{Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention]The Most Important Albums in Music History and WHY? : The Book Series Album We're Only In it For the Money~Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention at #17
Preview of the Book to Wet your appetite and maybe inspire you to dig deeper!
TRACK 2 - WHO NEEDS THE PEACE CORPS?
“I thought that the Peace Corp was a good idea, and a great opportunity for young Americans…I think that Kennedy was a good guy, it was obvious he was trying to do some good in the world and was searching for a path towards peace, but this wasn’t what the controllers of society wanted, so they butted heads…after watching Oswald get shot on live television, only two days after Kennedy’s assassination, it was a troubling thing…it made you wonder as to who really killed Kennedy and why they needed to cover it up?”
Frank Zappa
Who Needs the Peace Corps? was a VERY important song to the album; it not only began the succession of “conventional” tracks, but it also set the tone for the lyrical content as well. “Getting it right” in terms of understanding what Frank was saying in the song was crucial to successfully decoding the album’s overall “message”. If you “got” the message in “Peace Corps”, then likely you “got” the album; however, if you didn’t…if you simply saw this song as a viscous attack upon the Hippies, then you perhaps missed a far greater, more important message that permeated his trilogy of satirical records. Also, while the song’s title was clearly a reference to the enlightened government institution created by President Kennedy, it also was referencing the “Peace and Love Corps” of the Hippie movement. Zappa was inferring that the “Phony Hippies” had no use for the heart and soul of their own “group”, as they were only Hippies by their looks, not their actions.
A significant part of the song’s message came from the music, in particular the song’s rhythmic pattern. Just listen to the intro…Jim “Motorhead” Sherwood opened the song with his baritone sax, providing an ominous backdrop to the rhythmic drumming of Billy Mundi. This opening passage was designed by Zappa to give the listener the sense that there was much more about this song than just black humor; and after the dark, almost sinister tone relented, it gave way to the song’s principle “light” melody which sat “tongue-in-cheek” at odds with the lyrics. Again, even before the likes of Bob Dylan and Steely Dan had perfected it, Zappa was the Rock songwriter that introduced the concept of masking deep, dark lyrical overtones with light Pop musical sounds (similar to how Lenny Bruce would introduce VERY controversial subject matter through the most innocuous of circumstances, “to is a preposition, come is a verb”). Just think of the tracks Motherly Love and You’re Probably Wonderin’ Why I’m Here from the Freak Out! album, or Brown Shoes Don’t Make It and America Drinks and Goes Home from the Absolutely Free album. “Peace Corps” perhaps perfected this clever songwriting technique, by encouraging the passive listener to get drawn into the song’s surface message (the often hysterical attack upon the Phony Hippies) without being fully aware of something darker just underneath its veneer.
One quick musical observation about this song was that Billy Mundi was a really, really good drummer. Across the entire album, Mundi provided Zappa with not the only the aggressive beat that the song’s required, but he also possessed the chops to jump in and out of a Rock groove, in an instant, for say a fast-paced Jazz section, or an oddly-timed Blues. Mundi and Jimmy Carl Black weren’t considered the superstars that Zappa’s subsequent drummers became (John Guerin, Aynsley Dunbar, Ralph Humphries, Chester Thompson, Terry Bozzio, Vinnie Colaiuta and Chad Wackerman), but there was NOTHING wrong with either player…both were very good drummers who contributed some of the best performances (live and on vinyl) that ever came out of the Sixties!
What's there to live for?
Who needs the peace corps?
Think I'll just DROP OUT
I'll go to Frisco, buy a wig & sleep on Owsley's floor
Before I analyze the lyrics, I would like for you to listen to these opening lines. Listen to how Zappa sung them…seemingly in a dull and bored monotone on a descending scale…the calling card of someone lacking focus…in other words, a vegetable of sorts (rutabaga?) Thus, by definition we know that Zappa wasn’t solely mocking the counterculture of the Sixties in this song, rather he was targeting those who aped the movement…the “Phony Hippies”…climbing on the new fad before they jumped off to the “next thing”. From there, the lyrical fun really began with the first two lines, “What’s there to live for, who needs the Peace Corps?” This overly dramatic response to the JFK assassination set the tone for the principal character in the song; he was a person of weak mental fiber, someone familiar with living outside of his own thoughts and ideas for those that dominated society. So with Kennedy murdered like a dog on the streets of Dallas, the worldwide appeal and prestige surrounding the Peace Corps evaporated, revealing a belief amongst many that the movement was less about travelling the world helping those less fortunate to improve their standard of living and more about being a part of something “new” and “sexy”. The sex appeal of the Peace Corps was blasted into pieces by the dozens of bullets fired at John Kennedy in Dealey Plaza.
Thus, the protagonist shifted his focus upon the “latest and greatest” new craze…America’s youth running off to San Francisco in protest against a sick and decaying society to “turn on, tune in and drop out” as Timothy Leary advised. This was the absolute BASIS for Zappa’s virulent attack upon the “Phony Hippies” on this album…closed-minded, unenlightened people who were only authentic to one thing, America’s Pop culture, which was CONTROLLED by the same Nazis that financed and won WWII. How was the status quo able to de-rail this genuine explosion of anger and frustration by America’s youth after two world wars and no real change? By not only controlling society’s educational system, but also through controlling America’s culture with the complicit help of the mainstream media. Besides the heads of EVERY television network, newspaper, magazine and radio chain, the CIA owned Hollywood, all their top “stars” and many, many people who headed various “movements”. Such examples included Jackson Pollock who led the “Abstract Expressionist” movement in painting, post WWII (hanging untouched canvasses as “art” and emptying can of paint onto a canvas, you know, the stuff of genius), Gloria Steinem who was the unofficial leader and spokesperson for the American Feminist Movement (who made her the “leader”…women in the movement or the mainstream media, including her own magazine?) and Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert, Ken Kesey, Neal Cassady and Allen Ginsberg of the new “Psychedelic Hippie movement (experimenting with and freely distributing, glorifying, the effects of LSD). Most of America’s dumbed-down and mind-controlled youth (that comprised much of the Sixty’s youth movement) stood NO CHANCE against all of the lies and indoctrination being pumped into their chaotic minds…being told what was cool, what to wear, how to look, and how to be accepted as “popular” by society’s programmed culture; and not through genuine interaction with other Hippies that were authentic to the ideals of the movement. Certainly, there was an overlap from both sources, but ultimately, most Hippies dressed and acted in a fashion that was consistent with how The Days of our Lives and I Dream of Jeannie interpreted America’s youth…and these shows were “cash cows” to the Nazi television networks. Thus, Zappa accurately satirized much of the Sixties youth as living out a FASCIST (CIA, Federal Government & Corporate America) version of the Peace and Love movement, and not the real thing (unless, by that I meant Coca Cola). In other words, the game was OVER before it began (just like it is with ALL MOVEMENTS within society), because most participants in the counterculture of the Sixties were disconnected from themselves, and thus all their poems and songs about Love were VACUOUS attempts at achieving something that they didn’t fully understand. They willingly abdicated the control of their own lives into the hands of others (offered up to us by the mainstream media) because they had never been educated about the value of the self…in fact, in public schools the self has always been something that has been attacked and weakened, so that the masses cling to whatever the majority accepts as “normal”…and when society is controlled by the mass majority, then whoever “owns” the information (see “Corporate America) can pedal shit for truth “all day and all of the night”. Just think of the line “the greater good” from Simon Pegg’s and Edgar Wright’s middle movie (Hot Fuzz) in their societal truth trilogy…
…and from the song, Plastic People, from the Mothers of Invention album, Absolutely Free…
“A fine little girl she waits for me she's as plastic as she can be, she paints her face with plastic goo and wrecks her hair with some shampoo…plastic people, oh baby now you're such a drag…take a day and walk around watch the Nazis run your town, then go home and check yourself, you think we're singing 'bout someone else, but you’re plastic people oh baby now you’re such a drag”
Why else would the ruling elite allow the Frank Zappa’s of the world to freely run about society unveiling the truth behind the rigged game of life that we all are forced to play (good question, huh)? Because they know that one enlightened person alone (Gandhi, the Kennedy’s, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Zappa, Jim Morrison, Lenny Bruce, Bill Hicks, George Carlin) is unlikely to save the many; and if these people somehow manage to gain an ever-growing following and decide to target society itself, well, accidental deaths, heart-attacks and cancer happen all the time (just like our precious Tom Petty two days ago, heart-attack my ass)! The fact of the matter is, the western world is ruled by a family of Fascist regimes that portray themselves as freedom loving defenders of democracy. However, what they really support is the appearance of democracy by manufacturing societies ruled by the majority…and make no mistake about it…THEY control what the majority holds as truth…and this is precisely why we live in a world where the daily news describes civilization as completely upside down from Love and actual Freedom! The few rule, while the many live in scarcity because the many comply with the will of the so-called majority…which truly is “the great American Dream”, for the few anyways!
