791.) Fri Feb. 1, 2019

The Song of the Day is:

Frank Zappa – “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow/Nanook Rubs It/St. Alphonzo’s Pancake Breakfast/Father O’Blivion”

From the album Apostrophe (‘) (1974)

Dreamed I was an Eskimo
Frozen wind began to blow
Under my boots and around my toes
The frost that bit the ground below
It was a hundred degrees below zero

Frank Zappa

A friendly wintertime reminder from your ol’ Uncle Frank: don’t eat the yellow snow.  As the nation reels from a record-setting polar vortex that sent Chicago down to 21 degrees below zero, I am (perhaps tastelessly) trying to lighten the mood.  We were lucky where I live, it bottomed out at 4 degrees.  This recording, which I sometimes refer to as the “Nanook Suite” for simplicity’s sake, is the preeminent Tundra Epic/Christian Breakfast Commercial song in popular music.  An edited version of this novelty record became Frank Zappa’s first charting single, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.  This song came from Zappa’s fifteenth studio album in eight years.  Bolstered by the success of “Yellow Snow” (US single peaked at 86), Apostrophe (‘) actually became Zappa’s highest charting album, at a respectable number 10 (in the US).  These songs do not feature a break, and run directly into the next, despite the change in musicality and subject.  The first two recordings feature the tale of an Inuit boy (if the word “Eskimo” is offensive to you, then Zappa might not be the best artist to pursue.  He is an equal opportunity offender) who battles a fur-trapper.  The injured trapper then seeks refuge at a church pancake breakfast.  Logic need not apply.  Zappa, himself, narrated the track, as well as played guitar.  The song utilizes a marimba, which gives it a distinctive sound, though not necessarily geographically accurate.  The marimba was played by Ruth Underwood, who was the wife of Zappa’s woodwind player Ian Underwood.  While many members of Zappa’s backing band, The Mothers of Invention, are featured on this album, it is only credited to Frank Zappa as a solo artist.   This remains on of Zappa’s most well known songs.