Frank Zappa: Cheepnis

Frank Zappa (lead guitar, vocals)
George Duke (keyboards, synthesizer, vocals)
Tom Fowler (bass)
Ruth Underwood (percussion)
Jeff Simmons (rhythm guitar, vocals)
Don Preston (synthesizer)
Bruce Fowler (trombone)
Walt Fowler (trumpet)
Napoleon Murphy Brock (tenor saxophone, flute, lead vocals)
Ralph Humphrey (drums)
Chester Thompson (drums)
Debbie (background vocals)
Lynn (background vocals)
Robert Camarena (background vocals)

Cheepnis.
Let me tell you something, do you like monster movies?
Anybody?


(YEAH!)

I love monster movies, I simply adore monster movies, And the cheaper they are, the better they are. And cheepnis in the case of a monster movie has nothing to do with the budget of the film, although it helps. But true cheepnis is exemplified by visible nylon strings attached to the jaw of a giant spider. I'll tell you, a good one that I saw one time, I think the name of the film was "It conquered the world" (YEAH!) And the... Did you ever see that one? The monster looks sort of like an inverted ice-cream corn with teeth around the bottom. It looks like a, like a teepee or a sort of a rounded off pup-tent affair. And ah, it's got fangs on the base of it, I don't know why but it's a very threatening sight. And then he's got a frown and, you know, ugly mouth and everything, And there's this one scene where the ah monster is coming out of a cave. See? There's always a scene where they come out of a cave, at least once. And the rest of the cast...it musta been made around the 1950's. The lapels are about like th
at wide, The ties are about that wide and about this short, And they always have a little revolver that they're gonna shoot the monster with. And there is always a girl who falls down and twists her ankle. Hey hey! Of course there is! You know how they are, the weaker sex and everything, Twisting their ankle on behalf of a little ice-cream corn. Well in this particular scene, In this scene folks, they ah, they didn't wanna re-take it 'cause it musta been so good they wanted to keep it, but they... When the monster came out of the cave, just over on the left hand side of the screen you can see about this much two-by-four attached to the bottom of the Thing as the guy is pushing it out, And then obviously off-camera somebody's goin': "No! Get it back!" ...and they drag it back just a little bit as the guy is goin': "KCH! KCH!" Now that's cheepnis.

Right. And this is cheepnis here: One two three four...

I ate a hot dog
It tasted real good
Then I watched a movie
From Hollywood

(repeat)

Little Miss Muffett on a squat by me
Took a turn around, I said: Can y'all see?
The little strings on the Giant Spider?"
The Zipper From The Black Lagoon?
The vents by the tanks where the bubbles go up?
(And the flaps on the side of the moon)

The jelly & paint on the 40 watt bulb
They use when the slime droozle off
The rumples & the wrinkles in the cardboard rock
And the canvas of the cave is too soft

The suits & the hats & the tie's too wide
And too short for the scientist man
The chemistry lady with the roll-away mind
And the monster just ate Japan

Ladies and gentlemen,
The monster,
Which the peasants in this area call FRUNOBULAX
(Apparently a very large poodle dog)
Has just been seen approaching The Power Plant
Bullets can't stop it
Rockets can't stop it
We may have to use NUCLEAR FORCE!

HERE COMES THAT POODLE DOG!
BIG AS A BLIMP WITH A RHINESTONE COLLAR
SNAPPIN' OFF THE TREES
LIKE THEY WAS BONSAI'D ORNAMENTS ON A
DRY-WOBBLE LANDSCAPE
KEEP IT AWAY! DON'T LET THE POODLE BITE ME!
WE CAN'T LET IT REPRODUCE! OH!
SOMEBODY GET OUT THE PANTS!

The National Guard has formed up at the base
of the mountain
And is attempting to lure the enormous poodle
towards the cave
Where they hope to destroy it with napalm
A thousand of the troopers are now lined up
and are calling to the monster...
Here Fido
Here Fido
Here Fido

GOT A GREAT BIG SLIMEY THING
GOT A GREAT BIG HEAVY THING
GOT A GREAT BIG POODLE THING
GOT A GREAT BIG HAIRY THING

(repeat)

C'mon! Everybody! Let's go!
Get the distilled water! Get the canned goods!
Get the toilet paper! You know we need it!

GO TO DA SHELTER
MY BABY, MY BABY,
GO TO DA SHELTER
GO TO DA SHELTER

(repeat)

Little Miss Muffett on a squat by me,
Can ya see the little string danglin' down
Makes the legs go wabble an' the mouth flop shut
An' the HORRIBLE EYE, HORRIBLE EYE, HORRIBLE EYE
Go rollin' around
Can y'see it all
Can y'see it from here
Can y'laugh till yer weak on yer knees
If you can't, I'm sorry 'cause that's
all I wanna know
I need a little more cheepnis please
Baby, I'm sorry 'cause it's all I wanna know
I need a little more cheepnis please
Baby, I'm sorry 'cause it's all I wanna know
I need a little more cheepnis please

(etc. repeats)