History Music / SheikYerbouti

''Sheik Yerbouti'' is a 1979 music album by Music/FrankZappa. A mostly live album with studio embellishments and heralding a visibly increased comedic emphasis, it was the first album released after winning the rights to all his songs in a court case against his former label Warner Brothers. It remains the best-selling album in his catalogue, especially in Europe, where "Bobby Brown Goes Down" (no relation to [[Music/BobbyBrown the musician]]) even became a [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff Number One hit in Norway]]. Other fan favorites are "I Have Been In You", "Broken Hearts Are For Assholes", "I'm So Cute", "Baby Snakes", "City Of Tiny Lites", "Dancin' Fool", "Jewish Princess" and "Yo' Mama".

# "I Have Been In You" (3:34)

# "Broken Hearts Are For Assholes" (3:42)

# "What Ever Happened To All The Fun In The World?" (0:33)

# "We Gotta Get Into Something Real/Wait A Minute" (0:33)
# "Bobby Brown Goes Down" (2:49)

# "Tryin' To Grow A Chin" (3:31)
# "City Of Tiny Lites" (5:32)

* AgeProgressionSong: "Bobby Brown Goes Down" has Bobby transform from an arrogant, misogynistic high school boy into an adult closeted-homosexual S&M radio DJ. "Wild Love" compares "wild love" in old days and nowadays.

* Edd Mann & David Ocker: clarinets

** "I'm So Cute" and "Broken Hearts Are For Assholes" are basically the same type of punk songs, about an EmoTeen desperately crying for attention.

''Sheik Yerbouti'' is a 1979 music album by Music/FrankZappa. A mostly live album with studio embellishments and heralding a visibly increased comedic emphasis, it was the first album released after winning the rights to all his songs in a court case against his former label Warner Brothers. It remains the best-selling album in his catalogue, especially in Europe, where "Bobby Brown Goes Down" even became a [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff Number One hit in Norway]]. Other fan favorites are "I Have Been In You", "Broken Hearts Are For Assholes", "I'm So Cute", "Baby Snakes", "City Of Tiny Lites", "Dancin' Fool", "Jewish Princess" and "Yo' Mama".

''Sheik Yerbouti'' is a 1979 music album by Music/FrankZappa. Heralding a visibly increased comedic emphasis, it was the first album released after winning the rights to all his songs in a court case against his former label Warner Brothers. It remains the best-selling album in his catalogue, especially in Europe, where "Bobby Brown Goes Down" even became a [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff Number One hit in Norway]]. Other fan favorites are "I Have Been In You", "Broken Hearts Are For Assholes", "I'm So Cute", "Baby Snakes", "City Of Tiny Lites", "Dancin' Fool", "Jewish Princess" and "Yo' Mama".

'''Personnel'''

* ComingOutStory: "Bobby Brown Goes Down", where Bobby starts off as a heterosexual guy in high school, but halfway starts having sex with men.

--> ''Larry's not with us anymore, he went on, you know?''
--> ''Yeah, he big the big one!'' (laughs)
--> ''Well, he's got his own little piece of Heaven now!''
--> (After ''Rat Tomago'') ''Hohohohohoho, listen to him go!''
--> (...) ''Hohohohoho, leather!''

--> ''I'm goin' in you again, ahhhh''
--> ''In you again, ah''
--> ''I'm goin' in you again, ahhhh''
--> ''In you again, ah''
--> ''I'm goin' in you again, ahhhh''
--> ''In you again, ah''

--> ''I don't want no troll''
--> ''I just want a Yemenite hole''
* MisogynySong: "Jewish Princess" was accused of being antisemitic, while Zappa defended himself that the subject he sang about did in fact exist, and therefore he didn't apologize for it. He did, however, write a song poking fun at his own religious background called "Catholic Girls" on his next album ''Music/JoesGarage'' (1979).

--> ''And ladies: you can be an asshole too''
--> ''You might pretend you ain't got one on the bottom of you''
--> ''But don't fool yourself, girl, it's winking at you''
--> ''But don't fool yourself, girl, it's blinking at you''
--> ''But don't fool yourself, girl, it's winking at you''
--> ''I'm gonna ram it, ram it, ram it, ram it, up your poop chute''
** "Bobby Brown Goes Down", in which Bobby lets a cheerleader do "all the work for his paper" and maybe he'll "rape her later". He also describes ''Women's Liberation'' as "creepin' across the nation" and "fucked a dyke". Arguably justified, on a purely psychological level, if you regard Bobby as having been a self-hating closeted gay man all along: homophobia and misogyny generally go together, and as soon as Bobby accepts his sexuality and starts having sex with guys, he stops being so nasty about women.

--> ''All what we got here is American made/ it's a little bit cheesy, but it's nicely displayed''

--> ''Oh god, oh god, I'm the American dream/ I do not think I'm too obscene''

--> ''They live in a hole''
--> ''Which is usually empty''
--> ''They live by a code''
--> ''That is usually SMPTE''
--> ''Which stands for:''
--> ''"Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers"''

--> ''I went home with Frank, and he was showing me an upcoming song called "Flakes." Now, a little known fact about Frank is that he really couldn't play and sing at the same time. One of the reasons he hired me, he told me, was because he liked the fact that I sang and played together so well. On a lot of the music, I would double what Frank was doing. I'd double his vocals for him exactly, or I'd be doubling his guitar parts so he could be free to do either one. When he played "Flakes" for me, he also had to sing it. It was kind of unusual. It sounded so bad it sounded like him doing a Bob Dylan impression to me. It sounded like a folk song, which it was anything but. So jokingly I started singing along with it in a Bob Dylan imitation, and he said, "That's it, that's in the show, you're gonna be doing that."'' - Interview in ''Gadfly'', May 1999.

--> ''So long as she does it with four on the floor''

--> ''You ain't really made for bein' out in the street''
--> ''Ain't much hope for a fool like you''
--> 'Cause if you play the game, you will get beat''

--> ''But you came back on Sunday for the Gong Show''

--> ''So smoke your little smoke, drink your little drink''

* AgeProgressionSong: "Bobby Brown Goes Down" has Bobby transform from an arrogant high school boy into an adult homosexual S&M radio DJ. "Wild Love" compares "wild love" in old days and nowadays.

** "Bobby Brown Goes Down", in which Bobby lets a cheerleader do "all the work for his paper" and maybe he'll "rape her later". He also describes ''Women's Liberation'' as "creepin' across the nation" and "fucked a dyke". Arguably justified if you regard Bobby has having been a self-hating closeted gay man all along: homophobia and misogyny are linked, and as soon as Bobby accepts his sexuality and starts having sex with guys, he stops being so nasty about women.

** "Bobby Brown Goes Down", in which Bobby lets a cheerleader do "all the work for his paper" and maybe he'll "rape her later". He also describes ''Women's Liberation'' as "creepin' across the nation" and "fucked a dyke".

* OnlyKnownByInitials: "Baby Snakes"
--> ''They live by a co-co-a-co-a-co-co-a-code''
--> ''(Dit dit dit dit)''
--> ''(Dit dit dit dit)''
--> ''(Dit dit dit dit)''
--> ''(Dit dit dit dit)''

* SoYouWereSaying: "Broken Hearts Are For Assholes" has a mid-section interlude where a lot of WordSaladLyrics are mentioned. After a while the singer returns to his original point again: "But you forgot what I was saying..."

* ComingOutStory: "Bobby Brown Goes Down", where Bobby starts off as a heterosexual guy in high school, but halfway starts having gay affairs with a guy named Freddie.

''Sheik Yerbouti'' is a 1979 music album by Music/FrankZappa. Heralding a visibly increased comedic emphasis, it was the first album released after winning the rights to all his songs in a court case against his former label Warner Brothers. It remains the best-selling album in his catalogue, especially in Europe, where "Bobby Brown Goes Down" even became a number one hit in Norway. Other fan favorites are "I Have Been In You", "Broken Hearts Are For Assholes", "I'm So Cute", "Baby Snakes", "City Of Tiny Lites", "Dancin' Fool", "Jewish Princess" and "Yo' Mama".

** "Jewish Princess" also references "aroma", a conceptual continuity word that he used before in "Dirty Love" from ''Apostrophe'' (1974), "Dental Hygiene Dilemma" from ''Music/TwoHundredMotels'' and "For The Young Sophisticate" on ''Music/TinseltownRebellion'' (1981).

