The Blue Light

[Kill Ugly Radio]

Just to show how dedicated we are to our posting members, following this thread http://www.killuglyradio.com/discuss/index.php?board=4;action=display;threadid=162;start=0 ,KillUglyRadio Staff decided to add a new board to the forums, dedicated to shedding some light on Frank Zappa's, at times, obscure lyrics (yes: I'm a master at understating things). It is called The Blue Light because, due to popular request, the first lyric to be tackled IS The Blue Light. So have at it, and enjoy.

[guacamole]

  OK, here goes [iThe Blue Lamp/i] was one of Ealing Studios post-war films which dealt with societal change.
The main character PC George Dixon (played by Jack Warner) was an "old school" type of copper who adopted an avuncular attitude towards those whom he came across on his beat; helping old ladies cross the road, politely telling chronometerless street urchins what time it was and giving young scallywags a cuff round the ear. The criminal class was portrayed as having a code of honour with certain crimes being beneath contempt - which would result in old lags grassing up these undesirables for the greater good of their reputation as good old-fashioned honest criminals. The central character, PC Dixon, takes a bullet whilst attempting to prevent a robbery at a local magic lantern picture house and consequently shuffles off the coil fairly early on in the film. His assailant, played by the young Dirk Bogarde, is portrayed as one of the new breed of criminals who no longer have the respect for the law which the older generation of crims had. The gist of it all being - it's a dangerous world out there and fings aint wot they used to be guvnor, these youngsters nowadays aint got no respect for Law 'n' Ordah.

Amazingly, PC Dixon makes a lazarus like reappearance a few years later starring in the TV series "Dixon of Dock Green". This series ran for about 25 years, before he was "retired" - by this time Jack Warner was 85 and perhaps lacked a certain degree of credibility in feeling the collars of young hoodlums. The show was introduced by Warner in uniform standing beneath the blue lamp of the Police station entrance and similarly he would end the programme with a moral message of the crime does not pay type before delivering his trademark salutation to the viewing public - "Evening all".

Upon his retirement, Jack Warner was often seen wandering the streets of his old London beat wearing a brocade coat and mumbling lines about antedeluvian blow jobs glub, glub, glub.

[Barry]

Aaah.. well I dunno, for me "The Blue Light" is about The Big Phoney that was hippiedom, and how those who used to smoke bananas back in the sixties have now reverted to wearing Brut Cologne and visiting Whinchell's Doughnuts, whilst fondly remembering Donovan lyrics:

Ah Atlantis, they could really get down there
The plankton, the krill
The giant underwater pyramid
The squid decor

All bitter sweet really, with an emphasis on "bitter". I'm sure I'm missing out on certain angles of the song though.

[guacamole]

Oh, right !. Sorry I seemed to have gone off on a tangent there. So what about the three musketeers references at the start of the song? was that simply a play on Aramis or do you think it said something about clothing as well ?
what about that intro following "and now you're going to dance like you've never danced before" (I know it was from a different show but the intro is pretty funky dance type stuff). Was it aimed at disco ? "new romantics" (too early for that? although they did dress like frigging d'Artagnan).
Was he also having a go at Todd Rundgren's stage set of the time ?
I think I also read somewhere ( or did I hear it?) that the Blue stage lighting made Ike and Ray look as if they were scaley skinned. I dunno

Any thoughts, comments

[Debrakadabra]

Barry sez:
"Aaah.. well I dunno, for me "The Blue Light" is about The Big Phoney that was hippiedom"

Frankie never tired of trashing hippies even after their time was long over.  Twenty years later he was still making the same old lyrics about flower power etc.  Surely hippies were not the only phonies that ever were.  I'm just saying there are more interesting songs in his repertoire.  After WOIIFTM it got old.  Personally, I laugh when I listen to the Blue Light.  It is more funny then bitter to me.  It is the laugh of recognition of the past.  I don't relate to the Winchells donut crowd.  Maybe I grew out of the '60's, maybe it developed into something else, maybe I never grew up...

