Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Frank Zappa's Critique of Hippies

Not sure if any of you are into Frank Zappa, (he is a little weird), but I love his music. I was driving to school today and this song came up on shuffle. I wanted to share it because I think it is relevant to the discussion we were having about bobos and hippies and beats. In this particular song, Zappa is critiquing, or rather satirizing, hippies in San Francisco. It is known that Zappa was anti drug, and anti hippie as he found the whole thing ridiculous and without purpose, both artistically and politically. I'll post a link to the song below and the lyrics. Let me know what you guys think of Zappa's take on the hippies?



What's there to live for?
Who needs the peace corps?
Think I'll just DROP OUT
I'll go to Frisco
Buy a wig & sleep
On Owsley's floor
Walked past the wig store
Danced at the Fillmore
I'm completely stoned
I'm hippy & I'm trippy
I'm a gypsy on my own
I'll stay a week & get the crabs &
Take a bus back home
I'm really just a phony
But forgive me
'Cause I'm stoned
Every town must have a place
Where phony hippies meet
Psychedelic dungeons
Popping up every street
GO TO SAN FRANCISCO
How I love ya, How I love ya
How I love ya, How I love ya Frisco!
How I love ya, How I love ya
How I love ya, How I love ya
Oh, my hair is getting good in the back! Every town must have a place
Where phony hippies meet
Psychedelic dungeons
Popping up on every street
GO TO SAN FRANCISCO...
Gotchya Hotcha!
First I'll buy some beads
And then perhaps a leather band
To go around my head
Some feathers and bells
And a book of Indian lore
I will ask the Chamber Of Commerce
How to get to Height Street
And smoke an awful lot of dope
I will wander around barefoot
You know I'll have a psychedelic gleam in my eye at all times
I will love everyone
I will love the police as they kick the shit out of me on the street
FREEZE HIPPY
I will sleep...
YES
I will go to a house.
That's, that's what I will do
I will go to a house
Where there's a rock roll band
Because the groups all live together
HERE'S JOHNNY
I will stay
I will join a rock & roll band
I'll be their road manager
And I will stay there with them
And I will get the crabs
But I won't care
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7 comments:

  1. AnonymousJune 4, 2015 at 11:35 AM

    People who critique sub cultures intrigue me very much. There's a lot of animosity towards "othering" groups whose ideals don't align with one's own, as well as a lot of idolizing these groups. Opinions more in the middle ground of acceptance aren't as vocal as these extremes are, even though I assume they are the more popular choice.

    Like when people use the term "hipster" in present day, it is often times used with an inflection of disdain and judgement. A way to distance groups of people even more.

    One line that intrigues me is in the last stanza:

    And I will stay there with them
    And I will get the crabs
    But I won't care

    Making fun of the free love movement and associating it with STIs. Cool. Because being open and accepting about sex didn't lead to more discussions about sexual awareness in society sparking important debates about birth control, abortion, and overall health.

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    1. AnonymousJune 4, 2015 at 3:46 PM

      While I love Zappa, I do agree with what you have said about making fun of people in the free love movement for getting STDs. I can see that's not cool, for all of the reasons you have listed. That being said, I kinda agree with some of what he has to say, and think that it is in conversation with what we talked about in class regarding the differences between hippies and beats.

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    2. Alex HenkleJanuary 15, 2021 at 12:40 AM

      Zappa did much more for the free love movement than the Beatles and half of those "free" hippies who were a bunch of misogynist cunts at times. Consider the fallout of sex cults and literal pedophilia in rock during and soon after this time and the movement seems less and less about real conversations and more and more about exploiting the uneducated in their journey away from conservativism. On the other hand, Zappa had actual conversations about sex in alot of his music, and gave creedence to untraditional styles as well.

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  2. AnonymousJune 4, 2015 at 3:09 PM

    I think it's particularly amusing that Zappa makes a reference to police violence in the song:

    "I will love the police as they kick the shit out of me on the street"

    It's ironic that he criticizes hippies and free love while acknowledging their neglect and mistreatment.

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    1. Alex HenkleJanuary 15, 2021 at 12:35 AM

      While he often sounds immature people tend to ignore Zappa's nuance. That line and the entirety of Mom & Dad seem to take a pretty hard blow at the police state Zappa was worried about. and considering how easily the Beatles were able to simply buy up this subculture and spit it back out free from any revolutionary content, his critique isn't as dated as some think. He gets huge flack for being anti-commie and whatnot but I think it makes sense if you look at a band like Plastic People of the Universe, one which both loved and was loved by Zappa.

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  3. AnonymousJune 5, 2015 at 11:18 AM

    haha i dig it. i think it's funny how zappa's lyrics make fun of hippies, when his audience was largely the hippie population. i think the lyrics are pretty telling of the hippie culture as whole – a culture that thrives off of satire. it's a hippie thing to make fun of hippies, you know. super ironic, frank zappa is awesome.

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    1. AnonymousJune 6, 2015 at 7:24 PM

      Right on dude! :) Another Zappa fan. They are few and far between.

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