Drummer reacts to "Billy the Mountain" (Live) by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- What a journey this song is... fucking hilarious dude. I was laughing so hard half way through I almost cried. These guys are the absolute best.
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• Billy The Mountain (Li...
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All rights to this song belong to whoever they belong to, this is just a video containing commentary on the song and falls under fair use
#zappa #frankzappa
Frank God it's Friday.
Frank yeah!
@@L33Reacts so, if I make say a $20 paypal donation, would you be willing to do 2 ten minute Frank songs?
@Peter-K for 2 10minutes it would have to be 30. Anything over 10 mins I ask for 15 at least lol. But I am more then willing to do them:) thank you so much!
@Peter-K actually if you just want to do 20 , that's fine Peter. It's zappa so I don't mind doing the videos anyway :)
Dunbar was their drummer.
Finally! Someone shows some balls, and does "Billy the Mountain."
Always remember, a mountain is something you don’t want to F… with.
Dude, you are in for one very long, very strange story. Trying to share this one with friends is a tough task. Many folks just don't get it. I don't think any other folks have reacted to this one yet.
PS: Must do Studio version " Torture Never Stops" (Zappa) for Halloween. Play it loud enough and your neighbors will think there was a Murder in your home.
Man, a very strange story is an understatement 😳 😆😆😆
At least two folks have reacted to this.
Austin Reacts and Sight After Dark for sure. SAD reacted to the Playground Psychotics version, as requested by the patreon. Austin reacted to this one.
This is my favorite version.
Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman (vocals) and Jim Pons ( bass) were all from The Turtles (Kaylan and Volman also released albums as Flo and Eddie). Drummer Ansley Dunbar was an original member of Journey and worked with numerous other bands...UFO, Lou Reed, Jeff Beck, Ian Hunter, Eric Burdon, Whitesnake, David Bowie, Sammy Hagar...the list goes on and on...
Frank Zappa music is a movie for your ears.
The Inland Empire. Most folks hear it as England Empire. The Inland Empire (locally known as the I.E.) is a region in Southern California; an urban and metropolitan area centered around the cities of Riverside and San Bernardino. The Inland Empire is located east of Los Angeles County.
Always fun spending time with Billy and Ethyl (badi-yadi-ya-da...). Glad to see you had fun with it. Look into The Fluorescent Leech And Eddie (Flo and Eddie) for more fun, which may also lead you into hearing some of The Turtles' hits. Thanks for a fun start to the morning, Lee!😂
badi-yadi-ya badi-yadi-ya-da-da!
Hell Yeah! Took me back to the road trips used to take with friends back in high school. We had this shit memorized. “And he shut the f’kn door!” BTW, Tim of Polyphia , talking with Steve Vai, mentioned he dug this song since his dad used to play it all the time. 🤘🏼🎧🤟🏼
Hahah I bet it does Carl! Im glad you had a good time. This was so much fun 😊
We had the whole thing memorized too. Still doo….
The Tonight Show opening theme is used throughout to introduce place names. But the initial joke in singing “New York” is that the show had always been in LA and got moved to New York. At the time this concert was recorded the anti-war movement was in full swing and by ignoring the draft Billy represents that movement. That a mountain is something you don’t want to fuck with was a pretty encouraging message to my friends and I at that time . Many of us were trying to decide whether to stay and protest or just flee to Canada. Naming the guy Studebaker Hawk was a funny reference to a failed automobile but also evoked the Hawk/Dove image common in anti-war rhetoric.
Billy has a cameo appearance in "The Adventures Of Greggery Peccary", another cartoon for your ears
Paul Anka's Tonight Show (with Johnny Carson) Theme is used a few times in this. Don't know if you're old enough to know that iconic tune.
"La la la, nice lady" -Jerry Lewis
So... I recently requested Greggary Peccary... And I'm pretty sure you ARE going to listen to it...BUT....you should probably listen to this again... just to get your head in to that ZAPPAVERSE landscape.
My introduction to Zappa was this song, way way back. ❤️
@KarlElvis: Same here. My insane high school friends and I sat together at the back of the school bus and sang this song every day on the way to school. The ride lasted 25 minutes and was just long enough to get the whole song in.
