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Zappa, Cache, Prostitutes, Tommy



> >>> even Frank Zappa was a better soloist.
> That's all he can do, really.

Phil:

Ouch! What about his excellent, oft on-target, and hilarious
songwriting?

> Also, what is Cache Cache all about?  No bears in there?  Scratchin' mice?
>  Is it about a suicide attempt?

Mike:

It's about an tour incident. I don't have the details here, but a bit of
the story is on the Scoop album with the demo...all I can tell you at
the moment is that Pete woke up "the morning after" in an abandoned bear
cage at a zoo. ("There ain't no bears in there.")

> You never know, Pete could very well be the Guy de Maupassant of rock
> lyricists!  I mean, we've already got "Acid Queen", right?  Who knows
> how many more are secretly about prostitutes?

Yellow:

>From Entwistle I might expect it (Trick Of The Light), but from Pete?
Anyway, it's definitely "bomb" as you say.

> I was hoping someone can clarify something for me. The album seems to be set
> sometime after World War I(e.g. got a feeling '21 is going to be a good year). But the > movie shows a couple of things that suggest it was set after World War II(e.g. the 
> scene where baby Tommy is born). I was wondering if Pete or the rest of the band might > have talked about this change in time.

Jose:

I think the time change was Ken Russell's idea. It was a way to bring
the story into the `60s-`70s, where Rog could easily and effectively
play the role...plus it was then possible to mock institutions KR wanted
to target.
More than that was changed. On the album, the lover was killed rather
than the father. This enabled another big change; the lover was then a
"villian" and took advantage of Tommy's followers. There is no
indication of this on the album. However...I recently watched the 1969
German Beat Club video (the source of the TOMMY videos seen on TKAA
movie) and in the interview Pete alludes to this. So perhaps it was
meant to be in the original story but never brought out due to lack of
LP time.
And the end, which (as I see it on the album) had Tommy maimed by the
followers...and made truly deaf, dumb, and blind. The movie ending is
indefinite; Tommy returns to the place where he was conceived and finds
God-realization (but wasn't he already there? If not, his "religion" was
as false as his Step-dad's schemes).
The QUAD movie was also changed...even more so...don't get me started.

- -- 

            Cheers                ML

 "It's more than a looking back...it's a bringing up to date.
  Quadrophenia is about where we're all at today...maybe you too,
  I don't know..."
            Pete Townshend