DebK

[Lonesome Cowboy Squirt]

Howdy, folks!  Ian (Guacamole), this is an interesting angle, but I've never seen the movie you're talking about and couldn't make any correct assessment.  Barry and Debrakadabra, I've got to say you're only scratching the surface.  The earliest version of "The Blue Light" that I'm aware of is on Tinseltown Rebellion, 1980.  The whole hippie movement was long outdated, but Debk, you mentioned the continued practice of (phony) hippie-bashing.  While FZ does make a jab at Donovan fans and the whole banana-smoking thing, there is more to it than that.
 
There is a ton of material here, so I'm just going to dive into it.  Naturally, these are only my opinions, but I think I have plausible arguments.  Okay, this is gonna be a toughie, but here goes:

Lonesome Cowboy Squirt's Humble Analysis of "The Blue Light"


   I think "The Blue Light" is all about ignorance.  Ignorance is well displayed by people who operate on the pleasure principle - you know: "Girls just wanna have fun" (boys too).  The ignorance described in "The Blue Light" is generated and perpetuated by a combination of sources, one being these "pleasure seekers."

   To start things off, Zappa utilizes a play on words.  Note the constant repetition of "your" and "you're".  He speaks of character traits in terms that many Americans haven't heard of, and probably never took the time to contemplate.  Here are definitions:

e·thos    
n.
The disposition, character, or fundamental values peculiar to a specific person, people, culture, or movement: "They cultivated a subversive alternative ethos." (Anthony Burgess).

pa·thos    
n.
1.   A quality, as of an experience or a work of art, that arouses feelings of pity, sympathy, tenderness, or sorrow.
2.   The feeling, as of sympathy or pity, so aroused.

Additonally, he combines these legitimate English words with fictive characters from Dumas' Three Musketeers.  I haven't read it in its entirety, so I might not grasp the full meaning behind it.  However, after skimming through Chapters 25 and 26, I discovered distinct character traits once again.  Porthos is portrayed as a lusty, reckless, gambling sort of person who, through sense of pride or whatever, lies to his friend, D'artagnan, about his grave injury.  Aramis, on the other hand, is virtuous, but is considered blasphemous for his "progressive" views about the Church.  At the end of Chapter 26, he reveals himself as a hypocrite to D'artagnan by casting away all his holy vows and progressive views upon learning about his loved one.  I think Zappa uses these characters as a descriptive form to describe traits found in all people.

Suddenly, as a strong contrast, Brut Cologne shows up.  This, of course, is not a character trait but a personal possession.  This possession can also be construed as a status symbol, and proves to be the foreshadowing image that leads to the BIG GAG at the end of the song.  More on this later.  Apparently, personal possessions and status symbols carry more weight than personal character traits (in the eyes of the average American).  What does a good American care about all that shit anyway?  He / she has to go out there and earn the bucks.  Yes, you got it, a superficial attitude is adopted as an ugly by-product of an extreme capitalistic atmosphere.

The person(s) addressed in "The Blue Light" do(es) have a conscience, however.  He / she does take a little time contemplate and does want to do what's right, but is too stupid and lazy to make any real progress.  That's why he / she is "writing home," either out of a sense of responsibility or out of despair and hope for some sort of redemption.  This proves to be too much, as the "hopelessness is rising around you."

Here comes the next hard contrast when FZ declares, "you like it.  It gives you something to do in the day time."  The rat race and all psychological baggage that comes along with it becomes a sort of occupational therapy for the modern man.  Man, however, does not live on bread and water alone, so Zappa mentions the need of a hobby for balance and supports it that the person(s) addressed is / are "tired of moving forward."  Progress is not all it's cracked up to be.
 
The conscience issue is reiterated in the next lines.  Contemplation of the future is frightening, and this fear is not dealt with openly, as no one in modern society wants to appear vulnerable (Porthos did the same).  The person(s) in question secretly urinates in his / her pants as a result, then eventually writes off the underlying fears as more occupational therapy:  "You like it.  It gives you something to do in the night time."  This practice was adopted by Aramis as described earlier.

