Zappa, Frank - The Gumbo Variations Lyrics

I think this is the definition of musical orgasm.

Is that Frank playing at 13:30 ?

This is my favorite Zappa song. It is what I listen to while driving alone. (My wife hates it.)

Know how you feel. Probably mine too . And I too have a wife , and three daughters , who just don't get it .

can t get any better?

F A N T O R G A S M A T I C!!!! 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃

Love Zappa!

Is that a guitar after the sax solo? If it is...FRANK ZAPPA IS GOD! I think it might be a violin, but I don't think a violin can play that fast...unless they're on coke or something!

Violin,Jon Luc Ponte not sure of the spelling.

@Donald Heitger Don Sugarcane Harris on violin

el genio de baltimore !!!!

Géniusz!!!

a hard bop-fusion piece with a violin solo

I like to doze off to tunes like this... No, seriously. Anything instrumental long and groovy.. 🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌙

I'm completely virgin to what concernes to Frank's deeds. One thing i'm sure is that is work, is like, sublime, explendit, amazing, and above all...genuin!! Frank in my opinion deserves a place on the walk of fame, 'cause what to concernes about really musicians ahead of they time of they own existence, He for sure should be there! Whith no doughts (damn my english), tell you what, thats music, really gorgeus sound to who knowes what music is all about, many thks bro, all the best

... Yeah, thanks bro

Funkin' cooks with gas.

An amazing song on a fantastic album, I just saw Dweezil recreate this album live...what a great performance. This particular version (for those that care :)) is actually from the CD, but I like the open sax solo on the LP version much better! The great Scheila Gonzalez played the solo and it sounded closer to the LP version (what a treat!); Dweezil's band puts on a remarkable show and I think his dad would be proud!

Where did you see Dweezil? Headed to Edmonton Sunday to see him. Saw his dad in Hawaii in 73 ....21st birthday!

Yeah.. we saw them in St Charles, IL last week. Her solo on this was freakin' magnificent!!!

Hot Rats was the 1st album of Frank's I listened to when I was 17 or 18, just blew me away, I was never the same since. TY FZ

I was 12 when Hot Rats came out. My 10 year older brother had it. He was into more traditional jazz so he gave it to me. I wish I could say my pre-pube self got Zappa's genius but sadly I was too young and stupid to get it so it would take almost 10 more years before being reintroduced to him by a co-worker at a car parts store I worked at (using my newly achieved college diploma to it's best use). Needless to say, this time I got it and have been getting it ever since. what a loss. He easily was among the greatest of the 20th century's artists.

@Gary Kaplan ...Yes, Nobel prize to Zappa !

same for me

I heard a new group on the radio doing no trouble everyday , I was thinkin where have i heard this before? dont give up guys !!!!! stoned

This is not from the Hot Rats album. But it's a good version.

This is a remix of the original 1969 album that Zappa himself made for the 1987 Rykodisc CD issue.

Great!!! Super Legend!!!

FRANK ZAPPA IS THE BEST!!

to the ten people who do not like this , just don't listen. full disclosure; this is dave not Fran C. she probably wouldn't listen to this but recognize the talented original score and bass and sax jam as real....why are people compelled to dislike any artist and their work? # just don"t listen...

support

Cause people suck.

el mozart del siglo XX !!! grande maestro!!!

It sounds like Ravi on violin and Ralph on drums. But does anyone know the line-up for sure?

Don Sugarcane Harris on Violin and Paul Humphrey on drums on this one, with Max Bennet On bass, Ian Underwood on winds and Zappa on guitar

@hakantunaTV and somebody playing the organ as well apparently

Always loved how Zappa panned the bass and guitar on this track. Great stereo image!

Listening to this somewhere in Colorado, with one last bowl for the night.

That felt good. Thanks.

I think Zappa was Mozart reincarnate and this time wanted to rock!

yes ... he is one of the greatest musicians of the world.

Graham McKenzie...Could easily be !