Me too
Studebaker Hoch, the hero who tries to bring Billy and Ethel to justice, is a play on the long defunct but iconic car, the Studebaker Hawk. Look it up.
Frank used pop culture references throughout his career.
@RoyalewithCheese-bn9cw -
He's coating his legs
With Aunt Jemima
Syrup up and down
His shorts'll be filled
With flies that will be
Buzzing all around
Stoodlabaker Hoch
He's really outa sight
Stoodlabaker Hoch
He does it every night
Stoodlabaker Hoch
He treats the flies all right
Stoodlabaker Hoch
That's why they never bite
There are so many genre's of music represented in this song, I lose count. Somehow, it ends up being a coherent story, both lyrically and musically. And what is the moral? Don't F with mountains! What else!? 🤣
I told ya! This is a great period for Zappa. 200 motels, Live at the fillmore, Just another band from LA, Chunga's Revenge. After that his sound changed completely after hearing the Mahavishnu Orchestra in concert. His stellar percussionist Ruth Underwood saw him after that show and said that Frank was stunned. He immediately hired some new cats and went into more of a jazz fusion direction doing albums like Overnight sensation, Apostrophe, and One size fits all. Do yourself a favor L33, next Friday.... listen to side 2.
✌️😎
Yeah this was awesome haha so glad I picked it. What a tale. Next week i will be doing the black page. I forgot that I was supposed to do that today 😂 I will definitely add all of these to my list! Thank you for watching 😊
Great reaction! I feel 'the adventures of Gregory Peccary' is a good follow up piece. Billy the mountain makes an appearance in this composition too
Welcome to the Flo a& Eddie portions of Zappa's career. Live at the Philmore is fantastic from beginning to end, and some of the funniest Zappa there is in my book.
Note: Live at the Fillmore was the 'White Album with the pencil on the front' that was being flogged in this song!
I actually play several video games as Studebaker Hawk, yea yea
Try "Greggery Peccary", another long story which has an appearance from Billy The Mountain.
Easy Meat is a must-listen, as is Don't You Ever Wash That Thing.
Great (re-)experiencing this with you!
Not for all this one. - I just love it. So lovely mad.
quick note, you have a very engaging voice rhythm
Ainsley Dunbar was the drummer. FZ had some of the best drummers I ever heard
Lee, you’re not getting the
Full effect from this
Performance because what they were doing
Onstage was hilarious!!
They would totally act
Out the whole thing with
Props and wardrobe 🤣🤣
How do you know that? Have you ever seen video of this band performing BTM or did you see this band live in 1971?
Since the Garrick theater residency in New York in 1967, Frank and The Mothers engaged in this type of Musical Theater, And audience participation. This is well documented Information, maybe you should look that up Skippy...@@Royale_with_Cheeze
Amazing isn't it.
Howard Johnson's
I’m looking forward to getting your reaction to “The adventures of Greggary Peccary”. It’s a masterpiece in the same genre by FZ.
About as hard a first listen from Zappa's catalogue as it gets.This and Greggary Peckory. I first got this back in the 70s and it took me 20 years or so to like it.
....but the Gregorian Swine is also very cool, and hip looking!
@@xane4101
Swank suave (swavayyy)
A mountain is something you don't want to f*** with
How did I miss this reaction? The very very very first FZ and the Mother’s I ever ever ever heard. I was gobsmacked and never never never was the same afterwards. I was 15 and became a freak, freakin’ out. Hadyadyada
It'll never happen here.
DCDCDCDCDC
Help, help, I'm a rock has taken over my brain
With 1200+ songs/melodies/compositions Zappa is a very great task to get a grip on, but if you want easier accessibility try listening to albums like "You Are What You Is" or "Joes Garage", if you want guitar "Shut Up And Play Your Guitar" obv., and if you want weird try "Francesco Zappa" or "200 Motels" (btw Zappas albums are all weird to some extent), and for more drum specific compositions try the aforementioned "Black Page No #1" or "Black Page #2" or "Punkys Whips", but no matter what you choose, it will be a geat composition played by expert musicians!
Zappa Lives!
Plus the Zappa vaults contain 1000's of tapes now owned by Universal. Funky Nothingness was released in 2023.
