Line #104 Music/AbsolutelyFree


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/frank_zappa_4664.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: ''Kill ugly radio!'']]
3
4	''Absolutely Free'', released in 1967, is the second album by Music/FrankZappa and his group The Mothers of Invention. Following the debut album ''Music/FreakOut!'' from the previous year, ''Absolutely'' marked a more extravagant display of Zappa's innovation and boldness in seeking to debunk mores of hippies and straights alike. The original album consisted of a series of two "Underground Oratorios", the first side giving you "Absolutely Free" and the second side giving you "The M.O.I. American Pageant"; all later compact disc reissues include, sandwiched between the oratorios, the bonus tracks "Big Leg Emma" and "Why Don'tcha Do Me Right?" The contributing Mothers as credited on ''Absolutely Free'' had lost guitarist [[ThePeteBest Eliott Ingber]], and gained Euclid James "Motorhead" Sherwood, Don Preston, Bunk Gardner, and Billy Mundi. Early printed editions of the complete libretto, distributed separately from the album owing to Verve's doubt of lyrics such as "I'd like to make her do a nasty on the White House lawn" (from "Brown Shoes Don't Make It"), were bowdlerized.
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6	The album is best remembered for "Plastic People", which became a freedom anthem in Czechoslovakia under the Iron Curtain as Czech President Vaclav Havél told Zappa in 1989, "Duke of Prunes", "Call Any Vegetable" and "Brown Shoes Don't Make It".
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8	This album, and the suite which lends it its name on side one, should not be confused with the identically named song from ''Music/WereOnlyInItForTheMoney'', which is a completely different song. CD reissues of the album place a single from 1967 in between the first and second LP sides.
9
10	''''
11	!! Tracklist
12
13	[[AC:Absolutely Free]]
14	# "Plastic People" (3:40)
15	# "The Duke of Prunes" (2:12)
16	# "Amnesia Vivace" (1:01)
17	# "The Duke Regains His Chops" (1:45)
18	# "Call Any Vegetable" (2:19)
19	# "Invocation and Ritual Dance of the Young Pumpkin" (6:57)
20	# "Soft-Sell Conclusion" (1:40)
21
22	[[AC:CD Bonus Tracks (taken from 1967 single)]]
23	# "Big Leg Emma" (2:31)
24	# "Why Don'tcha Do Me Right?" (2:37)
25
26	[[AC:The M.O.I. American Pageant]]
27	# "America Drinks" (1:53)
28	# "Status Back Baby" (2:54)
29	# "Uncle Bernie's Farm" (2:11)
30	# "Son of Suzy Creamcheese" (1:34)
31	# "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" (7:30)
32	# "America Drinks and Goes Home" (2:46)
33
34	!!Personnel
35	* Music/FrankZappa: vocals, guitar, composition
36	* Ray Collins: vocals, tambourine
37	* Jim Fielder: piano, guitar
38	* Don Preston: keyboards
39	* Bunk Gardner: woodwinds
40	* Roy Estrada: vocals, bass
41	* Jimmy Carl Black: vocals, guitar
42	* Billy Mundi: drums, percussion
43	* Alice Ochs: album cover design
44
45	!! ''Trope Any Vegetable!'':
46	* AllMenArePerverts: "Brown Shoes Don't Make It"
47	--> ''A world of secret hungers\
48	Perverting the men who make your laws\
49	Every desire is hidden away\
50	In a drawer... in a desk\
51	By a naugahyde chair\
52	On a rug where they walk and drool\
53	Past the girls in the office''
54	* AntiLoveSong:
55	** "The Duke Regains His Chops":
56	--> ''And I know/my love for you will never end (well maybe...)''
57	* AnAssKickingChristmas: "Uncle Bernie's Farm"
58	--> ''There's a bomb to blow your mommy up\
59	A bomb for your daddy too!''
60	--> ''There's a hungry plastic troll\
61	To scarf your buddy's arm''
62	-->''Don't you know that murder and destruction\
63	Scream the toys in ev'ry store''
64	* BarBrawl: Several at the same time in "America Drinks and Goes Home". It also closes the album.
65	* BawdySong: "Brown Shoes Don't Make It", where a politician has sex with an underage girl.
66	* BigBeautifulWoman: "Big Leg Emma", who put on weight.
