Did Zappa tell Dylan--

October 4, 2020 12:17 PM

I once read that when Bob came to Frank to see about Zappa producing his next record, Zappa said, "Why don't you make a rap record?" Or was it rap... What was it? Is this apocryphal?
posted by noelpratt2nd to Media & Arts (1 answer total)

Best answer: Dylan approached Zappa about producing the album that became Infidels (1983) -- one link:

Ben Watson, Frank Zappa: The Negative Dialectics Of Poodle Play, 1996 [edition], p. 32-33:

In 1982 Dylan arrived unannounced at the log cabin in Laurel Canyon—"in the freezing cold, with no coat and an open shirt"—and sat at the piano to play eleven songs (later to become Infidels). "I said he should subcontract out the songs to Giorgio Moroder to do a complete synthesizer track and Dylan should play guitar and harmonica over the top. It would be fantastic!" [Quoted in Doniminque Chevalier, Viva! Zappa, 1985, p. 23.]
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:22 PM on October 4, 2020 [3 favorites]