This was my first Zappa album... I was 17 or 18. Things got weird after that
Me too!
I still have this album. Used to play it in college 1980 while partying. Brings back awesome memories!!🏔🌳😎
I bet this was a great party song back in the day 😮😂
@@L33ReactsYes it was!😎
Oh boy, funny joke whoever requested this
Hahah I had a good time... it was definitely different then the other zappa stuff I have heard up till now.
The few recordings that circulate officially of this song is amazing. The fact that Flo and Eddie not only memorized the entire song, the other recordings had different parts added in (that they had to memorize also).
It is worth checking this version as well. ua-cam.com/video/tL5j3geC2lk/v-deo.html
Everything is developed and tied together awesomely.
Zappa's father was a professional scientist which might explain his diction and vocabulary. Thers's a completely different version in the Baby Snakes video which features Adrian Belew.
Billy The Mountain is not in Baby Snakes. The only Zappa lineup to play this was this 1971 band.
I may have mistook this for Muffin Man - @@Royale_with_Cheeze
Only from the mind of Frank Zappa.
The concept of a mountain getting royalty checks from all the postcards he posed for, going on vacation with his wife, a tree growing off of his shoulder, getting his draft notice, trudging across America to New York...
Studebaker Hawk, the superhero who dons cardboard covered with foil wings, using flies in his crotch to propel him and the entire phone booth into the air and across country to New York. Frank Zappa said of himself, during an interview with Mike Douglas, "I'm abnormal." and he wore that abnormality as a badge of honor.
I saw Frank do this Michiga in 1974 !, while dolng àcid!!!😅😅 i was losf!!😅😅😅
In the beginning (about Mother's day 1965) there was formed a Mothers of Invention with certain members. It broke up (was fired) in 1969 and a new was formed after about a year in 1970: Aynsley Dunbar on drums (mentioned in Billy...) , George Duke on "keyboards", Ian Underwood on "keyboards", Jeff Simmons on bass, + three members from the Turtles: Jim Pons, Mark Wolman (="Flo"), and Howard Kaylan (="Eddie"). The last two makes all the odd voices in this song. This version broke up in December 1971. At an concert in Montreux in Switzerland a fire broke out and they lost all equipment (the story is told in Deep Purple's "Smoke on the water"). A week later in London, Zappa was pushed off stage into a concrete pit and almost died. After this any group of people playing with Frank Zappa was named the Mothers (of Invention).
There is a lot of name dropping in the song, but I am from Sweden and many names are quite unknown to me.
I will be looking forward to the Fridays - but there is much more other great music to explore for you so you will make me busy also other days.
This was my intro to Zappa back in 1972, when I was 16 and smoking a spliff with schoolmates.
If you like humorous music, then 10cc is worth a look up. Try their tune 'Head Room'.
You referred to the England Empire, it was the Inland Empire which was a reference to the greater LA basin area. The narrative was filled with references to SO CA’s places, merchants, and such. Really is a great time capsule.
You chuckled at the name Ashley Dunbar. Odd that you hadn’t heard of him as he was Frank’s drummer at the time…
Finally somebody does Billy The Mountain!!! Hatty atty a tah. The Mothers of Invention were Masters of Foley. Frank was more a composer than player.
Holy crap! I was looking at what you had done before I found your channel and couldn't believe you had done this one! Good job man!
The solo section was edited out.
There are other versions out there with the solos in there.
Those solos could go on long enough that you nearly forget about the song itself, going from solo back to the story can be a bit jarring.
The version in Carnegie Hall had 13 mins of solos!
The 4 tracks on the other side have more complex drumming on them for a drummer to appreciate. In my opinion, Ansley Dunbar was Zappa's best drummer.
Another story-driven piece is The Adventures of Greggery Peccary.
The Mothers during the Flo & Eddie phase created some hilarious content. I even programmed the "la-di-la-di-laa-laaa" melody as a ringtone on one of my early phones. I would love to see a live video of Billy the Mountain, but I think it doesn't exist on yt.
But in the end I think it was good that he discontinued this line-up after the Montreux fire and his accident soon afterwards. I prefer him focusing on music instead of nonsensical stories. I like his records around 1975 most. But that's the good thing about Zappa: he was so versatile, that he offers something for many different tastes.
