Inca Roads

Inca Roads

Inca Roads is the opening track on Frank Zappa's 1975 album One Size Fits All. It is the longest song on the album (over eight minutes); it is also one of Zappa's most acclaimed compositions. It combines fast, complex, instrumental passages with humorous, clownish lyrics and an uptempo feel. The basis for what would become Inca Roads arose around 1970 as two separate pieces (the solo and the last half of the song) while on tour. Zappa would meld these into one song some years later.

Song structure

Inca Roads has three distinct parts. The beginning features most of the lyrics and several tempo changes and breakdowns (in which Zappa, Napoleon Murphy Brock and George Duke shout apparently meaningless phrases). The lyrics on this part have a UFO theme, talking about some kind of spaceship landing in the Andes, lampooning the "ancient astronaut" theories of Erich von Däniken.

Then, at around 1:45 on the song, a brief marimba / flute part is played, and the second part starts, when Zappa plays a long guitar solo. This solo was taken from a live performance of the song at Helsinki and then edited before being put on the track. The original solo can be heard in its entirety on You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 2. At around 4:50 the band joins in and the solo ends.

The third part, almost entirely instrumental, features Ruth Underwood's marimba and a keyboard solo by George Duke. Inca Roads ends with a part very similar in structure to the song's beginning, this time with very quick, altered vocals. Now the lyrics make reference to an in-joke of the band about who had slept with the ugliest groupie by the time the track was recorded, which was drummer Chester Thompson. The expression "Chester's thing" comes in regards to the groupie. The very end of the song features a fast-paced marimba and percussion segment.

References

* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:v5n20r2ay4ai Review of "Inca Roads" by "Allmusic.com"]


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