Frank Vincent Zappa (born December 21, 1940 in Baltimore, Maryland, United … Read Full Bio ↴Frank Vincent Zappa (born December 21, 1940 in Baltimore, Maryland, United States – December 4, 1993 in Los Angeles, California, United States) was an American composer, guitarist, singer, bandleader and producer. He was one of the most prolific musicians of his time, releasing over fifty albums of original material spanning over a thirty-five year career.
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.
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 Massive Improve'lence
Frank Zappa Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴
Frank zappa (guitar, synclavier)
Steve vai (guitar)
Ray white (guitar, vocals)
Tommy mars (keyboards)
Chuck wild (piano)
Arthur barrow (bass)
Scott thunes (bass)
Jay anderson (string bass)
Ed mann (percussion)
Chad wackerman (drums)
Ike willis (vocals)
Terry bozzio (vocals)
Dale bozzio (vocals)
Napoleon murphy brock (vocals)
Bob harris (vocals)
Johnny "guitar" watson (vocals)
Thing-fish: (to the rubber girl)
Hmmm! dat quite a massive improve'lence, dahlin'! jes' a few moments ago you was well on yo' way to bein' severely ugly! now, thoo de magik o' stagekraff, de blubulence of yo' blobulence done re
Cated to a respectumal reclusium! yow! science!
(to harry & rhonda)
Ef y'all don't minds me sayin' so, I be'lieves it's 'bout time fo yo pathetical miniaturized replicas to fall in love! after all...dis lil' sucker already been fulla glue, homo-sectional extru- s
'n army food...nothin' left fo' him to do, 'cept get catched by dis' lil' stinker over heahhh!
'membuh, we's on broadway! muthafucker be buyin' dem tickets wants a lil' heart, a lil' soul...'n some titty too, ef dey can git it, so, les' get y'all in positium heah, 'n get dis silly busines
Are wit! y'all's takin' too goddam long to grow up in ermerica!
Harry-as-a-boy:
I suppose you're right, mr. thing-fish, but you'll have to admit...this is a rather awkward situation!
Harry:
That's right! stage-craft is one thing, but this is ridiculous! where did that stimulating little replica come from anyway?
Rhonda:
That's a good question, harry! don't let him wiggle out of it! hound him mercifullessly until you receive a suitable answer!
Harry:
Now, just hold yourself in abeyance, rhonda! I'll handle this! look here, 'mr. potato-head', what's the meaning of all this? do you realize what you're asking my replica to do? do you expect him
Iterally fall in love in front of all these people...with that artificial rhonda over there?
Thing-fish:
Do de pope shit in de woods?
Harry:
Now, just hold on there, buddy! let's be serious! the toilet training of exalted religious personalities is not our primary topic of discussion!
Rhonda:
Harry, that's wonderful! the way you're just rearing up on your hind legs like that! that's terrific! so what if you suck a little cock every once in a while! that's terrific!
Thing-fish: (to harry)
Look heahhh, sweetheart, they's somethin' fishy gwine on...all I's wantin' to do is get de romantic in'trust out de way so we can git back to de evil prince, 'n see what de fuck we gone do 'bout
! de way you's givin' me de lip, lead me to infer a subterior motivatium!
Harry: (singing)
I want a nun!
I want a nun!
I want a burro,
In the frosty light!
Thing-fish:
You want a nun? de boy want a nun? what de fuck kinda nun you want?
Harry: (singing)
I can't seem to make up my mind!
Something about mammys
Seems so sublime...
That's the broadway word
Used when they rhyme
A song about love!
Thing-fish:
But, on broadway, it's a new day! ain'tcha hoid? yo' unrequired desirin's be mo' suited to de zomby-folk up in de evil prince's lab-mo-to-rium!
Harry: (whimpering)
Don't make fun of me...please! I know I'm not the most desirable kind of fellow a 'mammy nun' could choose for intimate companionship...but...but... gosh-darn-it, I'd try...i'd really try to mak
Happy!
Rhonda:
Harry...you are...a worm...a disgusting worm! you wormmmmmm! you are nothing but a wormmmmmmmmmmmm!
