This is why Inca Roads is one of my all-time favorite Zappa pieces - it's one of his tour-de-force works. And nope, absolutely no drugs involved. and those spurious song credits are spurious, one of Frank's little jokes (Burt Bacharach and Hal David are famous mid-20th-century pop songwriters and have nothing whatsoever to do with Frank; they wrote Dionne Warwick's hit Do You Know the Way to San Jose). You just have to accept that Frank was one of those rare gifted individuals whose creative brain had absolutely no boundaries on it whatsoever. His knowledge of music ran from doo-wop to modern jazz to avant-garde classical music to points beyond and genres he made up for himself - always with a huge helping of surrealistic humor and bizarre recurring in-jokes (he called them "Conceptual Continuity"). And he demanded absolute precision and virtuosity from musicians who worked with him as well. Every note of every piece he did was notated out and his bandmembers were expected to read music. If you get the live performance video of Inca Roads (and I highly recommend you do, to see them do this whole thing in realtime), you'll see Frank actually conducting the band through the tricky parts, including those weirdass spoken interjections (which were precisely notated too!). Get used to being constantly surprised by Frank. He is NOT your typical rockstar 😀
Ellen you naied the shit outta this rendering post here. Nailed it !! You're not gonna capture lightening in a bottle with FZ ,nor vapor smoke with you hand. Zappa was in a whole 'nother Galaxy,not just on another planet wirh Brilliance, bursting with genius!! I saw him twice in my late teens once at 17 and then at 18 or 19, first time I wanted to go home and throw my drumsticks through the woods,after the show. I was so blown away by both the music,live of courre, but equally so by the high level musicainship! Had never seen such live and in person at that level. wow. Thanx for the most excellent post EllenBrenner !!
One correction...his band members were not required to read music (though most of them did), they just had to get the job done. Frank had the greatest ability to see musical things in people that they might not see in themselves...and he could see how it would fit within his music. Adrian Belew was a prime example, as was Ike Willis.
Im glade you did the audio version .The live video can be a distraction for a first listen but you should check it out on your own time it is trippy and the performance is flawless
Agreed, Gary. As amazing as the claymation is, I was always frustrated that we never got to see just the band doing the song. It was just such an inspired performance.
The amazing thing is that the basic tracks of this album version _are_ the live version seen on the Dub Room Special/A Token video. He swapped out the guitar solo and there were added vocals and effects. What a band.
Frank wrote this. The answer to why is because Frank was a genius. And believe it or not this is taken from live performances. I've been listening to Frank for 40 years and he still surprises me so get used to that.
This is not 100% live, the guitar solo is from Helsinki, other parts are from the KCET Tv special and other performances, it was all enhanced with overdubs etc in the studio.
Frank Zappa just had a great imagination. He taught himself to read music and play guitar so he saw no boundaries. Imagination can exist without drugs 👍
Chester in the lyrics is Chester Thompson, one of the greatest drummers (he also later played with Genesis during gigs and with Phil Collins), while Ruth refers to Ruth Underwood, one of the best percussionists, who - at the time - played in Zappa's band.🙂 Zappa's lyrics are frequently enigmatic, and either making fun of something or someone, or being deliberately abstract, or else they referred to some lyrics from another song or another album (Zappa called it "conceptual continuity" to which, by the way, he also referred in one of his songs). "Inca Roads" is definitely NOT the weirdest Zappa song. 🙂
The only two drugs Zappa used regularly and heavily were nicotine and caffeine. He tried pot once or twice but didn't like it because it made him sleepy. He wrote this kind of music because he could and because he wanted to.
I agree with your conclusion but I would say nicotine and caffeine when combined together at high doses are just as legitimate of a drug experience as other substances. I'm not attributing that as the source of his creativity but I think these drugs were like pouring gasoline on the fire.
He drank a little too. He talks in his book about being broke when he was just starting out. He'd get rice and beans and beer. But I don't think he drank much if at all after that period, until after he was diagnosed with cancer. While he was sick, he'd have margarita parties.
lol... no drugs for Zappa, and if you were in his band he wouldn't tolerate it either. Zappa was a pure genius... he explored virtual every genre, and even invented some new ones. lol Dig deep into his catalog and you'll never look at music the same way again. In fact, you'll find most music will bore you.
There was a popular book at the time when this was released called Chariots of the Gods it was about aliens visiting the Earth in prehistoric times.Frank knew about it probably and wrote this song as a satire of it.
I see so many comments where people take a wild guess about the lyrics and they usually miss by a mile. Frank was indeed mocking other bands who got carried away with their subject matter, and that silly ancient aliens nonsense that hit pop culture in the 70s.
My favorite Zappa piece. So much humor in that one. No he never did drugs and fired the musicians that were in it (Like the guys that founded Little Feat afterwards). The live version is incredible too. I saw Zappa in the early 80, it was magic, but very loud.
Frank is an underrated guitarist; as this recording shows, he was an inventive and technically on top of his game. Ruth on percussion is otherworldly as usual. The great Chester Thompson is on drums and played on several Zappa albums, went on to Weather Report (a GREAT jazz/fusion group) where he was heard by Phil Collins who asked if he would consider joining Genesis. He did. The rest is history. Note that Frank makes reference to 'Chester' in this tune.
Drugs are not a substitute for musical excellence. Zappa was a genius. Nobody needs a drug to create.It's a fable. The great artists who produced masterpieces while going through periods of drug abuse did it in spite of their addictions, not because of them.
Though this song is beyond what you seem to think a person could compose while straight, it just shows what a genius Zappa was. If you have only heard 5 Zappa songs then you cannot possibly have any idea of the depth of his creativity. There was a lot of very creative and excellent music being composed by a lot of groups at the end of 60's and early 70s within progressive rock and jazz fusion, Krautrock etc
Great tune, even greater guitar solo. The tune was recorded during a tv special, solo was from a show in Finland, edited down here and there, full length solo (presumably) can be found on You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore vol 2.
