ZAPPADAN
THEM OR US • Barking Pumpkin, October 18, 1984
Album covers gave musicians an opportunity to use visual art as an insightful dimension to their music. Zappa’s THEM OR US cover features the remarkable artwork of Donald Roller Wilson, which uses themes from other Wilson work starring PATRICIA, in the red smock. The Heinz ketchup bottle and nipple baby bottle are items which appear frequently in Roller’s work. It’s not surprising Zappa appreciated Wilson’s work, as they are similar in important ways.
Title: Patricia had come from the garden where she had heard messages… one coming from a burning bush… and one coming from an asparagus… and one coming from the back of her mind…
Roller’s paintings almost always have a written sequential storyline accompanying the art, and the characters know each other and interact socially from painting to painting. From “PATRICIA STRUGGLED”:
NOT TOO LONG PAST MIDNIGHT… AND PATRICIA IS INSIDE JUST ABOUT TO SIT DOWN AT THE PIANO WITH HER NIPPLES SHOWING. (BUT SHE HAD THE FEELING HER PIECE WOULD TURN OUT WELL, BECAUSE KATHLEEN HAD SAID SEVERAL LONG PRAYERS FOR HER… STARTING AROUND CHRISTMAS).
Zappa’s lyrics are used similarly to the way Wilson uses narrative with his paintings. Both artists employ teh silly to get to some more etherial point. From Joe’s Garage, Crew Slut:
This is the CENTRAL SCRUTINIZER . . .
Joe had a girl friend named Mary.
She used to go to the church club every week.
They’d meet each other there
Hold hands
And think Pure ThoughtsBut one night, at the Social Club meeting
Mary didn’t show up . . .
She was sucking cock backstage at The Armory
In order to get a pass
To see some big rock group for free . . .
Just as Zappa‘s stories are a vehicle for his guitar work, Roller’s stories are a vehicle for his brush work. To be sure, whatever one finds of value in their social or cultural commentary depends on your own point of view and personal investments in culture; but they attract us nonetheless through their eclectic creativity which finds its tension between the sacred and the profane, and hopefully, the higher satisfactions afforded by art.
PATRICIA’S LATE-NIGHT COMPLEMENTARY SNACK AT A HOUSTON TOWNHOUSE WHERE (THE NIGHT BEFORE) DON HAD GONE UP IN SMOKE
OIL ON CANVAS, 36″H.X30″W. COLLECTION OF MONTE FROST
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One of the more interesting Zappa lyrics from THEM OR US mentions cheating and despair. But it’s not clear whom “ALL THE REST” are, or just how it is, or what it is they cheat:
PLANET OF MY DREAMS
(Second Verse)
The planet of my dreams
The EARTH, my EARTH
I hear it’s muffled screams
The EARTH, my EARTH
And though it often seems
From television beams
That ignorance is rampant there
And Governmental Goons don’t care
I know that I shall not despair
And CHEAT like ALL THE REST
I’ll just keep on
With what I do the best!
Cheat-cheedly-cheat! Go Ahead!
I CAN’T DO IT!
Cheat-cheedly-cheat! Go Ahead!
I CAN’T DO IT!
Cheat-cheedly-cheat! Go Ahead!
I CAN’T DO IT!
Cheat-cheedly-cheat! Go Ahead!
I CAN’T DO IT!
Cheat-cheedly-cheat! Go Ahead!
No . . . I CAN’T DO IT!
Cheat-cheedly-cheat! Go Ahead!
I CAN’T DO IT!
Cheat-cheedly-cheat! Go Ahead!
I CAN’T DO IT!
Pinning any kind of definitive philosophy on Frank is much more difficult than the end result is worth. But we may try to do just that later in the week. . . as ZAPPADAN continues. . .