Zappa was light years ahead of Mozart....trust me.

I have been listening to frank for for43 years and I find music of his I never heard before. Always a nice surprise.

Sugar Cane Harris!!!!!!!!!

Hot Rats was a sensation at that time, with silly music from Beatles, Herman Hermits? ,CCR, Donovan, Mama's and her family..etc. This music was far ahead of his time. At that time you had pop, rock, blues, soul, jazz and........Zappa.. At lonely level. R.I.P Frank, you showed me another world, influenced my taste, my whole being, the next 50 years..

@Anathematized by Megadeth The best music was made in the late sixties and sevennties.. 'Living in those decates'was exciting. Almost each hour something happened..The 80's started with the ego-materialistic Golf VW generation (Europe). Music was dead, and never came a live anymore.Disco, rap, hiphop, house, trance , dance, techno. Its the DEAD generation, living with stress.: scholing , carreer , morgidge, debts..and drugs etc.

@populierendreef reminds me of a sabbath song, 'You work your life away, what do they give? You are only killing yourself to live..........Take a look around, what do you see? PAIN, SUFFERING, AND MISERY.'

"It all sounds the same"?!?!?!
That is something ive NEVER HEARD said of Frank. Crazy. Weird. Strange. Sure, but "the same"? No way

i don't think he was referring to Zappa, i think he meant other music all sounded the same until he discovered FZ, or maybe i'm wrong, thats how i understood it

@MARK DUCHARME no i wasnt referring to fz

This was an awesome, smoking hot performance. I got to see him live once.

Frank twice in New Orleans , Dweezil on his Hot Rats tour in Richmond.

The original 1969 vinyl mix is way better. It shows what a great editor Zappa was in the studio. Sometimes less is more, and in the case of this track, Zappa's editing it down in places tightened it up.
Case in point, listen to the original, full-length Black Napkins from Osaka, Feb. 76 and realize that Zappa edited it down for the Zoot Allures album. That editing tightened it up nicely. Same with this number. A great track, to be sure, but better in it's original form.

Yeah, I agree with you. Zappa's prowess as a producer and editor are often overlooked but he's a much a genius in the art of recording and editing as he was a composer. The Uncle Meat album is an excellent example of Zappa's refulgent (love that word) studio abilities.

@Darrylizer1
I had to look up refulgent. That's a nice 50 cent word, as they used to say.
Volumes can be written about the studio prowess and editing techniques Zappa had.

Too bad zappa is not with us anymore

Frank Zappa's best studio album

the fact is that this album was born obviously as a studio album, though jammings and alternates. progressively frank built his albums more from live sessions he had mania of recordings, so joe's garage and sheik yerbouti were made from selected material he could choice assembling the material. for that the method changed and is not possible to comparate different albums. this observation a part, how could you comparate hot rats, apostrophe, overnite sensation..... it is not sane, nor looking at some point

Cara, você não vai me dizer que caiu também nesta mesmo terra que o Frank, vai?! Muito bom post! F Z muito longe de todos os demais! Primeira vez que ouço este magnífico trabalho do grande!!...obrigadão! Sem dúvida F Z é de outro mundo, consegue mesmo nos "tripar" seja onde,...grande!!

i have HOT RATS album on CD, but this track is different.

That's why it's called 'Variations' Ain't it great Gumbo!

nope its different cos this is the 1987 remix that Zappa put out in the 80's, the original hot rats mix of the Gumbo variations is shorter and a different mix.

simply wonderful at any time

Absolute shite.

Thanks Ian Underwood

and thanks Jean-Luc Ponty

Eric Hathaway and Thomas Tyson...But...most of all...thanks frank Zappa !!!

I was driving my neighbors totally insane blasting this at top volume in 1970 when I was 13 years old in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.
Best jam ever.

I like Mexican rancheras, but then, they're quite alike Finnish dance music, so it doesn't bother the neighbours.
Doesn't upset. Both are actually Bohemian.

