Mystery Songs
Anyone who owns a couple of concert tapes (or has been reading FZShows closely) knows that Zappa's live music, especially the improvisations, are full of quotes. Most of the songs quoted have been identified, but a few of them remain Mystery Songs. The most interesting ones (at least in this reporter's opinion) are those which appear on more than one tape, and are believed to be FZ-compositions. Right now, I've singled out 6 different such cases, and made up a simple nomenclature for these songs:
- ** Mystery Song #1. A typical FZ melody now indentified in The Man From Nowhere. It first occurs on the Wembley, 1973 09 14 tape, as part of the Dupree's Paradise improvisations. It reappeared 2328 days later, at the 1980 01 29 (and also 02 09) rehearsals, where it's superimposed on My Sharona.
- ** Mystery Song #2 has been identified as the riff that goes along with "But you should be diggin' it while it's happening" in "It Just Might Be A One-Shot Deal". A big hand for Tan Mitsugu, who identified it. This short little melody appears as part of the huge BeBop Tango improvisations on Toronto, 1973 11 23 (late), and in the Dupree's Paradise intro on Frankfurt, 1974 09 12 (early). In both cases, Frank starts playing the melody, and some other band members join in quickly. From September to November 1974 it was often played during Approximate
- Mystery Song #3. Very atypical FZ. A chord progression played by Tommy Mars, with a beautiful guitar melody on top. Italian-sounding, some would say. Appears on three concert tapes from between Nov. 8 and Nov. 13 1980.
- Mystery Song #4. Another beautiful, atypical guitar melody played on top of an atypical FZ chord progression. It can be heard on the 1982 04 04 rehearsals, and on the Rome, 1984 10 14 Let's Move To Cleveland. In style, it's in fact rather close to Scandinavian folk music.
- Mystery Song #5. An unusual "opera" theme that pops up in some of the fall 1980 renditions of The Torture Never Stops during Tommy Mars solos. At the Oct 18 show in Tulsa it has some vocals, some days later in Providence (Nov 8) it returns with a short guitar intro. Another interesting appearance is at the Dec 02 show in Ft. Collins.
- Mystery Riff. This cool riff actually appears on only one tape (the 1980 01 29 rehearsals), but appears to have been part of a larger composition, along with Mystery Song #1. May be related to Tink Walks Amok.
- Mystery Rehearsal Piece.This riff was augmented in 1980 and worked into a medley with Tink Walks Amok and Thirteen. As such, it has now been released on Banned From Utopia's "So Yuh Don't Like Modern Art"
Click on the titles to hear a little sound clip of each.
If anyone recognizes any of these melodies, from another concert or from elsewhere in the FZ ouvre, please let me know!. More Mystery Tunes.