ARF: Notes and Comments: SHIP ARRIVING TOO LATE TO SAVE A DROWNING WITCH: No Not Now

SHIP ARRIVING TOO LATE TO SAVE A DROWNING WITCH

No Not Now

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	She say I'm free She say I'm free She say I'm free She say I'm free
Me gotta go? What's the idea behind this irregularity?
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	Maybe later Maybe later (Shut up! You need a vacation, boy!)
Sounds like another movie's reference? Am I right?
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	(Those cowboy pants) Transcontinental (It's a transcontinental) Hobby horse
From: Paul Hinrichs (paulhinr@nando.net) A minor historical note: The word "dada" itself was chosen by randomly inserting a paper knife (!) into a French-German dictionary. It means "hobby horse". We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
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	Oh, the drive (Yes, yes the drive) All night long (All night long) String beans to Utah (Yum yum)
From: Vladimir Sovetov <sova@arf.ru> Utah is the Mormone home of Donny 'n Marie Osmonds. And string beans is food that good God-fearing Mormone supposed to eat to go to Heaven.
From: Jeff Robison (dont@reply.via.email.com) Well, as a lifetime resident of Salt Lake City, I know that we are honored to have the highest per capita string bean consumption of any of the 50 states (and most likely all tropical possessions). I think that this is because string beans are one of the cornerstones of the Mormon diet. Along with mashed potatoes, pot roast, and of course: Jell-O. We eat so much fucking Jell-O here, they use us as guinea pigs for their new flavors. The new "Cranberry" variety was a huge success here, but the "Champagne" flavor didn't do so well (which was to be expected because Mormons don't have a goddamn clue how champagne should taste). One thing is for sure: You would call me a liar if I told you some of the ways people prepare Jell-O here in Utah... It borders on sick and disturbed. But I digress... I'm sure that Donnie & Marie (who are also Utahns and Mormons) love string beans, too. Rest assured that they've also eaten their fair share of Jell-O in their time. I bet that they like the lime-flavored Jell-O with the shredded up carrots in it. Mmmm... that's good eatins.
Of course, the "Hawaiian Lunch" refrence comes from the TV ads that Donnie & Marie did during the late 70's. Those spots must have tickled Frank because he used the "Come On And Go Hawaiian" jingle in several songs (i.e., the ending of Strictly Genteel on MAJNH). The thought of squeaky-clean Marie Osmond "biting it" never fails to make me smile. ;)
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	String beans to Utah Deliver string beans To Utah tonight (Giddyup) I better go fast
Looks like a reference to JOE' 'Mach es serh schnell', I mean,
Make it go fast In and out
And, btw, what's Giddyup? G... you up?
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	Or they won't be all right (All right) Deliver string beans To Utah tonight (Yum yum) Donny 'n Marie Can both take a bite
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	(Bite it Marie) Hawaiian - Hawaiian - Hawaiian Lunch (Hawaiian lunch!)
From: Evil Bob <evilbob@tbag.tscs.com> This Hawaiian thing is all over the Ship Arriving album and it's about time SOMEBODY explained it - so:
Starting back in the late 60s and continuing up to the 80s there was a series of tv ad campaigns for "Hawaiian Punch" (a non-carbonated soft drink that used to come only in "the red flavor" - some fruity blend of chemicals and artificial preservatives that tastes okay but is supposed to be good for your kids because Hawaiian Punch contains 10% REAL FRUIT JUICE! The patently ridiculous nature of this claim is undoubtedly why Frank chose it as source material).
Anyway, the earliest Hawaiian Punch commercials featured some cartoon character who would offer "A nice Hawaiian Punch" to his cartoon counterpart. Upon acceptance of this offer, character number one would punch character number two's lights out - I guess that the ad men thought this was humorous. Now, this commercial and its offspring campaigns had a certain "identifying music button" that went along with 'em, and this "button" is heard in 2 FZ tunes I can think of right off the top of my head. One of them is just after the place in "Drowning Witch" where the words are:
"As a result of people with Hawaiian shirts on"
(The other appearance of the Hawaiian Punch Theme that comes to mind is in the YCDTOSA Vol 1 version of DUMB ALL OVER).
So, you've got that level of the Hawaiian thing going. In the late 70s and early 80s a new Hawaiian Punch TV ad campaign featured Donny and Marie Osmond (SIGH - time for MORE EXPLAINING AGAIN) - Donny and Marie are part of the Osmond family (who are not only musical but typically prolific Mormons). Donny was a teen idol at a young age as lead singer for "The Osmonds", a group which was sort of the white version of the Jackson Five - being made up of all-male siblings. The music of The Osmonds was personified by the ultimate in test-tube pre-fab white-bread sanitized cheezy love songs delivered by Dreamy Hunks for safe consumption by young girls age circa 11-16.
Anyway, Donny Osmond thus entered the Iconography of Americana as The Wholesome Lad to the nth degree. In the late 70s he and his sister, Marie (who had had a few small-time country-rock hits) were re-packaged and sent back out over the American airwaves in the form of "The Donny and Marie Show" - a weekly hour-long "variety-type" show (with musical numbers and skits and suchlike). They carried the standard of Safe, White All-American Wholesome Family Values even further. When their show and careers started to wane, Donny and Marie then lent their Totally Wholesome Demeanor to the new Hawaiian Punch ad campaign.
With the rest of the lyrics for "No, Not Now" laid over the top of all that you can begin to see the picture that it's a certain type of American Archetypical Wholesome All-American Girl not giving up the pussy in this song. Despite her Mormon background, the IMAGE of Marie Osmond is EXACTLY the type of girl you would expect to respond in this way to a request for sex. There's even the haughty sex-witholding of "No, not Now - MAYBE later" - MAYBE later this bitch will REWARD you with her sexual attentions - if you're a good boy. Frank just sprinkled all of these other Hawaiian references (Hawaii Five-O, "Book 'em, Dan-o", Hawaiian shirts, etc.)in there to "unify the collection". The "Hawaiian Lunch" line is seen as a rhyme for Hawaiian Punch.
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	Boog, boog 'em Dano . . . Murder One!
As Bob pointed out right now this is another Hawaiian reference. 'Cose it's a catch phrase from Hawaii Five-O TV series.
For more clues check out THING-FISH. You Are What You Is and BROADWAY THE HARD WAY. The Untouchables
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	No not now (No no not now) No not now (No no no no not now) No not now (No no not now) No not now (No no no no not now) Maybe later Maybe later Oh she goes (She go up, she go down) Up and down (I said up and down) Oh the bull (The whole bull) The whole bull (The whole bull) The whole bull (The whole damn thing) The best in town (Where she go? Ebzen Sauce . . . )
Below is translation of footnotes from German song book Zonx
From: konradfs@netcom.com (Konrad) Weiteres Beispel fur die aussprachemassigen Verballhornungen von Zappa einstigem Liebwachter Glatzkopf-John: Ebzen-Sauce = Epsom Salts (Epsomer Bittersaltz)
"Further example of accent-like bowlderization by Zappa's one-time body guard, Bald-Headed John: Ebzen-Sauce = Epsom Salts." [ a curative soaking agent ]
From: Vladimir And of course, she is a waitress.
Ah, the wife (Ah, the wife) Oh, the waitress (And the waitress too)
Opal, you hot little bitch:-))
Also some general strictly technical:-) notes
From: Tom Mulhern's 83 Guitar Player Zappa interview http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~splat/interviews/gp83.htm
Q: On "No Not Now" [Drowning Witch] there's an extremely distinctive bass line. Did you write it?
FZ: I just made it up. The bass part was done like this: Arthur Barrow came in to play bass and, bar by bar, I would hum it to him. We'd play it, and he'd go as far as he could, and then he'd make a mistake, and then I'd show him the next part, and then we'd punch him in. And that's how it was done: like eight bars at a time. It's a wonderful bass line.
From: Ben Watson Now Not Now has Roy Estrada's falsetto in three-part harmony with itself in nasal falsetto, Ike Willis' choked sincerity, and Ray White's iron tonsils. Zappa described it as "Country & Western on PCP".

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