Originally, Trouble Every Day is a song about Frank
Zappa's reaction on watching the Watts Riots (1965) on TV. The full
text version of the song is only included on the Mothers of
Invention's debut album Freak Out (1966). It's a great example for Zappa concepts, such as conceptual
continuity and transformation of material. I guess an artist whose
audience demands the same songs ("classics") over and over
again for thirty years, can either go crazy (see the Beach Boys),
disappoint the audience or modify the material as he
evolves.
Trouble Every Day started out in 1966 as a classic, fast
paced, but boring blues song, incl. a blues harp and a
monotonous bass line. But once the message was out in the world, the
song could transform into something cool. On Roxy and Elsewhere
(1974), the song has a new form, it is now a Zappa-style slow blues
with a lot more feeling, completely revamped and taxing the skills of
all band members - just listen to Chester Thompson (Genesis) on
the drums. With more than half of the text gone, there's time for an
incredible guitar solo - and from now on, every version has that,
with exception of the two minute video version on Does Humor Belong
In Music?.
On the Does Humor Belong In Music? (1984) album, a lot of the
blues feeling is gone, the structure of the song hasn't changed much
since 1974, but it's faster and feels like a rock song, perhaps
because of Chad Wackerman's drum work. Did I mention the
unbelievable guitar solo? The version on The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life
(released 1991) is called the Swaggart version,
because of the references to Swaggart's encounters with a
prostitute, which made the news the night of that concert. Chad
Wackerman on the drums, great guitar solo, funny quotes, Ike Willis
humor and the samples typical for the 1988 tour. And there's yet another version on You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore
Vol 5.
This is one of my favorite songs (I like the Roxy and Elsewhere
version best), it's way up there on my personal all time top twenty
of all the music I've ever heard, right alongside other Zappa
classics as Muffin Man and Pojama People. Actually, it's one of
the very few songs that I like to sing loud - the fact, that Zappa's
voice range was limited after being attacked during a concert (I think
in London) by a member of the audience and injured by falling from
stage into the orchestra pit, helps a lot.