Frank Zappa – “Inca Roads” (Live, 1974)
Frank Zappa and the Mothers perform "Inca Roads" in a 1974 TV studio — a song about ancient aliens, sung in falsetto, with some of the most absurdly difficult ensemble playing ever broadcast.
Backstory
George Duke didn’t want to sing. He was a jazz keyboard player who’d joined Zappa’s band to play keys, period, until Zappa pushed him to take the lead vocal on this song and bought him a synthesizer he didn’t even like, just to see what he’d do with it. This is what he did with it: he sails through a song about a UFO landing in the Andes, grinning, singing lead and playing a synth solo so good you can watch Zappa smiling to himself.
Filmed for a TV special at KCET in Los Angeles in August 1974, “Inca Roads” lurches through time signature after time signature, and Ruth Underwood’s marimba keeps pace with every one; the song even ends by calling out her name. If you know the album One Size Fits All, you already know this night: its “Inca Roads” was built largely on this recording.
