some questions on FZ's lyrics

[Chris]

"Charlie's Enormous Mouth" is about a girl dying from cocaine use.

"How did she get back there?": Frank couldn't possibly have been ignorant to the double meaning of this ("How did she get back to my pad? It must have all been a dream" OR "How did she get behind the devil so he could fart her off the cliff?"). Probably just a risque' little joke in that sense.

("Titties'n'Beer" is an adaption of Stravinsky's "A Soldier's Tale".)

[Bálint]

Some mo' QUETIONS :-)

*

That's the kinda step she takes
When her hot breaks hot brakes
That's the kinda sound she makes
When her crab cakes
(...)

She didn't want to go home
An' watch the pestle go mortar
Later she speaks
On how Perellis might court her

*

Its Florentine Pogen. I tend to think that I "understand" the lyrics, but I also understand that it's mostly a game with words. What are the bold stuffs? I might understand them , but I'm not sure.

And a question that's still alive: Who is Charlie, - WHO IS SIMON?!?!?!?....

Thank you all, as always:

B

[Studio Tan]

Check this, and notice the enormous mouth  
http://www.carlysimon.com/

[SOFA]

That's the kinda step she takes
When her hot breaks hot brakes
That's the kinda sound she makes
When her crab cakes
(...)

(It's actually "heart breaks", not 'hot breaks'.)
Her crab is her vagina; it "cakes" when the natural lubricants dry up - from non-use.
She aint been laid in a while, in other words.

She didn't want to go home
An' watch the pestle go mortar

A pestle & mortar are used for grinding things to a powder. The "action" of this is a sexual reminder, which she didn't want to see. Remember, she aint been laid in a while.

SOFA

[Bálint]

Thank you!

I think I came closer, and I was thinking, ok, it seems there are some sexual secrets hiding in the text, but i cant see those clear everywhere. What about these two verses:

She was a debutante daisy
With a color-note organ
Deep in the street
She drove a '59 Morgan
(...)

She didn't like it when her fan belt
Shrunk & got shorter
(Ointment)
Battery leaks could nearly cost her a quarter

It seems to me that these are plainly about the car-problem, so to speak. Am I wrong?

[SOFA]

She was a debutante daisy
With a color-note organ
Deep in the street
She drove a '59 Morgan

An effective translation of this would be "she's young, but old enough; she's not too smart, and has no class". I could go through it line by line to explain the translation, but I bet you can figure it out.

She didn't like it when her fan belt
Shrunk & got shorter
(Ointment)
Battery leaks could nearly cost her a quarter

This one is a little more cryptic than the first.  The fan belt turns the fan that cools the car engine.  They shrink and when they do, they make a squealing noise. Then they break, so the engine can no longer stay cool. I take this to mean that her lack of sexual gratification kept her "hot" all the time.
Now, it's been a really looong time since car batteries cost a quarter. However, the batteries for her dildo probably cost a quarter back then. I think Frank is refering to these; her disabled dildo only adds to her lack of sexual gratification.
SOFA

[Bálint]

Thanks for everybody the answer - they were useful, indeed. So I have - and WILL have - some more...

I just took some time to examine the "Prevention" CD - I don't listen to that too often. So my question for today is: Is the song I Don't Even Care about something specific, about something happened sometimes, or is it about something general? I tend to think that I understand, but there are some questions of course - and I'm curious, whether there is something hidden for me. So:

I Don't Even Care

(DON'T EVEN CARE)
So let me tell you why this evenin'
Listen! Not enough have been said
(I-I-I-I)
About the white, the blue and the red
(DON'T EVEN CARE)
So everybody just a-runnin' off scared
(...)

This evening: so is it just something to say or is it about a special evening maybe?
white, the blue and the red - the star spangled banner?!?.... or what?!?.... And why? :-)

(...)

The cow used to jump over the moon!
An' I ain't jumpin' over the fence!

It's funny - is it a common expression in english? I've heard it here the first time.

*
Thanks again!

B

[guacamole]

Hi Balint,

I'm not at all sure what it's all about - I'd kind of assumed that Johnny Guitar Watson was just ad-libbing his words as he went along.

The Cow Jumped Over the Moon is from a childrens nursery rhyme :-

"hey diddle diddle the cat and the fiddle,
the cow jumped over the moon. The little dog laughed to see such fun and the dish ran away with the spoon."

p.s. don't analyse it - it's just nonsense  

[SOFA]

Hey Balint! Hey guac!

I'd kind of assumed that Johnny Guitar Watson was just ad-libbing his words as he went along.

I think I'd go with guac on this one; I too always figured in was JGW rapping about nothing - like a vocal improvisation, if you will.

"hey diddle diddle the cat and the fiddle,
the cow jumped over the moon. The little dog laughed to see such fun and the dish ran away with the spoon."

In all of the Nursery Rhyme books I've read, it's "The little dog laughed to see such sport and..."
Now, I haven't read too many - since I never cared for sports...
(Sorry guac, that one was just too damn easy!)
SOFA

[Bálint]

Thanks for the answers - sorry to hear that, I always hoped I might find a hidden "message"... :-)

But: my next question is for Excentrifugal Forz:

The clouds are really cheap
The way I seen 'em thru the ports
Of which there is a half-a-dozen
On the base of my resorz
You wouldn't think I'd have too many
Since I never cared for sports
But I'm never really lonely
In my Excentrifugal Forz

*

Of course I say to myself that I understand parts of it - but what PORTS he's talking about? Why are there TOO MANY of them?... What's the base of this "story"?

Thanks!

B

[Chris]

He's using the English vernacular phrase "too many" to mean "any great number at all." In other words, you wouldn't think Frank would have any significant number of ports (ship windows -- this line ties in with "Naval Aviation in Art?" and several other pieces with maritime subjects) that allow him to look out at the rest of the world from within his personal reality. Why he's seeing sports through the portholes in this instance is not clear, even though it's obviously a cute little throwback to "Trouble Every Day"; I think he was just trying to write a funny, surreal lyric.

Having said that, here's a paragraph from Zappology that you might find relevant.

"Cheepnis" [from Roxy & Elsewhere] celebrates the charm of cheesy 1950s horror movies. Before counting the song in, Frank introduces the concept to the audience by referring to Roger Corman's 1956 film It Conquered the World... In this introduction, Frank refers to the movie's tawdry monster as "sort of a rounded-off, pup-tent affair," recalling the cryptic lines "And then I'll call Pup Tentacle/I'll ask him how's his chin/I'll find out how the future is/because that's where he's been" from "Excentrifugal Forz" on Apostrophe ('), released months before Roxy and therefore rendering true the lyric about the pup visiting the future.

[Bálint]

Thanks Chris!

You might know this page with IT CONQUERED THE WORLD:
http://www.monstrula.de/filme/itconqueredtheworld/itconqueredtheworld.htm

Go to "Scenenfotos" at the bottom - you'll love it!

AND NoW - for something completely different:

*

"Just about as evil stupid, as I could be"...

Sorry guys, I made a kind of game here. :-)

I dont know whether you are bored of this tiny language course here, but its really interesting to me, so thanks for everything for everybody. Now I started to translate Excentrifugal Forz, AND I thought it might be interesting to translate it into english... :-) OK, I don't want to kill the original, the tiny games with words, its just a game here!

Sorry, may sound stupid - it even might be a question: "Am I right if I thing that it is something like that?"
Anyway: the stuff about watching the world from a point and going through the fence is something REALLY ZAPPAISTIC.

Waddaya say?

*

The Force of Excentrism

the outside world looks really funny
the way I see it now
I have quite a few examining-points
where I'm watching the word from

You might wonder why do I need that much (points to watch from?...)
Because it's not my main interest
But in spite of my position here
I have a kind of power, I'm not alone

there's always an imaginary musician by me
him and me can play the blues
An' then I'll watch him buff that
Tiny ruby that he use

He'll straighten up his turban
and spit once
Along his Hammond Organ
underneath my shoes

Then I call a Mystery Person with tentacles
and ask how he is
and with his help
I'lll find out the future
because that's where he came from
he could do it, because his little feet got long 'n flexible
and while suckers fell right in
he crossed the line
From the PAST to the FUTURE

[Bálint]

OK, since my last "taranslation-stuff" wasn't a REAL success here, :-) I'lll try to go on with other questions. They're from the Tinseltown album, Panty Rap:

'Twat Book' - is it a slang for anything or just what it is?
Zeets - Is it Colaiuta?...
if you're a girl and you're wearing a dress, whip 'em off, that's it, see? No problem. Even with a pin…
Now let's see what's on the inside. Uh huh, trainer coos.

My questions are the bold ones. Yes, I DO have a vocabulary, but sometimes it doesn't help...

:-)

Thanks!

B

[SOFA]

OK, since my last "taranslation-stuff" wasn't a REAL success here, :-)

That one was tough Balint... It appeared to be an English translation of a Hungarian translation of an English translation - ya know what I mean? I figure the other lyric fetishists here didn't want to touch that one, as I didn't...
Trying to devine the meaning of FZ in his lyrics is a different endeavor...

'Twat Book' - is it a slang for anything or just what it is?

I wasn't at the concert, but from the context I'd guess that it was a pornographic magazine - most likely entitled 'Twat', or 'Twat Book'. Twat is slang for vagina.

Zeets - Is it Colaiuta?...

I don't know. It sounds like a nickname... And from the context (he says later "Vinnie...on booklet") it would appear to be Vinnie.

No problem. Even with a pin

I'd say this referes to a pair of soiled panties that had a pin attached that said "nobody's perfect".

Now let's see what's on the inside. Uh huh, trainer coos.

I'd guess this one means 'urine stain'. In FZ's many "panty raps" he uses slang to describe the soiling: skid = fecal material, coos = female ejaculate, etc. Trainer coos might be urine, as in too young to 'come', but old enough to wet the pants in excitement...
("Punching an ecalair", from Jazz Discharge Party Hats - another song about panties, would be a combination of all available soilage.)

Yes, I DO have a vocabulary, but sometimes it doesn't help...

Your command of English is very good, don't kid yourself. But, with FZ's use of slang (and not just popular slang, but 'inside' slang known only to the band), it is damn near impossible to know exactly what every word "means"...

By the way "eject a little ooze" from Exentrifugal Forz in no way implies "spit"...
Regards,
SOFA

[guacamole]

Whilst I would generally agree with SOFA's observations, I think the context of the "twat book" comment is important here ( admittedly I was not at the concert either, so I can only surmise at the meaning ). FZ was examining articles of feminine underclothing / panties; not looking at a pornographic magazine. Therefore I would guess that the term twat book ( and I may be letting my sordid imagination get the better of me here ) refers to the panties being stuck together with some sort of bodily fluid where they have to be peeled apart much like the pages of a book which, once being wet and then dried out, require to be prised apart.

Ben Watson suggests that the references to "buff that tiny ruby"....."straighten up his turban"......"eject a little ooze" are references to clitoral stimulation, penile erection and ejaculation.
I'd go along with that interpretation also.