Walked past the wig store
Danced at the Fillmore
I'm completely stoned
I'm hippy & I'm trippy, I'm a gypsy on my own
I'll stay a week & get the crabs & take a bus back home
I'm really just a phony but forgive me 'cause I'm stoned
The second verse focused upon the actions of the “Phony Hippies” once they arrived in ‘Frisco. If their hair wasn’t already long enough or “just right”, most would often buy a wig first, until their own hair “fit the bill”.
They would of course hang out in the most popular areas (to be seen), such as the corner of Haight and Ashbury, or at Bill Graham’s club, the Fillmore West. They spent much of their time “stoned” and “trippy” because this was what seemingly everyone else around them was doing; they weren’t seeking enlightenment by constantly “smoking up”, they were self-medicating their own personal problems. Zappa’s life-long issue with drugs was predicated upon two things: one, that most of the drugs America's youth took were chemical creations, or weaponized substances, like LSD and Crack, and not naturally produced hallucinogens; and two, that ALL DRUGS are ultimately DISTRACTIONS of the physical mind, taking people out of the moment...which is where Frank liked to live his life! Experimenting with natural mind-altering substances can be a wonderful thing to do, because for most human beings, natural hallucinogens "open up" minds that are normally closed, allowing people to connect with their "higher selves" and with God Consciousness. However, when your "call" is dialed and then answered, it's time to "hang up" the phone...because you've already received God's message, which is living life through the vibration of Love in every moment. If you continue to repeat these experiences, habitually, then you are literally missing the entire point of natural hallucinogens in the first place. They are no longer "working for you", you become a SLAVE to them...and that's NOT God's way...this is the way of the CIA. Zappa witnessed a youth movement in San Francisco that was continually and mindlessly shuffling up the stairs, like a lab rats, to Owsley Stanley’s door for the next “flavor” of LSD…this wasn't LOVE and this wasn't TRUTH...it was distraction, pure and simple. Thus, to Zappa, those that constantly used and abused drugs were simply “drop outs”, and not only to any movements that were preaching meaningful change, but to themselves as well. The “Phony Hippies” were only in it for a short time and a good time; thus, they would “stay a week, get the crabs and then take a bus back home”, apologetic for their “premature ejaculation” because they were “stoned”. For Frank, there was no “better” example of drug abuse than that of his friend, Jimmy Hendrix…who would randomly come over to visit Frank and Gail by passing out on their sofa, drooling and mumbling to himself. Zappa witnessed first hand how Hendrix’s fears and demons, drowned in hallucinogens, was a recipe for disaster and a tragic waste of a brilliant gift...
Every town must have a place where phony hippies meet
Psychedelic dungeons popping up on every street
GO TO SAN FRANCISCO!
How I love ya, How I love ya
How I love ya, How I love ya Frisco!
How I love ya, How I love ya
How I love ya, How I love ya
Oh, my hair is getting good in the back!
Every town must have a place where phony hippies meet
Psychedelic dungeons popping up on every street
GO TO SAN FRANCISCO!
Hotcha!
The next section of the song (connected from the second verse by a very funky, jazzy riff) featured the bridge sung twice, separated by what could only be described as a Vaudevillian interlude of sorts (“how I love ya, how I love ya”). During the bridge, Zappa spoke of “psychedelic dungeons popping up on every street”; this was referencing the explosion of “music clubs” that were utilizing the “low-rent” basement spaces in many buildings. Zappa coined the term “dungeons” out of his love for “B movies” and the slapstick notion of a “mad scientist” (Nikola Tesla?) in the basement working on all his experiments. The line, “GO TO SAN FRANCISO” was Zappa playing up the notion that most of the Hippies gravitated to San Francisco (instead of LA) because they “heard a calling”. However, the fact was that the “calling” they “heard” was purposefully generated by the CIA controlled mainstream media to get America’s unsettled youth to San Francisco, where they could be herded into a group around Haight and Ashbury, and thus, easily influenced and manipulated like so many sheep (just refer to George Harrison’s comments about his afternoon venture to Haight and Ashbury during the Summer of Love). This led to the San Francisco Hippies perceiving themselves as the “original Hippies” and therefore, the real thing; thus, the “Freaks” to the south (in LA) were judged as distant seconds by comparison. And through this understanding, Zappa correctly identified the great lie behind the fake Hippie movement; he knew that San Francisco was a purposefully contrived “scene” created by the CIA where they could freely hand out their weaponized “wonder-drug”, LSD, to a massive group of unprepared specimens, like one great big test tube.