Sooo much talent in this lineup and every band he put together. The immensely talented Vibe player, Ruth Underwood, was well known to have been fixated on Steely Dan. Frank even joked about it. Inca Roads is delicious and far out.
@@alancumming6407 Frank Z himself was quoted saying she was an avid SD fan and had their cassette tapes in her car stereo currently. He was asked if he liked or ever listened to SD, and he said he did like their vibe and modality but that Ruth was the real SD fan. Look up Frank Zappa quotes and you'll find it.
Duke, Brock and Ruth Underwood were studying on their way to the masters in music. Hell yeah….Frank had some serious musicians!! Musicianship to the nth level!!
Why wouldn't a massively talented artist with a fertile imagination come up with something you can't understand without the aid of drugs? I believe the lyrics are poking fun at a much maligned book / documentary, Chariots of the Gods from around 1970.
Legend says that fans searched for years the trace of a drug in Zappa's life, but only ended up doing an OD in a panchromatic resonance of ambient domains. 🧪⚗
Frank smoked pot 8 or 9 times but never liked it.He demanded his band not do any drugs while touring with Frank. Frank drugs were coffee and cigarettes.DUDE FRANK WROTE THIS AND 99.9 % OF WHAT HE PLAYED. Frank could write songs like this on music sheets while flying on a plane,he didn't even have a instrument to use.If you really want to hear the greatest live performance listen to te concert Frank Zappa at the Ritz from 1981.I stood directly in front of him for this show at a very small club in NYC. I saw Frank for the first timein 1974 when I was 14.I saw hi over 35 times from 74-88.Frank played in NYC every Halloween from 74-81 or82 and I was at everyone of them. Every HAlloween he played more and more shows,first two shows on Halloween then 2 shows the night before then 2 shows the night before that. So Frank would play 5-6 shows in three days and I would be at everyone of them.
The solo in this is from the live Helsinki concert. So technically every solo from Inca Roads was live at one point or another, but I know what you mean
Burt & Hal were a song writing team who wrote a slew of pop hits. Not sure what page you are getting the lyrics from, but that's a cut & paste error by whoever published the page. This was written by Frank Vincent Zappa, his full name. The song is based on the book "Chariots of the Gods" which focuses on the Nazca lines in Peru. The song evolved over time. Early versions were slower with a musical theme akin to cheesy jazz lounge-music. The initial lyrics are pretty straight-on and are based on the book. "Vehicle" is reference to a UFO. The crazier lyrics, starting mid-way through, were added later based on slang used by the band members. "Booger Bear" is a euphemism for a groupie. The Armadillo was a music hall in Austin TX. Frank played there sometimes. Most of the next album, "Bongo Fury" was recorded there. "Guacamole Queen" is the same a Booger Bear, just updated because one of the band members mentioned guacamole at some point, probably to amuse Frank, and he incorporated it into the song. So what starts off as indigenous peoples carving a hill evolves into a horny guy carving up a groupie's "hill." Chester Thompson was the drummer and Ruth Kamanoff Underwood was the percussionist (marimba, vibes, toms, etc.) Frank references them as a joke with the insinuation that they were "hot" for each other. As for drugs, cigarettes and coffee were his main vices. One might deduce that the ingestion of nicotine and caffeine influenced the manic arrangements. I think it's more about Frank getting bored with the slower tempo and pushing the band to their limits. Maybe even a little beyond.
Big Rikke House aka The Guacamole Queen worked in the kitchen at the Armadillo World Headquarters, she really was known for being such an amazing cook. Frank and many other bands looked forward to shows there because the catering was so good, especially after being on the road for so long.
"....."Booger Bear" is a euphemism for a groupie. ....." It's worse than that. That edition of the band had a running practical joke: There was an ugly Halloween mask they called "the Booger-Bear". And if someone picked up an unattractive girl for the night, they would hang the Booger-Bear on his hotel-room doorknob. Frank thought this was hilarious - until someone hung the Booger-Bear on HIS hotel-room doorknob.
also he would work like over 48 hours and probably had some sleep delusion thrown in when writing, that was fueled by stimulants (caffeine and nicotine)
Sir: You will never be able to un-know what you have just heard...so... Welcome to the musical genius of FRANK ZAPPA....and there is tons more where that came from. And yes you would have to be a fabulous musician on your instrument to be on Zappa's crew..THAT you can be sure of.
I got on to zappa about a year ago. I’ve listened to about every album he has to offer, even the new albums. The bridge of Inca Roads gets to me every time. I think it’s Napoleon singing and I can’t help but to tear up 🤣
He's just taking a piss at the Nazcar (or whatever they are called) lines....just to see if he can piss someone off lol. Brilliantly wrapped in stunning music.
One of my favorite Zappa tunes and a very entertaining reaction. You were virtually speechless! Loved it. BTW the Bacharach reference is a 60-70s pop songwriting team that had several big hits (Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head). I'm guessing its a joke that would be like today Primus saying one of their tunes was written by Billie Eilish.
To JOHN SLOP:..................PS..... I myself am a clean/sober musician....and that being so....I had the opportunity to ask Frank himself (after one of his concerts he did in Massachusetts @ 1978).. if it is true that he doesn't do drugs....He told me "no I don't do drugs"...I heard him remark once that he just smokes cigarettes and drinks coffee......So, could it not be possible that doing drugs for Frank would get in the way of an imagination...that does not want or need drugs..to be utterly expressive? Many of us musicians find that once we are clean and sober....we find ourselves much better musicians....never mind avoiding an early tragic and wasteful death as so many others that have died...Who knows what Jimmi Hendrix might have gone on to do had he not died at a young 27 yrs old....the list of tragic deaths of great musicians is a mile long.....and all people are left to think is "What a waste" Frank Zappa, on the other hand, was able to go on to play and influence hundreds of other famous musicians and also leave us with a huge body of life's work....a fantastic treasure-trove for us to listen to for all time as well as raise 2 cool sons and a daughter.
