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 pigs music
Frank Zappa Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Spider: You see if we understood it, maybe we could help the pigs understand
John: Nah, the problem with that is you think the pigs are essentially kind at heart . . .
Spider: Aw, I didn't say that . . .
John: But the pigs are essentially pigs
John: If we could either move the smoke or if we turn the cold light on it and shrink it so they can't even salute it . . .
Spider: It's . . . it's really . . . It's sort of the opposite event. You see it was a long time ago when Pigs and Ponies used to inter-breed with people on farms . . . and they reached a state where . . . where like the pigs were . . . communicable. They brought 'em in and tried . . . tried to teach them things. They're just as likely to live in the ocean as anywhere else . . . Wouldn't get rid of them, really. Just means that the ocean would be just as unsafe as every other place. That's what happened. Ya know, they tried to put 'em places where they wouldn't make it, but they made it anyway
Pig With Wings: EE . . . EE . . . EE . . . EE
Spider: What's that?
John: That's the Pig with Wings
In this conversation between Frank Zappa, John, Spider, and a Pig with Wings, they are discussing the pigs' music and how to interpret it. Spider suggests that if they understood the music, they could help the pigs understand it too. However, John disagrees and believes that the pigs are essentially pigs, and their comprehension of music and language is limited. To solve this problem, John suggests altering the environment that the pigs are in to either remove smoke or reduce the light so that they cannot salute it.
Spider then describes a time when pigs and ponies interbred with people, resulting in communicable pigs. The pigs were then taught things and were just as likely to live in the ocean as they were on land. Despite attempts to get rid of them, they continued to thrive, making every place, including the ocean, unsafe. The conversation ends with the Pig with Wings chiming in with its unique sound.
The lyrics of the song are open to interpretation, as is common with Frank Zappa's music. It's unclear what the pigs' music sounds like, and the conversation between the characters often becomes abstract and surreal. However, the lyrics could be commenting on the limitations of human communication and the struggle to understand non-human languages and cultures.
Line by Line Meaning
Tonight you guys are going to try and figure out the pigs' music
Today we will try to understand the music of the pigs.
You see if we understood it, maybe we could help the pigs understand
If we could understand their music, maybe we could help the pigs understand it too.
Nah, the problem with that is you think the pigs are essentially kind at heart . . .
The issue is that you assume that the pigs are good-natured by default.
Aw, I didn't say that . . .
I didn't mean to imply that.
But the pigs are essentially pigs
But, in reality, the pigs are just pigs.
If we could either move the smoke or if we turn the cold light on it and shrink it so they can't even salute it . . .
If we could disperse the elements in their music or make it indiscernible, then the pigs would not appreciate it.
It's . . . it's really . . . It's sort of the opposite event. You see it was a long time ago when Pigs and Ponies used to inter-breed with people on farms . . . and they reached a state where . . . where like the pigs were . . . communicable. They brought 'em in and tried . . . tried to teach them things. They're just as likely to live in the ocean as anywhere else . . . Wouldn't get rid of them, really. Just means that the ocean would be just as unsafe as every other place. That's what happened. Ya know, they tried to put 'em places where they wouldn't make it, but they made it anyway
It's the opposite situation. In the past, pigs and ponies were crossed with humans, and reached a point where they could communicate. They were domesticated and taught various things, but could survive anywhere, even in the ocean. They could not be gotten rid of, only avoided. They persisted despite efforts to keep them away.
They wanted to use yaks, too
They also attempted to domesticate yaks.
EE . . . EE . . . EE . . . EE
The sounds made by the Pig with Wings.
What's that?
Spider inquires about the sounds made by the Pig with Wings.
That's the Pig with Wings
That's the source of the sounds.
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Frank Vincent Zappa
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind