ABSOLUTELY FREE: COMPLEXITIES

More than on his debut album Zappa could show his composing skills on the second album

"Absolutely Free". Here we get to what Zappa would do quite often in his music, namely changing

themes, meters and tempi within a song. Next are some examples. The first is "Plastic people",

that exists in two versions. On stage he usually used Richard Berry's "Louie Louie" for the music

with his own lyrics sung over it (see "Plastic people" and "Ruthy Ruthy" on YCDTOSA Vol. I, as well

as on "The mystery disc"). "Louie Louie" is something everybody can follow, also when you don't

know the original, because anyone recognizes the I-IV-V progression. He included it in his concert

playlist for ten years. For the "Absolutely free" album version of 1967 however, he wrote his own

music. The "Louie Louie" progression only gets quoted once right at the beginning. In the two

sections below we have meter and tempo changes as well as four themes (my midi editor can't do

tempo changes, other than by tricks; here I had to cut the example in two sections).

Plastic people, section #1 (midi file).

Plastic people, section #2 (midi file).

Plastic people (transcription).

The transcribed section contains:

- bars 1-8: main theme 4/4 in G Mixolydian. The chord progression is either I-VII or I-IV-VII.

- bars 9-12: intermediary theme in a slower tempo. The scales start to change, but there are no

clear key notes in these bars. The progression in rock terms is B-C-Am, followed by F-Em-C or Am7

if you want to include the A by the bass for the last chord.

- bars 13-16: the song now continues instrumentally. The key becomes D Mixolydian. The meter

changes to 6/8, lasting just as long as the previous 4/4, thus a tempo change via a fixed relation.

You could also still notate it in 4/4 with triplets all the time.

- bars 17-21: this instrumental interlude now continues with a progression in parallel octaves. It's

still in D Mixolydian, using both 9/8 and 6/8 as a meter.

- bars 22 etc.: return to the main theme in the original tempo.

"Son of Suzy Creamcheese" has the regular two themes structure, but is also using varying meters.

"Brown shoes don't make it" has become a classical Zappa song, because it's such an elaborate

example of Zappa's habit to bring different styles together in one song. The song has a multitude

of themes, which are played after each other in a medley-like way, where the changes from one

theme to another are abrupt, but without losing an overall structural idea. Most sections use

various scales, but without a clear use of keynotes. "Brown shoes don't make it" has appeared on

CD in two versions: the original studio recording and a life version, which has appeared on "Tinsel

Town Rebellion". The latter was released in 1981, but this version for stage performance must

have been in use much longer, because it's the version that Ian Underwood has transcribed in

"The Frank Zappa Songbook vol. I" of 1973. The differences between the two versions are mostly

in the instrumental passages.

General structure with starting time indication:

a) 0:00. Opening with a rock 'n roll riff in F sharp Dorian with the chord progression I 7th - IV 5th.

Brown shoes don't make it, opening (midi file).

Brown shoes don't make it, riff (notes).

b) 0:20. The riff changes overnight into a section with straight rhythms in a 4/4 movement. It starts

with a sequence that is chromatically repeated instead of within a key. Thus the key changes with

every bar using a different scale (the 5 bars "tv dinner by the pool" till "he's a bummer"). The

scales, when taken as major, are in following order C, D flat, C, B flat and A. With "smile at every

ugly..." we get to one of the tempo changes in the song.

Brown shoes don't make it, opening melody (notes).

c) 0:52. Back to the rock 'n roll riff.

d) 1:22. Section with straight rhythms in a 3/4 movement. The scales keep changing and in three

bars the melody gets atonal ("On a rug ... and drool").

e) 2:07. This section is followed by a larger atonal intermezzo. The references to modern music on

"Absolutely Free" have often been mentioned, most notably a quotation of one of the opening

motifs from Stravinsky's "Petrushka", that can be heard in the middle of "Status Back Baby". This

part is a reference to serialism with the twelve-note string of the "Waltz for guitar" from the

Zappa's teens section being reused. It's not a strict 12-note piece however, because the string is

used with a lot of liberty and additional notes. Below is an example of the reuse of this string. In

the Songbook it's notated a minor second higher than in the "Waltz for guitar" and the first

"Absolutely free" recording.

Brown shoes don't make it, opening of the atonal intermezzo (midi file).

Brown shoes don't make it, fragment (notes).

(In the first edition of this study, the "Waltz for guitar" example wasn't included nor had I noticed

the similarity. I gave some examples of the returning C, F sharp, C sharp plus D, and A flat

movement, which turns out to be 9-12 and 1 of the string).

f) 3:03. After the intermezzo starts a block with themes in various swinging rhythms.

g) 6:06. Back to the straight rhythm in a 4/4 movement. The bars "tv dinner by the pool, I'm so

glad I finished school" are repeated, indicating the coming closure of the song.

h) 6:45. Instrumental coda.

