#bongo fury

Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, and The Mothers // Muffin Man

Bongo Fury was released on 2 October 1975.

Consisting mostly of live performances from 20-21 May appearances at Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, TX. It would be Captain Beefheart's only tour with Zappa (contractual difficulties prohibited Beefheart from touring on his own so Zappa offered him a spot in his band. 2 of Beefheart's compositions are on Bongo Fury: "Sam with the Showing Scalp Flat Top" and "Man with the Woman Head"). It would also be the last official album to include the Mothers of Invention name.

As I sit here on America's 249th birthday, July 4th, 2025, it seems like only yesterday that we were gearing up for the 200th birthday celebration. It was 50 years ago (May 11, 1975) that I saw Frank Zappa and The Mothers, with Captain Beefheart, perform a show at the Chicago Amphitheater. Ever the social observer and commentator, Frank's song Poofter's Froth Wyoming Plans Ahead, takes a shot at the shoddy bicentennial memorabilia products that will be manufactured and sold buy corporate profiteers and the all-consuming American public that will gobble up that load of crap. As Frank states in the intro, This is a song that warns you in advance that next year everybody is gonna try and sell you things that maybe you shouldn't ought to buy. 50 years later, as we see the semiquincentennial on the horizon, that warning is still valid.

Here is the set list from that wonderful 1975 show in Chicago.

Improvisation

Apostrophe

Stink‐Foot

I'm Not Satisfied

Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy

Velvet Sunrise

A Pound for a Brown on the Bus

Sleeping in a Jar

Poofter's Froth Wyoming Plans Ahead

Echidna's Arf (Of You)

200 Years Old

Debra Kadabra

Camarillo Brillo

Willie the Pimp

Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart