Line #173 Music/SheikYerbouti


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sheik_yerbouti_5108.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: Recommended for dancin' fools.]]
3
4	''Sheik Yerbouti'' is a 1979 music album by Music/FrankZappa, released through Zappa Records in North America and [[Creator/ColumbiaRecords CBS Records]] internationally. The album was Zappa's first release through the former label, which Zappa established through Phonogram as a vanity imprint following a lengthy legal battle with ex-manager Herb Cohen and Creator/WarnerBrosRecords.
5
6	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" (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".
7
8	----
9	!! Tracklist
10	!!!LP One
11	[[AC: Side One]]
12	# "I Have Been in You" (3:34)
13	# "Flakes" (6:42)
14	# "Broken Hearts Are for Assholes" (3:42)
15	# "I'm So Cute" (3:09)
16
17	[[AC:Side Two]]
18	[numlist:5]
19	# "Jones Crusher" (2:50)
20	# "What Ever Happened to All the Fun in the World?" (0:33)
21	# "Rat Tomago" (5:16)
22	# "We Gotta Get Into Something Real/Wait a Minute" (0:33)
23	# "Bobby Brown" (2:49)[[note]]listed on the CD version as "Bobby Brown Goes Down"; also known as "Bobby Brown (Goes Down)"[[/note]]
24	# "Rubber Shirt" (2:45)
25	# "The Sheik Yerbouti Tango" (3:56)
26	[/numlist]
27
28	!!!LP Two
29	[[AC:Side Three]]
30	[numlist:12]
31	# "Baby Snakes" (1:50)
32	# "Tryin' to Grow a Chin" (3:31)
33	# "City of Tiny Lites" (5:32)
34	# "Dancin' Fool" (3:44)
35	# "Jewish Princess" (3:17)
36	[/numlist]
37
38	[[AC:Side Four]]
39	[numlist:17]
40	# "Wild Love" (4:10)
41	# "Yo' Mama" (12:37)
42	[/numlist]
43
44	[-CD reissues are on a single disc-]
45
46	!!Personnel
47	* Music/FrankZappa: vocals, guitar
48	* Adrian Belew: vocals, rhythm guitar
49	* Tommy Mars: vocals, keyboards
50	* Peter Wolf: keyboards
51	* Patrick O'Hearn: vocals, bass
52	* Ed Mann: percussion, vocals
53	* Terry Bozzio: vocals, drums
54	* David Ocker: clarinet
55	* Napoleon Murphy Brock: vocals
56	* Andre Lewis: vocals
57	* Randy Thornton: vocals
58	* Davey Moire: vocals
59	----
60
61	!! Whatever happened to all the tropes in the world?
62	* 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.
63	* AmbiguouslyGay:
64	** Dagmar in "Broken Hearts Are For Assholes".
65	--> ''Yet he was a beautiful lady''
66	* ArabOilSheikh: Zappa's outfit on the album cover.
67	* ArtisticLicenseEngineering: The chances of a toilet blowing up, like what happened in "Flakes", are pretty scarce.
68	* CallBack and ContinuityNod:
69	** "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).
70	** "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).
71	** "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".
72	** "I'm So Cute" and "Tryin' To Grow A Chin" are basically the same type of punk songs, about an EmoTeen desperately crying for attention.
73	** 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).
74	** "Wait A Minute" mentions ''leather'', a conceptual continuity word in Zappa's oeuvre.
75	** "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 ''Music/FillmoreEastJune1971'' (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".
76	** ''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 ''Music/JazzFromHell''. As Zappa explained in a 1993 interview with the magazine ''Pulse''
77	--> ''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.''
78	** "Jewish Princess" also references "aroma", a conceptual continuity word that he used before in "Dirty Love" from ''Over-Nite Sensation'' (1973), "Dental Hygiene Dilemma" from ''Film/TwoHundredMotels'' and "For The Young Sophisticate" on ''Music/TinseltownRebellion'' (1981).