67	* BigHandsomeMan: Co-drummer Billy Mundi and bassist Roy Estrada, arguably.
68	* BookEnds: On the LP version side 2 starts off with "America Drinks" and concludes with "America Drinks and Goes Home".
69	* BreakingTheFourthWall: "Plastic People"
70	--> ''Then go home and check yourself. You think we're singing 'bout someone else?''
71	* CallBack: "America Drinks and Goes Home" picks up the melody of "America Drinks", a few tracks previous, only played much more coherently.
72	* CapitalismIsBad: The album attacks consumerism, amongst other aspects of American society that Zappa finds conformist.
73	* ChubbyChaser: Averted in "Big Leg Emma", as the narrator finds his erstwhile love interest no longer interesting
74	--> ''She was my steady date\
75	Until she put on weight, mhmm''
76	* ConceptAlbum: The first half is mostly about vegetable imagery. The second half is a criticism of American politics, consumerism and society.
77	* ContinuityNod:
78	** Plastic and especially plastic people already appeared during "Who Are the Brain Police?" on ''Music/FreakOut (1966)'' and are revisited again on ''Absolutely Free''.
79	** Biting someone's neck was referenced earlier during "Motherly Love" on ''Music/FreakOut (1966)'' and is mentioned twice on ''Absolutely Free'', namely during "Duke of Prunes" and "Brown Shoes Don't Make It".
80	** The song "Son of Suzy Chreamcheese" is a callback to "It Can't Happen Here" and "The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet" from ''Freak Out''.
81	** "TV dinner by the swimming pool" in "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" was referenced earlier during "It Can't Happen Here" on ''Music/FreakOut (1966)''. The "teenage queen rocking and rolling and acting obscene" is similar to Magdalena in "Magdalena" from ''Music/JustAnotherBandFromLA'' (1972). While the one in "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" would be "smothered in chocolate syrup", the one in "Magdalena" will be covered in mayonaise.
82	** "I wanna hear 'Caravan' with a drum solo", a line from "You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here" from ''Music/FreakOut (1966)'' can be heard again during "America Drinks and Goes Home".
83	** One of the advertisements on the back cover of ''Absolutely Free'' shows a dog collar with the slogan "Buy a 'Fydo' fits swell". Zappa would references dogs and collars frequently in his lyrics, including Fido the poodle in ''Music/{{Apostrophe}}'' (1974) and ''Music/RoxyAndElsewhere'' (1974).
84	** Vegetable imagery would return on the album cover of ''Music/WereOnlyInItForTheMoney'' (1968) and during "Mr. Green Genes" from ''Music/UncleMeat'' (1969).
85	** In "Suzy Creamcheese" on ''Music/AbsolutelyFree'' we are informed that Suzy "blew her mind on too much Kool-Aid". In ''The Story of Uncle Meat'' inside the sleeve of ''Music/UncleMeat (1969)'', Uncle Meat drugs rock 'n' roll musicians with Kool-Aid.
86	** The song "Call Any Vegetable" would be played live and in a different arrangement on ''Music/JustAnotherBandFromLA (1972)''. "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" would be announced, but not played on ''Music/BurntWeenySandwich (1969)'', while receiving a full live version on ''Music/TinseltownRebellion'' (1981).
87	** "Duke of Prunes" would be rearranged as "The Duke of Orchestral Prunes" on ''Music/Orchestral Favorites'' (1979) and ''Music/{{Lather}}'' (intended for release in 1977, actually released in 1996).
88	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: "Uncle Bernie's Farm" is about a line of violent and ugly toys, with one lyric addressing that someone was depraved and greedy enough to allow these toys to be sold in stores in the first place.
89	-->''And smiling in his office is the creep who makes the toys.''
90	* CovertPervert: The man who "runs the world from City Hall" in "Brown Shoes Don't Make It", nails or dreams of nailing young teen tarts one minute, goes home to meet the wife and neighbors the next.
91	* CrapsackWorld: As articulated in "Brown Shoes Don't Make It"
92	--> ''Be a jerk\
93	And go to work\
94	Do your job and do it right\
95	Life's a ball\
96	TV tonight!
97	* DreamingOfAWhiteChristmas: The opening line "I'm dreaming" in "Uncle Bernie's Farm" is a shout-out to Creator/BingCrosby's ''[[Music/MerryChristmas White Christmas]]''.
