ARF: Notes and Comments: OVERNITE SENSATION: Camarillo Brillo

OVERNITE SENSATION

Camarillo Brillo

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	She had that Camarillo brillo
From: mccluerj@agcs.com (John McCluer) There is a place in California called Camarillo. There used to be some sort of a mental hospital there. Charlie Parker once was committed there, and he wrote a tune called "Relaxin' At Camarillo".
Brillo is the brand name for a sort of steel wool pad (i.e., curly steel fibers). White people with curly hair are often called 'Brillo-head' in the USA (or, at least, I have called them that- but I'm pretty crude).
I have always imagined that Camarillo Brillo referred to the wild, curly hair that the woman had; looking like she had just escaped from a mental hospital.
From: joe@cs.tu-berlin.de (Johannes Labisch) As I know, Camarillo is a place where mentally disordered people are kept in. Brillo (you know the Andy Warhol pictore of Brillo Boxes?) is something to clean with. Metal wool pads, I think.
From: Floris van der Tak <vdtak@ral.berkeley.edu> Mendocino is (also?) a town in NORTHERN California, famous because there's a lot of marijuana grown over there. Might well have to do with the "esoteric" picture FZ is sketching of this lady ...
From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller) Camarillo is (I think) a town.
More likely this is a play on Amarillo, the Spanish word for Yellow. Brillo is a brand name for a steel-wool type soap pad for washing dishes. "Flamin out along her head" helps us to realize that he is metaphorically desribing this woman's brittle, wiry, blond hair.
From: Evil Bob <evilbob@tbag.tscs.com> Actually, I think that another very important interpretation of "Camarillo Brillo" is the fact that it's additionally a reference to the pubic hair of the female person in this tune. I say this despite the fact that this reference is followed by "flamin' out along her head". A common American slang word word for female pubic hair is "Brillo". I say this also because of the following reference to "Mendocino Beano-o" (See Below).
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	Flamin' out along her head, I mean her Mendocino bean-o
From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller) Mendocino is a town in southern california. Beans are popular food, but bean (or beano) can also refer to a hat or one's head. I believe the opening verse describes her head in all it's glory. (right where some bugs had made it red).
Please don't try to read deep meaning into these words, a lot of it is nonsense.
From: Evil Bob <evilbob@tbag.tscs.com> As to what a "Bean-o" is, I believe it actually refers to a tampon. Among Americans of Frank's (and my dad's) generation "Bean-o" is slang for a tampon and accompanies the female state of being "on the rag" - as in the phrase "Don't ask [for sex tonight], 'cause the answer be no". As for the "bugs" which "made it red", this I believe refers to pubic lice (aka "Crabs") which hold some place of significant insignificance in the "PROJECT-OBJECT".
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	By where some bugs had made it red
From: Biffyshrew@aol.com I always thought this was a reference to cochineal, or carmine, which is a red dye derived from the cochineal insect, which may be used in cosmetics. Note that "Henna Brillo" was a nickname for Janet Neville-Ferguson (see Cal Schenkel's comments on the One Size Fits All star map), and henna is also a red dye. I would say that the lady in question is therefore not blonde, as one contributor suggested, but a redhead (probably dyed). Could the song possibly refer, at least partially, to Miss Janet herself?
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	She ruled the Toads of the Short Forest
CC
From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller) One of the instrumental songs on Weasels Ripped My Flesh is called Toads of the Short Forest. I'm not sure where there are other references to this.
From: sova@kpbank.kemerovo.su The other reference (if not for fauna than for floura :-))) is of course in The Adventures of Greggery Peccary
GREGGERY takes a bumpy trail off the main SHORT FOREST ROAD, which leads him up the side of a FAMOUS (and convenientlv placed) MOUNTAIN, and into a strange cave on the edge of a cliff, not far from a LITTLE TWISTED TREE. . .with eyes on it.
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	She said she was A Magic Mama And she could throw a mean Tarot
Does it mean "to throw a bad spell"? Anyway for CC and complete explanation of Tarot card mumbo-jumbo see Joe's Garage N&C.
From: Biffyshrew@aol.com The word "mean" in this context is not negative, but an idiom for "outstandingly good." One would similarly say that Frank Zappa could play a mean guitar.
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	She had gray-green skin A doll with a pin
From: fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller) The doll with a pin is a reference to voodoo. In this black macickal practice of the caribbean, often a doll is made that represents a human being (I think it is necessary to have a piece of the persons hair or clothing). Sticking pins into this doll would supposedly cause great pain to befall the person. There's no doubt that Frank was referring to this among all her other witchcraft type mumbo jumbo.
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	And so she wandered Trough the door-way Just like a shadow from the tomb She said her stereo was four-way
From: mccluerj@agcs.com (John McCluer) In the '70's quadraphonic (four-channel) Stereo was supposed to be the next big thing. It never caught on.
From: joe@cs.tu-berlin.de (Johannes Labisch) Quadrophonic. (Left, right, back, forth.. :-) )
From: jmiller@terra.colostate.edu (Jeff Miller) For awhile in the '70s it was the "in thing" to have a quadraphonic (4 speaker) stereo system. This was poorly implemented, and until wasn't until the recent advent of Surround sound systems that four speaker ("four-way") stereos were respected.
From: Biffyshrew@aol.com Not coincidentally, Over-Nite Sensation was the first of two Zappa albums to be released in four-channel sound (Apostrophe was the other). Even the new label name, DiscReet, was a pun on the "discrete" quadraphonic sound format. One of the reasons quadraphonic sound never really succeeded in the marketplace was that there was competition between two incompatible systems, "matrix" (used by CBS) and "discrete" (used by Warner Brothers and most other labels).
From: vgy@dorado.hit.bme.hu (Varga Gyorgy) I think the four-way stereo has nothing to do with quadro systems. Actually there are 3-way systems, in which you have 3 speakers on the two sides, one for the lower, one for the middle and one for the higher frequencies. So in a 4-way system there are 4 speakers on each side.
From: Vladimir Sovetov <sova@kpbank.ru> At least in Pioneer speaker's User Manuals the meaning of the term is defenitely as it was put in the last opinion above.
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	(Is that a real poncho...I mean Is that a Mexican poncho or is that a Sears poncho? Hmmm...no foolin' ...)
CC
From: Vladimir Sovetov <sova@kpbank.ru> This rancid poncho of dubious origin Camarillo-Brillo-Magic-Mama ( been un-concho no doubt :-) bequeathed generously to APOSTROPHE Cosmic-Debris-Mistery Man ( who later in his turn been un-concho :-) OBAGANZA! Does Humour Belong In Music? joined the navy.

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