The Adventures of Greggery Peccary
| "The Adventures of Greggery Peccary" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Frank Zappa | |
| from the album Studio Tan | |
| Released | September 15, 1978 |
| Recorded | 1972-1976 |
| Genre | Experimental rock, progressive rock |
| Length | 21:00 |
| Label | DiscReet Records |
| Songwriter(s) | Frank Zappa |
| Producer(s) | Frank Zappa |
| Studio Tan track listing | |
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"The Adventures of Greggery Peccary" is a piece by Frank Zappa, originally released on the album Studio Tan in 1978 and later recompiled into the posthumously released Läther album. An instrumental version now appears on the Wazoo CD featuring the original Wazoo ensemble and debuted at the Hollywood Bowl on September 10, 1972. On that CD it is in 4 movements totalling 33.05 minutes. The song is an epic that extended 20 minutes and 33 seconds in length when first released and later 21 minutes (in a slightly different mix and edit) on Läther, mocking the rock opera style and reprising the extended story format used in "Billy the Mountain" and, to some extent, the lengthy adventures outlined in the "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow Suite".
The piece required a large number of personnel to record, and received its basic tracking during The Grand Wazoo and Waka/Jawaka sessions in mid-1972. The piece remained unfinished at the time of release of those two LPs (later that year). Zappa would return to the recording on and off until its completion during the recording sessions for One Size Fits All in 1974. The long interludes of avant-garde classical arrangement that are prevalent in the track made for a much more sophisticated sound than "Billy the Mountain". Nonetheless, Zappa's use of absurdist humor and political commentary remains prevalent in this piece.
Greggery Peccary is a small peccary, named after the actor Gregory Peck, and lives among the peccary population, which ranges from Texas to Paraguay and sometimes as far west as Catalina. Peccaries are notable for having a white collar pattern on their fur, but Greggery is part of a "bold new breed" of peccary that also has a wide tie below his collar, distinguishing it as a particularly exceptional swine.
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Wikipedia