98	* EpicRocking: Each album side consists of a lengthy suite that lasts around nineteen minutes, subdivided into shorter tracks (though some of these still qualify, with "Invocation & Ritual Dance of the Young Pumpkin" being seven minutes and "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" being seven and a half).
99	* FaceOnTheCover: Zappa's face covers almost the entire album cover. It's shot in black-and-white.
100	* FadingIntoTheNextSong: Apart from the LP side gaps and the two songs added to CD reissues, the entire album is continuous.
101	* FamilyUnfriendlyViolence: The toys in "Uncle Bernie's Farm" include a "hungry plastic troll" that eats people's arms and a toy car that simulates its driver getting killed and eviscerated upon impact.
102	* FilleFatale: The "teenage queen" in "Brown Shoes Don't Make It", possibly, if the line about her being "only 13 and she knows how to nasty" is any indication.
103	* GranolaGirl: In the interval between ''Freak Out!'' and ''Absolutely Free'''s "Son of Suzy Creamcheese", Suzy Creamcheese has dropped out and become one.
104	* HighSchoolRejects: A hollow popularity contest revolving around the cult of school spirit, as suggested in "Status Back Baby."
105	* IconicSongRequest: Frank Zappa once heard someone request "Caravan" by Music/DukeEllington, but with a drum solo. He referenced this bizarre request before in "You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here" on ''Music/FreakOut'' and did it again on this album, during "America Drinks and Goes Home".
106	* IncestSubtext: The politician in "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" says, "If she was my daughter I'd...", then, after hesitating a bit, lists a number of obscene sexual acts. For added creepiness, it's implied that the voice asking "What would you do, daddy?" is in fact the politician's daughter. The whole song is weapons-grade NightmareFuel.
107	* IntercourseWithYou:
108	** The end of "Soft-Sell Conclusion" features a "pumpkin breathing hard".
109	** The teenage queen in "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" is "rocking and rolling and acting obscene".
110	* LightmareFuel: "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" is a textbook example of this trope with the implied ParentalIncest and paedophilia being played for dark humour.
111	* LoungeLizard: "America Drinks and Goes Home"
112	* LyricalDissonance: The song "America Drinks and Goes Home" is a very cheesy number about someone with a broken heart who doesn't regret it. Despite this hopeful message you can hear a bar fight going on in the background.
113	** "Brown Shoes Don't Make It," an amazingly catchy song about political corruption, sex scandals and implied ParentalIncest.
114	* MyCountryTisOfTheeThatISting: Especially in "America Drinks", "America Drinks and Goes Home" and "Brown Shoes Don't Make It".
115	* MyLittlePanzer: The toys mentioned in "Uncle Bernie's Farm" include bombs used to blow up one's parents and a plastic troll that eats people's arms.
116	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The dimwitted southern President who begins "Plastic People" with an abortive attempt at a speech goes [[UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson nameless]].
117	* NonAppearingTitle: The phrase "Absolutely Free" is never said once on the album, yet there is a track with that title on ''Music/WereOnlyInItForTheMoney''. Confusing matters further is the fact that one of the compositions on this album is ''also'' named "Absolutely Free" and has nothing to do with the shorter song of the same name on the later album.
118	* ProgressiveRock: One of the [[TropeMakers major cornerstones]] of the genre. UnbuiltTrope applies to a certain extent here.
119	* ProperlyParanoid: The line "there's a guy from the C.I.A. and he's creeping around Laurel Canyon" in "Plastic People".
120	* ProtestSong: "Plastic People", "Status Back Baby", "Brown Shoes Don't Make It".
121	* ReferenceOverdosed[=/=]RockMeAmadeus: This was the first Zappa album where clear recognizable musical quotes from other composers and artists could be heard.
122	** "Plastic People" and "Son of Suzy Creamcheese" pay homage to the tune "Louie Louie" by Richard Berry.
123	** "Call Any Vegetable" references Music/CharlesIves near the end. As Zappa explained in his autobiography ''Literature/TheRealFrankZappaBook'':
124	--> ''One of the things that Ives is noted for is his use of multiple colliding themes -- the musical illusion of several marching bands marching through each other. In our low-rent version, the band splits into three parts, playing "The Star-Spangled Banner," "God Bless America" and "America the Beautiful" all at the same time, yielding an amateur version of an Ives collision. Unless listeners pay attention in that one spot, there are only a few bars of it, they might think it was a "mistake".''
