Zappa.com

What do you know about FZ speaking foreign languages?

Italian –
he must have spoken some Italian because of his family background

German –
he had at least two songs in German, though in an interview he said someone had old him the translation for Sofa was ridiculous, so he wasn't aware of that.
In another interview he said he was able to place orders in a restaurant and also could "ask for an ashtray" in German.
In the TV documentation by the two Austrians (was it AAAFNRAA?) during the recording sessions for the Varese stuff in '93 someone from the Ensemble Modern crew says: "Es läuft" ("It's running" – meaning the tape or the HD recording) and Frank replies "Wo denn?" (means "Where?" – at least I hear it that way, please correct me if I'm wrong).

Thinman

_________________
Active forum member since 2005 - R E T I R E D from this forum in 2013

At the beginning of the Barcelona '88 video, he reads a prepared statement in Spanish to the audience. One line I thought was pretty funny was something like (pardon my spanish) "Por favor excuse me pronunciacion, pero he aprendido hablar espanol como un loro".

_________________
Let's hear it again for the London Philharmonic Orchestra!

On the BTB disc 'Fire/Swiss Cheese' I believe there is actually a translation of Sofa or another song in Swiss.

What about "Yo Hozna" is that in another language or are the vocals reversed or what?

_________________
"If you wind up with a boring, miserable life because you listened to your mother, your Dad, your priest, to some guy on television, to any of the people telling you how to do your shit, then you DESERVE it."

No, I don't mean reading some prepared statement (that would be like JFK in Berlin and his famous words "Ich bin ein Berliner" which had been written down phonetically in his prepared speech), I mean, was he really able to SPEAK any bit of foreign language?

By the way, this is for the Germans on this forum: the little Ensemble Modern episode reminds me of the Loriot cartoon, i believe it was the horse race ("Ja, wo laufen sie denn?")

@grand_wazoo: YaHozna is backwards of course. C'mon, I bet you knew that! (Edit: AND contains foreign language, Sofa in German. Which is not so forein for me of course, 'cause it's my native language)

T.

_________________
Active forum member since 2005 - R E T I R E D from this forum in 2013

Yeah, I guess I understood what you meant, but I opted to throw in that little Barcelona example anyway. It's so rare to hear foreign languages in Zappa so that example kinda stuck out in my mind. I wonder how much Spanish he actually knew? Prob'ly little to none.



A few months ago IdiotBastardson posted this, which I downloaded and am putting back in play. It's quite cool!

YA HOZNA BACKWARDS MP3

_________________
Let's hear it again for the London Philharmonic Orchestra!

Well, what they speak in Switzerland is just some KIND of German ("Schwyzerdütsch"), besides French and Italian.

T.

_________________
Active forum member since 2005 - R E T I R E D from this forum in 2013

In 1982 FZ ended the concert because an idiot threw things on the stage. Before this happened he warned the audience and he added: "Verstehen ?".

In a show from 1988 he called off several kinds of Wurst: Knackwurst, Bratwurst, Bockwurst. Maybe it was Fürth, can't remember. It sounded quite spontaneous.

There are more examples, how he surprised at least his German audience with German words and sentences. But I suppose somebody teached him those words:

Cologne 1988: Wir machen jetzt eine Kunstpause.

Düsseldorf 1978: Was macht so eine Biene wie Du an so einem Ort.

and so on.

I believe FZ was at least interested in foreign languages and the cultures of the countries he travelled.

I would like to know what he did when he had a day off while touring outside the US. Whether he found the time to take a walk through the city ?

_________________
What's the ugliest part of your body ?

I thought it was but I just wanted to be certain.

_________________
"If you wind up with a boring, miserable life because you listened to your mother, your Dad, your priest, to some guy on television, to any of the people telling you how to do your shit, then you DESERVE it."

