Young & Monde / Kreeg-ah Bundolo
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"A guy who wears a leisure suit with an enormous medallion, that's 'monde' according to Colaiuta. So the title was 'Young and Monde', the idea that someone could be monde before their time." | |
FRANK ZAPPA: OK, well, the song ... that's got an interesting history. In 1968 ... I can't remember the guy's name, but he was a concert violinist. He asked me to write something for him, so I started writing a piece for violin and piano and that's where "Monde" came from. "Monde" is ... I never completed the piece for violin and piano, but there was enough if a group of sketches for the thing, that I could, at the point where I had a band who could actually play it, I could build a stage arrangement out of the group of sketches that were originally destined for violin and piano. The first band that tried to play it was the band with Roy Estrada, Terry Bozzio, Napoleon and Andre Lewis.
DEN SIMMS: Exactly. Right. Sort of a prototype of what came later.
FRANK ZAPPA: That's right, and at that time, it was called "Canard du Jour" [22].
DEN SIMMS: Aaah. Yeah. I'd heard that phrase, and ...
FRANK ZAPPA: "Duck of the Day". So ... that didn't go very far, and the next time I had a band that was capable of playing it, it was the band with Vinnie as the Drummer. [23]
DEN SIMMS: 1980.
FRANK ZAPPA: No, Logeman was the drummer in '80. Vinnie came along ... after ...
DEN SIMMS: Yeah. Vinnie was there in '78 too, I guess, and '79. [24]
FRANK ZAPPA: Yeah. "Monde" is a concept that was developed by Colaiuta. You know the drummer on the Tonight Show, Ed Shaunessy?
DEN SIMMS: Sure.
FRANK ZAPPA: OK. Ed Shaunessy is "monde". A guy who wears a leisure suit with an enormous medallion [laughter], that's "monde" according to Colaiuta. So, the title was "Young and Monde", the idea that a person could be monde before their time, OK?
DEN SIMMS: I see. Yeah.
FRANK ZAPPA: And that's why we used to sing at the end "So young and monde", OK? But, you talk about obscure, how ya gonna get that concept across to anybody, other than sittin' and doin' an interview like this? Um ... "Kreeg-ah Bundolo" came about as a result of a conversation with Ike about the old Tarzan books, where all the fake native talk that they used to have in the books [laughter], y'know, like, that's the way that natives talk in Tarzan books. "Kreeg-ah bundolo. White man come. Fire sticks kill." [laughter] All that kinda stuff. And then, "Bon-do-lay-boffo-bonto" was contributed by Ray White, who claims that it is a Swahili expression meaning "white people taste good" [much laughter], or "white people are good eating", or something, I don't know what ... but, that was the joke that he contributed, so ... we did that for a tour. And then, "Let's Move to Cleveland", we got tired of singing "kreeg-ah bundolo" at the end of the end of the song, and it was just, like, the secret word would be, on those shows in '84, we would change what we would sing at the end of that song. It wouldn't always be "Let's Move to" something else. It could be anything. You get a bunch of syllables that'll fit that part of the song, and you just sing it. That audience in Cleveland was so good, that's the reason we sang it and the end of that performance ... "Let's move to Cleveland".
[22] The editors know of three performances of "Canard du Jour": December 26 1975 at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California; December 27 1975 at Winterland in San Francisco; and January 23 1976 at Festival Hall in Melbourne, Australia. (Do not be confused with the title "Canard du Jour". It has no musical connection whatsoever with the duets with Jean-Luc Ponty of the same name that appear on Shut Up & Play Yer Guitar.)
[23] On April 1 1980 at Bekeley Community Theatre in Berkeley, California, Frank introduced "Young and Mond" as a world premier.
[24] The drummer in that band was David Logeman, whose tenure with Frank lasted from February to August of 1980. Vinnie was with Frank from August 1978 until December 1980 except for the tour that David Logeman participated in.
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