"Night time" gives a perfect lead-in to Zappa's colorful description of nocturnal activities that the person(s) in question participate in.  It also provides an excellent outlet to fuck with a few companies and their poor food products.  These artificial ingredients are ingested, but not many really know what long-term effects they have on the human organism.  Perhaps this might be a premeditated method used in keeping the general public stupid and ignorant: "the white people really like it."  The white people have been conditioned to like it.  Dummy up!

The protagonist of the song wanders aimlessly through town "you'll go anyplace, you'll do anything" in order to be "with the others just like you."  Now we have some group therapy.  Frightened people who refuse to admit their fears will nevertheless seek refuge in each others' company in the hopes that strength still exists in numbers.

There is once again a repetition of  the suppressed fear of the future and the infamous, figurative puddle of urine.  Just because it has been forgotten, does not mean it will disappear on its own.  This is another example of ignorance.  Now the puddle of fear has grown even larger, becoming comparable to the ocean.  Here come parallel concepts of fear and pollution:  "A body of water to isolate England and also Reseda."  Could FZ be touching on the concept of polar ice caps melting and thus creating new islands?  Could pollution found in our drinking water also be a source of generating stupidity?

[Lonesome Cowboy Squirt]

Part 2


Reseda is a town in California, but also a plant.  In my opinion, both meanings for Reseda are valid here.  See the definitions below:

Reseda, CA
  Zip code(s): 91335

re·se·da    
n.
1.   Any of various Mediterranean plants of the genus Reseda, including the mignonette, having densely flowered terminal racemes and divided petals.
2.   A grayish or dark green to yellow green or light olive.
 
mi·gnon·ette    
n.
Any of several Mediterranean plants of the genus Reseda, especially R. odorata, widely cultivated for its terminal, dense, spikelike clusters of very fragrant but inconspicuous greenish flowers.

Mignonette is a term that also has its relevance later as a part of the BIG GAG.  Here come the obvious references to pollution:  "the oil in patches all over Atlantis."  Lest we forget, Atlantis sunk.  In Zappa's "The Blue Light," Atlantis is not a romantic, heroic concept (as Donovan portrays it), but a vision of horror warning listeners of how ignorance and laziness can really fuck things up.  This is my justification of why FZ really gives the hippies (including Donovan) a real verbal lashing.

First of all, we are presented with a brocade coat - yet another status symbol.  The hippies, trying to uphold the myth that they are selfless, poor and peaceful, fall prey to the same wants and desires that every red-blooded American capitalist endures.  The brocade coat  is now symbolic of the epitome of all a hippie can be - a Holy Grail for hippies, so to speak.  Like Aramis, the hippies are also hypocrites.

Our protagonist is then reminded of how he / she smoked bananas in those wondrous days.  In a colorful  display of ignorance, the protagonist makes him- / herself look even more foolish.  Because of its peculiar form, a banana has always been an object of ridicule.  It also serves as an instrument for making others an object of ridicule, as in this case.

After building the absurdity to astronomical proportions, Zappa prepares the listener for a serious warning, followed by the BIG GAG.  We have more oceanic imagery poking fun at Donovan's image of Atlantis, followed directly by horror visions of a polluted Atlantis:  "the seepage, the sewage, the rubbers, the napkins."  The phrases in this section are a recapitulation of the original vamp at the beginning of the song, which, as any good composer will tell you, is a nice way of bringing closure to your work.  Zappa adds a couple of new elements to the formula.  "Flag pole" can be thought of as a symbol of the Great American Erection.  Ignorance is abundant when one has a flag pole in his / her pants (yes, women can have one too).  "Port hole" is another strong contrast.  Using the marine imagery, FZ provides us with a window to see it how it really is.  Yes, things are somewhat extremely fucked up.