Zappa often liked to bring changes in a sudden way, not only during a song but also from one song

to another, where instead of the usual fading out or playing of a closing chord at the end of a song,

he just cut it off and let the next song begin without any pause between the songs. For the song's

instrumentation Zappa uses different groups of amplified and acoustical instruments. He called

this combination of instruments his electronically amplified orchestra. He continued to do so in his

career, the band including at least six members and sometimes more than ten. These bands are

using various combinations of amplified and acoustical instruments, differing from time to time.

Next to a drummer the band almost always included a percussionist. The latter not only for

additional rhythm, but also with an explicit role for playing melodies.

The "Invocation & ritual dance of the young pumpkin" is a quite long instrumental interlude,

played between two sung movements from the "Call any vegetable" sequence on "Absolutely

free". The interlude starts with an easily recognizable example of a melody applying changing

tempos and metres:

- Bar 1: tempo I in 4/4. The key is C# Dorian with the accompanying chord progression I-IV-III-IV.

The bass gives a C# pedal, while the flute moves over the chords via triplets.

- Bars 5-22: a single melody in 3/4 and 2/4 (a quote from "Jupiter" from "The planets" by Gustav

Holst). It starts slowly in tempo II and keeps accelerating all through.

- Bars 23 etc.: tempo III in 4/4. The key has become E Dorian.

At this point of where the third tempo enters a vamp begins with the guitar first playing a chord

progression for four bars and next soloing. After a while the flute quits vamping and starts soloing

as well, thus forming a duet with the guitar. Zappa would seldom play such duets again. The ones

with Jean-Luc Ponty and his son Dweezil are the best known other examples. The interlude would

be played similarly on the "Freaks and motherfu*#@%!" bootleg from 1970 (see the Band from

L.A. section for more). The official live version from 1971 on "Just another band from L.A." has a

short instrumental interlude, using a different melody and vamp, though the idea of an

acceleration returns. Here Zappa used just the single "Call any vegetable" title, instead of a

sequence of three songs.

Invocation & ritual dance of the young pumpkin, opening (midi file).

Invocation & ritual dance of the young pumpkin, opening (transcription).

"America drinks" and "America drinks and goes home" are variations upon each other. The notes

of the main melody are mostly the same, but the rhythmic set up is quite different. The first one is

very irregular with many syncopic phrases. What's confusing listening to it, is the deliberate

inequality between the parts regarding their timing. When it's done emphatically I also show it in

the transcription (like bar 1, the difference between the bass and the singers, or bar 8-9, the

difference between the two singers). But there are also minor inequalities at various points where

this isn't notated specifically. It's utterly bizarre to perform a song in this manner. The melody

itself is rather complicated. Bars 1-7 contain an entirely chromatic movement. The chord

progression is Gm-Gb-F. From bar 8 onwards you can recognize parts of changing scales without

clear key notes. The bass mostly supports the melody, but in bars as numbers 15-16 it's going its

own way.

In "America drinks and goes home" the rhythm is more normalised towards swing time (the score

of this version is included in the FZ Songbook Vol. I). It's remindful of cocktail lounge bars, with a

singer and a little jazz combo. The singer is addressing himself to individual members in the

audience that he knows personally. There's the talking of the people in the bar and the sound of a

cash register all through this song. As it comes to the title and the atmosphere this song can be

considered to be social criticism upon the habit of people to get drunk in the evening. Zappa

himself played a couple of months in a lounge band - as the guitar player of Joe Perrino and the

mellotones in 1961 - and came to hate it. Regarding the music it's more taking lounge music a step

further than a parody upon it.

America drinks, opening (midi file).

America drinks, 1:19 through 1:29 (midi file).

America drinks, sections.

At point 1:19 of "America drinks" this song jumps overnight into a section of Vaudeville music, in

all probability played at double speed on record. It's an example of polyrhythms. The first theme is

in 4/8, the second one in 3/4. Through both meters the bass is playing a repeated figure in 8/8,

subdivided as 3/8 plus 5/8 (as indicated in the transcription). The bass is immediately starting this

figure during the pick up notes of the lead melody. It needs a good sense of timing with only the

ticking of the eighth notes by the drums to keep everything equal.

Doing such polyrhythms became part of the routines the Mothers did during improvisations.

Zappa would direct such improvisations via special hand indications. He would do the normal

baton type conducting, but the Mothers had also developed a set of hand symbols for specific

purposes. An easy one to understand for the public was pointing a finger up to hit a high note and

a fist drawn down to play a low note. For the polyrhythms Zappa would for instance hold five

fingers up pushing it forward two times to indicate to someone to play in 5/8 in this tempo (as

One-two, One-two-three). To the right Art Tripp indicating 5/8 as Zappa would do it, taken from

the Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention in the 1960s DVD (Sexy Intellectual Productions,

2008). See 1h:23m through 1h:26m on this DVD for this topic. Someone else could be playing in

4/4 at the same time, thus you can create something as what's going on during the second half of

"Toad of the short forest" on "Weasels ripped my flesh", where Zappa is explaining to the

audience in what meters the various band members are playing.

Other pieces from "Absolutely free" in this study:

- Duke of prunes (Orchestral favorites section).

- Call any vegetable (Just another band from L.A. section).

- Status back baby (previous section).

- Why don'tcha do me right (Pal records section).