125	** "Invocation and Ritual Dance of the Young Pumpkin" borrows a melody from Music/GustavHolst's "Jupiter" from his work ''The Planets''.
126	** "Amnesia Vivace" includes quotes from ''Theatre/TheRiteOfSpring'' and ''Theatre/TheFirebird'' by Music/IgorStravinsky and "Duke of Earl" by Gene Chandler.
127	** "The Duke Regains His Chops" includes brief quotes from Music/TheSupremes' "Baby Love".
128	** "Soft-Sell Conclusion" musically quotes "God Bless America" by Music/IrvingBerlin, "America the Beautiful", "Marine's Hymn", and "A Soldier's Tale" by Music/IgorStravinsky.
129	** "America Drinks" quotes the nursery rhyme "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe" and Julius Fucik's "Entry of The Gladiators".
130	** The doowop band The Coasters are mentioned in "Status Back Baby". On the same track Music/IgorStravinsky's "Petrouchka" is musically quoted.
131	** "Uncle Bernie's Farm" briefly quotes the opening of Music/BingCrosby's "[[Music/MerryChristmas White Christmas]]" in the beginning ("I'm dreaming...")
132	** "Plastic People" quotes "Little Deuce Coupe" by Music/TheBeachBoys.
133	* SantaClaus: Mentioned in "Uncle Bernie's Farm".
134	* ShoutOut: Mostly direct musical quotes to Music/IgorStravinsky.
135	* ShownTheirWork: As one might expect from a virtuoso so interested in orchestral works, Zappa in describing each side as an "Underground Oratorio" was quite correct, clearly understanding what makes an "oratorio" and correctly applying the term. In the album, much vibrato is used in some vocal parts, and rubato passages occur, such as the uneven rhythms in the tune for "Plastic People". Instances of parts typical in an oratorio occur throughout the album:
136	** Overture -- Beginning a side of the record with musical themes that recur. For instance, part of the tune for "Plastic People" occurs sped up in "Suzy Creamcheese". also the vocals suggest a 17th century Prologue to a work, allegorical characters singing about overarching themes. A nation mainly of dimwits for side one, blathering at the end of "Plastic People", and much the same in "Status Back Baby"
137	** Aria -- solo vocal bits sung by Collins, Zappa, and Black; "No one will know if you don't want to let them know", etc., in "Call Any Vegetable"; "His wife's attending an orchid show", etc. in "Brown Shoes"; various other bits.
138	** Recitative -- more spoken than sung, to advance the plot. The President in "Plastic People" and his illness alluded to, and the blathering at the end; the Duke talking in the parking lot in "Amnesia Vivace"; parts in "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" such as "TV dinner by the pool", etc
139	** Choruses -- grandiose bits by several vocalists, with lush instrumentation
140	* SiameseTwinSongs: Basically every song transition on the original album.
141	* SillyLoveSongs: Parodied in the whole "Duke of Prunes" arc.
142	--> ''And I know\
143	The love I have for you\
144	Will grow and grow and grow\
145	I think\
146	And so my love\
147	I have for you\
148	A love that is strong\
149	''A PRUNE THAT IS TRUE!''
150	* SpokenWordInMusic: The track "America Drinks" is sung in a technique known as "Sprechstimme", where the vocalist sings his lyrics by speaking.
151	* [[StrawCharacter Strawman Political]]: In an ironic tone, it is noted that Suzy Creamcheese "protest marches styrofoam".
152	* SuckySchool: And yet appealing to shallow people as in "Status Back Baby".
153	* TakeThat:
154	** Advertising and consumerism on the entire album, including the cover art.
155	** School in "Status Back Baby" and "Brown Shoes Don't Make It".
156	** Politics and materialistic living in "Brown Shoes Don't Make It".
157	** Radio stations on the album cover, with the slogan: "Kill ugly radio!"
158	* UnusualEuphemism: The word "vegetable" on this album stands for people who don't conform to the world of "plastic people", who in itself are a euphemism for the general (conformist) public.

Context Music / AbsolutelyFree