At long last, we come to the warning and the BIG GAG.  Another new element, "your language" is thrown in.  Although in any literary work language is actually the most important factor, it is usually not an object of scrutiny.  In "The Blue Light," language, as an object, is a vital instrument in emphasizing the point of how ignorant people have become.  Some interesting word association is implemented: "the future, your language..." becomes "the future of your language."  Beware!  If you are incapable of communicating, there is no hope in defending yourself from oppressors - that is, without a weapon.  The BIG GAG starts off with a pun:  "Don't let your meat loaf!"  Meat, in this sense, is the brain.  Loafing is an American slang term meaning being lazy or idle.  My interpretation of the warning is that one shouldn't let the brain vegetate.  After all, it is / was one of our most important assets.

To my knowledge, there is no such word as "Micro-Nanette."  I am of the opinion that it is a corruption of the word "mignonette," described earlier.  "Micro-Nanette" is perhaps how  an illiterate person would pronounce it; this is supported by the corruption of "cologne," pronounced here as "cuh-LOG-nuh."  The future may be scary, but the future of a language destroyed by idiots is scarier.  

Okay, that's it.  I've covered pretty much all of what I wanted.  Thanks for bearing with me.

Yours truly,
Lonesome Cowboy Squirt,
A modified dmt

[bertanya]

I'd always thought that it was generally about not noticing, understanding, or doing anything about problems and difficulties that occur and are encountered on a day to day basis.  

I don't think the details that give example to this idea are that important.  Mostly you can get the general idea, and if they were important i trust that they would have been more clearly put across.

Like many songs, I'd no idea what the exact lyrics were until discussions likes this prompt further investigation.  While searching for a lyric sheet i also found the following further discussions.

http://www.arf.ru/Notes/Tinsel/blight.html - some interesting ideas, e.g. Death Valley Days a TV show hosted by Ronald Reagon.

http://patriot.net/~billf/bluelight.html#patrol - difficult to tell, this may be a spoof ?

[Debrakadabra]

Howdy, folks!  Ian, this is an interesting angle, but I've never seen the movie you're talking about and couldn't make any correct assessment.  Barry and Debrakadabra, I've got to say you're only scratching the surface.  The earliest version of "The Blue Light" that I'm aware of is on Tinseltown Rebellion, 1980.  The whole hippie movement was long outdated, but Debk, you mentioned the continued practice of (phony) hippie-bashing.  While FZ does make a jab at Donovan fans and the whole banana-smoking thing, there is more to it than that.
 

Very plausible, LCS.  Good analysis.  Except I don't see that the Reseda plant really has much to do with the subject all that much, unless there is some symbolism that I am not aware of.  I must say that I think the Blue Light is one of FZ's better songs (lyrics wise) and I am delighted that it showed up in this forum.  The stream of consciousness lyrics threw me off, cause I figured that's all it was, pulling lyrics up from the depths with no meaning in particular.  I knew it was about people that waste their time, and I haven't changed that opinion, but it goes a little deeper than that.  It does not have the hard edge as much as some of his other works and it seems he was really trying to say something important, in an indirect way.

It seems, then, that the Blue Light touches on FZ's major themes:  

1.  Masses of people who fall for any crap that gets publicized enough

2.  People who waste their time and never accomplish anything

3.  Horror at pollution and the spoiling of the earth

Bertanya, Bill does do parodies and spoofs, but I am not sure about the Blue Light analysis.  It may be a parody of Ben Watson's book, but I am not sure, since I do not have Watson's book (yet).

DebK

[Lonesome Cowboy Squirt]

Howdy, DebK.  I think the language issue in "The Blue Light" is just as important as the other themes you mention.  Based upon this, I did research.  This is where the Reseda plant comes in; I stumbled upon the word "mignonette" while looking up "reseda." It is only there to provide support for my "Micronanette-as-a-corruption-of-mignonette" thesis.  I'm not sure about it, but the similarity of those two words is just too close to be a coincidence.

