Brown Shoes Don't Make It

One of my favorite Zappa tunes. This lyric sums it all up: "Be a loyal plastic robot for a world that doesn't care."

It's expanding on the theme of "the people who make the laws are sexually maladjusted" - the people who harp on about the underage sex are missing the main point of the song. Of course, if you believe the tabloids, girls like City Hall Fred's "daughter-substitute/prostitute" can be found on every rundown council estate!

Great critique as to how so many live such meaningless lives and such corruption exists in the leaders.

Truly A masterpiece by Zappa.

The title of "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" was inspired by an event covered by Time Magazine reporter Hugh Sidey in 1966. The reporter correctly guessed that something was up when the fastidiously dressed President Lyndon B. Johnson made the fashion faux pas of wearing brown shoes with a gray suit. LBJ flew to Vietnam for an unannounced public relations visit later that day.

From allmusic: "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" is considered Frank Zappa's first real masterpiece. This seven-and-a-half-minute song takes the form of a suite of short musical snippets of varying styles (from swing to contemporary classical) held together by the "story." It first appeared on the 1967 LP Absolutely Free. It is the best of the album's "underground oratorios." "The Duke of Prunes" and "Call Any Vegetable" do present better cohesion as a whole, but they don't go as far both lyric- and composition-wise. The story of this condensed two-hour musical (that's exactly how it feels) addresses social hypocrisy. The piece begins by a cynical praise of the lower obedient suburban lifestyle: "Be a loyal plastic robot/For a world that doesn't care," "Shine on your shoes and cut your hair," "Be a jerk and go to work." But those advocating this anti-freak lifestyle, so to speak, appear to be a lot more deviant than the people not following "the rules": "A world of secret hungers" hide in the offices of those telling everyone what to do. The song then follows one of these political rulers who fantasizes about a 13-year-old girl ("Smother my daughter in chocolate syrup/And strap her on again"). The song ends by mocking suburban politics, as the repressed pervert claims "Life is such a ball I run the world from City Hall." The studio version was striking back in 1967, going beyond any pop song recorded before, but lack of time and budget left it a bit sloppy: sections aren't edited perfectly, the band does not always land sharply on the right cues. "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" was performed live in 1969, in 1973, and a lot in 1979, resulting in a definitive recording of it on the 1981 LP Tinseltown Rebellion.

In 1967 our English lit class had a headphone system so the students could listen to music. We could bring in albums for everyone to listen to. They all heard the same music, it was 1967 after all. I brought in this Frank Zappa album. Some of the girls turned red and told the teacher. I thought I may get kicked out of school or at least the class. I was just told to never bring that album back ever again. At that point no one was allowed to bring any albums in, ever! Wish I still had that album, but my mom took it away and I assume she destroyed it.