Song of the Day 5/11: Frank Zappa and the Mothers, “Camarillo Brillo”
Frank Zappa’s record label wouldn’t let him call his band the Mothers, so he added “of Invention” to pacify them. But nobody called them that. They were the Mothers, though not the sort Hallmark meant to honor.
Zappa churned through sidemen, so there were many Mothers. He eventually grew frustrated with trying to herd the members of a rock group – he typically toured with a seven-piece band – so the name was dropped in 1975. When he was inducted posthumously into the Hall of Fame in 1995 none of the Mothers were included.
His solo career was longer, and it included his only Top 40 hit, “Valley Girl,” but his commercial peak came with the Mothers in 1973-74 with the gold albums “Overnite Sensation” and “Apostrophe’.” “Camarillo Brillo” was the lead track on “Overnite Sensation” and was produced like a mainstream single – despite the sardonic lyrics about a sketchy assignation, Zappa restrained his penchant for silly sound effects. Unfortunately the lyrics made AM radio airplay impossible.
The song became a concert staple, but Zappa soon got bored with the original arrangement, so he played around with the tempo, starting out at a breakneck pace before cutting it in half. That’s the version on “Cheaper Than Cheep,” the just-released TV special made in 1974 but never released because of synching issues.
