From: John Henley [jhenley@mail.utexas.edu]
The Mothers were playing in W. Berlin in 1968. During
afternoon soundcheck, FZ was approached by a group of German
youths, who paid him compliments, described themselves as
activists and asked for his assistance in a project. He asked them What
project? They said, tonight we are marching to the American Center in
order to burn it down, and we want you to lead the parade. FZ said, in so
many words, get lost.
At the concert that night, these same "activists," with reinforcements,
disrupted the concert, chanting anti American slogans and piling onto the
stage while the band was playing, and you know how pissed FZ got whenever
a concert was interrupted for no "good" reason. There's film footage of
the incident.
So "Holiday in Berlin" actually has lyrics that tell this story, and I
doubt if FZ ever forgot that night.konradfs@netcom.com (Konrad) wrote:
when was this Berlin riot show? Anybody know the exact date, or at least-- to answer John's question--whether it was before or after the
Birmingham date?From: Bill Lantz [lantz@primenet.com]
October 16, 1968 was the Berlin date. It would make sense that the
Birmingham date is around the 25th of October because they were at the
Albert Hall on that date. But they were in the UK in February and June of
1968 as well.Subject: Mothermania Translation
From: Konrad [konradfs@netcom.com]
Some people missed it the first time round, and I fucked up on one
sentence, not to mention several typos. And it also has the date on the
paper, which indicates the show must have been 10/16/68. So here it is,
corrected, one more time for the world. Happy Thanksgiving.Back cover of Mothermania
-------------------------------------------------Der Abend
Thursday, 17th of October, 1968ALL THE TOYS ARE BROKEN
Spectacle and ruckus: "Mothers of Invention" at the Sportpalast
o It was a complete misunderstanding, last night at the Sportpalast:
America's most radical and engaged underground group, The Mothers of
Invention, saw themselves pressed into the role of "Mothers of Reaction,"
which they actually had intended for the audience.· A radical force of superior strength, colorfully thrown together from
leftists, rockers and hooligans drove them from the stage like reactionary
boogie men. Frank Zappa's total music theater was brought down by the
demands of those who wouldn't buy his message.It began harmoniously enough. They laughed at Roy Estrada's MGM-Lion roar
("The voice of the President of the United States"). They cheered the
song about the "Plastic People," watched with pleasure while a teddy bear
was "sexually aroused" with the arm of a little plastic doll. Frank
Zappa's blue overalls made you expect some action.But the underground leader just shook his black lion's mane, plucked the
strings circumspectly--now playing little Hansel and now the wicked
witch. And the wicked rhymes came nice and cute out of the speakers--
poetry on such unpoetic topics as war and racism.The horns still resounded in the hall like ["Hertha": some kind of
literary reference by a Goethe wannabe rock writer?]: rousing. But
secretly Zappa's enemies had already sounded their attack.The first shot, something pale green, whizzed by at around 8:40 pm.
Unperturbed the Mothers pulled their props out of the magic chest, a
hatbox, and symbolically play acted a little game of toy breaking.Then the first rotten? egg burst onto Zappa's yellow guitar. The Head
Mother said, "You people are acting like pigs!" The battle lines were
drawn: "Evolution vs. Revolution."12 minutes before 9 the stage fences were in tatters. The "evolution"
submitted and left the stage. Helpless from all quarters. The Mothers
manager Barber [sic] only outwardly the picture of calm, moaned, "No, no--this has never happened to us before."The "revolution" took the stage in a surprise attack, set off cherry
bombs, plundered Zappa's hatbox, and generally messed up the equipment. A
little success for the opposition: a Greenager ["green-teenager" referring
to FZ as a radical young person] could be "disarmed" with 50 brown eggs.Zappa scolded: "We came here as musicians and not to hear your drunken
slogans." And: "The situation in Berlin must be pretty desparate for you
to act this way." And: "You're acting like Americans!"Promoter Rau tried unsuccessfully to throw himself between the factions.
"Let's talk about it, friends," he beseeched, hoarse from all these kind
words.But there was nothing more to be done. The police, who had been holding
back discretely up til then, gave friend and foe 10 minutes to clear the
battle zone. The exodus proceeded without incident.Frank Zappa meditated: "It was a very enlightening experience."
Helmut Kopetzky
[trans. konrad steiner]
FZ: We were in Germany recently. We played five dates in Germany last fall. And the German youth today has not come very far from the ones in the short pants singing the same song. Today the German youth-- you know they have sort of their own brand of Flower Power over there. They have hairy boys and girls with beads and funny close, and they're Nazis. Just like their mothers and fathers.
The problem is they believe they are the new left. The believe they are the new "what's happening"--forefront of the youth revolution. You know that student riot that happened last Easter in Berlin.... I's just a crazed fantasy that these kids have that they are actually doing something new. I talked with them and they're justFemale audience member: For the Germans that's new.
FZ: That's new??
Female: Wearing the beads ...
FZ: Yeah, well it's just a question of packaging
Female: Are they organized?
