Love Songs - Revision history

Spider of Destiny: /* Quotes */

2026-08-10T23:22:46Z

Quotes

Jason.Kreitzer at 03:42, 1 December 2021

2021-12-01T03:42:29Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 14:22, 29 November 2021

2021-11-29T14:22:09Z

Jason.Kreitzer at 16:26, 4 November 2021

2021-11-04T16:26:49Z

Jason.Kreitzer: Alphabetization

2021-09-03T15:06:54Z

Alphabetization

Jason.Kreitzer at 14:16, 11 August 2021

2021-08-11T14:16:39Z

Spider of Destiny: /* Tracks that parody love songs */

2011-01-07T12:41:03Z

Tracks that parody love songs

Spider of Destiny: Created page with 'Love songs were a prominent target for parody and satire in Zappa's work. In The Real Frank Zappa Book he explained that love songs create an unrealistic ideal…'

2011-01-02T16:25:17Z

Created page with 'Love songs were a prominent target for parody and satire in Zappa's work. In The Real Frank Zappa Book he explained that love songs create an unrealistic ideal…'

New page

[[Love Songs|Love songs]] were a prominent target for parody and satire in Zappa's work. In [[The Real Frank Zappa Book]] he explained that love songs create an unrealistic idealistic idea of love that you never can achieve in real life. To him the very idea of ''"love"'' was ridiculous, since he thought that most people go for sex instead of love.

==Quotes==

''"Everybody else writes songs about beautiful girls who make you fall in love, and groovy guys that are so wonderful, and heartbreak and all that shit – that's everybody else's department. I'm alternative information on specimen behavior."'' (FZ in [[Interview with the Composer]])

Genesis: ''"You've also stated that you think love songs are the ultimate form of 'absurdist comedy. Do you still feel that way?"''

Zappa: ''"Yes. (...) it's preposterous. To publicly display hurt –"''

Genesis: ''"What about happy love songs, like "You Light Up My Life"?"''

Zappa: ''"That's even more preposterous. And cynical. Sensitivity for bucks."''

Genesis: ''"Can you see yourself ever singing a love song on stage?"''

Zappa: ''"Well, not seriously. We have a few songs, like "[[I Have Been In You]]," that deal with the subject, but with a comic overtone."''

(Source: [[Interview: Frank Zappa]])

''"It's quite a challenge to reach somebody emotionally without using words that have literal connections. To perform expressively on an instrument, I have respect for that. To get to the level of performance where you are no longer thinking about operating a piece of machinery, that is worthy of respect. Writing a song about why somebody left you, that's stupid. The performers and composers don't necessarily believe in what they're saying or what they are doing, but they know that if you write a song about love, it's got a 3,000 per cent better chance of going on the radio than if you write a song about celery. It's a buy and a sell. And so the value system builds up from that. What I think of as the emotional content of music is probably a lot different than what you think of. Since I write music, I know what the techniques are. If I wanted to write something that would make you weep, I could do it. There's ways to do it. It's a cheap shot. (...) It's not just sentimental. There are certain harmonic climates that you can build. There are certain notes of the scale that you can play within a harmonic climate to "wreak pathos," and it's very predictable."'' (FZ in [[Winter In Amerika]])

==Tracks that parody love songs==

* [[I Ain't Got No Heart]]
* [[Go Cry On Somebody Else's Shoulder]]
* [[Motherly Love]]
* [[Wowie Zowie]]
* [[How Could I Be Such A Fool]]
* [[Big Leg Emma]]
* [[Oh No]]
* [[Punky's Whips]]
* [[Dirty Love]]
* [[Honey Don't You Want A Man Like Me]]
* [[I Have Been In You]]
* [[Love Story]]
* [[Wild Love]]
* [[Flambay]]
* [[Lemme Take You To The Beach]]
* [[Fallin' In Love Is A Stupid Habit]]
* [[Carol, You Fool]]
* [[Sharva]]

===See also===

* [[:Category:Tracks with sexual topics]]

=="Serious" love songs==

Even though Zappa criticized the fictional atmosphere created in many love songs he recorded a few songs that can be considered ''"serious"'' love songs. There are no humorous lyrics present in the following love songs:

* [[Alley Cat]]
* [[How's Your Bird? (The Track)]]
* [[You Didn't Try To Call Me]]
* [[Any Way The Wind Blows]]
* [[Love Of My Life]]
* [[Jelly Roll Gum Drop]]
* [[Stuff Up The Cracks]]
* [[Why Don't You Do Me Right?]]
* [[Deseri]]
* [[Anything]]
* [[No. No. No.]]
* [[Later That Night]]
* [[Fountain Of Love]]
* [[Bamboozled By Love]]
* [[Boy Wonder I Love You]]
* [[Sharleena]]
* [[Tears Began To Fall]]
* [[Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up]]

==Covers of love songs==

Zappa also covered a few love songs he liked. Some of his arrangements are humoristic, others are serious.

