You Are What You Is
by Frank Zappa

Album: You Are What You Is (1981)
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  • Do you know what you are?
    You are what you is
    You is what you am
    (A cow don't make ham)
    You ain't what you're not
    So see what you got
    You are what you is
    An' that's all it 'tis

    A foolish young man
    From a middle class fam'ly
    Started singin' the blues
    'Cause he thought it was manly
    Now he talks like the Kingfish
    ("Saffiiiee!")
    From Amos 'n Andy
    ("Holy mack'l derholy mack'l dere!")
    He tells you that chitlins
    (Chitlins!)
    Well, they taste just like candy
    He thinks that he's got
    De whole thang down
    From the Nivea Lotion
    To de Royal Crown

    Do you know what you are?
    You are what you is
    You is what you am
    (A cow don't make ham)
    You ain't what you're not
    So see what you got
    You are what you is
    An' that's all it 'tis

    A foolish young man
    Of the Negro Persuasion
    Devoted his life
    To become a caucasian
    He stopped eating pork
    He stopped eating greens
    He traded his dashiki
    ("Uhuru!")
    For some Jordache Jeans
    He learned to play golf
    An' he got a good score
    Now he says to himself
    "I AIN'T NO NIGGER NO MOREHEY! HEY! HEY!"
    "I don't understand you"
    BWANA MA-COO-BAH
    "Would you please speak more clearly"
    MERCEDES BAINNNNNNNZ

    Who is who
    (I don't know)
    'N what is what
    (Somethin' I just don't know)
    'N why is this
    (Tell me now)
    Appropriot
    (That's a funny pronunciation if'n ever I heard one)
    If you don't like
    (Where'd you get that word?)
    What you has got
    (Appropriot? The word is not)
    Drop it in the dirt
    (Drop it yeah)
    'N let it rot
    (I can smell it now)
    Someone else
    (Here de come, here de come)
    Will surely come
    (I told you they was comin')
    'N pick it up
    (That's right!)
    'Cause he wants some
    (An' he wants it for free)
    And when one day
    (There will come a day)
    You wonder who
    (I wonder too)
    You used to was
    (Who I was anyway)
    'N what you do
    (I used to work at the post office)
    You'll scratch your head
    (But I don't wanna un-do my doo)
    'N look around
    (Just to see what's goin' on)
    But what you lost
    (Can't seem to find it)
    Will not be found
    (A Mercedes Benz)

    Do you know what you are?
    (I know)
    You are what you is
    (I'm the kinda guy)
    You is what you am
    (That ought to be drivin')
    A cow don't make a ham
    (A four-fifty SLC)
    You ain't what you're not
    (A big ol' red one)
    So see what you got
    (With some golf clubs stickin' out de trunk)
    You are what you is
    (I'm gwine down to de links on Saturday mornin')
    An' that's all it is
    (Gimme a five-dollar bill)
    You are what you is
    (And an overcoat too)
    And that's all it is
    (Where's my waitress? Yeah)
    You are what you is
    (Robbie, take me to Greek Town)
    And that's all it is
    (I'm harder than yer husband; harder than yer husband)
    You are what you is
    (I'm goin' down to White Street, to the Mudd Club y'all)
    And that's all it is
    (I'm goin' down 'n work the wall 'n work the floor)
    You are what you is
    ('N work the pipe 'n work the wall)
    And that's all it is
    (Some more) Writer/s: Frank Zappa
    Publisher: Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 6

  • Revim from OntarioAsinine commentaries against him. Really, stop making up or using other people's crap!
  • James from Columbus, InEarly on in his muscal career Zappa had a number of inter-racial bands. At least once that I read of he and his bandmates were about to have violence bestowed on them when some Hispanic individuals intervened and evened the odds that sent the rednecks away looking for easier targets. Many of Zappa's bands had people of color in them. One thing about him was he was truly blind to everything except musical talent. Every day if I am somewhere and see a car with rap music thumping, the gents inside with their baggy pants hanging below their butts, oversized athletic jerseys, gold chains and backwards baseball caps will be White. If they get out they call each other "my N****", and act more Black and Ghetto than the actors in any Blaxploitation/Ghetto Drug Dealer gang banger movie I ever saw. It's sad they are so empty they have to pretend that way.
  • Thegripester from Wellington, New ZealandWell, certainly Zappa was not a racist - case in point, if the thrust of this song had been in any way racist, the 2 or 3 black members of his band would not have participated in recording it.
  • Greg from Alsip, IlSometimes the "N-word" can actually be poetic, beleive it or not. The Persuasions, an all black accapella gospel group, did an album of covers and on it they do this song. It certainly means something when they sing it, not that Zappa didn't bring meaning to it on his own.
  • John from Overland Park, KsA somewhat cleaned-up version of this song was on the B-side of the "Valley Girl" release, with a lot of the language cleaned up and much of the racist-sounding references refined. It was also on the "Thing Fish" album, if I recall correctly.
  • Razor from London, EnglandReason for the "racist slur" (the n-word) - the song is about people being inadvertently racist by imitating another race.
    In one verse, a white man wants to sing the blues, but he thinks he can only do this if he lives the lifetsyle - i.e looks, behaves and talks like an outdated stereotype of a black man. In the second verse, a black man who used to be a radical of some sort (hence the mention of a daishiki) is trying to insulate himself from racism by "becoming a caucasian", which means rejecting an arbitrary selection of black lifetsyle icons (i.e not eating pork and greens!) and mixing with the worst of white society (whilst playing golf).
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