Why would you? Good question. It opens up a huge hole on who Frank was and how he grew up. Son of a brilliant father, working on research for the U.S. military, raising Frank near Edwards Airforce Base, where young Frank was exposed to toxic chemicals - just a beginning of why Frank grew up with a healthy distaste for authority. Early on, he found experimental classical composers like Edgar Varèse, and they became a major creative influence. He made an acquaintance of a like-minded high school pal, Don Van Vliet - better known as Captain Beefhart, who collaborated with Frank at different times in his life. His early compositions were for early Doo-Wop bands, and he was also writing experimental compositions as well. He wrote for underground, low-budget films: The World's Greatest Sinner (1962) and Run Home Slow (1965). He ran a recording studio and was set up by the police on fake porn charges. And his first national television appearance was playing a bicycle on the Steve Allen Show. All this before the Mothers of Invention. His first Mothers album was considered to be one of the first concept albums (following the Beach Boys "Pet Sounds") - it was sited by Paul McCartney as an influence on "Sgt. Pepper." Anyway, good question.
The thing about weird songwriters doing crazy things without drugs is that they/we can structure even the most nonsensical sounds and lyrics together very coherently, require more concentration and ability than the drug music, and put out work far quicker. Take Buckethead for example. Mike Patton and Mr. Bungle/ every other members major banda for another . You can always tell a sober musician because the chaos is always totally under control. Another marker is how essentially non-specific the music is aurally, how non-psychedelic it is. A drug band will work the other way and try to make music capture a very specific image from a trip where we write starting with melodies and structure and overlap sometimes with atmosphere but rarely
Impressive. It took me some time listening to FZ way back when, before he grew on me. Eventually, I took away more than I could ever imagine as a musician.
No alcohol, no drugs except tobacco and coffee. He was a workaholic. He was writing lots of music sheets even while on tour. FZ has produced 62 albums and died @ 54!
I enjoy watching people's 1st. time reactions to FZ. Frank's sense of humour was super deep from the get go. What you forget was Frank was around people who did drugs from the 60's and 70's so he'd seen first hand how they behaved and he hated it but was never anti drugs. Imagine the London Symphony Orchestra high on drugs for every performance, he had the same discipline and demanded the same from his band. He was pushed of the stage playing in a London show and broke his leg which meant that he couldn't tour but the compositions he did at that time was out-ter worldly. "Studio Tan" being one of those albums. He was just a clear headed Genius. You're not ready for "Greggery Peccary" just yet but you're in Frank's rabbit hole with no Alice in sight. 😄 Chester is Chester Thompson the drummer and Ruth is Ruth Underwood the xylophone/percussionist. Nice reaction, keep digging.
@Peter Trotman - Frank Zappa was very anti-drugs and said it throughout his career, in interviews, on TV, in his concerts and so on. He said people had a right to do whatever they wanted with their own bodies, but he was very much against drugs......except the drugs caffeine and nicotine, which he used constantly.
Part of why Franks was against band members doing drugs had to do if they got busted while on tour and the cost/losses it would have on the tour. He was also quite the businessman.
One of the most important and best albums of all time because it always sounds like music of the future. And I so love the keyboard playing of George Duke. He was so incredible good when he played together with Frank Zappa.
Agreed, One Size Fits All is one of the most solid and timeless albums musically to be found anywhere, Zappa put out a lot of great albums but this is his magnum opus as far as I'm concerned.
I think that it would be rather challenging to play this music while on drugs, let alone imagine and compose it. btw Thanks for listening all the way through and letting the artist do the talking.
To begin to grasp where Frank Zappa was coming from, one must go way back to the original Tonight Show, created and hosted by Steve Allen, where Frank plays a bicycle. He makes a second appearance where the audience is his musical instrument. Also, Frank fired people from his band for drug use.
Why did Frank Zappa write this song? My answer: To make fun of every other progressive song ever written.... and make them all look like punks and posers... and to make people laugh at musical jokes with no words... and to make people laugh at the crazy actual words... and to make people gawk with amazement at some of the best musicianship in the world...fusing the most intricate and demanding musical charts and orchestrations... with the most pure form of improvisation anyone has ever seen. You know...like pretty much any Zappa song.
Great Reaction Something to keep in mind - this is the 4th or 5th arrangement of "Inca Roads" which was a simpler piece that Frank tinkered with and added to, and it became this crazy.little masterpiece
Watch the live version and a lot will be more logical to reprehent. And at the same time you will stil be puzzled. But it's sheer fun, musically complexity and beauty.
No, somebody in the band didn't come up with this during a drug binge. Frank was a very serious composer and virtually every single note of this was prearranged carefully by Frank himself to achieve the astounding and transcendent sonic masterpiece that your ears have just been treated with.
A reaction I'd love to see no one has done and you might likely appreciate the song metamorphosis from the album metamorphosis by Iron Butterfly. there is a video on RUclips of them performing this live on TV. They played song entirely with no commercial interruptions for close to 30 minutes.
Saw Zappa in... 1982? When he was collecting women's underwear from the audience for his underwear quilt. What a show! His band, all 9 of them, were soooo tight, and so quirky! This is a masterpiece.
havent watched this yet.. about to press play. i cant wait to see the confusion kick in . .. if youre arent a Zappa fan after this you never will be. lets go
Frank was the Dr Moreau of music…brilliant…a bit demented yes…but always opening doors to a reality most find difficult to contemplate ….and Ruth is always a treat…
Somewhere in my Pink Floyd section on RUclips you will see Frank Zappa partying with the members of Pink Floyd while they all did acid for 3 days. The only thing Frank appeared to be jacked up on was nicotine. Just a artistic genius?