79	* ComingOutStory: "Bobby Brown Goes Down", where Bobby starts off as a heterosexual guy in high school, but halfway starts having sex with men (although he is still closeted).
80	* 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".
81	* DancingIsSeriousBusiness: To the fool in "Dancin' Fool" it is, but not to Zappa or the listeners.
82	* DanceSensation: "Dancin' Fool", a jab at {{Disco}}.
83	* DreamLand: The "City of Tiny Lites" is implied to be a place you can only see when you are drunk or drugged.
84	--> ''You can see it anytime\
85	When you get the squints\
86	From your downers and your wine''
87	* EmoTeen: The 14 year old punker in "Tryin' To Grow Me A Chin" and the one in "I'm So Cute".
88	* EpicRocking: The 6:42 "Flakes" and the 12:38 "Yo' Mama".
89	* EverythingHasRhythm: Except for the "Dancin' Fool", who dances to "the beat" and "I'm so wrong".
90	* FaceOnTheCover: Zappa in Arabian headgear, his face filling up the entire album cover.
91	* FadingIntoTheNextSong: All tracks do, most notably between "Broken Hearts Are For Assholes" and "I'm So Cute".
92	* 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.
93	* GagNose: "Jewish Princess":
94	--> ''With a brand new nose, who knows where it goes.''
95	* GentileJewChaser: "Jewish Princess".
96	-->''I don't want no troll\
97	I just want a Yemenite hole''
98	* GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion: "Wait A Minute" originally had a much longer title on the LP version: "We Gotta Get Into Something Real".
99	* GetOut: "Yo' Mama".
100	--> ''Maybe you should stay with yo' mama''
101	* 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.
102	* HenpeckedHusband: The man in "Flakes":
103	--> ''I'm a moron 'n' this is my wife!'' [whip lashes are heard on the background]
104	* IkeaErotica: "I Have Been In You".
105	-->''I'm goin' in you again, ahhhh\
106	In you again, ah\
107	I'm goin' in you again, ahhhh\
108	In you again, ah\
109	I'm goin' in you again, ahhhh\
110	In you again, ah''
111	* {{Instrumentals}}: "Rat Tomago", "Rubber Shirt" and "Sheik Yerbouti Tango".
112	* IntercourseWithYou and BawdySong: "I Have Been In You", "Broken Hearts Are For Assholes", "Bobby Brown Goes Down", "Jones' Crusher", "Jewish Princess" and "Wild Love". Basically, half the album.
113	* InsaneTrollLogic: "I'm So Cute" uses this to prove that ugly people end up in Hell.
114	* IWantSong and JewishAmericanPrincess: "Jewish Princess".
115	--> ''I want a nasty little Jewish princess''
116	* JiveTurkey: "Flakes"
117	--> ''Wanna buy some Mandies, Bob?'' (Mandies is slang for the sedative drug "Mandrax".)
118	* 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.
119	* LongestSongGoesLast: The album closes out with "Yo' Mama", which at twelve and a half minutes takes up most of side four.
120	* ManOnFire: "Yo' Mama".
121	--> ''And you should never smoke in pajamas/ you might start a fire and burn yer face.''
122	* 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).
123	** "Broken Hearts Are For Assholes":
124	--->''And ladies: you can be an asshole too\
125	You might pretend you ain't got one on the bottom of you\
126	But don't fool yourself, girl, it's winking at you\
127	But don't fool yourself, girl, it's blinking at you\
128	But don't fool yourself, girl, it's winking at you\
129	I'm gonna ram it, ram it, ram it, ram it, up your poop chute''
130	** "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.
131	* MommasBoy: "Yo' Mama"
132	--> ''Maybe you should stay with yo' mama''.
133	* MrFixIt: Subverted in "Flakes", in which Zappa complains about incompetent repair men.