'''Sheik Yerbouti''' is a 1979 music album by Music/FrankZappa. Heralding a visibly increased comedic emphasis, it was the first album released after winning the rights to all his songs in a court case against his former label Warner Brothers. It remains the best-selling album in his catalogue, especially in Europe, where "Bobby Brown Goes Down" even became a number one hit in Norway. Other fan favorites are "I Have Been In You", "Broken Hearts Are For Assholes", "I'm So Cute", "Baby Snakes", "City Of Tiny Lites", "Dancin' Fool", "Jewish Princess" and "Yo' Mama".

'''Sheik Yerbouti''' is a 1979 music album by Music/FrankZappa. It was the first album released after winning the rights to all his songs in a court case against his former label Warner Brothers. It remains the best-selling album in his catalogue, especially in Europe, where "Bobby Brown Goes Down" even became a number one hit in Norway. Other fan favorites are "I Have Been In You", "Broken Hearts Are For Assholes", "I'm So Cute", "Baby Snakes", "City Of Tiny Lites", "Dancin' Fool", "Jewish Princess" and "Yo' Mama".

* SelfDeprecation: The line "one of my legs is shorter than they other" in "Dancin' Fool" references Zappa's own accident in 1971, when he was pushed off stage by an idiot and had to spent months in the hospital. It caused his voice to be much lower than before and one his legs to be a bit shorter than the other.

* AmbiguouslyGay: Bobby Brown in "Bobby Brown Goes Down" who has a cheerleader whom he might possible "rape later", yet engages in homosexual S&M with someone named Freddie later in life.

* AgeProgressionSong: "Bobby Brown Goes Down" and "Wild Love".

** "Jewish Princess" also references "aroma", a conceptual continuity word that he used before in "Dirty Love" from ''Apostrophe'' (1974), "Dental Hygiene Dilemma" from ''Music/TwoHundredMotels'' and "For The Young Sophisticate" on ''Tinseltown Rebellion'' (1981).
* ComingOutStory: "Bobby Brown Goes Down", where Bobby starts off as a heterosexual asshole, but halfway starts having gay affairs with a guy named Freddie.

* JewishAmericanPrincess: "Jewish Princess".

* LongTitle: "Whatever Happened To All The Fun In The World?", "Broken Hearts Are For Assholes".

** "Broken Hearts Are For Assholes" has a final verse directed at "ladies who can be an asshole too".
** "Bobby Brown Goes Down", in which Bobby lets a cheerleader do "all the work for his paper" and maybe he'll ''rape her later". He also describes ''Women's Liberation'' as "creepin' across the nation" and "fucked a dyke".

* OneWomanSong:"Jones Crusher", "Jewish Princess".

** "I'm So Cute" and "Tryin' To Grow Me A Chin" are a parody of {{Punk}}.
** "Flakes" has a parody of Music/BobDylan in the middle of the song. Zappa member Adrian Belew explained how this came about:

** "Wild Love" has a parody of crooner singers.

* SharpDressedMan: Bobby Brown describes himself as "I'm dressin' sharp 'n I'm actin' cool".

** "Broken Hearts Are For Assholes" references ''Series/TheGongShow''.

** Also "smoke your little smoke, drink your little drink" from "Dancin' Fool".

'''Sheik Yerbouti''' is a 1979 music album by Music/FrankZappa. It was the first album released after winning the rights to all his songs in a court case against his former label Warner Brothers. It remains the best-selling album in his catalogue, especially in Europe, where ''Bobby Brown Goes Down'' even became a number one hit in Norway.

[[caption-width-right:350:]]

