Bongo Fury by Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa is undoubtedly one of my favorite artists of all time. I am always a sucker for a musician who can truly do it all, which explains my love artists like Linda Ronstadt, Yes, and obviously, Frank Zappa. Zappa’s extensive discography includes 116 studio albums, 54 of which are posthumous, and a full slue of compilation’s and live albums, so choosing a favorite is near impossible. However, when weighing which album of his I wanted to flesh out, I looked holistically at the tracks on each given album, and ending up feeling pulled to talk about Bongo Fury. Bongo Fury is a 41 minute, 9 track album that Zappa released in 1975, and has 3 of my favorite Zappa songs embedded in it: “Muffin Man”, “Advanced Romance”, and “Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy.”

I often have to keep mind how vulgar the song titles may sound to someone who's music radar doesn’t include Zappa and his music. Tracks like “Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy” or “Why Does it Hurt When I Pee?” (off his three act Rock Opera, Joe’s Garage) have an initially shocking ring, but that’s one of the things I admire about Zappa. He wasn’t producing the type of music that was meant to appeal to a large audience, which I think means that his music was written just for the sake of writing music, and nothing more. This theory of mine can be proved when you look at his track titles or analyze his lyrics, and even by studying the instrumental side of his songs.

Zappa’s music is complex and, in my opinion, is some of the hardest to learn. At his core, Zappa truly was a brilliant composer. Although lots of his music is rock and jazz based, his ear for non-conforming chord structure and unusual use of scales beyond the major and minor makes for music that dodges being boxed into any genre. Bongo Fury is a demonstrates that idea perfectly, at least in my eyes.

Starting my analysis with the second track on the album, “Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy,” this 6 minute song starts with a guitar, loaded with chorus and compressed wah, playing its unmistakable riff in the nice, simple key of C major… or so it seems. Although the beginning chord of the song is a C and most chords within the rest of the song follow within this scalar pattern, something about the repeated I-iv-ii verse chord progression screams mixed modality to me. I don’t say this with full confidence though, because when the verse kicks in, Zappa, George Duke and Captain Beefheart break into a three part harmony which follows a melodic pattern, rather than a chordal pattern, which ultimately would give an instrumentalist some freedom as to what chords fit underneath what’s being sung.

The chord structure seems to stay diatonic and simple, and yet it doesn’t follow one of the widely used chord molds that lots of songs, often pop, follow. By doing this, I think Zappa really demonstrated his power as a composer by using the diatonic C scale to create something complex and so out of the ordinary. Aside from the chord progression, vocals on this song is truly something special. All singing in this song is written in tertiary harmony, aside from the quick bass breakdown bit, which makes for some very enjoyable vocals. And, in terms of the lyrics, they’re some of my favorites. Zappa often writes his lyrics about nothing and in a humorous manner, and “Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy” does not deviate from this standard. Personally, I believe the best lyric in the song is:

“She put a Doobie Brothers tape on
(Ooo Ooo Ooo, Listen to the Music).”

I love this so much because it’s the musical equivalent of a turducken, because the line references a song and band with in a song, i.e. “Listen to the Music” by the Doobie Brothers (another one of my favorite bands). The song is full of funny moments like this, even though some maybe a little jarring for a first time listener due to the vulgarity of some lines. Overall, this song is just a great contribution to Bongo Fury as a whole because of its intricate complexities masked behind a shield of simplicity.

“Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy” is just one of the gems found on this album. Another favorite of mine is the 11 minute track titled: “Advanced Romance.” One thing I regard Zappa so highly for is not only his amazing guitar skills, but also the tone that accompanies everything he plays, and “Advanced Romance” is one of those songs where the guitar tone makes you squint your eyes a little and curl your upper lip. It’s nasty without sounding like the actually nasty sounding guitars on something like a Mayhem album. And, this tone combined with the heavy blues influence in this song makes for a groovy tune.

Considering that this song has heavy blues influence, it follows the routine blue I-IV-V through out the entirety of the 11 minutes. Although a static chord progression often makes for a boring song, I argue that the eccentricity within the singing and various instrumental solos makes for a song that is entertaining. To me, entertainment is Zappa’s whole deal. His music isn’t necessarily to move people emotionally, but rather entertain them. And this isn’t the cheap kind of entertainment either, because when you boil down his music to its bones, it’s the type of genius that needs to be appreciated. “Advanced Romance” has such a simple concept, from a music theory stand point, but it’s the musicianship within the song that needs to be recognized as the important feature. From the insane, shredded saxophone solo, to the classic Zappa guitar solo, the song is stacked with some of the worlds more skilled musicians playing some amazing and improvised solos.

The last track I want to talk about on Bongo Fury is “Muffin Man". I’m almost at a loss for words when I think about explaining this song. It’s so… unique. It’s extremely comical, and yet has insane musical depth. The song starts with a large, low, grand piano trill, which Zappa shortly begins to recite a monologue of sorts over. To give you a small taste of what Zappa’s “monologue” is about, here is what he’s saying:

“The Muffin Man is seated at the table
In the laboratory of the Utility Muffin
Research Kitchen...
Reaching for an oversized chrome spoon
He gathers an intimate quantity of dried muffin remnants
And brushing his scapular aside
Proceeds to dump these inside of his shirt...
He turns to us and speaks:
"Some people like cupcakes better. I for one
Care less for them!”"

Now, if you think he is just speaking nonsense, you’re totally right. Zappa goes on telling this story for about 2 minutes, and even while he’s speaking, he chuckles. It’s like he and the listener are giggling about some sort of inside joke, and I think that creates for an intimate moment between the musicians and the listener. To me, this makes the song a true gem of Bongo Fury, and Zappa’s repertoire in general. The sheer entertainment and humor Zappa works to emulate in the music can be recognized as kind of stupid, but I think the way he forces listeners that take meaning from the music rather than the lyrics is a rare trait from a musician. “Muffin Man” is truly an example of this idea. The music underneath all the singing and speaking is dramatic, and in the chorus where some singing kicks in has an awesome half-time rock riff being played underneath. And past this, Zappa shreds one of his classic guitar solos, which are always thoughtful and distinctively melodic. However, the lyrics are just the most ridiculous words strung together about the muffin man, which reflects the importance onto the value of Zappa’s musical choices.

Bongo Fury complies from of the most trademark Zappa songs into one album, and from a holistic viewpoint, the album checks the box on all the things I love about Zappa as a composer, making this album an absolute win for me.

-Sophie