Zappa, Frank - St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast Lyrics

This band had one of the best xylophone players in existence

Album, Apostrophe

Yes indeed, here we are!
At Saint Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast
Where I stole the mar-juh-reen
An' widdled on the Bingo Cards in lieu of the latrine
I saw a handsome parish lady
Make her entrance like a queen
Why, she was totally chenille
And her old man was a Marine
As she abused a sausage pattie
And said why don't you treat me mean?
(Hurt me, hurt me, hurt me, oooooh!)
At Saint Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast
(Hah! Good God! Get off the bus!)
Where I stole the mar-juh-reen
Saint Alfonzo
Saint Alfonzo
Saint Alfonzo
Saint Alfonzo
Ooh, wah

One of his little masterpieces.

pure total art

Such a good song! I can thank my music teacher for introducing me to Frank Zappa

Zappa was a musical god for his time.

Zappa IS a musical God for ALL time, I would argue. He was so far ahead of the curve back then that he's still ahead of his time today. Apostrophe and Over Nite Sensation are both sheer genius. Joee'ss Garage too. And his compositional skills are honestly in the realm of Bach or Mozart. Just brilliant. I always felt that way about Beefheart as well, to a lesser degree. I never listened to or appreciated Zappa when I was younger. I'm 51 and just started discovering his music last year, and Captain Beefheart as well. I missed so much good music growing up.

Dweezil's fafourite. GREAT.

I'm no expert but I would guess some of the best rock xylophone recordings are on Zappa records

He delighted as it stiffened - and ripped right through his sock

If you like Frank, you will love this gem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9P2V0_p6vE

My Budd's used to think I was nuts for singing this song , now I know I am nuts ! , Frank would be proud of me .

A musical genius.

my funeral at some point in my future... very sad
about to bring in the casket to my favourite song
*xylophone starts playing
*synth joins in
*DRUMS
*brass!!!
FZ: "yes indeed, here we are..."

And then have people wheel in trays and platters of pancakes into the chapel!

I was 14 and am now 64 so fuck off

This song had always given me arpeggio arms (flails arms wildly)

so which came first this or e.l.p.s song hoedown?very similar.give it a listen!

ELP did first a year before in '72

the only guy i know that can get me into breakfast...fz

This is a great song to listen to as you walk around wearing nothing but a thong that keeps getting stuck up your nasty ass crack, with a humongous toothpick in your creepy mouth that you chew very crudely and pornographically, while you sing an octave higher than you should as everyone stares at you in the community pool of an apartment complex that you don't live in... Great great song!

I remember this album, its gennial!!!

Finest kind.....

Ruth!!!

ZAPPA WAS AND IS.....,But you have too be a thinking stoner. Or drunkered.

I dont know why im laughing but i love it

Ralph Humphrey kicks ass on drums.

My friend, back in the mid 1970's, threw this album from the 7th story balcony.   When he saw that it didn't break, he went down to retrieve it and repeated the procedure.   I would have shot it, but it was against the law to discharge a firearm in the city.

Why did he do that

Because the St Alphonso's song was so terrible, he couldn't stand the thought that someone else might have to hear it.  He was also slightly intoxicated at the time.

Did your friend listen to disco or sumpin'??? Did he own Bay City Rollers records? Did you get him some mental health treatment?

your friend is an idiot

Get on you feet and do the 'Funky Alphonso'

My god. Thank the universe that I play drums. Music is the best.

I was the one who stole the margarine. I couldn't find the butter! But the pancakes were so light and fluffy brown. Please pass the maple syrup. One of my fav LP's from the good days long ago.

No no no, it was me - They were so light and fluffy white. I made a fortune by tonight!!!!

i wonder how he would feel that we would have to watch advertisements in between hearing his songs

Bring on the pancakes

All those runs... it sounds like rock and roll Prokofiev

Love Zappa!

Nobel Prize for literature.

....sounds a tad "fast"....or, speeded up a hair........

Yep, the "pitch adjustment" IS a tad fast. I always thought it was slow on vinyl and normally sped it up too, but this is too fast .

This comment made me laugh so hard.... I can't stop laughing!!!!!!!!! STILL LAUGHING!!!!!!!

I may have missed the obviousness of a good joke I guess, but I was serious about the pitch evan if Anthony isn't.. ain't.. wouldn't .. couldn't. You could adjust the pitch speed very slightly on vinyl, and I know every analog bit of this whole album by heart. I used Sansui's best turntables too. Keep laughing though; a tribute. 😎

its just that frank is so brutal

Nah!!! You're just getting old and slowing down.

What was happened if no Frank Zappa exist? The respect for rock and roll will be damaged.

If there was never a Frank Zappa, we would still be listening to Disco in 2019. - Thank you Frank, for murdering that noise from the 1970's.

3:40 and on is so nice...

at the 3:38 mark, one of my most, ever, favorite fz moments. what a voice and voices around it. (gd?).

Should of keep[ng the grove for another 45 seconds love i

thunder cat brought me here

WATER DEATH I can hear it.

leprachaun? Well, funny ending

Frank Zappa was and is the most underrated guitarist on the planet.

Absolutely!

First time I heard this s***. I ain't missed nothing.

Not his best, but nothing he did was mainstream if thats what you expected. I think this one grows on you when heard in the "conceptual continuity" of the album. You've missed more than SOMETHING simply by listening piece by piece. Even the between track fading and effects suffer as stand alones.

@Butch Adriatic - There is no in-between with Zappa. You are either a freak (like the rest of us Zappa fans) or you hated his music. Pure & Simple!!! Loved it / Hated it. pick a side and move on.

