I do like the Zappa version of 'Whipping Post'. I saw Zappa at the Wembley Arena in 1989, when he did his 'Stairway to Heaven', but there isn't a good version out there. How they came to cover the Allman Brothers is a good story.
"The only thing I'm concerned about is that people are aware that there are alternatives to Captain & Tennile or the Allman Bros." (FZ in Zappa On Air)
There's a sense in which you play "Whipping Post" as the ultimate joke on encores, because that's the most requested encore song of all time.
Well, I'll tell you how it happened. We were playing Helsinki, Finland about six or eight years ago, and in the middle of this very quiet, nice concert hall from the back of the room a voice rings out, "Whipping Post." And I thought, if we only knew it we could blow this guy's socks off. You know, it would be great to just ... sure, fuck you, "Whipping Post" ... all right, here it is. So, when we got Bobbie Martin in the band I said, "He can sing the shit out of 'Whipping Post' and so let's go for it."
What did the other members of your band think when you said ...
"God damn right, let's do it." They love it. They enjoy playing it.
Did you similarly like Duane Allman?
I never listened to their music. I like "Whipping Post," though. In fact, I think they even premiered it when we were working together at this pop festival at the baseball stadium in Atlanta years and years and years ago. It was the first time I heard this song and I liked it then, thought it was really good but I am not an Allman Brothers consumer.
But, as a guitarist you were obviously aware of Duane Allman.
Well, I heard him like the same way I hear other things, if it happens to be on the radio when I go someplace. I don't follow it, I don't consume it.
But, you do offer a kind of homage to a famous dead guy who was a great player.
The credit is all his. It's his song. I didn't invent it. It's a great song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu32TgPeXM8Probably the most pertinent comment from 9 months ago.
Was listening to Zappa's "Whipping Post" with my band as we were all riding together in the van on the way home after playing. At one point when the band stopped playing and you could hear the sound of the live audience, my bass player was freaking out, suddenly realizing that he was listening to a live performance. "WHAT! This is LIVE?" We were all in shock, honestly.
However, it's worth remembering that there was enough money in album sales to re-record any faults in the live performance, and plenty of studios in LA to do that in.