People are asking what the lyrics are about. In 1968, one Erich von Däniken, a Swiss hotelier who had been convicted of fraud and done time for it, published a book entitled, Chariots of the Gods?, in which he came up with a lot of shit, very convincing to people who knew nothing about archeology (at a basic level, at that), that was supposed to prove that aliens from outer space had visited Earth and influenced culture and technology. The "evidence" purported to show that people considered these aliens to be gods, and had done sculpture and painting of them. In particular, von Däniken cited the Nazca Lines, found on a plain among the Andes Mountains which was once within the Inca empire. They look somewhat like roads, but more like runways for airborne vehicles to land on. Hence, "Inca roads." "Did a vehicle come from somewhere out there, just to land in the Andes?" Zappa hated liars and disliked people who fell for them. He had fallen for con artists himself, and had vowed never to let it happen again. He mocked such people as viciously as he knew how. Zappa was against drugs -- not out of Puritanism, but because he was a workaholic. He didn't want anything to slow him down or get in his way. He was exasperated with musicians who worked for him who were dropping acid all the time and were not clear-headed for the prolonged, constant rehearsals he held. Drugs cost money; rehearsal time cost money. Zappa always had his eye on the bottom line, as he would tell anyone and everyone. Much of his autobiography, The Real Frank Zappa Book, consists of his complaints that he had been taken for a ride by musicians, musicians' unions, record companies, and orchestras who promised to cover his costs and then reneged. He quotes exact dollar amounts of the money he lost throughout the book. Not a druggie, and the song is entirely his composition.
This isn't the Live version this is the studio version from One Size Fits All. The only live thing is the guitar solo from the 72 show in Helsinki Finland
1). Burt Bacharach & Hal David were probably the most famous "easy listening" songwriting team of the 60s-70s. They wrote most of Dionne Warwick's songs and are probably most famous for "Raindrops keep falling on my head" from the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. 2). I believe the "Bugger Bear" reference was a band inside joke based on something Chester Thompson used to say during rehearsals, probably about difficult sections of music. 3). Sometimes if things were going well Zappa would let the band have a bit of "choreographed fun" during shows... They'd work local celebs, locations, news etc. into song lyrics and allow some ad-libbing. A good way to see this is to check out CD sets like "The Roxy Performances" or either of the Halloween collections. These are recordings of complete gig dates, usually two shows a day for five or six days. Different versions of the songs could be played at different shows, even in completely different styles. 4). Zappa didn't much care about what people did on their own time as long as it didn't affect live performances, and being on tour counted as a performance. Only one question was asked of someone caught impaired on tour... "Aisle or window?", meaning you're fired. what seat do you want on the flight home?
A booger bear was an ugly groupie, there's an interview where George Duke talks about it. They had a little stuffed bear that they'd hang on the door of whoever they thought had the ugliest groupie.
No drugs in FZ’s band. Ever! So the live version of this along with Andy and Florentine Pogen is a killer set on The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life. I’m thinking you’re ready for Billy the Mountain on the Just Another Band From LA album….
frank was very against drugs, members found doing drugs whilst working for him was fired. You would find it very hard to perform this as he wanted whilst under the influence. it's understandable why people would think he did drugs with the way some of his music sounds
Memer I saw The Mother's 7 times at the Garrick Theater 1967 and when Frank would do his "dead air" bit on stage the band would be smoking weed on the stage. FZ would made snide comments and continue with his bit.
That keyboard solo of George Duke, is what turned me on to this song.This is my favourite Frank Zappa song.
This is why Inca Roads is one of my all-time favorite Zappa pieces - it's one of his tour-de-force works. And nope, absolutely no drugs involved. and those spurious song credits are spurious, one of Frank's little jokes (Burt Bacharach and Hal David are famous mid-20th-century pop songwriters and have nothing whatsoever to do with Frank; they wrote Dionne Warwick's hit Do You Know the Way to San Jose). You just have to accept that Frank was one of those rare gifted individuals whose creative brain had absolutely no boundaries on it whatsoever. His knowledge of music ran from doo-wop to modern jazz to avant-garde classical music to points beyond and genres he made up for himself - always with a huge helping of surrealistic humor and bizarre recurring in-jokes (he called them "Conceptual Continuity"). And he demanded absolute precision and virtuosity from musicians who worked with him as well. Every note of every piece he did was notated out and his bandmembers were expected to read music. If you get the live performance video of Inca Roads (and I highly recommend you do, to see them do this whole thing in realtime), you'll see Frank actually conducting the band through the tricky parts, including those weirdass spoken interjections (which were precisely notated too!). Get used to being constantly surprised by Frank. He is NOT your typical rockstar 😀
Ellen you naied the shit outta this rendering post here. Nailed it !! You're not gonna capture lightening in a bottle with FZ ,nor vapor smoke with you hand. Zappa was in a whole 'nother Galaxy,not just on another planet wirh Brilliance, bursting with genius!! I saw him twice in my late teens once at 17 and then at 18 or 19, first time I wanted to go home and throw my drumsticks through the woods,after the show. I was so blown away by both the music,live of courre, but equally so by the high level musicainship! Had never seen such live and in person at that level. wow. Thanx for the most excellent post EllenBrenner !!
well stated! excellent!!!
One correction...his band members were not required to read music (though most of them did), they just had to get the job done. Frank had the greatest ability to see musical things in people that they might not see in themselves...and he could see how it would fit within his music. Adrian Belew was a prime example, as was Ike Willis.
The level of musicianship needed to pull off this kind of material …my God, it’s full of stars.
I'm sorry Dave. I'm afraid I can't play that.
Zappa is the Dali of the music world. "I don't do drugs. I am drugs."
Im glade you did the audio version .The live video can be a distraction for a first listen but you should check it out on your own time it is trippy and the performance is flawless
Agreed, Gary. As amazing as the claymation is, I was always frustrated that we never got to see just the band doing the song. It was just such an inspired performance.
The amazing thing is that the basic tracks of this album version _are_ the live version seen on the Dub Room Special/A Token video. He swapped out the guitar solo and there were added vocals and effects. What a band.
