Secret Word
The concept of The Secret Word For Tonight meant that at the begin of a concert that word was stated – either by Frank Zappa or sometimes by the audience – and could pop up at every moment during the show, being a special challenge for the band and fun for the audiences.
Chronological list
- Status Back Baby: I hear the secret whispers wherever I go...
- The Mud Shark on Fillmore East, June 1971, Live In Melbourne
- Hi-ho, Silver! Away!
- Ring Of Fire: Heavy Duty Judy on The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life
- * (Plastic Laser Gun): Intro on The Yellow Shark
Quotes
"Well, you gotta understand that you put a band together and before they can do the secret word, they gotta be so assured that they know the material, that they can get back to safe ground if the secret word doesn't work, (laughter) or y'know. The secret word, it takes a lot of practice to be able to get a whole band to think in that mode, because if you rehearse a song, and you're performing it during the concert, you're relying on what you learned during the rehearsal, in order to do a good job and get everything in order. But say you're playing along, and suddenly somebody in the band starts saying, or doing something which is not part of what you learned. That can really fuck you up if you don't know what to do in that instance. Also, you gotta know that on stage, sometimes it's difficult to hear what the other guys are saying. So the secret word stuff is risky business."- Frank Zappa, They're Doing the Interview of the Century, Part 1, Den Simms, Eric Buxton, Rob Samler, Society Pages, April 1990.
"(...) that's what the secret word is for. You just abuse it. How far can you take it? How many times can you stick in the wrong word in the middle of a song and literally change the meaning of the song?" - Frank Zappa, They're Doing the Interview of the Century, Part 1, Den Simms, Eric Buxton, Rob Samler, Society Pages, April 1990.
