#moon unit

Frank Zappa: “I Don’t Wanna Get Drafted” / “Ancient Armaments” (1980)

For the bulk of his career, Frank Zappa seemed to relish the role of social provocateur, yet I’m pretty sure he was never labeled a protest singer, even though protesting was precisely what he did, most of the time, including with this single, released 40 years ago.

“I Don’t Wanna Get Drafted” was motivated by president Jimmy Carter’s support of the reinstatement of draft registration for eligible men aged 19 and 20, something which had been abolished since 1974, near the end of the Vietnam War.

Zappa, needless to say, found the measure preposterous, so he engaged in his familiar brand of musical satire, lampooning, not just at the politicians involved, but also the misinformed, uneducated, blue-collar young men (and women) who were typically targeted by the U.S. Military.

But Mercury Records wanted nothing with the controversy that the following lyrics might incite and declined to release the single, though they agreed to let Frank put it out on his own Zappa Records:

“I don't wanna get drafted, I don't wanna go! I don't wanna get drafted, No-no-woh! Roller skates ‘n disco, Is a lot of fun ... I'm too young ‘n stupid to operate a gun. My-y-y sister don't wanna get drafted, she don't wanna go! My sister don't wanna get drafted, No-no-woh! Wars are really ugly; They're dirty and they're cold. I don't want nobody to shoot her in the fox hole, fox hole!”

The music itself was as simplistic as the words, reflecting a career trend that had seen Frank abandoning the intellectually incisive commentary of his early output for juvenile humor, cheap sexism and plain old shock value -- ultimately undermining whatever point he was trying to make.

Conversely, the single’s flip-side, “Ancient Armaments,” presented a musically challenging live instrumental from 1978, built around one of Zappa’s improvised guitar solos, but this too wasn’t a particularly inspired specimen, so you can consider this single of no interest, unless you are a Zappa completist.

Oh, and one year later, an alternate, more energetic, even zanier version of the A-side called “Drafted Again” appeared on the You Are What You Is LP, while the original can also be found on the posthumous 1996 collection, The Lost Episodes.

OC doodles from last night..and one darb

WHAT'S IN A NAME? Would you change your #Name if you could? #Nicknames #ShortStory

Sometimes picking names and nicknames is harder than you think. These thoughts on naming characters as well as real people appeared last year on the SERENDIPITY website. Would You Change Your Name? by Rich Paschall When I finally come around to writing a short story for SERENDIPITY, I usually get stalled at the beginning when I need to decide on character names. It seems to me that the name is…