At one point near the end of his life he even went on vacation. In "Zappa - Is FZ America's Kept Musical Secret?" (published by Keyboard and Guitar Player in '92 or '93) there is an interview with his technician Dave Dondorf. Dondorf had to rewire the studio prior to the Yellow Shark project. So the studio would be out of order for some days.

Dondorf: "Frank took the familiy to Spain for a week".

T.

_________________
Active forum member since 2005 - R E T I R E D from this forum in 2013

Reminds me of Jon Anderson saying to a female member of the audience: "Schnuckiputz" and another Jon Anderson incident in concert in Hannover 2003 where he made a reference to FZ and cited "Dancin' Fool" during his solo spot.

(Yes, I'm outing myself – I'm a YES fan, too. Don't blame me for that)

T.

_________________
Active forum member since 2005 - R E T I R E D from this forum in 2013

No problem, I've seen much worse things in my life.

_________________
What's the ugliest part of your body ?

We could probably start another thread about Zappa-YES connections, but I'll put here what came to my knowledge:

- FZ talking positively about Steve Howe's solo in a song by his pre-YES band Tomorrow "My White Bicycle"
- Steve Howe being a huge FZ fan
- Jon Anderson being a huge FZ fan ("the heroes of my youth: Mickey Mouse and Frank Zappa" – JA with YES in Hannover 2003)
- rumour: Chris Squire and Dweezil going to the gym together reguarly (if Squire ever saw a gym from the inside ). I think, he said that in some interview
- FZ citing Owner Of A Lonely Heart

_________________
Active forum member since 2005 - R E T I R E D from this forum in 2013

I love Yes also! I think that "Close to the Edge" as one of the greatest songs EVER recorded. I saw Jon Anderson in concert earlier this year with the School of Rock All Stars. It was AMAZING! We actually should make another thread for this.

_________________
"If you wind up with a boring, miserable life because you listened to your mother, your Dad, your priest, to some guy on television, to any of the people telling you how to do your shit, then you DESERVE it."

I honestly and humbly confess: If I was allowed to take just one record with me to the desert island it would be RELAYER.

_________________
Active forum member since 2005 - R E T I R E D from this forum in 2013

I like Siberian Khatru and Heart Of The Sunrise(correct title?) but I haven't really been able to get into Yes properly.

"The Gates of Delerium", I'll wager. The final battle scene/end coda is the best. I can easily imagine the fighting from the music.

_________________
Stay with me flagrantly and we'll have ecstasy for all eternity.

Favorite Yes epics

"Awaken" from Going For The One
"The Revealing Science of God" from Tales of Topographic Oceans
"Close to the Edge" from Close to the Edge
"Gates of Delirium" from Relayer
"Heart of the Sunrise" from Fragile

Man, those guys are great!

_________________
Let's hear it again for the London Philharmonic Orchestra!

Buy Fragile you won't be sorry!

_________________
"If you wind up with a boring, miserable life because you listened to your mother, your Dad, your priest, to some guy on television, to any of the people telling you how to do your shit, then you DESERVE it."

Thanks, I'll definitely check it out GW, I do have a couple of their albums; Yes (CD) and Close To The Edge on vinyl, I also have this 30th anniversary thing, I don't reckon much to all the pop stuff they came out with later on.

On topic: Zappa speaks Dutch: "May you never hear vloerbedekking again!" (Lumpy Gravy theme on Jazz Noise).

_________________

Join the PackardGoose forum! Send me a PM!

AND, not to forget, Rhaeto-Romaic (Or "Rhaeto-Romance").

--Bat

_________________
<------PhotoArtWerk by debutante_daisy http://www.facebook.com/BatchainTheMovie

Hey, I'm Italian and I don't speak any!

Unless dirty words count.

_________________

was frank zappa affected by filipino language. "yowsa yowsa yowsa" is a variation of tagalog "sayow sayow sayow", which means "dance, dance, dance"?

No, I think Frank borrowed it (Yowsa Yowsa Yowsa) from Chic. (Dance Dance Dance).

_________________
You gotta give the people something good to read, on a Sunday