Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up

Album: Joe's Garage (1979)
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Songfacts®:

  • There are two ways one can appreciate this song, a laid-back reggae number about a broken romance performed by a black vocalist - Ike Willis - or the Zappa way. The former needs no explaining, it's a nice number sung beautifully. The latter sees the beauty marred somewhat.
  • Ike Willis also played guitar with Zappa; a fine guitarist in his own right, his outstanding qualities are his loyalty and commitment to Zappa's music; he was still playing in Zappa tribute bands more than a decade and a half after Zappa's death from prostate cancer in December 1993.
  • "Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up" is the eighth track on the triple concept album Joe's Garage, and it isn't only Joe's mind that Lucille has messed up; the previous song, "Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?" makes that clear. On balance, most people would probably prefer this as a stand alone love song, but "Lucille..." - which runs to 5 minutes 43 seconds - segues into "Scrutinizer Postlude" in which the Central Scrutinizer explains what Joe does next.

    On the original vinyl release, the two were indexed as one track. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 3

Comments: 1

  • Dan Burnette from Chicago, IlThis was originally the title track off Jeff Simons 1970 Bizarre/Straight Records release. Zappa cowrite the track, but under a pseudonym.
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