Thing-fish:
Boy obviously got hisseff a provlum! would y'all like to use my nakkin' one mo' time?
Harry:
Oh, yes! yes! give me...your...how do you say it? 'nay'kin'? oh!
Harry-as-a-boy:
I think this is going too far, mr. thing-fish! I haven't even had a chance to fall in love, or to grow to maturity yet! the artificial rhonda is pining away for my wholesome companionship, just
There! this isn't right! you're letting everything get all out of sequence!
Thing-fish:
Whoa! I gots yo' 'sequence' hangin', boy! get outs de way! cain't why'see dat de mizzable cock-sucker you ultimately gwine become done fell in love wit' a 'mammy nun'! awright, which one idit, swe
Rt?
Harry:
I...i...can't seem to make up my mind...you're all so...masterful! so sensuous...you're so incredibly talented!
Rhonda:
...a wor-are-are-are-are-mmmmmmmmmm! you are a fucking wor-are-are-are-are-are-are-mmmmmmmmm!
Thing-fish:
Makes up yo' mind, dahlin'! we ain't gots all night heahhh! intromissium be comin' up putty quick! folks be headin' on out to de lobby fo' dem mash potatoes we tole 'em 'bout earlier!
Harry-as-a-boy:
I insist on falling in love, right now, this very moment, and I don't care what you do with him...
Thing-fish:
Go 'head on den...go git yo' deflateable bitch ovuh deah! judgin' fum all de fuss, you ain't in much better shape den de large economy size been clutchin' at my nakkin!
We gots a love song (jes' yo' type), bridgin' de conceptiumal gap between what you is, what you think you is, what we think you is, what you is gonna be, 'n also what yo' rubberized madonna be s
At remindin' me of!
Sister ob'dewlla 'x', gather de mo' sensitive mammys together fo' harmonicizatiumal purposes, while de ones with de m.b.a.'s hit de lobby 'n sell some shit, 'fo de customers over-run yo' ass! me
Le, lil' guy, go get yo' rubber girl 'n esspress yo-seff!
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)
Thing-fish: (to the rubber girl)
Hmmm! dat quite a massive improve'lence, dahlin'! jes' a few moments ago you was well on yo' way to bein' severely ugly! now, thoo de magik o' stagekraff, de blubulence of yo' blobulence done re
Cated to a respectumal reclusium! yow! science!
(to harry & rhonda)
Ef y'all don't minds me sayin' so, I be'lieves it's 'bout time fo yo pathetical miniaturized replicas to fall in love! after all...dis lil' sucker already been fulla glue, homo-sectional extru- s
'n army food...nothin' left fo' him to do, 'cept get catched by dis' lil' stinker over heahhh!
'membuh, we's on broadway! muthafucker be buyin' dem tickets wants a lil' heart, a lil' soul...'n some titty too, ef dey can git it, so, les' get y'all in positium heah, 'n get dis silly busines
Are wit! y'all's takin' too goddam long to grow up in ermerica!
Harry-as-a-boy:
I suppose you're right, mr. thing-fish, but you'll have to admit...this is a rather awkward situation!
Harry:
That's right! stage-craft is one thing, but this is ridiculous! where did that stimulating little replica come from anyway?
Rhonda:
That's a good question, harry! don't let him wiggle out of it! hound him mercifullessly until you receive a suitable answer!
Harry:
Now, just hold yourself in abeyance, rhonda! I'll handle this! look here, 'mr. potato-head', what's the meaning of all this? do you realize what you're asking my replica to do? do you expect him
Iterally fall in love in front of all these people...with that artificial rhonda over there?
Thing-fish:
Do de pope shit in de woods?
Harry:
Now, just hold on there, buddy! let's be serious! the toilet training of exalted religious personalities is not our primary topic of discussion!
Rhonda:
Harry, that's wonderful! the way you're just rearing up on your hind legs like that! that's terrific! so what if you suck a little cock every once in a while! that's terrific!
Thing-fish: (to harry)
Look heahhh, sweetheart, they's somethin' fishy gwine on...all I's wantin' to do is get de romantic in'trust out de way so we can git back to de evil prince, 'n see what de fuck we gone do 'bout
! de way you's givin' me de lip, lead me to infer a subterior motivatium!
Harry: (singing)
I want a nun!
I want a nun!
I want a burro,
In the frosty light!
Thing-fish:
You want a nun? de boy want a nun? what de fuck kinda nun you want?
Harry: (singing)
I can't seem to make up my mind!
Something about mammys
Seems so sublime...
That's the broadway word
Used when they rhyme
A song about love!
Thing-fish:
But, on broadway, it's a new day! ain'tcha hoid? yo' unrequired desirin's be mo' suited to de zomby-folk up in de evil prince's lab-mo-to-rium!
Harry: (whimpering)
Don't make fun of me...please! I know I'm not the most desirable kind of fellow a 'mammy nun' could choose for intimate companionship...but...but... gosh-darn-it, I'd try...i'd really try to mak
Happy!
Rhonda:
Harry...you are...a worm...a disgusting worm! you wormmmmmm! you are nothing but a wormmmmmmmmmmmm!
Thing-fish:
Boy obviously got hisseff a provlum! would y'all like to use my nakkin' one mo' time?
Harry:
Oh, yes! yes! give me...your...how do you say it? 'nay'kin'? oh!
Harry-as-a-boy:
I think this is going too far, mr. thing-fish! I haven't even had a chance to fall in love, or to grow to maturity yet! the artificial rhonda is pining away for my wholesome companionship, just
There! this isn't right! you're letting everything get all out of sequence!
Thing-fish:
Whoa! I gots yo' 'sequence' hangin', boy! get outs de way! cain't why'see dat de mizzable cock-sucker you ultimately gwine become done fell in love wit' a 'mammy nun'! awright, which one idit, swe
Rt?
Harry:
I...i...can't seem to make up my mind...you're all so...masterful! so sensuous...you're so incredibly talented!
Rhonda:
...a wor-are-are-are-are-mmmmmmmmmm! you are a fucking wor-are-are-are-are-are-are-mmmmmmmmm!
Thing-fish:
Makes up yo' mind, dahlin'! we ain't gots all night heahhh! intromissium be comin' up putty quick! folks be headin' on out to de lobby fo' dem mash potatoes we tole 'em 'bout earlier!
Harry-as-a-boy:
I insist on falling in love, right now, this very moment, and I don't care what you do with him...
Thing-fish:
Go 'head on den...go git yo' deflateable bitch ovuh deah! judgin' fum all de fuss, you ain't in much better shape den de large economy size been clutchin' at my nakkin!
We gots a love song (jes' yo' type), bridgin' de conceptiumal gap between what you is, what you think you is, what we think you is, what you is gonna be, 'n also what yo' rubberized madonna be s
At remindin' me of!
Sister ob'dewlla 'x', gather de mo' sensitive mammys together fo' harmonicizatiumal purposes, while de ones with de m.b.a.'s hit de lobby 'n sell some shit, 'fo de customers over-run yo' ass! me
Le, lil' guy, go get yo' rubber girl 'n esspress yo-seff!
"The Massive Improve'lence" is a song by Frank Zappa from the album Thing-Fish, released in 1984. The lyrics of the song depict a scene where Thing-Fish, Harry, and Rhonda are conversing on stage, and Thing-Fish is urging Harry and Rhonda's artificial, miniature versions to fall in love. The song seems to mock the commercial nature of Broadway, where the focus is on providing entertainment and appealing to the audience's desires, rather than presenting genuine, thought-provoking works of art. The lyrics are characterized by their absurdity and references to sexual acts, stereotypes, and social commentary.
The song features a wide array of instruments such as guitar, keyboards, bass, percussion, drums, and vocals, creating a complex and multifaceted soundscape. The music style is a fusion of rock, jazz, and experimental, characterized by complex chord progressions, intricate melodies, and unusual time signatures. The song features a variety of vocal styles, from spoken word to falsetto, and showcases the virtuosity of the musicians involved.
Lyrics © OBO APRA/AMCOS
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