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Before announcing the "Ring of Fire" secret word, Frank mentions another secret word- something like, "Your buddy's dirt (something something)". Anyone know exactly what he said and what it refers to?

FZ: Hello! Boy, got y'all JAMMED in here, don't dey? What's that say? "Thanks for coming, what's the secret word for tonight? Your buddies Dirk, Tom and Tommy." Okay . . . Alright, guys, you're looking for another secret word? The secret word for tonight is RING OF FIRE! Let me try 'n explain this to you, folks: This afternoon at the hotel I was introduced for the first time to Johnny Cash, and Johnny was going to come to the concert tonight, and he was going to sing with us. Unfortunately his wife got sick so he can't come tonight, BUT . . . this afternoon we actually learned how to play a reggae version of "Ring Of Fire," and we've been trying to decide whether or not we oughta play it even if Johnny's not gonna sing it. Now, maybe you can help us decide. How many people would like to hear "Ring Of Fire" if Johnny is not going to sing it? How many people DON'T want to hear "Ring Of Fire"? I think most people want to hear "Ring Of Fire." Okay, here it comes, folks . . .

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"If Frank Zappa cut a fart and mixed it to stereo, I'd buy it!" - jimmie d

Wow, thanx- I never would have gotten that. All I wuz gettin wuz somethin like "your buddies dirt palm and commie" (!). Kinda like the old Jimi Hendrix "scuse me while I kiss this guy" thing.
Hey- I've got another one for ya: On MAJNH, right before the band goes into "Theme From Lumpy Gravy", Frank proclaims, "And you'll never hear (something) again"... What's the something?
And BTW, who is Dirk, Tom and Tommy? Any Zappalogical significance/ Conceptual Continuity?

zappa lyrics (and much, much more) here: .information is not knowledge

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"bit of nostalgia for the old folks."

vloerbedekking

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"I'll do the stupid thing first and then you shy people follow..."

frank's thursday night mah-jong buddies

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Indeed. Check out disc one of YCDTOSA #1 for the CC...

OK, I've got the album. Zero me in on which track.

The Flo and Eddie early version of Sofa?

That would be the one. I'm fairly certain it's in there and the reference is that both performances (Sofa from '71 and Lumpy Gravy from '88) were in the same venue. I read this somewhere in a Ben Watson book. If I'm wrong about YCDTOSA, then you might want to check "Divan" on Playground Psychotics.

So, I think I'm actually wrong about this. If you happen to have Watson's The Negative Dialectics of Poodle-Play, then check out the chapter on MAJNH. If not, I'll dig up the quote and post it tonight.

Ben Watson, love him or hate him, on page 505 of The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play, says:

"The rendition of 'Theme from Lumpy Gravy' in Rotterdam (3 May 1988) is preceded by Zappa crying, "May you never hear vloerbedekking again!' This is an example of Zappa's fastidious memory for location. On 27 November 1971 in Rotterdam Flo & Eddie performed a specially tailored 'Divan' routine which has them sing God's song to the sofa in Dutch: "Geef mij wat vloer bedekking onder deze vette zwevende sofa' (Give me some floor covering under this fat floating sofa). The reference is in keeping with the whole valedictory nature of the 1988 tour and the entire Stage series. It precedes the surf tune from Lumpy Gravy and refers to Jimi Hendrix's famous aside, "May you never hear surf music again'."