"Billy the Mountain" is a Frank Zappa song, first made available on the album Just Another Band from L.A. in 1972. The original recording of this song, which took a complete half-hour to perform, was from a live tour performance on October 7, 1971 in Los Angeles during the Flo & Eddie days of Frank Zappa's band. The album recording had to be reduced to 24 minutes and 37 seconds in order to fit on one side, though later it was released in its full version on the 1992 album Playground Psychotics. Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American composer, guitarist, singer, film director, and satirist. ... Just Another Band From L.A. is an album by Frank Zappa, released in 1972 (see 1972 in music). ... See also: 1971 in music, other events of 1972, 1973 in music, 1970s in music and the list of years in music // Events January 17 - Highway 51 South in Memphis, Tennessee is renamed Elvis Presley Blvd January 20 - Pink Floyd debuts Dark Side of the Moon during a performance at... October 7 is the 280th day of the year (281st in leap years). ... See also: 1970 in music, other events of 1971, 1972 in music, 1970s in music and the list of years in music // Events February 8 - Bob Dylans hour-long documentary film, Eat the Document, premieres at New Yorks Academy of Music. ... Howard Kaylan (Eddie) and Mark Volman (Flo aka Phlorescent Leech) were the original founding members of the psychedelic / bubblegum rock group The Turtles. ... See also: 1991 in music, other events of 1992, 1993 in music, 1990s in music and the list of years in music // Events 1992 was a pivotal year in the development of music. ... Playground Psychotics is a two-CD live album by Frank Zappa. ...

Though the song does have solo breaks and points of repetition, the lead source of its extravagant length is the intricate and absurd story its lyrics encompass, that of a mountain named Billy and his wife Ethell, a tree. The epic treatment of the story and its development is considered to parody the Rock opera style, which had recently emerged with the release of Tommy by The Who three years earlier. The lyrics are a satirical myriad of imagery of popular culture, the city of Los Angeles, the demise of urban America, and overall absurd juxtapositions of situations. Though many lines were improvised from city to city as the band toured, the story remains relatively the same. The Whos Tommy, the first album explicitly billed as a rock opera A rock opera or rock musical is a musical production in the form of an opera or a musical in a modern rock and roll style rather than more traditional forms. ... Tommy (1969) is one of The Whos two full-scale rock operas, the second is Quadrophenia (1979 in music 1969). ... The Who are a British rock band that first came to prominence in the 1960s. ... This article is about the largest city in California. ...

Story

Billy the Mountain, a rather typical mountain which poses for postcards, lives between the cities of Rosamond, California and Gorman, California with his wife Ethell, a tree. The main features on his mountain edifice are two large caves, resembling eyes, and a cliff for a jaw, which lifts up and down, puffing up dust, brown clouds, and boulders. Rosamond is a town located in Kern County, California, 20 miles North of Palmdale, in the Antelope Valley, the westernmost desert valley of the Mojave Desert. ... Gorman, California is an unincorporated community in northwestern Los Angeles County just west of the Antelope Valley where three mountain ranges meet: The San Gabriels, Tehachapis and the Coast Range. ...

The story begins when a man in a checkered double-knit suit drives up in a Cadillac Eldorado, or a Lincoln Continental depending on the recording, leased from the Bob Spreene car dealership in Downey to deliver Billy's royalty check, a payment for the postcards. Billy the Mountain becomes very excited, and Billy's jaw, again, made of a cliff, drops thirty feet, allowing a boulder to fly out and crushing the car (which the lyrics mistakenly call a Lincoln). The man in the suit then goes looking for a ride back to the San Fernando Valley. The Eldorado model was part of the Cadillac line from 1953 to 2002. ... Lincoln Continental is a model name that has been used several times by the Lincoln division of Ford Motor Company for a line of luxury cars. ... Downey is a city located in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States, 21 km (13 miles) southeast of downtown Los Angeles. ... Lincoln is an American luxury automobile brand, operated under the Ford Motor Company. ... San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley in southern California, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles. ...

