1973: Of the four parts of the "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" medley present on this tour which would make it onto "Apostrophe", it is this part which appears in its most different form. Instead of the appropriately plodding nature of the official version (which does a wonderful job of musically conveying the sense of walking through snow), this version is taken at a rather hyper pace, with an extended, busy intro, and some funky, Duke keyboards underlying the vocals. The vocals are not as fully developed as they eventually would be, and the whole tune comes off as rather messily composed. Not the best of debuts, but an interesting look at the working mind of Frank. For this tour, this song always appears as part one of the five part "Don't Eat" medley (including part two "Nanook Rubs It", part three "St. Alphonso's Pancake Breakfast", part four an extended "Father O'Blivion", and part five the this-tour-only "Mar-juh-rene").
1974 Jul-Dec: Arranged somewhat differently on this tour than on the official release and on subsequent tours. Essentially, it was the hyperactive, lots of extraneous music version. It starts off as normal until the conclusion of the first vocal line. But after this line, and almost every subsequent line, the band would play the opening theme of the song, but in a very loud, very overdone style. After playing this theme, the next line would be sung, then the aforementioned theme, then a line, etc., until we reach "Nanook". Interesting. This song was always played as part one of the four part "Don't Eat" suite.
1978: Essentially performed as on "Saarbrucken" from Beat the Boots Volume I. This song was always performed as part one of the five part suite. [DETYS- part one, Nanook Rubs It- part two, St. Alphonso's Pancake Breakfast- part three, Father O'Blivion- part four, Rollo- part five]
1979: Essentially played as on YCDTOSA Volume I, and always appeared as the first part of the five part suite which Frank just called "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow." [one- DETYS, two- Nanook Rubs It, three- St. Alphonso's Pancake Breakfast, four- Father O' Blivion, five- Rollo]
1980 Mar-Jul: Essentially performed as on "Apostrophe (')", allowing for obvious differences in instrumentation. For the first time in its career, this song is performed as a solo piece, without the other songs commonly found in the "Don't Eat" suite.
1980 Oct-Dec: Essentially performed as on "Apostrophe (')", accounting for obvious differences in instrumentation. For the second time in its career (the first being the previous '80 tour), this song is performed as a solo piece, without the other songs commonly found in the "Don't Eat" suite.
Variations:
DANCE WITH ME
YELLOW SNOW
DONT EAT THE YELLOW SNOW
Thanks to Charles Ulrich for the first draft.
Original 1973 Version | Sydney, June 25, 1973 | Apostrophe (') | London, 1979 (YCDTOSA Vol. 1) (see edits) | |
Soundboard Tape | OSD / YCDTOSA Vol. 6 | |||
I. Don't Eat The Yellow Snow | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Don't Eat The Yellow Snow | 0:00-0:19 | (0:25-0:27) | (0:13-0:16) | |
0:19-1:16 | 0:05-0:57 | 1. Don't Eat The Yellow Snow | 0:00-2:24 | |
Nanook Rubs It | 1:16-1:18 | 0:57-1:00 | 2. Nanook Rubs It | 2:24-13:23 |
1:18-1:28 | ||||
1:28-3:22 | 1:00-2:53 | |||
3:22-4:08 | ||||
4:08-4:48 | 2:53-3:33 | |||
4:48-4:53 | ||||
4:53-9:01 | 3:33-7:41 | |||
9:01-9:03 | ||||
9:03-9:04 | 7:41-7:42 | |||
II. St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast | ||||
St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast | 9:04-9:24 | 3. St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast | 13:23-14:33 | |
9:24-10-19 | 7:42-8:37 | |||
10:19-10:21 | ||||
Rollo Interior | 10:21-11:04 | 14:33-15:10 | ||
Father O'Blivion | 11:04-13:24 | 4. Father O'Blivion | 15:10-17:26 | |
St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast (reprise) | 13:24-14:25 | |||
Mar-Juh-Rene | 14:25-17-56 | 8:37-12:05 | ||
17:56-17:58 | ||||
17:58-18:12 | 12:05-12:20 | |||
18:12-18:15 | ||||
18:15-18:21 | 12:20-12:26 | |||
Father O'Blivion (reprise) | 18:21-19:15 | |||
19:15-19:24 | 0:00-0:09 | |||
19:24-19:33 | ||||
19:33-21:44 | 0:09-2:21 | |||
21:44-21:50 | ||||
Rollo Goes Out | 17:26-20:16 | |||
III. Farther Oblivion | ||||
Join The March And Eat My Starch | 21:50-22:18 | |||
The Steno Pool At Big Swifty's | 22:18-27:01 | |||
Transitional section | 27:01-27:26 | |||
The Be-Bop Tango | 27:26-37:05 | |||
Drum solo | 37:05-42:27 | |||
Cucamonga | 42:27-43:46 |
FZ used the title Don't Eat The Yellow Snow in three different ways. On Apostrophe, it refers to the opening section of the suite, before the arrival of the fur trapper. The Don't Eat The Yellow Snow single, on the other hand, corresponds to the first two tracks on Apostrophe, including Nanook Rubs It as well as Don't Eat The Yellow Snow in the narrow sense. FZ also used the title in this sense when introducing the suite in concert in 1973:
This is a collection of musical events that work together to form another big event. The first event is called "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow". It's about baby seals and lead-filled snowshoes. The second song, which is actually sort of part two of "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow", is called "St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast", and it's a religious number. Then, as if that weren't enough, ladies and gentlemen, and folks, it goes into an instrumental mish-mash entitled "Farther Oblivion" that has-hey!-a drum solo in it. Hey! And some other stuff. Okay? ... the Sydney premiere. —FZ, 6/24/73 Sydney
This is a collection of three pieces glued together. The first one is called "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow". The second one is called "St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast". And the third one is called "Farther Oblivion". —FZ, 6/28/73 Melbourne
These introductions show that FZ saw I+II+III as a single composite work ("another big event", "a collection of three pieces glued together"). But it's not clear whether, in 1973, he would have used the title Don't Eat The Yellow Snow to refer to I+II and/or to I+II+III. On YCDTOSA 1, however, he did use the title Don't Eat The Yellow Snow for the entire 1978/1979 suite.
