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Could someone focus on the man and the actual, existing music rather than who composed or performed what, or how, or why? You weren't there, man. That's Monday morning quarterbacking, or BS, as some would say. And I have a strong dislike of obsessed music geeks, but I enjoy Beefheart's music. I just don't have any urge to understanding the meaning of why his pets wore purple collars or what brand of pencil he used or whether he took fart noises and composed with that rhythm, that's what geeks do. Get out of the basement.

@Joe - Don often played bits and pieces on piano, or sang melodies, and left it for the musicians to sew it together. With a little research, you can learn a lot about how he worked. The sound arrives, the sound arrives. We are lucky to receive it. Who cares how it arrives. Don't cut the goose open to see where the golden egg came from.

Are there any recordings anywhere of Don Van Vliet himself playing any of these "knuckle-busting" pieces that he was said to have composed for other musicians to play on his albums? Or did he just notate them? What was his compositional process? It seems rather mysterious.

john,why do you always have go to the most cynical common denominator. would it kill you to drop your nyc "jaundiced imagination", for a freakin nanosecond!

i might catch hell for this. but the song you just played, sounded like it could be, "proto-hip hop". i know that can sound like someone saying, that bach is the grandfather of jazz. [leave your stones at home please].

Phi Zappa Crappa!