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.
This Is Phaze III
Frank Zappa Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Spider: This is Phaze III. This is also . . .
John: Well, get through Phaze I & II first.
Spider: Alright, alright. Here's Phaze I . . .
FZ: The audience sits inside of a big piano and they listen to it grow.
Spider: People are going to sit inside of a piano. They're going to listen to this piano grow.
John: They're going to listen to the piano grow?
Monica: This is going to turn into a . . .
Spider: It's going to turn into another Haight-Ashbury. Remember how we commercialized on that scene?
John: That was a relly good move.
Monica: Oh! That was a confession.
Spider: Right, man . . . and all it was was like people sitting in doorways freaking out tourists going "Merry Go Round! Merry Go Round! Do-Do-Do-Do Do-Do-Do- Do-Do-Do!" and they called that "doing their thing."
John: Oh yeah, that's what doing your thing is!
Spider: The thing is to put a motor in yourself
The lyrics of Frank Zappa's song This Is Phaze III are a conversation among several characters about the future of music, specifically about the idea of creating a communal musical experience. The first character, Spider, introduces the idea of Phaze III, which seems to be some kind of musical experience that involves people sitting inside a piano and listening to it "grow." The other characters are skeptical, with John sarcastically suggesting they need to get through Phaze I and II first, while Monica worries that it will turn into another Haight-Ashbury, a reference to the commercialization of the counterculture scene in San Francisco in the 1960s.
The conversation takes a cynical turn as Spider and John reminisce about their previous success in commercializing the "Merry Go Round" scene, which involved people sitting in doorways and saying "Do-Do-Do-Do Do-Do-Do- Do-Do-Do!" to freak out tourists. The song ends with Spider saying "The thing is to put a motor in yourself," which could be interpreted as a call to action to embrace change and innovation in music and in life.
Line by Line Meaning
Spider: This is Phaze III. This is also . . .
Spider is introducing Phaze III and suggesting that there is more to it than just the name.
John: Well, get through Phaze I & II first.
John is reminding Spider to finish Phaze I and II before moving on to III.
Spider: Alright, alright. Here's Phaze I . . .
Spider is now proceeding to describe Phaze I.
FZ: The audience sits inside of a big piano and they listen to it grow.
FZ describes how the audience will experience the music, like sitting inside a big piano and listening to the music grow.
Spider: People are going to sit inside of a piano. They're going to listen to this piano grow.
Spider is repeating the explanation of the audience's experience in a more simplistic way.
John: They're going to listen to the piano grow?
John is questioning the concept of listening to a piano grow.
Spider: Listen!
Spider is urging John to stop questioning the concept and just listen to the music.
Monica: This is going to turn into a . . .
Monica is making an observation about the future of the event.
Spider: It's going to turn into another Haight-Ashbury. Remember how we commercialized on that scene?
Spider is recalling how they profited from the commercialization of the Haight-Ashbury scene and predicting a similar outcome for this event.
John: That was a really good move.
John acknowledges the success of their past commercialization efforts.
Monica: Oh! That was a confession.
Monica realizes that John's statement was a confession of their previously profit-motivated actions.
Spider: Right, man . . . and all it was was like people sitting in doorways freaking out tourists going "Merry Go Round! Merry Go Round! Do-Do-Do-Do Do-Do-Do- Do-Do-Do!" and they called that "doing their thing."
Spider explains how the Haight-Ashbury scene was commercialized by people just sitting around and freaking out tourists, but it was still considered 'doing their thing'.
John: Oh yeah, that's what doing your thing is!
John agrees that the commercialization of the Haight-Ashbury scene was still considered 'doing your thing', despite being profit-driven.
Spider: The thing is to put a motor in yourself
Spider suggests that the focus should be on self-improvement and self-empowerment, metaphorically referred to as putting a motor in oneself.
Contributed by Mila K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.