FZ album(s) in which song has appeared

• Absolutely Free (1967), as America Drinks, recorded at T.T.G., Los Angeles, CA, November 1966
  • same version on Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention (Transparency) (1975)
• Absolutely Free (1967), as America Drinks & Goes Home, recorded at T.T.G., Los Angeles, CA, November 1966
  • same version on Mothermania (1969), as America Drinks And Goes Home
  • same version on The Mothers Of Invention (Golden Archive Series)
• Beat The Boots III: Disc Two (2009), as America Drinks & Goes Home, performed c. 1967-1968
• BTB II: Electric Aunt Jemima (1992), as part of English Tea Dancing Interludes, performed in Denver, CO, May 3, 1968
• Waka/Wazoo (2022), as America Drinks, performed in San Francisco, CA, December 15, 1972
• Zappa In New York 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (2019), as America Drinks, performed in New York, NY, December 26, 1976

Other recordings:

• Jean-Luc Ponty King Kong (Pacific Jazz, 1970), as America Drinks And Goes Home
• Woody Herman Thundering Herd (Fantasy 9452, 1974)

 

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

• September-October 1967 (1st MOI European Tour)—known performances: 1
• October 1967-August 1968 (MOI)—known performances: 5
• October-December 1972 (Petit Wazoo)—known performances: 9
• December 1976 (New York)—known performances: 1

 

Comments

Foggy G, "The Songs That Were Played," We're Only In It For The Touring

1968: Simply beautiful in all its cheesy splendor. This often ignored classic pops up at least once this year (on 4/10), and apart from the slightly improvised lyrics, essentially appears as on "Absolutely Free". Sandwiched between a healthy dose of energy called "Hungry Freaks Daddy" and the tour-de-force musical monster of "King Kong", this lounge act homage provides the perfect contrast and relief, and highlights one of the most enjoyable tapes from this tour.

1972: An instrumental, busily arranged version of the "Absolutely Free" track, with some random jazz madness thrown in just to be safe. Running at about 4 minutes in length, this upbeat tune basically consists of a series of themes and motifs—heavy on the horn arrangements—interspersed throughout with short horn solos.

Structure

Themes	"America Drinks" (Absolutely Free, 1967)	"America Drinks & Goes Home"(Absolutely Free, 1967)	"America Drinks And Goes Home" (Jean-Luc Ponty King Kong, 1970)	America Drinks (San Francisco, CA, December 15, 1972) (Waka/Wazoo, 2022)	"America Drinks" (Woody Herman Thundering Herd, 1974)	"America Drinks" (New York, NY, December 26, 1976) (Zappa In New York 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition, 2019)
intro					0:00-0:08
theme A	0:17-1:19	0:04-1:08	0:00-1:06	0:46-1:40	0:08-0:40	0:48-1:39
link 1 (solos)			1:06-1:22	1:40-1:53		1:39-1:51
theme B			1:22-2:28	1:53-2:51		1:51-2:56
theme C				2:51-3:12		2:56-3:18
theme A (solos)		1:08-2:08		3:12-4:08
theme A (solos & variants)					0:40-2:57
theme A (fade out)					2:57-3:22
theme D				4:08-4:32
solos						3:18-4:35
theme A1 (fast)			2:28-2:36	4:32-4:43		4:35-4:39
theme A2 (slow finale)				4:43-5:10
finale		2:08-2:40

 

Conceptual Continuity

• You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here ("Caravan with a drum sola")
• I'm A Band Leader ("Twist Contest" & "Bill Baley")