Snow has persisted on the ground for more than a week now, something that’s noticeable is you walk a dog every day. Hence this tune, an example of Frank Zappa’s good advice for the masses.
On his 1974 LP Apostrophe(‘), the best-selling album of Zappa’s career, “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow” was the first part of a four-song suite that opened the album. It quickly and unsurprisingly became an audience-participation highlight in concert.
What most people don’t know is that the 10-minute-plus suite was released as a single. It came about because a disc jockey had edited out parts that might upset the FCC and played it on his show. When Zappa found out he decided to do the same thing himself. He chopped it down to under four minutes — and it actually reached the Hot 100, the first charting single of Zappa’s prolific career. It only reached No. 86, but considering how little sense the tale makes with more than half the lyrics removed, it’s amazing anyone bought it at all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5__cMKfO46A
Here’s what the entire suite sounds like on the album.