SHO' YOU RIGHT!!!!! NMB
Anyway the solo on the studio version is better of course.
@@Alix777. The "studio" version was from a live performance in Helsinki... And the solo is edited quite a lot from the original performance...
Frank wrote this. The answer to why is because Frank was a genius. And believe it or not this is taken from live performances. I've been listening to Frank for 40 years and he still surprises me so get used to that.
A Pretentious academic between 72- early 75.
Really
This is not 100% live, the guitar solo is from Helsinki, other parts are from the KCET Tv special and other performances, it was all enhanced with overdubs etc in the studio.
This was from a story from Peru where they said spaceships landed there . It was in the news so Frank wrote this story about that ridiculous story 😀
👍
Music was Frank's drug. Great reaction John, you are just lightly touching Frank's world! So much to discover, have fun !
Frank Zappa just had a great imagination. He taught himself to read music and play guitar so he saw no boundaries. Imagination can exist without drugs 👍
Visual abstract painting for the ears. True genius, oh the layers, time signatures, vocal phrasing and so on. Zappa transcends time 😎🙏♥️👍
First time I saw Zappa this Album just came out and being a teenage musician I was definitely influenced by these great musicians RIP Frank!
oh lord. Zappa is a whole new rabbit hole to get lost in :)
Zappa will surprise you after 1000 songs.
Chester in the lyrics is Chester Thompson, one of the greatest drummers (he also later played with Genesis during gigs and with Phil Collins), while Ruth refers to Ruth Underwood, one of the best percussionists, who - at the time - played in Zappa's band.🙂 Zappa's lyrics are frequently enigmatic, and either making fun of something or someone, or being deliberately abstract, or else they referred to some lyrics from another song or another album (Zappa called it "conceptual continuity" to which, by the way, he also referred in one of his songs). "Inca Roads" is definitely NOT the weirdest Zappa song. 🙂
The only two drugs Zappa used regularly and heavily were nicotine and caffeine.
He tried pot once or twice but didn't like it because it made him sleepy.
He wrote this kind of music because he could and because he wanted to.
he needed too also. frank had a cumpulsive nature that made him want to write stuff like this, which is part of the greatness of him
I agree with your conclusion but I would say nicotine and caffeine when combined together at high doses are just as legitimate of a drug experience as other substances. I'm not attributing that as the source of his creativity but I think these drugs were like pouring gasoline on the fire.
He drank a little too. He talks in his book about being broke when he was just starting out. He'd get rice and beans and beer. But I don't think he drank much if at all after that period, until after he was diagnosed with cancer. While he was sick, he'd have margarita parties.
Frank was adamantly against drugs....he had an occasional beer....the songwriting is pure Zappa
lol... no drugs for Zappa, and if you were in his band he wouldn't tolerate it either. Zappa was a pure genius... he explored virtual every genre, and even invented some new ones. lol Dig deep into his catalog and you'll never look at music the same way again. In fact, you'll find most music will bore you.
There was a popular book at the time when this was released called Chariots of the Gods it was about aliens visiting the Earth in prehistoric times.Frank knew about it probably and wrote this song as a satire of it.
I see so many comments where people take a wild guess about the lyrics and they usually miss by a mile. Frank was indeed mocking other bands who got carried away with their subject matter, and that silly ancient aliens nonsense that hit pop culture in the 70s.
My favorite Zappa piece. So much humor in that one. No he never did drugs and fired the musicians that were in it (Like the guys that founded Little Feat afterwards). The live version is incredible too. I saw Zappa in the early 80, it was magic, but very loud.
Frank is an underrated guitarist; as this recording shows, he was an inventive and technically on top of his game. Ruth on percussion is otherworldly as usual.
The great Chester Thompson is on drums and played on several Zappa albums, went on to Weather Report (a GREAT jazz/fusion group) where he was heard by Phil Collins who asked if he would consider joining Genesis. He did. The rest is history. Note that Frank makes reference to 'Chester' in this tune.
underrated guitarist ? to say the least he was a GREAT guitarist
@@thomasmaxwell8353 underrated means he is great but few understand that.
I wish folks would stop using the words underrated and overrated. Zappa was underrated by precisely no one. It's insulting to suggest otherwise.
Drugs are not a substitute for musical excellence. Zappa was a genius. Nobody needs a drug to create.It's a fable. The great artists who produced masterpieces while going through periods of drug abuse did it in spite of their addictions, not because of them.
Though this song is beyond what you seem to think a person could compose while straight, it just shows what a genius Zappa was. If you have only heard 5 Zappa songs then you cannot possibly have any idea of the depth of his creativity. There was a lot of very creative and excellent music being composed by a lot of groups at the end of 60's and early 70s within progressive rock and jazz fusion, Krautrock etc
I love top class musicians that don’t take themselves too seriously.
Now you need to checkout the live performance to see what great musicians they are.
Fantastic sound, beautiful reactions, finest songs. Thank you
Your face at the end, just that still pause... made me smile. Franks music is so rad
Great tune, even greater guitar solo.
The tune was recorded during a tv special, solo was from a show in Finland, edited down here and there, full length solo (presumably) can be found on You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore vol 2.
Sooo much talent in this lineup and every band he put together. The immensely talented Vibe player, Ruth Underwood, was well known to have been fixated on Steely Dan. Frank even joked about it. Inca Roads is delicious and far out.
Ruth left her studies at Julliard to join Zappa's band.
Yup and George duke on keyboards
@@gerard1954 yes. RIP.
Was Ruth Underwood fixated with Steely Dan? Where did you source that from?
@@alancumming6407 Frank Z himself was quoted saying she was an avid SD fan and had their cassette tapes in her car stereo currently. He was asked if he liked or ever listened to SD, and he said he did like their vibe and modality but that Ruth was the real SD fan. Look up Frank Zappa quotes and you'll find it.
Duke, Brock and Ruth Underwood were studying on their way to the masters in music. Hell yeah….Frank had some serious musicians!! Musicianship to the nth level!!
