Hands
Hands are very prominent in Zappa's cover art.
- On the cover of We're Only In It For The Money a rubber hand can be seen sticking beneath the letter "M" on the left lower side of the album.
- In the gatefold sleeve of We're Only In It For The Money Zappa can be seen making strange hand signals, while Ian Underwood holds up a piece of paper.
- Uncle Meat: Just below the title a large thumb can be seen.
- Burnt Weeny Sandwich: Several bloody hands are prominent.
- Weasels Ripped My Flesh: A shaving hand.
- Hot Rats: A hidden face, visible hands resting on the side of an empty swimming pool.
- Over-Nite Sensation: Two hands are seen, one appearing from the sky, fixing a street lamp. The other one taking a cigarette from a pack.
- One Size Fits All: One hand paints, the other holds the moon, another is twiddling Saturn, yet another is smoking a cigar.
- Joe's Garage: Hands add paint to Zappa's face.
- The Beat The Boots logo shows a hand holding a hammer
Songs or tracks mentioning hands
- 200 Years Old: "A glass of orange juice about as big as my finger"
- The Air: "My hands!"
- Billy The Mountain: "A strong masculine hand"
- Call Any Vegetable: "Holding your hand while the neighbors decide."
- Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy: "She stuck her hand right in it to the bottom"
- Catholic Girls: "With her hand in the box" (...) They'd meet each other there/hold hands and think pure thoughts"
- The Dangerous Kitchen: "What you get on your hands then"
- Dinah-Moe Humm: "I whipped off her bloomers 'n stiffened my thumb"
- Disco Boy: "Thank the Lord that you still got hands/that help you do that jerkin' that will blot off your disco sorrow"
- Do You Like My New Car?: "Roger Daltrey never laid a hand on me!"
- Dong Work For Yuda: "A great big weenie in both his hands"
- Find Her Finer: About sexual gratification through fingering.
- Flower Punk: "Hey punk, where you goin' with that flower in your hand?"
- Friendly Little Finger
- Frogs With Dirty Little Lips: "Dirty little warts on their finger-tips"
- Hands With A Hammer
- I Don't Even Care: "What was hole is this lastin' hand".
- I Have Been In You: "Ah, little girl, there ain't no time to wash your stinky hand"
- I Want To Hold Your Hand
- Jesus Thinks You're A Jerk: "(With their fingers on the trigger)".
- Kaiser Rolls: "I raised my finger from the center of my hand."
- Legend Of The Illinois Enema Bandit: "... his pudgy little thumb"
- Lemme Take You To The Beach: "Maybe I'll just hold your hand-eeee!"
- Magdalena: "With the grubby little hand"
- Man With The Woman Head: "The face the color of a nicotine-stained hand."
- Montana: "Zircon encrusted tweezers in my hand."
- More Trouble Every Day (Swaggart Version): "And they smacked him on his little hand"
- Motherly Love: "And we'll take their hands"
- Packard Goose: "Fuck all them writers with the pen in their hand."
- Rhymin' Man: "Dipped his hands in the Doctor's blood" (a reference to Jesse Jackson)
- Sleep Dirt: "My finger got stuck!"
- Smell My Beard: "And he hits his thumb"
- Strictly Genteel (The Track): "Reach out your hand to the girl in the dog book."
- Tiny Sick Tears: "And you stick your tiny sick hand in the cookie jar."
- Titties 'n Beer: "Then she gave us the finger/It was raised stiff"
- Uncle Bernie's Farm: "There's a dollar in his hand (check his wallet)"
- Uncle Meat Film Excerpt: Massimo gives a lesson in Italian, explaining "This is my left hand".
- Wild Love: "Daddy's got a stinky finger"
- Wind Up Workin' In A Gas Station: "Show me your thumb/if you think you're dumb"
- Won Ton On: "Take your hand off that chain, honey!"
- Would You Go All The Way?: "Clutchin' at yer hand"
Also of note is the phrase "Hands Up!", which can be heard on the tracks Toads Of The Short Forest, German Lunch, Tiny Sick Tears and The Walking Zombie Music. In the film Baby Snakes (The Film) the phrase can also be heard from a toy police car.
See also
- Ben Watson about hands in Zappa's work. http://www.militantesthetix.co.uk/zappo/OSFAweb.htm