* [[The Closer You Are]]
* [[Directly From My Heart To You]]
* [[Happy Together]]
* [[I Left My Heart In San Francisco]]
* [[In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida]]
* [[Johnny Darling]]
* [[Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds]]
* [[No No Cherry]]
* [[Norwegian Wood]]
* [[Ride Like The Wind]]
* [[Ring Of Fire]]
* [[Sunshine Of Your Love]]
* [[Sweet Leilani]]
* [[Valarie]]
* [[When Irish Eyes Are Smiling]]

[[Category:Targets]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:22, 10 August 2026
Line 6:		Line 6:

	''"Everybody else writes songs about beautiful girls who make you fall in love, and groovy guys that are so wonderful, and heartbreak and all that shit – that's everybody else's department. I'm alternative information on specimen behavior."'' (FZ in [[Interview with the Composer]])		''"Everybody else writes songs about beautiful girls who make you fall in love, and groovy guys that are so wonderful, and heartbreak and all that shit – that's everybody else's department. I'm alternative information on specimen behavior."'' (FZ in [[Interview with the Composer]])
		+
		+
		+	'''(...) The George Harrison thing in front of it ["Within You Without You"], which was talking about, "We could change the world with our love." It seems that what they're saying, "On the one hand you can go off and be free if you want. On the other hand, you can enslave yourself to buy, buy, buy, buy, buy."'''<br>
		+	'''Frank Zappa''': ''"I believe in what George Harrison says that you can change the world with love – if you really got it. If you really care, you can do it."''
		+
		+	'''Can you love in a society that only teaches hate?'''<br>
		+	'''Frank Zappa''': ''"Why not? Just to be contrary, you can do it. If you really want to be a rebel, honestly try and love something. And if you really want to be gross about it, try and love the society that's shitty – try and love it enough to do something about it. If you can get enough zealots out there that believe in that sort of activity, you can't stop them, no matter what they look like and where they live, because those are the kind of people that move mountains and you can't do anything about it. They won't take no for an answer."''
		+
		+	- Quoted from: ''[[Frank Kofsky interviews FZ]]'', 1969)
		+

	Genesis: ''"You've also stated that you think love songs are the ultimate form of 'absurdist comedy. Do you still feel that way?"''		Genesis: ''"You've also stated that you think love songs are the ultimate form of 'absurdist comedy. Do you still feel that way?"''

@@ Line 70: / Line 70: @@
 * [[Tears Began To Fall]]
 * [[Why Don't You Do Me Right?]]
-* [[You Didn't Try To Call Me]]
+* [[You Didn't Try To Call Me (1966 - Los Angeles)|You Didn't Try To Call Me]]

@@ Line 54: / Line 54: @@
 * [[Alley Cat]]
-* [[Any Way The Wind Blows]]
+* [[Any Way The Wind Blows (The Track)|Any Way The Wind Blows]]
 * [[Anything]]
 * [[Bamboozled By Love]]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 [[Love Songs|Love songs]] were a prominent target for parody and satire in Zappa's work. In [[The Real Frank Zappa Book]] he explained that love songs create an unrealistic idealistic idea of love that you never can achieve in real life. To him the very idea of ''"love"'' was ridiculous, since he thought that most people go for sex instead of love.
@@ Line 22: / Line 24: @@
 ==Tracks that parody love songs==
 * [[Big Leg Emma]]
 * [[Carol, You Fool]]

@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 ==Tracks that parody love songs==
 * [[Big Leg Emma]]
-* [[Oh No]]
+* [[Carol, You Fool]]
 * [[Dirty Love]]
 * [[Honey Don't You Want A Man Like Me]]
 * [[I Have Been In You]]
 * [[Love Story]]
 * [[Wild Love]]
-* [[Flambay]]
+* [[Wowie Zowie]]
 ===See also===
@@ Line 51: / Line 51: @@
 * [[Alley Cat]]
 * [[Any Way The Wind Blows]]
 * [[Anything]]
 * [[Bamboozled By Love]]
 * [[Boy Wonder I Love You]]
 * [[Sharleena]]
 * [[Tears Began To Fall]]
-* [[Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up]]
+* [[Why Don't You Do Me Right?]]
 ==Covers of love songs==

@@ Line 23: / Line 23: @@
 ==Tracks that parody love songs==
-* [[I Ain't Got No Heart]]
+* [[I Ain't Got No Heart - Freak Out!|I Ain't Got No Heart]]
 * [[Go Cry On Somebody Else's Shoulder]]
 * [[Motherly Love]]

@@ Line 38: / Line 38: @@
 * [[Flambay]]
 * [[Lemme Take You To The Beach]]
-* [[Fallin' In Love Is A Stupid Habit]]
+* [[Falling In Love Is A Stupid Habit]]
 * [[Carol, You Fool]]
 * [[Sharva]]