I chose seeing Frank play vs my Thanksgiving dinner every time he played. I sat through him peeling potatoes until the corporate seats emtied ...."I just wanted to know who my friends were". Even Frank had favorites of his own work.
Fuck off, I'm trying to create another freak here.
Edit..One of the oo's fell onto chose, .. or maybe it was "spellwreck".... or maybe not. It wasn't a choice. .... Fuck off is spelled right; good'nuff.

Never gets old...thanks Frank

This is a masterpiece <3

ALL his works are masterpieces!!!!! - A quick example: EVERY instruments' parts in Disco Boy. Keys / Guits / Drums / Vox / etc.etc.etc

FZ was a musical genious. Loved his music then and NOW.

Lyrically and musically

@James Nowlin But he knew how to spell....

Frank zappa was the best president of American that you dummies never had

Nah he was good not being president, it does bad things to your psyche

I have no doubt if he were alive today he would be running for president

@THE REAL RFI-EMI-GUY Dr. Demento interviewed him in 1988. He and running mate Tom Petty had ideas of setting up a recording studio in the White House.

Emperor lemon ytp

Vanilla Ice
What vid?

Great tune-Ruth Underwood kicks ass.

Legend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EARRAPE LEGEND !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was 17 when I listened to this for the first time...I am now 61 old... Zappa Music is the music of my life ! ;-)

Same as me

Where were Sears ponchos made back in the day? China?

Chinese or Mexican poncho - I’m guessing The Donald would have picked Mexican to wear & Chinese to resell

@graham dempsey I was born in 1958 and heard this tune for the first time when I was 15 actually.......so I can certainly relate!

haha! I'm on my way, I've been listening from 18 to 38, and I have no plans to ever stop.

Same for me, Christian. I am 60 now and still loving it.

I have always loved the drumming on these two songs! Some of the best and tightest drumming I have ever heard. Aynsley Dunbar I think. Of course, everyone one else playing is amazing too!

Totally agreed :D

CribNotes, Isn't Chester Thompson also listed as a drummer?

And you can throw in the mix, Terry Bazzio!

What about the speed bass lines. Was it Chad??

@TheGlassasylum yes but he's not even close to this classical style of playing

I never tire of Zappa, I'm delighted when it stiffens and rips right through my sock.

Emperorlemon brought me here

Nobody cares

God damn - Ruth Underwood and Ralph Humphrey (or was it Aynsley Dunbar on this one?) must have gotten whiplash performing this one! Simply brilliant!

Ralph Humphrey plays drums on all the 'side one' tracks. dunbar is featured on uncle remus and stinkfoot.

johnnyratazana Jim Gordon was on the song Apostrophe. Don't Google him

the entire record is a suite. a psychological suite its heavy. check it

It's ridiculous at 1:09,

It's allover the place.

Pure genius!

ZAPPA is missed.

Reminds me of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer

From Wikipedia:
""Rollo" was a piece of music that went along with the original suite, but Zappa decided against putting the whole piece in the album. Instead, he decided to add the main theme of "Rollo" as the instrumental second half of "St. Alphonzo's Pancake Breakfast".[5] The entire suite appears in full on the live album You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 1, recorded at Hammersmith Apollo (Hammersmith Odeon), in London, on February 18–19, 1979. The piece by itself also appears on his posthumous album QuAUDIOPHILIAc, and his posthumous live album Imaginary Diseases. The piece itself was written during Zappa's recovery from injuries suffered in December 1971, when he was pushed from the stage at London's Rainbow Theatre by a deranged fan. The original piece had lyrics detailing the adventures of a "Man and a dog" (the dog being named, "Rollo") who encounter a couple in some sort of act of lovemaking. The piece was performed with the vocals during much of Zappa's Grand Wazoo Orchestra tour in September 1972. Sometime after that tour, Zappa decided to drop the lyrics and play it strictly as an instrumental; eventually finding its way into the Yellow Snow suite. In 1978, Zappa resurrected and revised the lyrics (sung by keyboardist Tommy Mars) into the suite. Rollo was performed on October 21, 1978 during Zappa's appearance as host of Saturday Night Live. For the broadcast, Tommy Mars' vocals were modulated via a vocoder to avoid issues with network censors concerning the song's lyrical content.[6]"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSmyCuU_pEo

That bass note BWOOOOOOOM! So sick

lets hear it for statistical density

saw this man at the capitol theater in passaic nj 1978
opened my mind

OMFG Frank Zappa. my GF just don't get it.

Girls 'Get,' Van Morrison...

Zappa is like the Three Stooges , women just don’t get it

@Glenn Schaub the vibraphone player on the track is female.

Snoo Lee yeah I’m sure she had exciting mammalian protuberances too .

Acquired taste

maniacal . Listen to ruth

bobo1959er on Ruth!

i can't stop listening to this song! I love it!

Great! Check out his other albums on my channel!

Saint Alphonso would be proud of you.

I thought I was tired of this album, I've heard it so many times. I was wrong, you can never get tired of this. How does any human being even play this on anything? Amazing.

You can't get tired of Frank Zappa.... geeez... you should know it by now....

and the best part after you heard it so many times is the expectation of the next meter and every time, aaaah rejoice, he played it again and again it was perfect.

Denounce Rush hey! Just wondering, after 2 years are you still here with us, zappatist friend???

Been listening to this for 30 years.

Frank will always be relevant

y not more views?

they're at breakfast ....

Alfonzo's pancake breakfast