America Drinks and Goes Home

"America Drinks and Goes Home" is a song written by Frank Zappa and recorded in 1966 for the Mothers of Invention album Absolutely Free. The song actually appears in two different versions on the album at the beginning of side 2 under the title "America Drinks" and finishing at the end of side 2 under the title "America Drinks and Goes Home". In between these songs is a sequence containing the songs "Status Back Baby", "Uncle Bernie's Farm", "Son of Suzy Creamcheese" and "Brown Shoes Don't Make It". Zappa's title for the entire piece was "Suite No. 2: The M.O.I. American Pageant (2nd in a Series of Underground Oratorios)". The piece was performed many times during the Mothers of Invention residency at the Garrick Theater in Greenwich Village in New York City during 1967.

Zappa wrote the song to parody his experiences playing with drunken bar bands in the early 1960s. The song combines a silly love song lyric with an equally cliched melody. The members of The Mothers perform the song in a very sloppy way on purpose. Many sound effects were creatively added to the recording to give it an authentic nightclub feel. At the end of the recording lead vocalist Ray Collins says good night to the audience and tells them to "drink it up, folks."

Soon after the song was released in early 1967 a few other songs appeared which used very similar ideas such as "On with the Show" by The Rolling Stones (released in 1967), "My Friend" by Jimi Hendrix (recorded in 1968, released in 1971) and "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)" by The Beatles (recorded in 1967 and 1969, released in 1970.)

Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention
Albums
1960s
  • Freak Out!
  • Absolutely Free
  • Lumpy Gravy
  • We're Only in It for the Money
  • Cruising with Ruben & the Jets
  • Uncle Meat
  • Mothermania
  • Hot Rats
1970s
  • Burnt Weeny Sandwich
  • Weasels Ripped My Flesh
  • Chunga's Revenge
  • Fillmore East – June 1971
  • 200 Motels
  • Just Another Band from L.A.
  • Waka/Jawaka
  • The Grand Wazoo
  • Over-Nite Sensation
  • Apostrophe (')
  • Roxy & Elsewhere
  • One Size Fits All
  • Bongo Fury
  • Zoot Allures
  • Zappa in New York
  • Studio Tan
  • Sleep Dirt
  • Sheik Yerbouti
  • Orchestral Favorites
  • Joe's Garage Act I
  • Joe's Garage Acts II & III
1980s
  • Tinsel Town Rebellion
  • Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar
  • Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar Some More
  • Return of the Son of Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar
  • You Are What You Is
  • Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch
  • The Man from Utopia
  • Baby Snakes
  • London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. I
  • Boulez Conducts Zappa: The Perfect Stranger
  • Them or Us
  • Thing-Fish
  • Francesco Zappa
  • The Old Masters, Box I
  • Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention
  • Does Humor Belong in Music?
  • The Old Masters, Box II
  • Jazz from Hell
  • London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. II
  • The Old Masters, Box III
  • Guitar
  • You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 1
  • You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 2
  • Broadway the Hard Way
  • You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 3
1990s
  • The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life
  • Make a Jazz Noise Here
  • You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 4
  • You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 5
  • You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 6
  • Playground Psychotics
  • Ahead of Their Time
  • The Yellow Shark
(posthumous)
1990s
  • Civilization Phaze III
  • The Lost Episodes
  • Läther
  • Frank Zappa Plays the Music of Frank Zappa: A Memorial Tribute
  • Have I Offended Someone?
  • Mystery Disc
  • Everything Is Healing Nicely
2000s
  • FZ:OZ
  • Halloween
  • Joe's Corsage
  • Joe's Domage
  • QuAUDIOPHILIAc
  • Joe's XMASage
  • Imaginary Diseases
  • MOFO (Deluxe 4-Disc)
  • MOFO (2-Disc)
  • Trance-Fusion
  • Buffalo
  • The Dub Room Special!
  • Wazoo
  • One Shot Deal
  • Joe's Menage
  • Lumpy Money
  • Philly '76
2010s
  • Greasy Love Songs
  • Congress Shall Make No Law...
  • Hammersmith Odeon
  • Feeding the Monkies at Ma Maison
  • Carnegie Hall
  • Road Tapes, Venue #1
  • Understanding America
  • Finer Moments
Other releases
  • The **** of the Mothers
  • The Guitar World According to Frank Zappa
  • Beat the Boots
  • Beat the Boots II
  • Strictly Commercial
  • Strictly Genteel
  • Cucamonga
  • Cheap Thrills
  • Son of Cheep Thrills
  • The Frank Zappa AAAFNRAA Birthday Bundle 2006
  • The Frank Zappa AAAFNRAAA Birthday Bundle 2008
  • Beat the Boots III
  • The Frank Zappa AAAFNRAAAA Birthday Bundle 2010
  • The Frank Zappa AAAFNRAAAAAM Birthday Bundle 2011
Singles
  • "How Could I Be Such a Fool?"
  • "Trouble Comin' Every Day"
  • "Who Are the Brain Police?"
  • "Big Leg Emma"
  • "Son of Suzy Creamcheese"
  • "Lonely Little Girl"
  • "Motherly Love"
  • "Deseri"
  • "Anyway the Wind Blows"
  • "WPLJ"
  • "My Guitar"
  • "Peaches en Regalia"
  • "Tell Me You Love Me"
  • "Tears Began to Fall"
  • "Magic Fingers"
  • "What Will This Evening Bring Me This Morning"
  • "Cletus Awreetus-Awrightus"
  • "I'm the Slime"
  • "Cosmik Debris"
  • "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow"
  • "Du Bist Mein Sofa"
  • "Find Her Finer"
  • "Disco Boy"
  • "Dancin' Fool"
  • "Bobby Brown"
  • "Joe's Garage"
  • "Stick It Out"
  • "I Don't Wanna Get Drafted"
  • "Love of My Life"
  • "Harder Than Your Husband"
  • "You Are What You Is"
  • "Goblin Girl"
  • "Valley Girl"
  • "The Man From Utopia Meets Mary Lou"
  • "Cocaine Decisions"
  • "Baby Take Your Teeth Out"
  • "In France"
  • "The Girl in the Magnesium Dress"
  • "Sexual Harassment in the Workplace"
  • "Zomby Woof"
  • "Stairway to Heaven"
Other compositions
  • "Absolutely Free"
  • "Advance Romance"
  • "The Adventures of Greggery Peccary"
  • "America Drinks & Goes Home"
  • "Are You Hung Up?"
  • "Billy the Mountain"
  • "The Black Page"
  • "Brown Shoes Don't Make It"
  • "Camarillo Brillo"
  • "Cheepnis"
  • "Duodenum"
  • "Father O'Blivion
  • "Inca Roads"
  • "It Just Might Be a One-Shot Deal"
  • "Jewish Princess"
  • "Let's Make the Water Turn Black"
  • "Memories of El Monte"
  • "Montana"
  • "Muffin Man"
  • "Nanook Rubs It"
  • "Plastic People"
  • "The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet"
  • "Rollo"
  • "Sleep Dirt"
  • "St.Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast"
  • "Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance"
  • "A Token of My Extreme"
  • "The Torture Never Stops"
  • "What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body?"
  • "Who Needs the Peace Corps?"
  • "Willie the Pimp"
  • "Wind Up Workin' in a Gas Station"
Filmography
  • 200 Motels
  • Baby Snakes
  • The Dub Room Special
  • Video from Hell
  • Does Humor Belong in Music?
  • The True Story of Frank Zappa's 200 Motels
  • The Amazing Mr. Bickford
  • Uncle Meat
  • The Torture Never Stops
Relatives
  • Gail Zappa
  • Moon Zappa
  • Dweezil Zappa
  • Ahmet Zappa
  • Diva Zappa
Related articles
  • Discography
  • In popular culture
  • Musicians
  • Captain Beefheart
  • The Real Frank Zappa Book
  • The Frank Zappa Guitar Book
  • Zappa Plays Zappa
  • Suzy Creamcheese
  • Pachygnatha zappa
  • Phialella zappai
  • Zappa confluentus
  • 3834 Zappafrank
  • Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra
  • Book
  • Category
  • Portal

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