Why wouldn't a massively talented artist with a fertile imagination come up with something you can't understand without the aid of drugs? I believe the lyrics are poking fun at a much maligned book / documentary, Chariots of the Gods from around 1970.
Definitely poking fun at that + general space/psychedelic nonsense lyrics while also being one of the finest psychedelic rock songs of the era
Music is about practice and learn
Legend says that fans searched for years the trace of a drug in Zappa's life, but only ended up doing an OD in a panchromatic resonance of ambient domains. 🧪⚗
Frank was a composer... no one else came up with it apart from him. He wrote all the scores
Frank smoked pot 8 or 9 times but never liked it.He demanded his band not do any drugs while touring with Frank. Frank drugs were coffee and cigarettes.DUDE FRANK WROTE THIS AND 99.9 % OF WHAT HE PLAYED. Frank could write songs like this on music sheets while flying on a plane,he didn't even have a instrument to use.If you really want to hear the greatest live performance listen to te concert Frank Zappa at the Ritz from 1981.I stood directly in front of him for this show at a very small club in NYC. I saw Frank for the first timein 1974 when I was 14.I saw hi over 35 times from 74-88.Frank played in NYC every Halloween from 74-81 or82 and I was at everyone of them. Every HAlloween he played more and more shows,first two shows on Halloween then 2 shows the night before then 2 shows the night before that. So Frank would play 5-6 shows in three days and I would be at everyone of them.
One size fits all great stuff takes me back to being a teenager again lol Great choice John and thanks for the reaction
Just one of my favorite tracks of his, just brilliant.
Thanks for listening to the album version. People usually react to the live vid. The solo in this one is so much better.
The solo in this is from the live Helsinki concert. So technically every solo from Inca Roads was live at one point or another, but I know what you mean
@@seanbrennan5192 I know this, and am familiar with Zappa's xenochrony.
@@seanbrennan5192 it's on You cant do that on stage anymore , vol 2. Also reveals why fz began performing whipping post, on Montana (whippin floss)
je suis complément d'accord avec toi !
Burt & Hal were a song writing team who wrote a slew of pop hits. Not sure what page you are getting the lyrics from, but that's a cut & paste error by whoever published the page. This was written by Frank Vincent Zappa, his full name. The song is based on the book "Chariots of the Gods" which focuses on the Nazca lines in Peru. The song evolved over time. Early versions were slower with a musical theme akin to cheesy jazz lounge-music. The initial lyrics are pretty straight-on and are based on the book. "Vehicle" is reference to a UFO. The crazier lyrics, starting mid-way through, were added later based on slang used by the band members. "Booger Bear" is a euphemism for a groupie. The Armadillo was a music hall in Austin TX. Frank played there sometimes. Most of the next album, "Bongo Fury" was recorded there. "Guacamole Queen" is the same a Booger Bear, just updated because one of the band members mentioned guacamole at some point, probably to amuse Frank, and he incorporated it into the song. So what starts off as indigenous peoples carving a hill evolves into a horny guy carving up a groupie's "hill." Chester Thompson was the drummer and Ruth Kamanoff Underwood was the percussionist (marimba, vibes, toms, etc.) Frank references them as a joke with the insinuation that they were "hot" for each other. As for drugs, cigarettes and coffee were his main vices. One might deduce that the ingestion of nicotine and caffeine influenced the manic arrangements. I think it's more about Frank getting bored with the slower tempo and pushing the band to their limits. Maybe even a little beyond.
Big Rikke House aka The Guacamole Queen worked in the kitchen at the Armadillo World Headquarters, she really was known for being such an amazing cook. Frank and many other bands looked forward to shows there because the catering was so good, especially after being on the road for so long.
"....."Booger Bear" is a euphemism for a groupie. ....."
It's worse than that.
That edition of the band had a running practical joke: There was an ugly Halloween mask they called "the Booger-Bear". And if someone picked up an unattractive girl for the night, they would hang the Booger-Bear on his hotel-room doorknob. Frank thought this was hilarious - until someone hung the Booger-Bear on HIS hotel-room doorknob.
also he would work like over 48 hours and probably had some sleep delusion thrown in when writing, that was fueled by stimulants (caffeine and nicotine)
Sir: You will never be able to un-know what you have just heard...so... Welcome to the musical genius of FRANK ZAPPA....and there is tons more where that came from. And yes you would have to be a fabulous musician on your instrument to be on Zappa's crew..THAT you can be sure of.
I got on to zappa about a year ago. I’ve listened to about every album he has to offer, even the new albums. The bridge of Inca Roads gets to me every time. I think it’s Napoleon singing and I can’t help but to tear up 🤣
You are lucky to hear this for the first time👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
He's just taking a piss at the Nazcar (or whatever they are called) lines....just to see if he can piss someone off lol. Brilliantly wrapped in stunning music.
Sometimes all you can do is shake your head......Brilliant
This is the song that got me in to him
One of my favorite Zappa tunes and a very entertaining reaction. You were virtually speechless! Loved it.
BTW the Bacharach reference is a 60-70s pop songwriting team that had several big hits (Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head). I'm guessing its a joke that would be like today Primus saying one of their tunes was written by Billie Eilish.
To JOHN SLOP:..................PS..... I myself am a clean/sober musician....and that being so....I had the opportunity to ask Frank himself (after one of his concerts he did in Massachusetts @ 1978).. if it is true that he doesn't do drugs....He told me "no I don't do drugs"...I heard him remark once that he just smokes cigarettes and drinks coffee......So, could it not be possible that doing drugs for Frank would get in the way of an imagination...that does not want or need drugs..to be utterly expressive? Many of us musicians find that once we are clean and sober....we find ourselves much better musicians....never mind avoiding an early tragic and wasteful death as so many others that have died...Who knows what Jimmi Hendrix might have gone on to do had he not died at a young 27 yrs old....the list of tragic deaths of great musicians is a mile long.....and all people are left to think is "What a waste" Frank Zappa, on the other hand, was able to go on to play and influence hundreds of other famous musicians and also leave us with a huge body of life's work....a fantastic treasure-trove for us to listen to for all time as well as raise 2 cool sons and a daughter.