Hombre, I was your neighbor back in San Luis. You didnt drive us crazy. We ate peyote and was feeling pretty good. Until the jaguar showed up.

@Kim Caspar Right on. I got out ahead of the drug war. Pre-cartel, Mexico was freaking paradise.

Hey, hermano...I, too, was your neighbor in San Luis Potosi and I guarantee you that, while listening to this, I didn't need any peyote, nor grass, neither acid...maybe a shot of aguardiente !!!...and the jaguar always showed up !

I wish Zappa were still alive today. He'd be roasting these politically correct media stars and moguls on a stick!

Don't forget to register to vote

Donnie Gills: not sure what you mean, these days being politically incorrect too often means a free passage for hate speech ...At least in my country.

@loustik accoustique At least it's free speech

Yes and it's free speech until the haters get in then you won't have it anymore.

This is fucking awesome. It's just as I remember from the original vinyl. You rock dude!

It's not the same take as the original vinyl

Not a master... CATHEDRATIC...

Don just tears it up.

Grandioso....

FZ, the Best!!!

Esta composicion en una obra de arte !!! sin duda alguna . Frank era un Granputa

like Coltrane, from a different planet

not like coltrane.
not like anyone else actually!

I think Nico meant they were both unique in an otherworldly way, not that they were like each other. Lots of great musicians have graced us with their gift over the years, but only a few of those completely reinvented the genre in their own vision. Zappa...Coltrane...Hendrix...Miles Davis...etc.

OH, HOT RATS! EVERYONE!

not the winyl version

This album is er..uh..well...HOT....RATS!

RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING........It was ADVANCE romance....man with the bowtie neck

any one of youse read " The non dialectic of poodle play"  - Ben Watson ?

Antony - yes I have! My love and admiration for this quirky American Italian man remain undiminished.My creative slant and musical life have been profoundly influenced by Frank over nearly 5 decades. I'm a 60 year old man who loves fringe music as much as catchy 60s stuff. I inhabit such a rich universe, the kind of place where Frank sits most comfortabl;y alongside The Move, XTC, Robyn Hitchcock, Fairport Convention, The Small Faces, The Go-Betweens, Mahavishnu Orchestra, The Church, Shirley Collins, Durutti Column, King Crimson, Davey Graham, The Beatles...you probably get the picture! It's a universe enjoy inhabiting and sharing.

Descubriendop ¡ Zappa a tope. Ya hace muchos años pero me sigue impresionando oirlo

and folks.. please leave poor Gail alone. she stood by Frank all those years, and imagine how hard that must have been. bless both of them.

and Sugarcane Harris, too! this is wonderful.

he'll be remembered as a composer of American music someday.

As Bernstein,Gershwin,M.Davis,Coltrane,Scott Jopplin,and so many more ...

How about today?

eargasm

I attended Zappanele at Bad Doberan in 2004 (2 other Australians were also in attendance; the audience loved us as soon as we opened our mouths!) and a German band - a 10 piece with brass section - played the opening 5 minutes of "The Gumbo Variations" with such style and hypnotic aplomb...it was such a gorgeous moment in my musical life! Shame on Gail Z for trying to stifle this wonderful celebration of Frank's life and achievements. I would recommend to any fan of Frank's work to attend this creative, friendly festival...I will ALWAYS remember my 3 days in northern Germany with many other new friends who grew up loving Frank's work. A treasured memory - enjoy!

best song  ever

just amazing!!!!!

Frank took me home!

17 minutes of shangri la

ik ben van 1951 , beat generatie, sinds kort echter FZ leren luisteren , woorden schieten tekort om het complexe oeuvre van Frank samen te vatten , voor mij wel gelukt, NOB - Now One Better,

When I first tried to play a tenor sax (and yes, I know Ian U is playing alto on this) it was The Gumbo Variations that I attempted. I was, of course, crap.

what about now ?

truly epic

no doubt. doesn't get much better than this!.🎇🎆👍👏👏