Enemas
Enemas are part of Zappa's conceptual continuity.
- One of Zappa's favorite records was The Devils of Loudun by Krzysztof Penderecki, in which a nun is given an enema. As Zappa as explained in Faves, Raves And Composers In Their Graves, June 1975: "(...) Tatiana Troyanos who plays the main nun sounds absolutely marvellous during the enema scena. The story is about a hunch-backed nun who's possessed by the Devil and has to have an exorcism. The exorcism involves the nun being given a hot herbal enema. In live performances the exorcism takes place behind a screen and you hear Tatiana singing and screeching whilst an orchestra plays enema music. You also hear the Devil chuckling from inside the nun's bowel." In Classical Zappa Zappa also cited it as his favorite opera, because he "liked the enema scene." During a 1975 radio interview: "(...) I've got this Philips recording with Tatjana Troyanos singing the lead vocal in this enema sequence where's to exorcise Asmodeus who is supposed to be lurking inside her bowel, according to the text by Aldous Huxley. They have to take her behind the screen on stage and pump her up in sort of philosophical sense with some, unseen by the audience, herbal burbling enema. And the music he has going on for that scene is very ingenious, you know. You hear the bubbles and she is singing interesting little screams and grunts and stuff. I'd say: "That's a step forward." There's not too many things in rock 'n' roll that can compare to that. I put it right up alongside of "Voulez-Vous Couchez Avec Moi", one of those funk tunes." [1].
- Legend Of The Illinois Enema Bandit: A song inspired by real-life criminal Michael Kenyon who gave his female victims enemas.
- Divan Ends Here: "And last but not least, sheets of catalogs with enemas'".
- Church Chat: "With an enema bag..."
- German Lunch: "You want an enema?" - "No, I'll take a cheeseburger."
Zappa was once given a book about enemas, according to an auctioner at Julien's Auctions, titled David Barton-Jay's The Enema as an Erotic Art and Its History (New York, David Barton-Jay, 1982). [2].
Quotes
During the concert on Feb. 14, 1988 at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby (Philadelphia), Pennsylvania a fan presented Zappa with a Fleet enema (a ready to use disposable enema), and Frank informed the audience, "See this? It's a Fleet enema. You know where they make these things? Lynchburg, Virginia, exactly the same place where (televangelist) Jerry Falwell conducts his ministry. I suspect a symbiotic relationship." - They're Doing the Interview of the Century, Part 3, 1990.
- Thou Shalt Honor Thy Father And Thy Mother: "As you know, the major industry in Lynchburg right now is not the Moral Majority. It's the Fleet Enema Corporation and you need to have some other kind of business there to boost the local G&P. That's true, that's the biggest employer in Lynchburg. Well, I think that there's a reason why the Fleet Enema company located its factory right next to Falwell's church. Or maybe it's vice versa. Maybe there's a reason why Jerry located his church right next to the Fleet Enema Corporation.Maybe there's a fundraising balance between them. Maybe they have something that those- they each have something that the other needs for their work."
During a concert in Towson Maryland at US Towson Center (23 March 1988), Zappa also used the word enema as Secret Word:
Den Simms: "OK, speaking about Towson, in that show something kind of peculiar happened havin' to do with Bob Rice giving somebody an enema. That kind of pissed you off."
Frank Zappa: "Well, sure, because there was a female security guard who was hired to be part of the staff at the place and Bob Rice who was basically hired as a roadie decided to use this enema that was dangling on stage as a prop. Actually it was something that I didn't tell them to put on stage, but the alto sax player had it hanging off of his stand. Bob went up there, took this thing and he was trying to impress this girl security guard. And during the encore when the guards were lined up in front of the stage facing the audience, he sneaked down behind the barricade and jammed this nozzle up her ass. While right in the middle of this song, you know, and I think that is inexcusable and so I stopped the show and told him to apologize, and "Don't ever do it again."
Den Simms: And then took on from there.
Frank Zappa: "Sure."
- Frank Zappa in They're Doing the Interview of the Century, Part 1, Den Simms, Eric Buxton, Rob Samler, Society Pages, April 1990.
"I believe we were in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the girl, the cockapoo, and Perellis were in a Holiday Inn, and, uh, it was discovered that the cockapoo had worms, and this was Sunday. So, in an emergency effort, he wanted to do something about the dog's worms, and called a veterinarian. I don't know how he managed to do all this, but the net result was, they recommended that they give the dog a Fleet enema ... in the bathtub. (...) It's one of those prepackaged chemical enemas that you buy at the store. By the way, Fleet enemas are manufactured in Lynchburg, Virginia. (laughter) (...) So, they wound up (laughs) filling this bathtub with dog do-do and worms, (much laughter) in Ann Arbor, Michigan." " - Frank Zappa, They're Doing the Interview of the Century, Part 3,