** "Dancin' Fool" is a a satire on {{Disco}}, a trend Zappa attacked before in "Disco Boy" from ''Music/ZootAllures'' (1976). The fool says that "one of his feet is shorter than the other", a CallBack to "Zomby Woof" from ''Music/OverNiteSensation'' (1973), where the similar line "My right foot's bigger than my other foot is" could be heard. The "What's a girl like you doin' in a place like this?" line also appeared earlier on "Flower Punk" from ''Music/WereOnlyInItForTheMoney'' (1968), "What Kind Of Girl Do You Think We Are?" from ''Fillmore East, 1971'' (1971) and would reappear again during "Stick It Out" on ''Music/JoesGarage'' (1979) and "Artificial Rhonda" on ''Thing-Fish'' (1985). Near the end the protagonist meets a Jewish girl, which will receive a continuity nod in the next track "Jewish Princess".
** ''Jewish Princess'' has the first example of "Hi-ho, Silver! Away" in a Zappa song, a RunningGag his band member Ike Willis kept going for years and would return on "Massaggio Galore" from ''Jazz From Hell''. As Zappa explained in a 1993 interview with the magazine ''Pulse''
--> ''"We had a lot of laughs. For example, one night in Seattle, in the middle of the show, (guitarist) Ike Willis started to do an imitation of Series/TheLoneRanger, blurting out, 'Hi, ho, Silver!'. I still don't know why it happened, but I cracked up every time he did it. It must have been road fatigue. He'd keep yelling in the most inappropriate places. The whole show was riddled with bad Lone Ranger jokes and me not being able to sing the right words. I enjoyed that night."''

* ComingOutStory: "Bobby Brown Goes Down".

* EpicRocking: "Yo' Mama".

* IncrediblyLamePun: From "Tryin' To Grow A Chin":

* JiveTurkey:
--> ''Wanna buy some Mandies, Bob?'' - "Flakes" (Mandies is slang for the sedative drug "Mandrax".)

* MommasBoy:

** From "Flakes"

** From "Bobby Goes Brown"

* OnlyKnownByInitials: From "Baby Snakes"
--> ''They live by a co-co-a-co-a-co-co-a-code
--> (Dit dit dit dit)
--> (Dit dit dit dit)
--> (Dit dit dit dit)
--> (Dit dit dit dit)
--> That is usually SMPTE
--> Which stands for:
--> "Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers"

* APartyAlsoKnownAsAnOrgy:
--> ''So long as she does it with four on the floor'' - "Jewish Princess".

** Also "smoke your little smoke, drink your little drink" from "Dancin' Fool".

''Sheik Yerbouti'' is a 1979 music album by Music/FrankZappa. It was the first album released after winning the rights to all his songs in a court case against his former label Warner Brothers. It remains the best-selling album in his catalogue, especially in Europe, where ''Bobby Brown Goes Down'' even became a number one hit in Norway.

!!
* AgeProgressionSong: ''Bobby Brown Goes Down'' and ''Wild Love''.
* AmbiguouslyGay: Bobby Brown in ''Bobby Brown Goes Down'' who has a cheerleader whom he might possible ''rape later'', yet engages in homosexual S&M with someone named Freddie later in life.
** Dagmar in ''Broken Hearts Are For Assholes''.

* ArtisticLicenseEngineering: The chances of a toilet blowing up, like what happened in ''Flakes'', are pretty scarce.
* BlackSheepHit: The rather catchy (with the obligatory share of LyricalDissonance) "Bobby Brown Goes Down". In a documentary, Frank admitted to being amused that it kept climbing to #1 in Norway every once in a while.

