The Mud Shark
Lyrics
Mud sh-sh-shark
The mud shark dancing lesson!
Mud sh-sh-shark
Were gonna do a little dancing,
A little dancing thing called the mud shark
Now, this dance started up in Seattle
Lemme tell you bout the mud shark ...
The origins of the mud shark are as follows: there's a motel in Seattle, Washington called the Edgewater Inn. The Edgewater Inn is built on a pier ... so that means that when you look out your window.
You don't see any dirt – it's got a bay or something out in your backyard ... and to make it even more interesting, in the lobby of the aforementioned motel there's a bait and tackle shop where residents can go down whenever they want to, and rent a fishing pole and some preserved minnows and schlep back up to their rooms, open the window, stick their little pole outside and within a few minutes actually catch a fish of some sort that they can bring into their motel room and do whatever they want with it ... you know what I mean? Now in this bay there's quite a variety of ah ... fish! Not only do they have mud sharks up there, they've got little octopusses that you can catch. And all these denizens of the deep can come in real handy ... Let's say you were a traveling rock and roll band called the Vanilla Fudge. Let's say one night you checked into the Edgewater Inn with a 8mm movie camera, enough money to rent a pole, and just to make it more interesting – a succulent young lady (mnaaaah!) with a taste for the bizarre ... my mind drifts back ... to a meeting, a chance meeting in the Chicago O'Hare airport where the members of the Vanilla Fudge told Don Preston about a home movie they made at the Edgewater Inn with a mud shark. I'm gonna tell you, this dance, the mud shark, is sweeping the ocean! ...
Out
You go out
So far out
You do the mud shark. baby ... etc
Players On This Song
Frank Zappa (guitar, dialog)
Mark Volman (lead vocals, dialog)
Howard Kaylan (lead vocals, dialog)
Ian Underwood (woodwinds, keyboards, vocals)
Aynsley Dunbar (drums)
Jim Pons (bass, vocals, dialog)
Bob Harris (keyboards, vocals)
Don Preston (mini-moog)
Records On Which This Song Has Appeared
Singles
Zappa Albums & Side Projects
Tribute & Cover Albums
Notes About This Song
This song is about the infamous Mud Shark incident at the Edgewater Inn in Seattle, WA. The hotel is located next to a bay, and has a bait and tackle shop so that people could fish from their balconies (at least at the time of the song). The song is about a story told to Don Preston by Vanilla Fudge at the Chicago O'Hare Airport concerning a home movie they made at the hotel. They had caught what they called a "mud shark," and pleasured a young lady "with a taste for the bizarre" with said "shark." This incident was repeatedly brought up in songs throughout Zappa's career, e.g. Find Her Finer on The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life.
See also: Shark episode