There are so many personal references from FZ. It's literally what happened to the band last night, kind of thing.
"Little Howard Kaplan" was based on the Mothers singer Howard Kaylan. He and Mark Vohlman were the Turtles singers then became the Mothers singers. Aka Flo (Mark) and Eddie (Howard)
This is one of the most ingenious pieces of rock music ever done. Zappa was truly brilliant, and the musicians in his bands were always amazingly talented.
Some of Franks stuff was odd
Joes garrage now, really good!
Why does it hurt when i pee, Catholic girls, i can relate to these.
React to : Zappa’s “Willie the Pimp”. From album Hot Rats
Just started listening to your Zappa journey. Man you start out with the heavy ones! Very cool to hear you hear this for the first time.
Definitely the Mothers' best performance ❤
pretty sure this song holds the record for most lyrics in one song.
Oh yes more Zappa please try " Torture Never Stops", soon, a superb tune.
This is one of my favorites. Very funny!
College days for me.
Live at the fillmore was my favorite.
I heard that after this album. It’s the “white album with the pencil on the cover” Studebaker mentions
The mud. Shark
Flo and Eddie (The Turtles)
Not the 1st FZ tune I might use as an introduction.
Billy the mother effing mountain.
I guess you had to be there.
"Billy the Mountain" is an acquired Zappa taste, love it!
This is one of those songs that separate fans from FANS with all capital letters 😁 I dug it. Absolutely hilarious 😂
The 14-year-old me, 50 years later is laughing his ass off!!! Subbed immediately after your reaction! The never-ending litany of artists who have recorded with 'The Genius' is deep.
Glad to have you my friend! I am so glad I took the dive on zappa... people warned me that when I start, I can't stop... and they were right lol.
@@L33Reacts Since I'm an older hippie/type, who is now a "Penguin In Bondage". I will be seeing where your tastes lie. Expect some deep, off-the-wall suggestions! Peace & Love from the hills of Ct.
Been many years! Thanks!
Flo & Eddie!!
A better rendition of BTM is on the album Playground Psychotics. Longer than JABFLA and better sounds. Especially Dunbar's great drumming at around the 23:00 minute mark. When that song first came out I hated it. Just took me a few years to love it. There's a part where they sing, Oh Mien Papa, in the Earths crust. The song Oh Mien Papa was sung by Eddie Fisher, Carrie Fisher's father. (Princess Leia) So if there's a Oh Mien Papa in the Earths crust, Frank substituted Fisher for Fissure, in the Earths Crust. So as a drummer, you'll appreciate Dunbar's drumming at this part. He starts out soft and low and he'll steadily increase the volume and density of the next few minutes.
Eres muy atrevido al difundir esta parte de Zappa. Genial. Thank you.
Thank you for watching my friend! Glad you enjoyed it! 😊
It's a performance piece. More than just the music and story, true theater of the the mind. Must've been amazing to see live. It's a shame there's no film.
🤟🧙♂️🤟
This is memory for me. When my band wasn’t playing a club. When would do this album from memory to entertain ourselves. I’m an original Turtles fan and the guys turned me on to Zappa. It was a match made in heaven.
Zappa’s bands were a constantly moving ensemble with a few core players thru different time periods, including the mothers. It can tough to keep track of. Regardless of what era or ensemble, you can bet his band was made up of the best musicians in the world. Hoping you keep up the Zappa reactions!
Growing up in the 60's and 70's we were inundated with so many great music styles and musicians if you were open to it. Frank was just one of those musicians on the fringe of the music scene, he played more music styles than anyone else and better than anyone else often. While telling strange stories. He was a different treat.
And they said Zappa wasnt a drug user.
Zappa quote: "For me cigarette is food..."
It works best if you lived in LA in the 70s. :P
Also, a quick follow up of 200 Motels will provide a clearer picture.
Ainsley Dunbar is the drummer.
Creativity off the hook! I can recite this whole song from memory. Thanks for the great reaction!
Thank you my friend! It truly was a fun one. Zappa is the man 👨
How long did it take you to memorize your fake Analysis?
You shud hear the Flip Side
I got to see Overnite Sensation in 73 , Stoned on Acid