** ''Broken Hearts Are For Assholes'' shares similar themes with the line ''"you never go doody/ that's what you think"'' in "Disco Boy" from ''Music/ZootAllures'' (1976).
** ''Broken Hearts Are For Assholes'' and ''Wait A Minute"'' both mention ''leather'', a conceptual continuity phrase in Zappa's work, referenced earlier during ''Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy'' on ''Music/BongoFury'' (1975).
** ''I'm So Cute'' refers to Terry Ted ''watch the way he keeps the beat'', while the protagonist in ''Dancin' Fool'' also tries to keep up with it, but ''the beat goes on and I'm so wrong''.
** ''I'm So Cute'' and ''Broken Hearts Are For Assholes'' are basically the same type of punk songs, about an EmoTeen desperately crying for attention.
** We hear Louis Cuneo's turkey laugh in ''What Ever Happened To All The Fun In World?''. His infamous way of laughing was introduced to Zappa fans earlier on ''Music/LumpyGravy'' (1968).
** ''Wait A Minute'' mentions ''leather'', a conceptual continuity word in Zappa's oeuvre.
** ''Dancin' Fool'' is a a satire on {{Disco}}, a trend Zappa attacked before in ''Disco Boy'' from ''Music/ZootAllures'' (1976). The fool says that ''one of his feet is shorter than the other'', a CallBack to ''Zomby Woof'' from ''Music/OverNiteSensation'' (1973), where the similar line ''My right foot's bigger than my other foot is'' could be heard. The ''What's a girl like you doin' in a place like this?'' line also appeared earlier on ''Flower Punk'' from ''Music/WereOnlyInItForTheMoney'' (1968), ''What Kind Of Girl Do You Think We Are?'' from ''Fillmore East, 1971'' (1971) and would reappear again during ''Stick It Out'' on ''Music/JoesGarage'' (1979) and ''Artificial Rhonda'' on ''Thing-Fish'' (1985). Near the end the protagonist meets a Jewish girl, which will receive a continuity nod in the next track ''Jewish Princess''.
** ''Jewish Princess'' has the first example of ''Hi-ho, Silver! Away'' in a Zappa song, a RunningGag his band member Ike Willis kept going for years and would return on ''Massaggio Galore'' from ''Jazz From Hell''. As Zappa explained in a 1993 interview with the magazine ''Pulse'': ''"We had a lot of laughs. For example, one night in Seattle, in the middle of the show, (guitarist) Ike Willis started to do an imitation of Series/TheLoneRanger, blurting out, 'Hi, ho, Silver!'. I still don't know why it happened, but I cracked up every time he did it. It must have been road fatigue. He'd keep yelling in the most inappropriate places. The whole show was riddled with bad Lone Ranger jokes and me not being able to sing the right words. I enjoyed that night."''
*** ''Jewish Princess'' also references ''aroma'', a conceptual continuity word that he used before in ''Dirty Love'' from ''Apostrophe'' (1974), ''Dental Hygiene Dilemma'' from ''Music/TwoHundredMotels'' and ''For The Young Sophisticate'' on ''Tinseltown Rebellion'' (1981).
* ComingOutStory: ''Bobby Brown Goes Down''.

* CoversAlwaysLie: At first glance when seeing Zappa in his sheik headgear on the front and back album cover you assume there will be an Arabic theme going on. But no, it's not a ConceptAlbum and no references to Sheik Yerbouti are made on the entire album, except for the instrumental ''Sheik Yerbouti Tango''.
* DancingIsSeriousBusiness: To the fool in ''Dancin' Fool'' it is, but not to Zappa or the listeners.
* DanceSensation: ''Dancin' Fool'', a jab at {{Disco}}.
* Music/BobDylan: Imitated by Adrian Belew in ''Flakes''. He explained how this parody came about: ''I went home with Frank, and he was showing me an upcoming song called "Flakes." Now, a little known fact about Frank is that he really couldn't play and sing at the same time. One of the reasons he hired me, he told me, was because he liked the fact that I sang and played together so well. On a lot of the music, I would double what Frank was doing. I'd double his vocals for him exactly, or I'd be doubling his guitar parts so he could be free to do either one. When he played "Flakes" for me, he also had to sing it. It was kind of unusual. It sounded so bad it sounded like him doing a Bob Dylan impression to me. It sounded like a folk song, which it was anything but. So jokingly I started singing along with it in a Bob Dylan imitation, and he said, "That's it, that's in the show, you're gonna be doing that."'' - Interview in ''Gadfly'', May 1999.
* EmoTeen: The 14 year old punker in ''Tryin' To Grow Me A Chin'' and the one in ''I'm So Cute''.
* EpicRocking: ''Yo' Mama''.
* EverythingHasRhythm: Except for the ''Dancin' Fool'', who dances to ''the beat goes on and I'm so wrong''.
* FadingIntoTheNextSong: All tracks do, most notably between ''Broken Hearts Are For Assholes'' and ''I'm So Cute''.
* FakeOutFadeOut: "Tryin' To Grow A Chin" appears to end, but then Terry Bozzio sings: ''One more time for the world'', whereupon the song has one final rock-out.
* GagNose: ''With a brand new nose, who knows where it goes'' - ''Jewish Princess''.
* GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion: ''Wait A Minute'' originally had a much longer title on the LP version: ''We Gotta Get Into Something Real''.
* GetOut: ''Yo' Mama''.
* GriefSong: ''Whatever Happened To All The Fun In The World?'', a spoken word track where we are informed that ''Larry's not with us anymore'', because he apparently ''bit the big one''. The others find this hilarious, though. Larry Fanoga was the alter ego of Zappa band member Jim ''Motorhead'' Sherwood.
* HenpeckedHusband: ''I'm a moron 'n' this is my wife!'' [ whip lashes are heard on the background] - ''Flakes''.
* IkeaErotica: ''I Have Been In You''.
* IncrediblyLamePun: From ''Tryin' To Grow A Chin'':

