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I have been coming across comments here and there that antagonize Yoko Ono about the Sometime In New York City album in regards to the live disc and issues with John and Yoko’s performance with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. As I have a bit of an insight due to a recorded interview I have with Frank Zappa himself (released on CD by “baktabak”), the SINYC CD, and the Playground Psychotics CD, which contains FZ’s release of the same material, I thought I would share with the group the fruits of my investigations.
The issue that has caused a bit of controversy, in short, is that John & Yoko did not handle the writing and publishing credits “correctly” on the SINYC album and that their version of the editing was questionable-- or so some have said. What FZ said in the interview was that a journalist introduced John Lennon to him, that he and John hit it off, and that FZ invited John and Yoko to sit in on the recording that FZ and the Mothers were making, namely the live at the Filmore East-- June 1971 album. It was agreed at the end of the session that John and Yoko would get a copy of the master tape and that FZ and J&Y would be free to release their own versions of the material.
What I got from the interview with FZ was that he was personally disappointed with a speific song, “Jamrag.” That’s it. He was disappointed because his band was playing “King Kong,” a piece he composed. He felt that it's having been a composed piece was obvious due to its structure, most notably its melody. Where the miscommunication took place is not at all obvious to me because I was not there. Further, Frank was disappointed over the fact that he was not noted in the credits for that section, that John and Yoko gave writing and publishing credit to themselves-- and that they failed to pay Frank for use of “his” material. Frank also noted that in one other piece, “Scum Bag,” that words that were sung at the concert were removed from the final published recording. He just noted it. I do not know that he had a problem with it.
For the record, the removed words were, “Gonna put all my possessions in a....” and the like-- putting the “scum bag” in several contexts, mostly humorous. But Frank himself is heard on the recording addressing the audience, “I don’t know whether you can tell what the words are to this song, but there’s only two of ‘em....” Further, on the Playground Psychotics, FZ version, where Frank included said deleted words, I have a hard time understanding them anyway. Personally, I think that both versions work.
FZ published his version of the material in 1992, J&Y in 1972. The songs are divided up differently and with different amounts of time per piece. Interestingly, “Jamrag” does not become “King Kong,” but two songs, “Say Please” and “Aaawk.” Whereas the SINYC album depicts the title of “Scumbag” as a single word in print, PP depicts it as two words, “Scum Bag.” On PP, the song,“Well,” is just that. On SINYC, it is listed as, “Well (Baby Please Don’t Go).” As Frank included all the sung material on “Scum Bag,” he credited the vocalist, Howard Kaylan, in print. And, of course, he added FZ to the credits of “Say Please” and “Aaawk.” Finally, the song, “Au,” from the SINYC album becomes-- and this is cute, I think-- “A Small Eternity With Yoko Ono.” (I think this fits with her style as per her idea of “Approximately Infinite Universe--” and come across as a little like a brother poking fun at his sister).
Something worth noting is that, in the interview, FZ is unsure whether it was John or Yoko who made the editorial decisions. Further, disappointed as he may have been during the interview, what he chose to carve in stone in the credits of the PP CD is far more eloquent. He simply notes that his version is, “ a substantially different mix from what they released.” Perhaps time healed that wound in a way and Frank got a little more playful with the material than he could be years before. I think the bitterness that the some of the public throws at Yoko over this issue becomes pretty ridiculous when you put the facts alonside one another and with an understaning of the temperaments of the artsts involved. Further, can anyone name any other woman musician who FZ shared writing or publishing credits with who was not his employee? And, finally, is it just me or is there an obvious influence of Yoko on some of the vocalizations that Frank had in his music in later years?
An easy fix to this could simply be to add FZ to the writing credits of “Jamrag” and with a note that it was inspired by FZ’s “King Kong” and clear that with Gail Zappa or something when the CD gets remastered and re- released someday. Life can be so easy when you let it.
Jokie X Wilson 7/23/2
photo by HowRad
Jokie maintains the Faerie Freedom Village pages at http://www.faerievillage.com/ and is the Moderator for the Yahoo! Group of the same name [ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FaerieFreedomVillage/ ]. He is the Producer for this event - here's an article about the 2002 happening at the SF WEEKLY : http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/2002-07-03/nightcrawler.html/1/index.html
