Zappa.com

Greetings,

This may seem to be a question from beyond left field and I’m not sure to whom I should pose it, but my guess is that Gail would probably know the answer better than anyone.

Did Frank inform his philosophical existence with the works of Thomas Paine?

I see many cognitive parallels between their works. “Dumb All Over” and many other songs from the “You Are What You Is” album could have been Frank channeling Paine.

If I could invite history to my dinner table Frank Zappa and Thomas Paine would definitely be on the A-list.

Please, any insight would be helpful.

Thanks!

P.S. I beg you, keep releasing stuff from the vault. The “Wazoo” was in there too long.

I have never, in all the interviews and articles I have read, with and about zappa, seen the name thomas paine.

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"bit of nostalgia for the old folks."

But do you know who he is?

I think it's just coincidence myself. There's probably a few more famous people that have their lives closely pattern Frank's.

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

. . . . .exactly.

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"bit of nostalgia for the old folks."

How about Bill Payne's connection to Frank ?

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Sometimes, although he is only a comedian, George Carlin says some things that make me believe he is a Zappa fan or at least shares some of the same views...

Ah yes. Given how FZ was pissed off with the Religious Right, it's obvious he informed himself with what the original founding fathers of the USA had to say on topic of church and the state. He definitely agreed with what Paine, Jefferson and others said. Even though the most telling difference is that Zappa was an atheist or an agnostic anyway, whereas most of the founding fathers were deists, they believed in a divine entity, but not the Judeo-Christian type of cosmic control freak.