FZ: Yes they are to a certain extent. But like the purpose of their organization is still a little bit cloudy, you know. They talk about a revolution in sort of carnival terms. They're still thinking about banners, gathering together in the street and yelling things at policemen. That's their idea of a revolution, and it's so old-fashioned and corny even.
Female: Do they actually think along Nazi lines or ...?
FZ: No that ACT along Nazi lines.
[elision on tape]
Interviewer: I hear that they wanted you to lead something.
FZ: We had an incident at a concert in Berlin where I was approached by some "student leaders." They told me they student leaders--you know when someone comes and introduces himself to you and says hello I'm a student leader. [laughter] Little red scarf around his neck, flowing over the shoulder, sort of revolutionary flow down here on the side, down to here, a little hair frizzing out to the side, little beard, little khaki coat. Surrounded by people trying to dress like Che Guevara, you know.
They had a sort of robin hood band of German rockers, okay? And we're going to play a concert at the Sportpalast, which is one of the places where Hitler delivered some spiffy speeches during the war. And we're at the rehearsal in the afternoon and this guy says, "I'd like to talk to you for a minute. We'd like your assistance with a political action this evening at the concert." And I said, "Well what do you have, uh, on your mind." And he said, "Well there'll be about 8,000 kids here tonight and most of them have never demonstrated before. And we would like to have you tell them to come with us while we go around the corner and set fire to the Allied Command Center." [peels of laughter] I told him I didn't think that was good mental health. [i.e., crazy] And he got really pissed off, you know, and so they tried to wreck our show.
The minute we came out on stage, about 35 or 50 of these kids out in the audience--'activists' I believe would be what you'd call them. They whipped out a large red banner, waved it, sang "Ho Ho Ho Chi Min," blew air horns, threw vegetables on stage, marched around in the audience while the rest of the kids in the audience were going like this...they didn't know what was going on.
So we continued to play. We had to play a two hour show in the middle of all this bullshit. And these guys were out there stomping around and rah and throwing stuff and the people on the bandstand are getting hit with hard vegetables, you know, cucumbers [laughter], squash. you know they really hit you like a rock up there. And they were throwing eggs, and cherry bombs. And then they grabbed this big fence, like a restraining device to keep the audience away from the performers at those events. It was made out of pipes this big around with a chain link fence in between and concrete feet. And about thirty of them picked it up and tried to throw it on stage, which would have killed both of our drummers by pinning them against the amplifiers, you see.
So our manager Herbie and this German promoter Fritz Rau caught it in mid air and threw it back on them. And then this other guy charged the stage and Herbie put his foot through his face. And then they kept on throwing things, and then they kept on trying to get up onto the stage. We kept pushing these guys back--and we're up there humming and strumming...[laughter] and it was really a very unusual situation.
So then we had to take an intermission, see. We left the stage after an hour of fun and merriment. And during that time the ordinaries, that the local promoter had hired to keep everything under control at the hop thought that we had run off, so they ran away. And when they ran away, about a hundred of these kids wailed up onto the stage and started stomping all over our equipment.
So we come back from intermission, and here's all these people milling around on stage. They don't even know why they're there. They look like cows. They're standing there like this, But they're standing, you know, on drums, and they're knocking things over, and a few of the guys had stolen small pieces of equipment and disappeared into the audience. They were just making a lot of noise and standing around. Just completely blank. They don't even know what their revolution is about.
So we started pushing them of the stage. We started putting our equipment back together. We got the PA system working. And I gave them a speech for about 15 minutes, wherein I discussed the possibility that they were acting more like Americans than anything I've ever seen. And that pissed them off. And they're out there yelling "Revolution, Revolution"--and I'm saying "You people need evolution, not revolution."
And they said, "No take it back you're the Mothers of Reaction." And I told them they were {beep}, and they understand English. I told them whether they liked it or not we were going to continued to play the second half of the program. So gradually they shut up, and they sat down. The only thing that happened during the second hour was one cherry bomb on stage.
And we had played about 45-50 minutes, and we were into a long instrumental piece, which was going to be our closing number, and I'd reduced the volume of the tune so that I could say good night to the nice German people. At which point the student leader with the red rag around his neck comes running up on stage and grabs the microphone and starts raving in German. I just knew he was telling these people, "I've got the matches come with me."
So we played real loud so nobody could hear what he was saying. Two people were taking the instruments off the stage, you know piece by piece pulling things away until it was just me and the organist left on stage playing one full-volume fuzztone loud ugly note that was just going BLAAAAAH. And it was the only thing that kept people back off the stage, 'cause they kept trying to get up onto the stage and this noise would hit them and they'd go ...
Finally when they got all the drums and all the rest of the stuff out of the way, we just unplugged and split off the stage, and they all came milling back up there. And they looked around and they didn't know why they were on stage again.
That's Germany today.
[There's a little portion of this incident filmed in the UNCLE MEAT video.]
| 00:00 | Theme A | Semi-Fraudulent/Direct-From-Hollywood Overture (200 MOTELS) | Bogus Pomp (LSO Vol. 2) |
| 00:18 | Theme A | Would You Like A Snack? (200 MOTELS) | |
| 00:46 | Theme B | Overture to a Holiday in Berlin 0:00-0:24; 0:48-1:00 (BWS) | World's Greatest Sinner O.S. |
| 01:11 | Theme C | Overture to a Holiday in Berlin 0:24-0:48 (BWS) | |
| 01:35 | |||
| 01:47 | Theme D | Overture to a Holiday in Berlin 1:00-1:27(BWS) | World's Greatest Sinner O.S. |
| 02:20 | Theme D | Holiday In Berlin (AHEAD OF THEIR TIME) | World's Greatest Sinner O.S. |
| 02:57 | Inca Roads guitar solo (ONE SIZE FITS ALL) |
| MUDSHARK VARIATIONS | ||
| 01:07 | Semi-Fraudulent/Direct-From-Hollywood Overture (200 MOTELS) | Bogus Pomp (LSO Vol. 2) |
| HOLIDAY IN BERLIN | ||
| 00:00 | Would You Like A Snack? (200 MOTELS) | |
| 00:50 | Overture to a Holiday in Berlin (BURNT WEENY SANDWICH) | |
| 02:05 | Holiday In Berlin (AHEAD OF THEIR TIME) | |
| SLEEPING IN A JAR [This is not Sleeping in a Jar anyway] | ||
| 00:00 | Inca Roads guitar solo (ONE SIZE FITS ALL) | |
| 06:21 | Easy Meat instrumental (TINSEL TOWN REBELLION) | |
1968
This tune premieres on this tour in a rather hesitant and somewhat incomplete version. While it possibly premieres at an earlier date, the first available performance of this tune appears on the 4/20 Fillmore East tape. Arising out of an improvised R&B jam, the tune first coalesces around the lone sound of Frank's guitar, who ventures into this unknown territory while the rest of the band remains in rhythm and blues land. Frank establishes the melody, at which point the horn section joins the song and begins playing along with Frank. Finally, the rhythm section joins the groove, and we find ourselves in an early sounding instrumental version of "Holiday in Berlin". The written portion is much shorter here than it is on "Burnt Weeny Sandwich", with the transition into the solos coming after only one full band run through of the main theme. Frank solos first, followed by one of the horn players. These solos are quite lengthy, and tend to bore quickly due to the very repetitive nature of the rhythm section. After the second solo, the music slowly falls apart before quickly reforming and heading into an instrumental version of "Cruisin' for Burgers". This is not as majestic as later versions would be (including the awesome Flo 'n' Eddie with-vocals renditions), but it is still nice to hear.
1970
HOLIDAY IN BERLIN: Essentially performed as on "Freaks and Motherfu*#@%!" from Beat the Boots Volume I, with the standard deviation coming in Frank's solo. As the song appears here and on other officially released boots, it is actually the vocal version of "Would You Like A Snack?" combined with the vocal version of "Holiday in Berlin". The instrumental combination of these two tracks constitute the tune we all know as "Holiday in Berlin, Full Blown" from "Burnt Weeny Sandwich". Frank included the first portion of this tune on "200 Motels" along with a set of vocals, and this portion thus became "Would You Like A Snack?". Upon the release of this album, the name "Holiday in Berlin" actually only refers to the tune that begins with the lines "Look at all the Germans". For this tour, upon completion of the lyrics, the band smoothly eases into the melody line of the post- guitar solo "Inca Roads" theme, which is accompanied by a singing Flo 'n' Eddie. This would then lead us into Frank's solo. To further confuse matters, this tune also contains the instrumental chorus to what would eventually become "Easy Meat". Upon finishing his solo, Frank and the band would jump into this short musical theme, and then Frank would conclude the proceedings with a short burst of guitar. While Frank's solos during this tune are some of the highlights of the tour, the band's performance is also particularly noteworthy, with each member providing some excellent support for Frank's playing.
WOULD YOU LIKE A SNACK?: This track from "200 Motels" originally appeared as the opening instrumental portion of "Holiday in Berlin, Full Blown" from "Burnt Weeny Sandwich". For this tour, however, and the album it eventually appears on, this instrumental track acquires a set of lyrics, and thus becomes its own song. It is still entrenched as the opening moments of "Holiday in Berlin", and appears as an unlisted track on both "Freaks and Motherfu*#@%!" and "Tengo Na Minchi Tanta" from the Beat the Boots series.WOULD YOU LIKE A SNACK?- This track from "200 Motels" originally appeared as the opening instrumental portion of "Holiday in Berlin, Full Blown" from "Burnt Weeny Sandwich". For this tour, however, and the album it eventually appears on, this instrumental track acquires a set of lyrics, and thus becomes its own song. It is still entrenched as the opening moments of "Holiday in Berlin", and appears as an unlisted track on both "Freaks and Motherfu*#@%!" and "Tengo Na Minchi Tanta" from the Beat the Boots series.
Site maintained by Román García Albertos