* {{Instrumentals}}: ''Rat Tomago'', ''Rubber Shirt'' and ''Sheik Yerbouti Tango''.
* IntercourseWithYou and BawdySong: ''I Have Been In You'', ''Broken Hearts Are For Assholes'', ''Bobby Brown Goes Down'',''Jones' Crusher'', ''Jewish Princess'' and ''Wild Love''.
* JewishAmericanPrincess: ''Jewish Princess''.
* JiveTurkey: ''Wanna buy some Mandies, Bob?'' - ''Flakes'' (Mandies is slang for the sedative drug ''Mandrax''.)
* LiveAlbum: Certain tracks were recorded live, with a lot of overdubs. The only implication can be found near the end of ''Yo' Mama'', where Zappa names his band members and thanks the audience for coming to the show.
* LongTitle: ''Whatever Happened To All The Fun In The World?'', ''Broken Hearts Are For Assholes''.
* ManOnFire: ''Yo' Mama''.

* MatzoFever: ''Jewish Princess''.
* MinimalisticCoverArt: Zappa's face in close-up, dressed in ArabOilSheikh gear.
* MisogynySong: ''Jewish Princess'' was accused of being antisemitic, while Zappa defended himself that the subject he sang about did in fact exist, and therefore he didn't apologize for it. He did, however, write a song poking fun at his own religious background called ''Catholic Girls'' on his next album ''Music/JoesGarage'' (1979).
** ''Broken Hearts Are For Assholes'' has a final verse directed at ''ladies who can be an asshole too''.
** ''Bobby Brown Goes Down'', in which Bobby lets a cheerleader do ''all the work for his paper'' and maybe he'll ''rape her later''. He also describes ''Women's Liberation'' as ''creepin' across the nation'' and ''fucked a dyke''.

* MrFixIt: Subverted in ''Flakes'', in which Zappa complains about incompetent repair men.

** ''All what we got here is American made/ it's a little bit cheesy, but it's nicely displayed'' - ''Flakes''.
** ''Oh god, oh god, I'm the American dream/ I do not think I'm too obscene'' - ''Bobby Brown Goes Down''
* NonAppearingTitle: ''Sheik Yerbouti'' is only referenced once on the album, in the title track ''Sheik Yerbouti's Tango'', which is an instrumental track.
* ObligatoryBondageSong: ''Bobby Brown Goes Down'', ''Broken Hearts Are For Assholes''.
* OnlyKnownByInitials: From ''Baby Snakes''

--> Which stands for
--> Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers

** ''I Have Been In You'' is a parody of Music/PeterFrampton's ''I'm In You''.
** ''I'm So Cute'' and ''Tryin' To Grow Me A Chin'' are a parody of {{Punk}}.
** ''Flakes'' has a parody of Music/BobDylan in the middle of the song.
** ''Wild Love'' has a parody of crooner singers.

--> ''So long as she does it with four on the floor'' - ''Jewish Princess''.
* PunBasedTitle: On KC & The Sunshine Band's hit ''Shake Your Booty'', which also gives us the trope ShakingTheRump.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: ''Yo' Mama''.
* SelfDeprecation: The line ''one of my legs is shorter than they other'' in ''Dancin' Fool'' references Zappa's own accident in 1971, when he was pushed off stage by an idiot and had to spent months in the hospital. It caused his voice to be much lower than before and one his legs to be a bit shorter than the other.
* SharpDressedMan: Bobby Brown describes himself as ''I'm dressin' sharp 'n I'm actin' cool''.
* ShiningCity: ''City Of Tiny Lites''.