It was about outer space and visitors. Jon nailed it...
Why would you? Good question. It opens up a huge hole on who Frank was and how he grew up. Son of a brilliant father, working on research for the U.S. military, raising Frank near Edwards Airforce Base, where young Frank was exposed to toxic chemicals - just a beginning of why Frank grew up with a healthy distaste for authority. Early on, he found experimental classical composers like Edgar Varèse, and they became a major creative influence. He made an acquaintance of a like-minded high school pal, Don Van Vliet - better known as Captain Beefhart, who collaborated with Frank at different times in his life. His early compositions were for early Doo-Wop bands, and he was also writing experimental compositions as well. He wrote for underground, low-budget films: The World's Greatest Sinner (1962) and Run Home Slow (1965). He ran a recording studio and was set up by the police on fake porn charges. And his first national television appearance was playing a bicycle on the Steve Allen Show. All this before the Mothers of Invention.
His first Mothers album was considered to be one of the first concept albums (following the Beach Boys "Pet Sounds") - it was sited by Paul McCartney as an influence on "Sgt. Pepper."
Anyway, good question.
Yet another of Zappa’s masterpieces. Thank you
Peter K for leading this channel through some of Zappas’s heritage.
The thing about weird songwriters doing crazy things without drugs is that they/we can structure even the most nonsensical sounds and lyrics together very coherently, require more concentration and ability than the drug music, and put out work far quicker. Take Buckethead for example. Mike Patton and Mr. Bungle/ every other members major banda for another . You can always tell a sober musician because the chaos is always totally under control. Another marker is how essentially non-specific the music is aurally, how non-psychedelic it is. A drug band will work the other way and try to make music capture a very specific image from a trip where we write starting with melodies and structure and overlap sometimes with atmosphere but rarely
Liked and subscribed- the song “palette cleanser” line- brilliant!
Frank Zappa.....he is a crazy genius.....you had to be a good musician to be able to play with him
Impressive. It took me some time listening to FZ way back when, before he grew on me. Eventually, I took away more than I could ever imagine as a musician.
No alcohol, no drugs except tobacco and coffee. He was a workaholic. He was writing lots of music sheets even while on tour. FZ has produced 62 albums and died @ 54!
Love FZ AND LOVE YOU MR SLOP.
I enjoy watching people's 1st. time reactions to FZ. Frank's sense of humour was super deep from the get go. What you forget was Frank was around people who did drugs from the 60's and 70's so he'd seen first hand how they behaved and he hated it but was never anti drugs.
Imagine the London Symphony Orchestra high on drugs for every performance, he had the same discipline and demanded the same from his band.
He was pushed of the stage playing in a London show and broke his leg which meant that he couldn't tour but the compositions he did at that time was out-ter worldly. "Studio Tan" being one of those albums. He was just a clear headed Genius.
You're not ready for "Greggery Peccary" just yet but you're in Frank's rabbit hole with no Alice in sight. 😄
Chester is Chester Thompson the drummer and Ruth is Ruth Underwood the xylophone/percussionist.
Nice reaction, keep digging.
@Peter Trotman - Frank Zappa was very anti-drugs and said it throughout his career, in interviews, on TV, in his concerts and so on. He said people had a right to do whatever they wanted with their own bodies, but he was very much against drugs......except the drugs caffeine and nicotine, which he used constantly.
Funny you should mention the London Symphony Orchestra, considering that they recorded two albums of music composed and arranged entirely by Zappa.
Jazz is not dead it just smells
FUNNY. FRANK ZAPPA.
ROXY AND ELSE WHERE.
ALBUM.
Insane every time I listen to it. Which has to be atleast 400 times.
Frank loved soloing over a simple two chord vamp. Here going C to D, Black Napkins from C#min to Dmaj7, etc.
Part of why Franks was against band members doing drugs had to do if they got busted while on tour and the cost/losses it would have on the tour. He was also quite the businessman.
Zappa was head and shoulders above everyone else
mind boggling................like so many other Zappa productions....... phfewwwwwww !
One of the most important and best albums of all time because it always sounds like music of the future. And I so love the keyboard playing of George Duke. He was so incredible good when he played together with Frank Zappa.
Agreed, One Size Fits All is one of the most solid and timeless albums musically to be found anywhere, Zappa put out a lot of great albums but this is his magnum opus as far as I'm concerned.
Maybe the best performed and produced pieces of live music ever recorded.
I think that it would be rather challenging to play this music while on drugs, let alone imagine and compose it. btw Thanks for listening all the way through and letting the artist do the talking.
I'm a guitarist too, but I'm always amazed by Frank Zappa's guitar solos!
I’ve heard some saying that Frank lacks phrasing in his solos. I don’t understand what they mean.
Be careful John, Frank is highly addictive!
To begin to grasp where Frank Zappa was coming from, one must go way back to the original Tonight Show, created and hosted by Steve Allen, where Frank plays a bicycle. He makes a second appearance where the audience is his musical instrument. Also, Frank fired people from his band for drug use.
Why did Frank Zappa write this song? My answer: To make fun of every other progressive song ever written.... and make them all look like punks and posers... and to make people laugh at musical jokes with no words... and to make people laugh at the crazy actual words... and to make people gawk with amazement at some of the best musicianship in the world...fusing the most intricate and demanding musical charts and orchestrations... with the most pure form of improvisation anyone has ever seen. You know...like pretty much any Zappa song.
he sat alone in his basement writing all the parts on paper- then hired folks who could actually
play it live.
Thank you John
"Zoomby Woof" and "Montana" will create this same effect.
