Black Napkins

Players On This Song

Zoot Allures version, Kosei Nenkin Kaikan, Osaka, Japan February 3, 1976 (and track 2 on Frank Zappa Plays The Music Of Frank Zappa):

• FZ--guitar
• Terry Bozzio--drums
• Andre Lewis--organ, vocal
• Roy Estrada--bass, vocal
• Napoleon Murphy Brock--vocal

Records On Which This Song Has Appeared

Singles

• You Are What You Is / Pink Napkins (04:36) - Frank Zappa (1981)
• You Are What You Is / Pink Napkins (04:36) / Harder Than Your Husband (02:28) / Soup 'n Old Clothes (07:50) - Frank Zappa (1981)
• Goblin Girl (04:06) / Pink Napkins (04:36) - Frank Zappa (1981)

Zappa Albums

• Zoot Allures
• Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar as Pink Napkins
• You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 6
• Make A Jazz Noise Here
• Frank Zappa Plays The Music Of Frank Zappa (track 1 and track 2 - Zoot Allures version)
• FZ:OZ
• Halloween

Beat The Boots:

• As An Am

Bootleg Recordings:

• An Evening In Detroit
• The version that made it onto the Zoot Allures album was performed at 76/02/03 Osaka Japan Kosei Nenkin Kaikan and was heavily edited. FZ removed Brock's sax solo.

Tributes & Cover Albums

• The Muffin Men: Feel The Food
• Bonnen: Watermelon En Regalia
• Fast & Bulbous: Memorial Barbecue
• Tinsel Town Rebellion Band: Absolutely Live
• The Wrong Object: Play Zappa

Notes About This Song

• It's a FZ's introduction to Ljubliana, Yugoslavia, 11-22-1975 song's performance. (Frank Zappa Plays The Music Of Frank Zappa)

"This is... this is an instrumental song, it's a tender, slow, moving ballad sort of song that cares with it the implied message that the complete woman must also have an asshole..."

• Later he said these words (found uncredited in Barry Miles book Frank Zappa - A Visual Documentary. p.71 )

"Black Napkins is a song I've had for year or more but it was finally named last Thanksgiving when we were having this horrible Thanksgiving dinner in Milwaukee. Sliced turkey roll with the fucking preservatives just gleaming off it, and this beat-up cranberry material. The final stroke to this ridiculous dinner was the black napkins, sitting next to the dishes. That really said the most about the dinner"