** ''I Have Been In You'' is a stab at Music/PeterFrampton's ''I'm In You''. The song was also used in the film ''Film/HappyTogether'' by Wong Kar-Wai, along with ''Chunga's Revenge'' from the eponymous album.
** ''Flakes'' has a Music/BobDylan parody half way.
** ''Broken Hearts Are For Assholes'' references ''Series/TheGongShow''.
** ''I'm So Cute'' starts off with the chant ''One two three four!'', a reference to Music/TheRamones.
** ''Jewish Princess'' has the line ''Hi-ho, Silver! Away!'', a reference to the CatchPhrase of the cowboy ''Series/TheLoneRanger'', a character where comedian Creator/LennyBruce- one of Zappa's influences- once did a routine about too.
** ''Yo' Mama'' has a shout-out to Managua, capital of UsefulNotes/{{Nicaragua}}.
* SoYouWereSaying: ''Broken Hearts Are For Assholes'' has a mid-section interlude where a lot of WordSaladLyrics are mentioned. After a while the singer returns to his original point again: ''But you forgot what I was saying...''
* SpokenWordInMusic: ''What Ever Happened To All The Fun In The World?'' and ''Wait A Minute'' are short interludes between Zappa band members. ''The Sheik Yerbouti Tango'' has an introduction by Patrick O' Hearn: ''Why don't you take it down to C-sharp, Ernie?'' ''Rat Tomago'' ends with O' Hearn laughing: ''Oh-ooh-h, listen to him go!'' ''Dancin' Fool'' also ends with a conversation between Zappa and a girl, though we only hear him talking.
* UnusualEuphemism: ''Rubber Shirt'' for a condom.
* VaginaDentata: ''Jones' Crusher' '' about a girl who's able to crush male private parts during sex- which isn't exactly this trope, but still worth mentioning.
* {{Wangst}}: ''Tryin' To Grow Me A Chin'' ridicules this trope UpToEleven, with a punk singer singing about his horrid life and wishing he was dead.
* WhatsAnXLikeYouDoingInAYLikeThis?: Phrase heard during ''Dancin' Fool''.
* WhenIWasYourAge: ''Wild Love'' compares relationships and dating in both the past and present.
* WordSaladLyrics: Certain songs are certainly this, including ''Baby Snakes''.
* YourLittleDismissiveDiminutive: ''City Of Tiny Lites''.
** Also "smoke your little smoke, drink your little drink" from ''Dancin' Fool''.

** ''Broken Hearts Are For Assholes'' and ''Wait A Minute"'' both mention ''leather'', a conceptual continuity phrase in Zappa's work, referenced earlier during ''Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy'' on ''Bongo Fury'' (1975).

** ''Dancin' Fool'' is a a satire on {{Disco}}, a trend Zappa attacked before in ''Disco Boy'' from ''Zoot Allures'' (1976). The fool says that ''one of his feet is shorter than the other'', a CallBack to ''Zomby Woof'' from ''Over-Nite Sensation'' (1973), where the similar line ''My right foot's bigger than my other foot is'' could be heard. The ''What's a girl like you doin' in a place like this?'' line also appeared earlier on ''Flower Punk'' from ''Music/WereOnlyInItForTheMoney'' (1968), ''What Kind Of Girl Do You Think We Are?'' from ''Fillmore East, 1971'' (1971) and would reappear again during ''Stick It Out'' on ''Music/JoesGarage'' (1979) and ''Artificial Rhonda'' on ''Thing-Fish'' (1985). Near the end the protagonist meets a Jewish girl, which will receive a continuity nod in the next track ''Jewish Princess''.

* CoversAlwaysLie: At first glance when seeing Zappa in his sheik headgear on the front and back album cover you assume there will be an Arabic theme going on. But no, not only is it not a ConceptAlbum: no references to Sheik Yerbouti are made on the entire album, except for the instrumental ''Sheik Yerbouti Tango''.

* WhatsAnXLikeYouDoingInAYLikeThis?: Phrase heard during ''Stick It Out''.

* FakeOutFadeOut: ''I'm So Cute'' appears to end, but then Terry Bozzio sings: ''One more time for the world'', whereupon the song has one final rock-out.

* LyricalDissonance: "Brown Shoes Don't Make It," an amazingly catchy song about political corruption, paedophilia and implied ParentalIncest.

* YourLittleDismissiveDiminutive: ''City Of Tiny Lites''.