When Billy breaks the news to Ethell, she also becomes excited, and they immediately plan on taking a well deserved vacation to New York City, first stopping in Las Vegas. They set off, moving across the Mojave Desert, however, while Ethell searches for a Howard Johnson's to eat at, Billy begins to leave a trail of destruction, due to his massive size. The first noteworthy piece of destruction, however, is Billy and Ethell's consumption of a rocket sled at Edwards Air Force Base. Nickname: The Big Apple Official website: City of New York Government Counties (Boroughs) Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Geographical characteristics Area Total 468. ... Nickname: The Entertainment Capital of the World Official website: http://www. ... Looking across from Emigrant Pass towards the Kingston Range in the eastern Mojave. ... Present-day corporate logo of Howard Johnsons motor lodges (Cendant) Present-day corporate logo of Howard Johnsons restaurant chain (Cendant) Howard Johnsons is a U.S. chain of restaurants and hotels (now separate companies) which was founded in 1925 by Howard Deering Johnson when he borrowed $2... Edwards Air Force Base is a USAF airbase located on the border of Kern County and Los Angeles County, California in the Antelope Valley, 7 miles (11 km) due East of Rosamond, USA at 34°57′ N 117°52′ W. An airbase since 1933, Edwards has long been a home...

The media quickly alerts the public of the phenomenon and starts generating false tabloid story about Billy the Mountain and Ethell's past lives, claiming them to be involved in a San Joaquin Valley smut ring. Meanwhile, Jerry Lewis is provoked to host a telethon to raise funds for the newly injured and homeless in Glendale (or Denver, again depending on the recording) after Billy flattens while passing through. This leads to further disaster, when Billy causes an "Oh my papa" in the earth's crust over a secret underground dump next to the Jack in the Box near Glenoaks, releasing gas from obsolete germ bombs, just as a freak Tornado cruises through. The poisonous Tornado claims many lives, including that of an accordian-player named Howard Kaplan, who, like many, is pulled into the cyclone and is dispersed over the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. The eight-county San Joaquin Valley is the part of the Central Valley of California that lies south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in Stockton. ... Joseph Levitch [1] (born March 16, 1926), better known as Jerry Lewis, is an American comedian, actor, producer, and director, known for his slapstick humor and his charity fund-raising telethons for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. ... The 2005 Telethon on Seven Perth. ... Nickname: The Jewel City Official website: http://www. ... This article is the current U.S. Collaboration of the Week. ... For other uses, see Jack in the Box (disambiguation). ... a piano accordion An accordion is a small portable free-reed wind instrument with a keyboard, the smallest representative of the organ family. ... Watts is a residential district in southern Los Angeles, California. ...

Though little actual effort has been taken to stop Billy, when Billy reaches Columbus, Ohio, he receives notice that he has been drafted and must attend his induction physical. Ethell protests, and Billy continues his vacation. The media goes wild, reporting that he is a communist and that he practices witchcraft. =hiddenStructure style=font-size: smaller; text-align: center; Nickname: The Arch City The Discovery City Motto: Official website: http://www. ... The United States has employed conscription (mandatory military service, also called the draft) several times, usually during war but also during the nominal peace of the Cold War. ... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ... Witchcraft, in various historical, religious and mythical contexts, is the use of certain kinds of alleged supernatural or magical powers. ...

Finally, a telehone rings in the secret briefcase of the only man who might have a chance of stopping Billy, a fantastic new superhero named Studebaker Hawk (named after, of course, the Studebaker Silver Hawk automobile). It is noted that little is known about Studebaker Hawk, however, all his origin stories are relatively dull. His personality is little known, his powers are rumoured to be flying, swimming, and/or singing like Neil Sedaka. Studebaker Silver Hawk The Studebaker Silver Hawk was an automobile produced between 1957 and 1959 by the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana. ... Neil Sedaka 2005 Neil Sedaka (born March 13, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American pop singer, pianist , and songwriter often associated with the Brill Building. ...

Much time had passed since the beginning of the destruction, including several months, days, cities, funny cars, walnuts, and Big John Masamanian. However, Hawk, clad in a Dudley Do-Right wristwatch and flexy bracelet, answers the phone call in his briefcase relatively uninformed of the previous destruction, and must be informed of what had occurred. At first he is somewhat in disbelief and uninterested, and briefly goes into casual discussion about family events, asking if the unnamed caller has received the album he sent him with "the pencil on the front," referring to the Zappa album Fillmore East - June 1971. Soon, however, he begins to take notes about Billy's path of destruction with much interest. Funny Car is an NHRA drag racing car class. ... Species See text The walnuts (genus Juglans) are plants in the walnut family Juglandaceae. ... Dudley Do-Right was the eponymous hero of a segment on The Bullwinkle Show which parodied early 20th century melodrama and silent film. ... Fillmore East – June 1971 is a live album by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, released in 1971. ...

