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