cock every once in a while?
Who cares if someone likes to engage in a little oral sex from time to time?
Barf me out...gag me with a Volvo!
How disgusting.
Take me to the movies. Buy me a balloon. Stroke me pompadour!
Please take me to the movies, buy me a balloon, and comb my hair.
Contributed by Daniel N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.