Great Reaction
Something to keep in mind - this is the 4th or 5th arrangement of "Inca Roads" which was a simpler piece that Frank tinkered with and added to, and it became this crazy.little masterpiece
Frank was his own drug. Seriously.
Watch the live version and a lot will be more logical to reprehent. And at the same time you will stil be puzzled. But it's sheer fun, musically complexity and beauty.
To me, this song is Frank's grand finale. Although with Frank, you can never say final.
No, somebody in the band didn't come up with this during a drug binge. Frank was a very serious composer and virtually every single note of this was prearranged carefully by Frank himself to achieve the astounding and transcendent sonic masterpiece that your ears have just been treated with.
The Helsinki version is incredible
A reaction I'd love to see no one has done and you might likely appreciate the song metamorphosis from the album metamorphosis by Iron Butterfly. there is a video on RUclips of them performing this live on TV. They played song entirely with no commercial interruptions for close to 30 minutes.
Don't even try to understand!! It was all happening in Franks brain!! More than we can comprehend!!
You okay, John?
Saw Zappa in... 1982? When he was collecting women's underwear from the audience for his underwear quilt. What a show! His band, all 9 of them, were soooo tight, and so quirky! This is a masterpiece.
Zappa's best.
Creativity at the Nth level
havent watched this yet.. about to press play. i cant wait to see the confusion kick in . .. if youre arent a Zappa fan after this you never will be. lets go
Frank was the Dr Moreau of music…brilliant…a bit demented yes…but always opening doors to a reality most find difficult to contemplate
….and Ruth is always a treat…
Somewhere in my Pink Floyd section on RUclips you will see Frank Zappa partying with the members of Pink Floyd while they all did acid for 3 days. The only thing Frank appeared to be jacked up on was nicotine.
Just a artistic genius?
God level guitar.
People are asking what the lyrics are about. In 1968, one Erich von Däniken, a Swiss hotelier who had been convicted of fraud and done time for it, published a book entitled, Chariots of the Gods?, in which he came up with a lot of shit, very convincing to people who knew nothing about archeology (at a basic level, at that), that was supposed to prove that aliens from outer space had visited Earth and influenced culture and technology. The "evidence" purported to show that people considered these aliens to be gods, and had done sculpture and painting of them.
In particular, von Däniken cited the Nazca Lines, found on a plain among the Andes Mountains which was once within the Inca empire. They look somewhat like roads, but more like runways for airborne vehicles to land on. Hence, "Inca roads." "Did a vehicle come from somewhere out there, just to land in the Andes?" Zappa hated liars and disliked people who fell for them. He had fallen for con artists himself, and had vowed never to let it happen again. He mocked such people as viciously as he knew how.
Zappa was against drugs -- not out of Puritanism, but because he was a workaholic. He didn't want anything to slow him down or get in his way. He was exasperated with musicians who worked for him who were dropping acid all the time and were not clear-headed for the prolonged, constant rehearsals he held. Drugs cost money; rehearsal time cost money. Zappa always had his eye on the bottom line, as he would tell anyone and everyone. Much of his autobiography, The Real Frank Zappa Book, consists of his complaints that he had been taken for a ride by musicians, musicians' unions, record companies, and orchestras who promised to cover his costs and then reneged. He quotes exact dollar amounts of the money he lost throughout the book. Not a druggie, and the song is entirely his composition.
Fantastic
Burt B and Hal David are hall of fame caliber dudes…
Zappa was a genius, it´s that simple =) This is Live, every one in the band know it by heart. It containe some improvise.
This isn't the Live version this is the studio version from One Size Fits All. The only live thing is the guitar solo from the 72 show in Helsinki Finland
-74 =) I think it is was recorded "Live" in the studio and there could be other parts from real live conserts put in there allso, like George solo
1). Burt Bacharach & Hal David were probably the most famous "easy listening" songwriting team of the 60s-70s. They wrote most of Dionne Warwick's songs and are probably most famous for "Raindrops keep falling on my head" from the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
2). I believe the "Bugger Bear" reference was a band inside joke based on something Chester Thompson used to say during rehearsals, probably about difficult sections of music.
3). Sometimes if things were going well Zappa would let the band have a bit of "choreographed fun" during shows... They'd work local celebs, locations, news etc. into song lyrics and allow some ad-libbing. A good way to see this is to check out CD sets like "The Roxy Performances" or either of the Halloween collections. These are recordings of complete gig dates, usually two shows a day for five or six days. Different versions of the songs could be played at different shows, even in completely different styles.
4). Zappa didn't much care about what people did on their own time as long as it didn't affect live performances, and being on tour counted as a performance. Only one question was asked of someone caught impaired on tour... "Aisle or window?", meaning you're fired. what seat do you want on the flight home?
A booger bear was an ugly groupie, there's an interview where George Duke talks about it. They had a little stuffed bear that they'd hang on the door of whoever they thought had the ugliest groupie.
One time Frank got the booger bear and he wasn't amused. I think it stopped after that.
you gotta hear the live version
the song is based upon something that really happened in Argentina, and it is a possible explanation by FZ
No drugs in FZ’s band. Ever! So the live version of this along with Andy and Florentine Pogen is a killer set on The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life.
I’m thinking you’re ready for Billy the Mountain on the Just Another Band From LA album….
He is best...every tone..on paper
The modern composer refuses to die" Varese. Zappa's influence. Check him out and more will be clear.
There is a claymation video for this flying around youtube
Sorry no drugs.
But I understand.
Check out Salvador Dali.
He was a artist who painted like he was on Acid but he painted before Acid was created.
frank was very against drugs, members found doing drugs whilst working for him was fired. You would find it very hard to perform this as he wanted whilst under the influence. it's understandable why people would think he did drugs with the way some of his music sounds
Memer I saw The Mother's 7 times at the Garrick Theater 1967 and when Frank would do his "dead air" bit on stage the band would be smoking weed on the stage. FZ would made snide comments and continue with his bit.
This was familiar territory for Frank, keep in mind the different versions of this song.