Cars

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Cars in Zappa's Lyrics

  • "The Adventures Of Greggery Peccary" on Studio Tan (1978): cars are mentioned in the first movement where Greggery goes to work ("Every morning, GREGGERY drives his little red Volkswagen to the ugly part of town where they keep the Government Buildings") and in the third movement where he is pursued by the Hunchmen ("They zoom after him in all manner of cars, trucks, garishly-painted buses, and motorcycles")
  • Approximate on YCDTOSA 4: "Bake food! Vooeeeuuu-vooo-ereii! ... Dagmar! Din-din! ... Stayin' alive! Ah, ah, ah, ah! Aaah! There's a 39 Buick blockin' the drive!"
  • Billy The Mountain: "El Dorado Cadillac" and "crushing the Lincoln"
  • The Crab-Grass Baby has a fondness for cars ("Stroke [my pompadour] nicely while I tell you about the problems I am having with my car an' my girlfriend. (...) Her and her girlfriend used to go out and booze it up and tear up the upholstery; rip the seats completely out, and so I got a fifty-six Olds. About the time I got it running decently, she got in it and wrecked the trans... tore it completely up, so I had to get another Oldsmobile (...) Buy me a Volvo, faaather").
  • "Does This Kind Of Life Look Interesting To You?": "A dog, a car, an epidemic of body lice with your own record company..."
  • Elvis Has Just Left The Building: "He gave away Cadillacs once in a while"
  • In the song Florentine Pogen on the album One Size Fits All, the wealthy female protagonist is described as owning a '59 Morgan. The song goes on to explain that "She didn't like it when her fan belt shrunk and got shorter (Ointment) / Battery leaks could nearly cost her a quarter".
  • Flower Punk: "When my royalty check comes I think I'm going to buy a Mustang. No, I think I'll... I think I'll get a Corvette. No, I think I'll get a Harley Davidson."
  • Heavenly Bank Account: "He's got seven limousines/And a private plane"
  • Here Comes The Gear, Lads: "Look at those little cars! The race cars!"
  • In the title song, "Joe's Garage (Track)", on Joe's Garage Acts I, II & III (1979), there is actually a car in the garage where Joe's band has its mediocre practice sessions: "It wasn't very large / There was just enough room to cram the drums / In the corner over by the Dodge / It was a fifty-four with a mashed up door" (...)
  • "Lumpy Gravy", Lumpy Gravy Part 1 or At The Gas Station in the sectorized version, uses an almost identical dialogue as the Crab-Grass Baby character in Thing-Fish: (...) Her and her girlfriend used to go out and booze it up and tear up the seats; rip the seats completely out, and so I got a fifty-six Olds. About the time I got it running decently, she got in it and wrecked the trans... tore it completely up, so I had to get another Oldsmobile (...)
  • Though largely an instrumental piece, The Orange County Lumber Truck appears on three Zappa albums: first on Weasels Ripped My Flesh (1970), Make A Jazz Noise Here (1991), and Ahead Of Their Time (1993).
  • In San Ber'dino: "She lives in Mojave, in a Winnebago"
  • In "Would You Go All The Way?" on Chunga's Revenge (1970), the car mentioned is in the dubious possession of a lascivious greaser, attempting to seduce a young woman by playing on her fantasies of military machismo: "Who's this dude with his hair straight back? / His new white socks 'n his pants all black / His t-shirt's rolled / His watch is gold / A '55 Chevy that his brother just stoled" (...)
  • The song "You Are What You Is" mentions the car "Mercedes Benz" as a typically "white" car in the conversation between the black and the white person in the middle of the song ("I don't understand you...", "BWANA MA-COO-BAH!", "Would you please speak more clearly?", "MERCEDES BAINNNNNNNZ!").
  • You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here: "You tore a big hole in your convertible top/What will you tell your mom and pop?"



Cars depicted in Artwork for Releases

Cars in Zappa literature

"Do you like my new car?"

"Do you like my new car?" is a phrase that, just like "What's a girl like you doin' in a place like this?", is often used by characters in Zappa's work as an implicit sexual advance. Unlike the other line, however, it is always used in connection with groupies, as in the "Groupie Routine" of the Flo & Eddie years (which even appears under the title "Do You Like My New Car?" on the Fillmore East, June 1971 album).

The line also appears in the song "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy" on 200 Motels (1971), where it retains its groupie context ("She's such a dignified lady, / She's so pretty and soft. / You can't call her a groupie, / It just pisses her off"). Additionally, the backing vocals cite several makes of cars towards the end of the song ("It's a Bentley, / It's a Cooper, / It's a Chevy, / Or a Lincoln").

Related CC Clues

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