Don't Eat the Yellow Snow

"Don't Eat the Yellow Snow"
Single by Frank Zappa
from the album Apostrophe (')
B-side"Cosmik Debris"
ReleasedAugust 1974
RecordedMay & December 1973[1]
Genre
Length3:26 (Single version)
10:53 (Original suite)
2:07 ("Don't Eat the Yellow Snow")
4:38 ("Nanook Rubs It")
1:50 ("St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast")
2:18 ("Father O'Blivion")
LabelDiscReet
Songwriter(s)Frank Zappa
Producer(s)Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa singles chronology
"Cosmik Debris"
(1974) 		"Don't Eat the Yellow Snow"
(1974) 		"Du Bist Mein Sofa"
(1975)

"Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" is a suite by the American musician Frank Zappa, made up of the first four tracks of his 1974 album Apostrophe ('): "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow", "Nanook Rubs It", "St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast", and "Father O'Blivion". Each song in the suite is loosely connected, although the songs are not all connected by one overall story/theme. The suite was only played in full from 1973 to 1974 and 1978 to 1980. "Saint Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast" contains Zappa's percussionist Ruth Underwood on marimba, who added a very distinct sound to many of his songs in the early 1970s.[4]

In keeping with the arctic theme of the song, after the first lyric "Dreamed I was an Eskimo" there is a musical quotation from the 1947 jazz tune "Midnight Sun".[5]

  1. ^ Ulrich, Charles (May 13, 2018). The Big Note: A Guide to the Recordings of Frank Zappa. New Star Books. ISBN 978-1-554201-46-4.
  2. ^ Popoff, Martin (January 5, 2024). "The Top 20 unlikely Progressive Rock hits, ranked". Goldmine. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  3. ^ Breithaupt, Don; Breithaupt, Jeff (October 15, 1996). "Ewwwww!: Bad Taste". Precious and Few - Pop Music in the Early '70s. St. Martin's Griffin. p. 110. ISBN 031214704X.
  4. ^ Song Review by François Couture. "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow - Frank Zappa | Song Info". AllMusic. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
  5. ^ Romano, Will (November 2014). Prog Rock FAQ: All That's Left to Know About Rock's Most Progressive Music. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 9781617136207.