June 20, 2004
Moving to Montana Soon

I picked up a couple of live Frank Zappa CD's with the birthday gift certificate daughter, N, so kindly gave me and ran into a happy accident.

A year ago (funny, I'd forgotten, but reading the blog post I realize it was the same record store and the same daughter) I picked up Them or Us pretty much just for Frank's version of Whipping Post. The story goes that Frank was playing in Helsinki and some guy in the audience yelled out that he wanted them to play Whipping Post. Frank was bummed that he couldn't, so he and the band learned it.

So this evening I'm listening to You Can't Do That On Stage Any More (Vol. 2), and there's the original Whipping Post schtick:


Audience guy: "Whipping Post!"
Frank: "Say that again please?"
Guy: "Whipping Post!"
Frank: "Whipping Post? Ok, just a second. (Pause, he's apparently turning to one of the band members.) Do you know that? Oh sorry, we don't know that one. Anything else?"
Frank: "Hum me a few bars of it...please. Just show me how it goes, please. Just sing, sing me Whipping Post and then maybe we'll play it with you."
Guy: "Ooh-ooh-ooh."
Frank: "Thank you very much.
And now...
Judging from the way you sang it, it must be a John Cage composition, right?"

And then the band does this absolutely hilarious version of Montana:

I might be moving to Helsinki soon
Just to raise me up a crop of
Dental Floss

Raisin' it up
Waxin' it down
Tying it to the Whipping Post
In the middle of town

Posted by John Fleck at June 20, 2004 09:40 PM
Comments

Nice to see a fellow Gnomer is also a Zappa fan.

The Helsinki show is probably my favourite of the You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore. My freind thinks it was also the best band Zappa had. I'm not sure about that.

I thought I recommend the Baby Snakes DVD if you haven't picked it up. Actually if you like the version of Whipping Post that Frank does then you might want to check out Does Humor Belong In Music. 1984/86 show with an excellent live version of Whipping Post, amoung some other classics. Available on CD and DVD.

Later,

Posted by: Glen Gray on June 21, 2004 02:03 AM

Glen -

Thanks for the suggestions! And great to find other Zappa fans. It's always intriguing to connect with other Gnomers outside of the free software work.

Posted by: John Fleck on June 21, 2004 07:06 AM

I wasn't quite sure you were OK, John, until just now. Now I am. :o)

D

Posted by: Dano on June 21, 2004 10:19 AM
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