134	* MyCountryTisOfTheeThatISting:
135	** "Flakes"
136	--->''All what we got here is American made/ it's a little bit cheesy, but it's nicely displayed''
137	** "Bobby Goes Brown"
138	--->''Oh god, oh god, I'm the American dream/ I do not think I'm too obscene''
139	* NonAppearingTitle: "Sheik Yerbouti" is only referenced once on the album, in the title track "Sheik Yerbouti's Tango", which is an instrumental track.
140	* ObligatoryBondageSong: "Bobby Brown Goes Down", "Broken Hearts Are For Assholes".
141	* OneManSong: "Bobby Brown Goes Down".
142	* OneWomanSong: "Jones Crusher" and "Jewish Princess".
143	* OneWordTitle: "Flakes"
144	* PainfulRhyme: Played for laughs, in that Zappa clearly needed something funny to rhyme with "empty" and could only come up with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMPTE_timecode SMPTE]], a reference to the standard timecode used to label individual frames of video or film.
145	-->''They live in a hole\
146	Which is usually empty\
147	They live by a code\
148	That is usually SMPTE\
149	Which stands for:\
150	"Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers"''
151	* TheParody:
152	** "I Have Been In You" is a parody of Music/PeterFrampton's "I'm In You".
153	** "I'm So Cute" and "Tryin' To Grow Me A Chin" are a parody of PunkRock.
154	** During the middle of "Flakes" Music/BobDylan is parodied. Zappa member Adrian Belew explained how this came about:
155	---> ''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.
156	** "Wild Love" parodies crooner singers.
157	* APartyAlsoKnownAsAnOrgy: "Jewish Princess"
158	-->''So long as she does it with four on the floor''
159	* {{Pun}}: "Tryin' To Grow A Chin":
160	--> ''Lord, he's my next of kin/ he's a [[UsefulNotes/{{Mexico}} mex-i-kin]]''.
161	* PunBasedTitle: On KC & The Sunshine Band's hit "Shake Your Booty", which also gives us the trope ShakingTheRump.
162	* QuestioningTitle: "Whatever Happened To All The Fun In The World?"
163	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: "Yo' Mama".
164	-->''You ain't really made for bein' out in the street\
165	Ain't much hope for a fool like you\
166	'Cause if you play the game, you will get beat''
167	* 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 [[LoonyFan 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.
168	* SharpDressedMan: "Bobby Brown Goes Down"
169	--> ''I'm dressin' sharp 'n I'm actin' cool''.
170	* ShiningCity: "City Of Tiny Lites".
171	* ShoutOut:
172	** Zappa would later name his ConcertFilm ''Film/BabySnakes'', after one of the songs on this album.
173	** "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.
174	** "Flakes" has a Music/BobDylan parody half way.
175	** "Broken Hearts Are For Assholes" references ''Series/TheGongShow''.
176	--->''But you came back on Sunday for the Gong Show''
177	** "I'm So Cute" starts off with the chant ''One two three four!'', a reference to Music/TheRamones.
178	** "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.
179	** "Yo' Mama" has a shout-out to Managua, capital of UsefulNotes/{{Nicaragua}}.
180	* SoYouWereSaying: "Broken Hearts Are For Assholes" has a mid-section interlude where Zappa and Patrick O'Hearn start trading lines that are apparently a description of upcoming events in some kind of BDSM club. After a while the singer returns to his original point again: "But you forgot what I was saying..."
181	* 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.
182	* TitleTrack: "The Sheik Yerbouti Tango", which is an instrumental.
183	* UnusualEuphemism: "Rubber Shirt" for a condom.
184	* 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.
185	* WhatsAnXLikeYouDoingInAYLikeThis: Phrase heard during "Dancin' Fool".
186	* WhenIWasYourAge: "Wild Love" compares relationships and dating in both the past and present.
187	* WordSaladLyrics: Certain songs are certainly this, including "Baby Snakes".
188	* YourLittleDismissiveDiminutive: "City Of Tiny Lites".
189	** "Dancin' Fool"
190	--->''So smoke your little smoke, drink your little drink''

Context Music / SheikYerbouti