Frank Zappa – My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama

I’ve heard people say that to truly appreciate Frank Zappa, one must have an understanding of humor, jazz, and rock and roll. I agree with that, but many of his songs are so engaging that you can just start listening to them, and they grow on you. I heard a live cut of this one first, and it was so good…I thought it was a studio cut. The song is also known as “My Guitar.”

Zappa was one of the best guitarists in the music scene. His band was always top-notch. As we talked about last week, Little Feat was born out of that band, and we all know how great they are. Flo and Eddie also graduated from the Mothers of Invention.

When it starts, it comes right at you, like Zappa is daring you to keep up. The title alone tells you what kind of ride you’re in for, and I’m a sucker for a great title. I love the humor of it, but this is a rock song that knows exactly what it’s doing. Zappa’s vocal delivery stays pointed, almost like he’s reading a message off a note he left on the refrigerator.

You can laugh at the story, but the groove is real, and the guitar work carries weight. Zappa could have stretched it out into something longer, but keeping it short makes it hit harder.

This song first appeared on The Mothers of Invention’s 1970 album Weasels Ripped My Flesh, released in 1969. Frank Zappa wrote this song…who else could have? The song was released as a single.

Here is a live cut from December 23, 1984.

My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama

You know, your mama and your daddy
Saying I’m no good for you
They call me dirty from the alley
Till I don’t know what to do

I get so tired of sneaking around
Just to get to your back door
I crawled past the garbage and your mama jumped out
Screaming, don’t come back no more
I can’t take it

My guitar wants to kill your mama
My guitar wants to kill your mama
My guitar wants to burn your dad
I get real mean when it makes me mad

Later I tried to call you
Your mama told me you weren’t there
She told me don’t bother to call no more
Unless I cut off all my hair

I get so tired of sneaking around
Just to get to your back door
I crawled past the garbage and your mama jumped out
Screaming, don’t come back no more

My guitar wants to kill your mama
My guitar wants to kill your mama
My guitar wants to burn your dad
I get real mean when it makes me mad

…

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

9 thoughts on “Frank Zappa – My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama”

  1. This is a cool-sounding song I instantly dig, Max. I also agree Frank Zappa was a great guitarist. Oftentimes, my “challenge” with Zappa is he was too much over the top. I get the humor/satire aspect but find it can be overwhelming. If most of his music would be more like “My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama,” my comment would be very different.

    Like with all music, it also depends on your mood. I recall a few summers ago, I was walking though the forest and actually listening to some Zappa music. At some point, I believe he literally was singing about his colon. When that happened, I couldn’t resist and started laughing out loud. I literally lost it! If somebody watched me, they probably thought there was a crazy man roaming the forest!🤣

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    1. Mood does play a part…with me mood plays a part in bands like Pink Floyd as well.

      Love your story…and YES I can see that. His humor will get to you in different ways. But of course behind that humor is a hell of a musician so he has the humor balanced with that deep music.

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  2. Pingback: Frank Zappa – My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama – MobsterTiger

  4. weird memory. when I was really younger my folks would take me when they went to a local department store and would ditch me where the records were because I guess I was just in the way…..I wasn’t able to do much more than look at the album covers but two albums I remember that would catch my eye was Ten Years After Shhhhhhh, and Zappa…when Christmas came around at one point and my parents asked me what I wanted, these two abums and Alice Cooper’s School’s Out…..I don’t think they knew what they were giving me, but, well the panties that came with the Cooper album and Zappa’s album I don’t think impressed them….but it sent me on this path an an early age…oopppps

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    1. Thank you Warren! You told me something I had no clue about. I just looked it up…wow…you did get panties with the album…I never heard of that! Makes me miss the 70s even more.
      My mom and step dad did the same thing to me. I would wander to the record department in a Department store and the album cover I remember the most was Black Sabbath albums…the debut with the witch and a few others.

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      1. speaking of Zappa, Overnight Sensation was on my high school soundtrack…..and, um, one of our girlfriend’s name was Moe….can you guess what her nickname became?

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