Well I’m about to get sick
From watchin’ my TV
Been checkin’ out the news
Until my eyeballs fail to see
I mean to say that every day
Is just another rotten mess
And when it’s gonna change, my friend
Is anybody’s guessSo I’m watchin’ and I’m waitin’
Hopin’ for the best
Even think I’ll go to prayin’
Every time I hear ‘em sayin’
That there’s no way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day
No way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day…”- Frank Zappa, lyrics excerpts from the song “Trouble Every Day” off of the album Freak Out (1966)
Weekly apologetics cartoons for the faithful, the faithless, and the full-of-its.
This song is about news coverage that continues to show violence related to racial divides. His advice is to not appeal to it.
(Black and white discrimination
Yellin’ “You can’t understand me!”
‘N all that other jazz they hand me
In the papers and TV and
All that mass stupidity
That seems to grow more every day
Each time you hear some nitwit say
He wants to go and do you in
Because the color of your skin
Just don’t appeal to him
(No matter if it’s black or white)
Because he’s out for blood tonight)
So, with this understanding, how are humans to progress in Zappa’s opinion? By disempowering race as a meaningful term… or in MLK’s terminology, paying no attention to the colour of one’s skin but to the quality of one’s character. As I’ve argued elsewhere, only when gender/race/sexual orientation/religion doesn’t matter in our interpersonal dealings have we as individuals progressed from the ancient discriminatory chains of our own making to the emancipation of a truly secular society.
Let me just state this for the record:
I was once a huge Zappa fan and had the opportunity to listen to his albums about 8 hours a day for a few years. I still have about 60 or so of his albums. So, this quotation wasn’t a random pasting.
Early on, Zappa had some very thoughtful and biting commentaries on the society in which he lived. The track, “Trouble Every Day”, is one great example — a personal favorite of mine. Shortly after that, he got so fascinated with bizarre sexual behavior and, later on, a one-sided assault on Christianity that he became boring and somewhat predictable. I still consider albums like Freak Out, We’re Only In It for the Money, and You Are What You Is as great albums that I still listen to today.
He might be someone to look towards regarding race and gender equality. He was one of the pioneers in race relations within the music world, hiring Mexicans and Native Americans to be in the Mothers of Invention. He put together a girl band or two. I commend him for that. With that said, he certainly isn’t someone to look toward when trying to determine appropriate and inappropriate sexual behavior or sexual behavior that should be promoted or discouraged via laws. I once saw an interview with him in England when he spoke unashamedly that he had sex with groupies even though he was married. He dismissed it casually as a reality of the “rock and roll life” (paraphrased) and that he and his wife understood that when he got home from a tour, he’d just take a pill and that’d be it. He said it with any emotion whatsoever.
My jaw dropped.
He never mentioned that kind of stuff in The Real Frank Zappa Book. And, for me, if a guy isn’t going to be faithful to his wife in that most intimate and open relationships in this human life (marriage), then he loses credibility with me, at least regarding sexual behavior. And I won’t even mention mud sharks.
Joshua
well said, tildeb…
here are a couple other Zappa thoughts:
http://i.imgur.com/wXvcK.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/38Bwo.jpg
Yeah, I think I’ve actually got the original interview in which Zappa said the first quote. It’s a total caricature and just shows that he is in no way an authority on religious matters generally or Christianity specifically. For example, “the fruit that was forbidden was on the tree of knowledge”. No, Frank, it wasn’t. It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. “You could be in the Garden of Eden if you had just keep your fucking mouth shut and hadn’t asked any questions.” No, Frank, humans were created for a relationship with God, one that includes verbal communication with Him and each other.
Again, Frank was just showing his ignorance of the thing he is pretending to be somewhat of an authority on. Again, the tree wasn’t a tree of knowledge. It was a tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And, sorry, Frank, there’s no apple mentioned. Oddly, humanity — both man and woman — are created in the Image of God (so much for gender inequality and racism). The lie of the serpent wasn’t that they would be as God, but that they wouldn’t die. In fact, that is the core of the Christian message; God is going to turn His enemies into His friends through Jesus:
Although I don’t disagree with many of Zappa’s sayings and positions on other things, Frank often showed little or inaccurate knowledge of Christian teaching. The closest he got to Christianity was having a somewhat Catholic mother.
Joshua