At this point, there is a brief dance lesson with Studebaker Hawk, for apparently the rumors about his dancing abilities were true. One such rumor, published in Rolling Stone, is that he can write the Lord's Prayer on the head of a pin. The widely accepted origins of Studebaker are apparently that he was born next to the frozen beef pies in a supermarket, underneath Joni Mitchell's autographed picture, next to Elliot Robert's bank book, next to a boat in which Bing Crosby was arrested whil throwing away his "stash." The beef pies are said to have been the main influence, and possibly the source of the powers, of Studebaker Hawk. The Rolling Stone logo, designed by Rick Griffin. ... The Lords Prayer (sometimes known by its first two Latin words as the Pater Noster, in Greek as the , or the English equivalent Our Father) is probably the best-known prayer in Christianity. ... ... Joni Mitchell, CC (born Roberta Joan Anderson on November 7, 1943, in Fort Macleod, Alberta, Canada), is a musician and painter. ... Harry Lillis Bing Crosby (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer and actor whose career lasted from 1926 until his death in 1977. ...

Now with a plan, Studebaker Hawk gathers some large, unused cardboard boxes, some Aunt Jemima syrup, some Kaiser boiler foil and a pair of blunt scissors. Then, hiding in between a pair of customized cars in the parking lot of Ralph's on Sunset Boulevard, he cuts out some wings from the cardboard, covers them in foil, and then places them under his arm. He walks to a telephone booth, where he spreads the syrup onto his legs, attracting a swarm of flies. The flies know Hawk by his reputation for how he "treats the flies alright" and, on his command, lift him and the telephone booth out of the parking lot, into the sky, and to New York in musical fanfare. Aunt Jemima is a trademark for pancake flour, syrup, and other breakfast foods. ... Henry J. Kaiser perches above Hawaii Kai in April 1963, his suburban development in Honolulu. ... Sunset Boulevard (officially known as West Sunset Boulevard, except in Beverly Hills) is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades. ...

After the musical break, we rejoin Studebaker Hawk, who, standing on Billy the Mountain's mouth, tries to reason with Billy. At first he is friendly, but after Ethell protests, he tries to aggressively taunt Billy, who simply laughs at Hawk. Hawk, unfortunately standing on his jaw, once again, a cliff, looses his balance and falls perilously to his own injury and defeat. The moral of the story is stated in song: "a mountain is something you don't want to fuck with."

Musical Themes

Like most long Frank Zappa compositions, the song is heavily orchestrated, and for the most part written out in score-form. The music plays on recurring musical themes. Amongst them is the song's signature melody, which synchronises with the some of the first few lyrics, "Billy was a mountain, Ethell was a tree growing off of his shoulder." This theme later plays a role in The Adventures of Greggery Peccary, a similarly formed composition in which Billy and Ethell make cameo appearances. The Adventures of Greggery Peccary is a song by Frank Zappa, originally released on the album Studio Tan in 1978 and later recompiled into the posthumously released Läther album for which it was originally recorded. ...

There is also a recurring "chorus" to the song, which appears three times, first when the man in the double-knit checkered suit laments that he is trapped in the valley, moments later when Billy and Ethell celebrate their trip to Las Vegas, and finally, in the conclusion when the moral is stated, upon which the chorus develops further as well.

The theme from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is also used to introduce the city of New York, given that, at the time, the Tonight Show had not yet moved to Burbank, California. It is also, however to introduce the Watts residential district as well as a transition to show that time has passed during Studebaker Hawk's phone conversation. The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was the full name of NBCs The Tonight Show during the years that Johnny Carson hosted from 1962 to 1992. ... This article or section should be merged with Burbank, Los Angeles County, California This article is about the Burbank in Southern California. ...

Much of the bulk of the song, however, relies on incidental, rock-based vocal musical numbers depending on important points of the storyline, which transition into grooves and background music for a running, spoken narration.

The song makes reference to The Wizard of Oz and the musical number, Somewhere Over the Rainbow during the tornado sequence, and is sung by the Howard Kaplan character. For the novel, see The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; For other senses of this title, see The Wizard of Oz. ... Somewhere Over the Rainbow, music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by Yip Harburg, is one of the most famous and beloved songs of the late 1930s. ...

External links

• Billy the Mountain Lyrics
• Changes and Improvisation in the Billy the Mountain Script between live performances