noliesradio.org
San Francisco was the lie, the illusion, and Los Angeles was the true home where the Fifties’ Beatnik movement lived on, anonymously, as the Freaks had their heads beaten into the pavement nightly by the Fascist LAPD…all without news coverage…as that was all taking place in Frisco! Yeah, it was a calling alright, a calling by the Pied Piper for all the mice to return to the laboratory!
First I'll buy some beads
And then perhaps a leather band to go around my head
Some feathers and bells
And a book of Indian lore
I will ask the Chamber of Commerce how to get to Haight Street
And smoke an awful lot of dope
I will wander around barefoot
I will have a psychedelic gleam in my eye at all times
I will love everyone
I will love the police as they kick the shit out of me on the street
I will sleep...
I will, I will go to a house...
That's, that's what I will do:
I will go to a house where there's a rock & roll band 'cause the groups all live together
And I will join a rock & roll band and I will be their road manager
And I will stay there with them and I will get the crabs
But I won't care because...
The final section of the song saw Zappa “rap” what appeared to be improvised lyrics at times describing the thoughts and actions of all the “hangers on” of the movement. True to any “phony”, these Hippies were concerned about their “looks” so that they would be noticed, and considered part of the movement (“first I’ll buy some beads…perhaps a leather band…some feathers and bells and a book of Indian lore”). The line “I will ask the chamber of commerce how to get to Haight Street” was very funny and ironic as well. Any chamber of commerce simply represents the business interests of any town, which by definition under a system of capitalism means anti-humanity, anti-personal freedoms. Thus, the would-be Hippie was so uninformed and disconnected from reality, that he was asking his own “enemy” the directions to the rally (Elvis Costello’s Night Rally, to be precise)! But Zappa got even darker and funnier, “I will have a psychedelic gleam in my eye at all times”, as if being a Hippie was categorized by a “psychedelic gleam”, or that any emotion could be sustained all hours of the day. But the pièce de résistance was “I will love the police as they kick the shit out of me on the street”; I remember when I first listened to this album, I did a spit-take all over the cover in response to this line. It was the ultimate expression of the non-thinking, plastic person…the perfect follower…willing to believe anything that they didn’t fully understand…gladly walking into the flames of society’s great furnace, or drinking Jim Jones’ KKKool-aid (manufactured by the CIA).
Finally, Zappa exposed the great myth that was circulating around much of the youth culture at the time…that successful Rock and Roll bands magically formed through large groups of people desiring to live with one another, suddenly picking up guitars and creating beautiful music together (perhaps like the mythical Dinosaurs did while nesting around swamps?). Not that it couldn’t have happened this way through the reduction of personal barriers that the real Hippie movement encouraged, but it was largely a great pipe dream that sounded hopeful while misleading the masses. And it’s a message pushed through the mainstream media even today, like an intravenous drug pumped directly into our veins…that without any practice or real passion, anyone can become anything at any time…the groundwork for mediocrity. Do you know why Zappa and the Mothers were such an incredible group and live show, or why Mark Knopfler is such a stunningly good guitar player? Because they practiced until their hands bled from blisters breaking open! But in the imaginary world of mainstream television, any young person could envision themselves hanging around these bands and magically becoming roadies or perhaps even group members themselves…all without knowing how to actually play an instrument or write a lyric because they didn’t know the first thing about themselves. Finally, hysterically, Zappa stopped the song mid-phrase and jumped right into Concentration Moon…a song that paid homage to any fascist state that imprisoned any of their populace for any particular reason, including stupidity!
All proceeds go to our animal rescue shelter, we have 20 dogs at the moment as well as 3 cats and two horses! We are full to the brim ! pictures of the darlings to follow in another post!
cheers,
Charlie Freak
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