Music / Waka/Jawaka

You can be scared when it gets too real. But you should be diggin' it, while it's happening (...) 'Cause it just might be a one-shot deal.

Waka/Jawaka is a 1972 album by Frank Zappa that forms the center piece in what could be called his Jazz Fusion trilogy, along with Hot Rats (1969) and the follow-up The Grand Wazoo (1972). The album is best remembered for the fan favorites "Big Swifty" and "Waka/Jawaka".

Tracklist

Side One

1. "Big Swifty" (17:22)

Side Two

1. "Your Mouth" (3:12)
2. "It Just Might Be A One-Shot Deal" (4:16)
3. "Waka/Jawaka" (11:18)

Personnel

• Frank Zappa: vocals, guitar, percussion, electric bed springs
• Kris Peterson: vocals
• Janet Ferguson: vocals
• Sal Marquez: trumpets, vocals, chimes, flugelhorn
• Alex Dmochowski, aka "Erroneous": vocals, fuzz bass, electric bass
• Aynsley Dunbar: drums, washboard, tambourine
• Tony Duran: vocals, slide guitar
• George Duke: ring-modulated and echoplexed electric piano, tack piano
• Mike Altschul: baritone saxophone, piccolo, bass flute, bass clarinet, tenor sax
• Joel Peskin: tenor saxophone
• Jeff Simmons: vocals, Hawaiian guitar
• Don Preston: piano, mini-Moog
• Bill Byers: trombone, baritone horn
• Ken Shroyer: trombone, baritone horn
• Sneaky Pete Kleinow: pedal steel guitar solo
• Marvin Mattelson: album cover design

One Shot Tropes

• Belief Makes You Stupid: "Your Mouth"
  Your mouth is your religion
  You put your faith in a hole like that?
  You put your trust and your belief
  Above your jaw, and nor relief have I found
• Call-Back and Continuity Nod:
  • The water tubs on the album cover show the words "hot" and "rats", giving the first clue that this album is a Spiritual Successor to "Hot Rats".
  • "Big Swifty" would reappear as "Big Swifty & Associates", the company in "The Adventures Of Greggery Peccary" from Studio Tan (1978) and Läther (1993).
  • "It Just Might Be A One-Shot Deal" mentions a forest and a frog, referencing "Toads Of The Short Forest" from Weasels Ripped My Flesh (1970).
  And if a forest grows up from the dirt on the floor
  That the frog with the satchel had just dumped behind the door
• Epic Rocking: The 17:22 "Big Swifty's". and the 11:18 "Waka/Jawaka".
• Instrumental: Apart from "Your Mouth" and "It Just Might Be A One-Shot Deal" the music is mostly instrumental.
• It Came from the Sink: Implied with the cover art, featuring a sink with the faucets marked "hot" and "rats".
• It Only Works Once: "It Just Might Be A One-Shot Deal"
  You can be scared when it gets too real.
  You can be scared when it gets too real.
  But you should be diggin' it, while it's happening (...)
  'Cause it just might be a one-shot deal.
• Longest Song Goes First: The 17-and-a-half-minute "Big Swifty" opens the album, occupying the entire first side.
• Pun: The album cover shows a sink with the words "hot" and "rats" instead of "hot" and "cold".
• Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: "Waka/Jawaka". Zappa declared in an interview by Jerry Williams, November 1972, that the title was "something that showed up on a Ouija board at one time".
• Title Track: "Waka/Jawaka".
• Trrrilling Rrrs: "It Just Might Be A One-Shot Deal" has a section that is sang this way:
  And if a forest grows up
  From the dirt on the floor,
  That the frog with the satchel
  Had just dumped beside the door
  You're just startin' to get worried,
  You ain't going out no more

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