Call Any Vegetable

FZ album(s) in which song has appeared:

Absolutely Free (1967) as a three-part suite, including: Call Any Vegetable, Invocation and Ritual Dance of the Young Pumpkin, and Soft-Sell Conclusion, recorded at TTG, LA, November 1966
- same version, as one only song with the solo edited out on Mothermania (1969) as Call Any Vegetable
- same version, but only "Invocation and Ritual Dance of the Young Pumpkin" and "Soft-Sell Conclusion," on The **** Of The Mothers (1969)
- same version on The Mothers Of Invention (Golden Archive Series)
spoken part on Playground Psychotics (1992) as Champagne Lecture, performed in 1970
BTB I: Freaks & Motherfu*#@%! (1991) as Call Any Vegetable, performed in NYC, November 1970
Just Another Band From L.A. (1972) as Call Any Vegetable, performed in LA, August 7, 1971
BTB II: Swiss Cheese/Fire! (1992) as Call Any Vegetable, performed in Montreaux, December 4, 1971

Tour(s) in which song is known to have been performed (main source: FZShows, v. 7.1):

November, 1968-May, 1969 (MOI)
May, 1970 (MOI Reunion)
June-December, 1970 (MOI)
August-October, 1971 (MOI)
November-December, 1971 (MOI European Tour)
February-March, 1988 (North America) <rehearsals>

Comments:

FZ interviewed by Frank Kofsky, c. 1967:

"Call Any Vegetable" was written two weeks after we finished Freak Out!, when we were in Hawaii, and it took a year to learn how to play it.

FZ on the April 1975 Royal Albert Hall Trial, as quoted on The Real Frank Zappa Book, p. 121:

The subject matter of that song deals with the concept of apathy between a member of the audience and any form of inert material.

Touring versions from Foggy G's We're Only In It For The Touring:

1970 Jun-Dec
Essentially performed as on "Freaks and Motherfu*#@%!" from Beat the Boots Volume I, with the standard deviation coming in Frank's solo, and in his post-solo "lecture".
1971
Essentially performed as on JABFLA, with the standard deviation coming in Frank's solo, and in the post-solo "lecture" given by Frank. Like Flo 'n' Eddie's routines, Frank usually caters his speech to the audience, throwing in local references and giving each performance its own flavor. Flo 'n' Eddie's "where can I go?" segment also changes nightly, and typically reflects the locale of the concert.

Conceptual Continuity:

Duke Of Prunes
Plastic People ("A prune is not a vegetable")

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This page updated: 2008-06-09