The Torture Never Stops - Tone

Tone

The song debuted in 1975 under the title "Why Doesn't Somebody Get Him a Pepsi?" in which almost none of the instrument parts were similar to the album version. This song is said to be one of Zappa's darker pieces fitting with the general atmosphere of "Zoot Allures." However, "The Torture Never Stops" is noted to be the darkest with lyrics such as "Flies all green and buzzin' in dungeon of despair. Who are'll those people that is shut away down there? Are they crazy? Are they sainted? Are they heroes someone painted?" along with a female's moans of pain in the background which was added by Zappa for a dirty and miserable tone. Critics claim that during the song, Zappa comes off as calm yet passive-aggressive. The song has been thought to reference atrocities of World War II concentration camps, and it's been said by critics that if so, the references to "eating a steaming pig" are tasteless on Zappa's part. Musician Michel Delville, in his essay Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart and the Secret History of Maximalism compared the tone of "The Torture Never Stops" to Brian Eno's album Music for Airports.

"Rat Tomago"
Song by Frank Zappa from the album Sheik Yerbouti
Recorded 1978
Genre Rock, Instrumental rock
Length 5:17
Writer Frank Zappa

Read more about this topic:  The Torture Never Stops

Famous quotes containing the word tone:

    Our medieval historians who prefer to rely as much as possible on official documents because the chronicles are unreliable, fall thereby into an occasionally dangerous error. The documents tell us little about the difference in tone which separates us from those times; they let us forget the fervent pathos of medieval life.
    Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)

    It hurts me to hear the tone in which the poor are condemned as “shiftless,” or “having a pauper spirit,” just as it would if a crowd mocked at a child for its weakness, or laughed at a lame man because he could not run, or a blind man because he stumbled.
    Albion Fellows Bacon (1865–1933)

    We often contradict an opinion when it is actually only the tone with which it was put forward that is uncongenial to us.
    Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)