April-June, 1973 | studio, 1973-1974 | October-November, 1974 | August, 1978-March, 1979 | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sydney, Australia, June 24, 1973 | NYC, NY, October 31, 1974 (late show) | Chicago, IL, September 29, 1978 | ||||
The Crux Of The Biscuit (2016) | The Roxy Performances (2018) | The Crux Of The Biscuit (2016) | Apostrophe (') (1974) | Chicago '78 (2016) | ||
6. Don't Eat The Yellow Snow/St. Alphonzo's Pancake Breakfast (Live) | 6. 11. Don't Eat The Yellow Snow—In Session | 12. Don't Eat The Yellow Snow (Basic Track—Alternate Take) | 1. Don't Eat The Yellow Snow | 11. Yellow Snow Suite | 2.05. Don't Eat The Yellow Snow | |
fast "Midnight Sun" instrumental intro | 00:01-00:22 | |||||
"Don't Eat The Yellow Snow" (fast 7/8 version) | 00:22-01:10 | 0:06-9:42 | ||||
"Don't Eat The Yellow Snow" (slow 7/4 - 7/8 version) | 0:00-2:08 | 0:00-1:58 | ||||
"Don't Eat The Yellow Snow" (slow 7/4 - 7/8 version with interpolations) | 01:37-04:29 | 00:00-02:14 | ||||
"Watch out where the huskies go" (4/4 - a capella) | 9:42-9:49 | 1:58-2:05 | 04:29-04:35 | 02:14-02:21 | ||
6. 12. Nanook Rubs It—In Session | 13. Nanook Rubs It (Basic Tracks—Outtake) | 2. Nanook Rubs It | ||||
"Nanook Rubs It" (including "Midnight Sun") | 01:10-04:58 | 0:00-3:21 | 0:00-0:42 | 0:00-3:05 | 04:35-07:47 | 02:21-08:40 |
("I can't see" brass section) | 3:05-3:26 | |||||
("He took a dog-doo...") | 04:58-06:11 | 3:21-5:04 | 3:26-4:37 | 07:47-08:56 | 08:40-09:35 | |
14. Nanook Rubs It (Session Outtake) | ||||||
("patron saint...") | 06:11-06:51 | 5:04-5:41 | 0:00-0:48 | 08:56-09:19 | 09:35-10:13 | |
6. 13. St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast—In Session | 3. St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast | |||||
"St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast" (intro) | 06:51-07:19 | 0:00-0:24 | 0:00-0:23 | 09:19-09:45 | 10:13-10:35 | |
"St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast" | 07:19-08:11 | 0:24-2:05 | 0:23-1:09 | 09:45-11:03 | 10:35-11:23 | |
"Rollo" | 08:11-08:58 | 2:05-2:46 | 1:09-1:50 | 11:03-11:47 | 11:23-12:01 | |
6. 14. Father O'Blivion—In Session | 4. Father O'Blivion | |||||
"Father O'Blivion" | 08:58-11:24 | 0:00-2:12 | 0:00-2:12 | 11:47-14:19 | 12:01-14:25 | |
"St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast" (intro) | 11:24-11:53 | 2:12-2:31 | 2:12-2:17 | 14:19-14:22 | ||
"St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast" (fast) | 11:53-12:28 | |||||
"Mar-Juh-Rene" | 12:28-16:07 | |||||
"Father O'Blivion" (reprise) | 16:07-18:55 | |||||
"Farther Oblivion" | 18:55-19:23 | |||||
"Rollo" | 14:25-16:52 |
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