[Lonesome Cowboy Squirt]

I'd always thought that it was generally about not noticing, understanding, or doing anything about problems and difficulties that occur and are encountered on a day to day basis.  

Interesting, Bertanya; I've always thought that's what most of FZ's songs are about.  Of course, this concept is carried out on different levels, depending on what's necessary for the song.  Sometimes it's more direct, sometimes it's a little shrouded.

The other thread you pointed out has a charm all its own, especially this conspiracy theory about Bermuda and all that.  Who knows?  The tough thing about making a judgement is that it's based on belief.  Do you believe in the Bermuda Triangle?  Bigfoot?  Santa Claus?  The Repulican Party?  It's a very hard call if you're not in the "know."  Nevertheless, a delight to read.  Keep sending links like that - I love 'em, spoof or not!

[Slap]

Howdy, DebK.  I think the language issue in "The Blue Light" is just as important as the other themes you mention.  Based upon this, I did research.  This is where the Reseda plant comes in; I stumbled upon the word "mignonette" while looking up "reseda." It is only there to provide support for my "Micronanette-as-a-corruption-of-mignonette" thesis.  I'm not sure about it, but the similarity of those two words is just too close to be a coincidence.

I'm not too sure the language issue DOESN'T fit into the themes DebK mentioned.  One of the things Frank consistently addressed was people who, as Deb states,fall for any crap.  Why do they fall for it?  Because they fail to understand the complexity and subtlety of their own language, and don't think about what is really being said.  The horrors inflicted upon the language itself by its manipulation through advertising/political speech/lawsuits, etc. are every bit as monumental and dangerous as the ecological horrors he listed -- on an intellectual and communications level as opposed to a physical destruction level -- and ignorance coupled with the failure to preserve and nurture the language are eroding its value and impact as surely as the atmosphere and oceans are being choked by miscellaneous spewage and ignorance.

The hippies thing?  I read that as simply his way of saying "look, things haven't changed -- large groups of people are buying into the new uniform and behaviors in the same way that the hippies did".  Deja vu, all over again, yada yada yada amen.  And the timeframe is in line with the New Romantics/Blitz thingy.....

Interesting that you unearthed the reseda plant reference.  I suspect, however, that the twisting of the pronounciation of "mignonette" may be more due to Ike's presence in the band.  Thing-Fish was in gestation, after all; Frank always incorporated bandmembers' quirks into the P/O; and Ike always had dat knack for twischem dem woids like pretzkels.  I dunno that Ike would have stumbled upon the reseda bit, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if Frank made a reference atr some point to mignonette (which sounds like a teeny tiny steak, now that I think about it, like the sort one might get in any number of faceless hotel restaurants for high prices whilst traveling on the road), knowing its actual origin, which them prompted an Ike-ism, which them got incorporated into the piece.

But I like the depth of detail you displayed on this one, LCS.  It demonstrates a pretty fearsome obsessiveness -- something I can easily respect....

[Lonesome Cowboy Squirt]

Hi there, Slap Mammy!  Welcome to KUR.

The horrors inflicted upon the language itself by its manipulation through advertising/political speech/lawsuits, etc. are every bit as monumental and dangerous as the ecological horrors he listed

Yep.  Anybody read Orwell?  Newspeak is no longer a concept of fiction.  It's happening right now, before our very eyes.

Deja vu, all over again, yada yada yada amen.  

Ever since the invention of the wheel...

mignonette (which sounds like a...

Baaaaaby Steaks!

But I like the depth of detail you displayed on this one, LCS.

I thank you for your kind words and thoughtful input.  

[Coktor Dox]

Jeezus!  You people are really serious about interpreting FZ lyrics.

In other words, I have found my people.  Great to be here, glad I found ya.

[Lonesome Cowboy Squirt]

Glad to read you've found your way to the "proper" people.  On behalf of all members and honchos of KUR, I'd like to welcome you to this forum.


".....and if you feel like throwing underpants onto the stage, put 'em over there."