You Are What You Is

It's about being yourself.

The song is about Tiger Woods! :D

Well spotted jonje, but I reckon that given the time this song emerged (1981) it's more likely that Woods was actually inspired by this song, and that this song is actually part of the Tiger Woods success story !

Just12, I see your comment is from 2008, so are you now Just19 ? So, hey nineteen (a great Steely Dan song), do you think this song has anything to do with Aretha Franklin ?

Zappa's song strikes me as clearly lampooning just the sort of racial stereotypes that Amos'n'Andy and culture from that time perpetuated. I think you have the wrong end of the stick Mr Just. Zappa led a racially-integrated band and this song was co-sung by either Ike Willis or Ray White, both of whom are Afro-American. What do you think they thought of it ? Racist ?

It seems to include both an attack on white musicians borrowing the blues and black guys aspiring to be yuppies. The black guy adopts some of the more saccharin aspects of white middle-class culture and the white guy starts to express inverted-snobbery.

It's not taking the mickey out of real Afro-American lifestyles or values, more just a song about fashion victims. It's also very much of it's time, the early '80s, a time when people of all works of life were very much into appearances. Well I guess they still are, but the racial and class roles of the '80s seemed very caricatured, with the benefit of hindsight.

Zappa hated the rise of the yuppies. He hated hipsters who were "slumming". He spent most of his oeuvre critiquing people. He was an equal opportunity misanthropist.

it's zappa making fun of rich people and telling you not to be like them cause they're assholes. it's really simple.

Oh, a couple of other things.

In addition to Tiger Woods, the song may have influenced the WWE Professional Wrestling script-writers in their creation of the character Kerwin White.

Chevo Guerrero is a famous wrestler from the famous Mexican Guerrero wrestling family, and he often featured in some of the inter-racial storylines from the WWE ballet-soap-opera.

One such storyline led to his changing of persona to the extremely ridiculous "Kerwin White", a stereotypical, middle-class, white, conservative, Anglo-American man. He dyed his hair blond and often drove a golf cart to the ring which held his golf clubs. Rejecting his ethic heritage in favor of aspirations such as joining the country club was portrayed as negative and socially offensive. This was when he was running as a "baddie" or "heel" wrestler, whereas he had often been a populist crowd favorite as his natural Mexican self.

It was an amusing presentation of extremely pretentious upwardly-mobile-driven bad behavior and snobbery when it came to interactions with former associates and wrestlers from other ethnic groups.

You might also like to check out Henrietta Collins and the Wifebeating Child Haters' "Drive By Shooting"(featuring Henry Rollins), a mini-album Henry Rollins made with Henrietta Collins that features a couple of Afro-American culture issues seriously dealt to from a white perspective (although I can not attest to the ethnic group or gender of Henrietta Collins).

Again, like the Zappa song and the Kerwin White storyline, it just seems like artistic commentary. The Drive by Shooting mini-album seemed to anticipate gangsta style if not gangsta rap, although the title track and "Hey Henrietta" come very close. Thoroughly recommended R18 stuff !!

I think the white guy in the story is Mike Bloomfield.

It is about doing the things you are supposed to do, not doing what you cant.

It's a little bit racist... Who says a black dude can't wear Jordache? Who says a person can't "change who they are"?? So, it's OK when a black guy changes who he is by taking up a hobby that's not particularly associated with white people, for example, he takes up the guitar. But, all of a sudden, if he takes up golf, because that's associated with white people, there's something contemptible about that? I don't understand that view. (I'm giving one obvious interpretation of what Frank says -- although I'm sure that's not quite what he's saying.)

I think Frank is more saying that you shouldn't "change who you are", e.g. take up a hobby, as part of a scheme to hide your roots. So, don't take up golf because you're a self-hating black man, take it up if you like it.

But between the possibility of interpreting this as Frank saying the blues is off-limits to white people, and golf off-limits for black people, and the exaggerated "Kingfish"-speak, this one pushes it.

But that's what Frank is good at!

BTW, I'd appreciate it if someone could clarify what the Kingfish is:

A foolish young man From a middle class fam'ly Started singin' the blues 'Cause he thought it was manly Now he talks like the Kingfish ("Saffiiiee!") From Amos 'n Andy

-What the hell is "Sariiee", wth is the Kingfish, and wth is Amos 'n Andy?

I think you might be too young just12. go on line and look these things up before you comment. there was a time when things happened b4 you were born. it was called the past.. you might find it interesting. provided you can read at all..

It's not Kingfish, it should be Thing-Fish.