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 Excentrifugal Forz

Notes and Comments
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From: Charles Ulrich' forthcoming book Project/Object
  The basic track for this song was probably recorded at the Hot Rats sessions in 1969. It features Johnny Guerin on drums, Sugarcane Harris on violin, and FZ on guitar. (Perhaps a bass track by Max Bennett and/or a keyboard track by Ian Underwood was discarded.) FZ probably overdubbed bass and vocals in 1973.
  This song was never performed in concert, though "Excentrifugal Forz" had been a working title for the instrumental subsequently released as "Echidna's Arf (Of You)" (on Roxy & Elsewhere). It is a blend of the word eccentric (meaning 'deviating from the norm') and the phrase centrifugal force (the name given to the apparent force that keeps the water in the bucket when you swing it overhead). The z in Forz is pronounced as in German or Italian, so that the word rhymes with sports. Forza is Italian for 'force'.
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There's always Korla Plankton . . .
Him an' me can play the blues
An' then I'll watch him buff
That tiny ruby that he use
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He'll straighten up his turban
An' eject a little ooze
Along a one-celled Hammond organ-ism
Underneath my shoes
From: onthecornr@aol.com (OnTheCornr)
  With the current vogue for "incredibly strange music" of the '50s and '60s, I've started seeing TONS of these old lounge music records at record conventions over the last year or two. That's how I learned about a turban-wearing organ player named Korla Pandit, who I suddenly realized is referred to in "Excentrifugal Forz" as Korla Plankton. The reference to his turban (I don't remember if he wore a ruby in it) and his "Hammond organism"...it's all there! Dunno if Frank ever really "played the blues" with this character, though.
From: John Henley <jhenley@mail.utexas.edu>
  Date: Tue, 31 Oct 95 14:36:46 GMT
  Not long ago, there was a brief thread in which some very ingenious and knowledgable person had figured out that "Korla Plankton" from Excentrifugal Forz was a reference to an obscure musican named Korla Pandit. The "tiny ruby," "turban" and "one-celled Hammond organism" were taken to be clues.
  I thought at the time, "I've heard that name before," but I couldn't place it. I collect old-time radio shows, from the 30s thru the 50s, and I have about a dozen episodes of Chandu The Magician, from 1949. I pulled one to listen to last night, while working out; and at the end, the announcer intoned: "Music by...Korla Pandit."
  Zap. Chandu the Magician takes place mostly in the Sahara desert. The music on this series is performed by two people - you got it, the lead instrument is a Hammond organ, playing the most cliche'd "Arabian" motifs you can imagine, with a sort of somber hand-drum drum accompaniment.(No bongo fury here.)
  This is the first time I can remember my two main hobbies dovetailing in this way. Makes me think that conceptual continuity extends beyond the boundaries of Frank's own work.
From: Charles Ulrich' forthcoming book Project/Object
  Korla Plankton is a play on Korla Pandit (1922?-1998), who played the Hammond organ on television in the 1950s. He wore a turban, but a don't know about the tiny ruby. Plankton are microscopic organisms that float in the ocean.
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And then I'll call Pup Tentacle
From: Charles Ulrich <ulrich@sfu.ca>
  ... Note that the play on words (pup tent + tentacle) is exactly parallel to that in "Hammond organism" (Hammond organ + organism).
  And more from Charles later
  The lyrics contain two similar plays on words: Hammond Organism is a blend of Hammond organ (an electronic keyboard instrument) and organism (a living thing), while Pup Tentacle is a blend of pup tent (a small two-man tent, usually constructed of two pieces of fabric supported by two poles) and tentacle (a long, arm-like appendage, such as that of an octopus). Another parallel in FZ's ¦uvre is the name Greggery Peccary (see STUDIO TAN).
From: Vladimir Sovetov <sova@kpbank.ru>
  And now I'm going to put the big question to you here WHO IS THIS GUY with hurted chin? Obviously it should be another player of oriental stuff. Look, or may be Zappa alumni Lowell George!
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Because that's where he's been

His little feet got long 'n flexible
An' suckers fell right in
The time he crossed the line
From *Later On*
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to *Way Back When*
From: Vladimir Sovetov <sova@kpbank.ru>
  It SHOULD be songs of Pup T. 'coze they put in italic in printed lyrics! Book him, Dan-o!-)
From: <jonno@vortex.biol.ruu.nl>
  Someone here posted the idea that "Later on" and "Way Back When" are probably songs or lyric snippets from "Pup Tentacle". I cannot find that particular post anymore. It may well be that "Little Feet" (got long and flexible) also refers to a song or lyric snippet by the same guy. I did a web search, but couldn't come up with anything.
From: konradfs@netcom.com (Konrad)
  Chances are you can find those lyrics in some Little Feat song, so PT must be Lowell George.
From: Vladimir Sovetov <sova@kpbank.ru>
  Well, I've done it. I mean I had studied what seems to be a full bunch of Little Feat cowboy-oriented deadly-serious saloon-sentimental crap of the lyrics, no "Later On" and "Way Back When". Obviously it's wrong idea with Feat or Loweel George connection.
  However, recently, Simon Prentis pointed to me another possible clue
Cheepnis. ROXY.

Did you ever seen that one? The monster
looks sort like an inverted ice-cream cone
with teeth around the bottom... it...
it's like a... like a teepee or...
sort of a rounded off pup tent affair...
  So maybe it's another movie thing we should search for?
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