Why Does It Hurt When I Pee Bobby Brown Goes Down Jewish Princess Frank Zappa

Why Does It Hurt When I Pee? Album: Joe's Garage (1979)
Bobby Brown Goes Down Album: Sheik Yerbouti (1979)
Jewish Princess Album: Sheik Yerbouti (1979)
by Frank Zappa

"Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?" is the seventh track on Joe's Garage, Frank Zappa's triple concept album set in an America where music has been made totally illegal. It was typical of both Zappa's twisted sense of humor and his disdain for musical or any convention that he would give a song with this sort of toilet humor title and subject matter the grandiose treatment.

The reason it hurts is because Joe has contracted an unmentionable disease from Lucille (who features in the next song) not for the reason he thinks, or gives, here. The vocals are supplied by Ike Willis, a long term member of Zappa's entourage who shared his sense of humor.

"Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?" runs to 2 minutes 36 seconds.

Also known as "Bobby Brown Goes Down" or "Bobby Brown (Goes Down)," this song is a lot deeper than it appears, and is easily misunderstood.

One misunderstanding that need not be entertained is any connection with the former husband of Whitney Houston, who was not ten years old when Mr. Zappa wrote it.

Zappa explained the song to the Swedish radio program Nightflight (the date of this interview is given variously as March 7, 1979 and January 1, 1980, but apparently the recording is extant). The former date is almost certainly correct, because Zappa's European tour took him to Sweden in March 1979, while in 1980 he was there later in the year.

"Bobby Brown" was a big hit in Europe and a massive hit in Sweden but not in his home country because it wasn't played on the radio - for reasons that need no explaining!

It is probably best in the interests of good taste and decency if we omit his explanation for the tower of power. And if you don't know what golden showers are, it is best not to ask. The following is verbatim from what is claimed to be the transcript:

"So You get the idea that Bobby Brown [is] in this song as the result of following the advice of Womens Liberation, has wound up sitting on a stool with a thing up his *** while somebody ****** on him. And that's why I think that's unusual that the song is so popular here. I mean, when I go to a disco and see people dancing the Bobby Brown, I had to laugh."

In response to a question from the reporter, he made a very dubious claim:

"Let's be honest about it. Words can't hurt You and there's nothing in that song that should offend anybody's religious sensibilities. That song talks about things that are real, You know. And if You [are] going to live in a world and deal with the world in a real way, You should face up to what actually goes on. The story of Bobby Brown may not be something that happens every day in Sweden, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are few Bobby Browns out there. And somebody should write about them."

A Jewish Princess is a stereotype of a bratty, privileged Jewish girl. This song attracted attention from the Anti-Defamation League, to which Zappa denied an apology, arguing: "Well, I didn't make up the idea of a Jewish Princess. They exist, so I wrote a song about them."

There have been several biographies of the inimitable Mr. Zappa, including by Barry Miles, whose book, Frank Zappa, was published by Atlantic Books of London in 2005. Herein, Miles says of the song and of the reaction of the ADL and Zappa's non-reaction to the ADL's reaction:

"'Jewish Princess' brought Zappa up against the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith (ADL), a powerful Jewish lobby group who filed a protest with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to have the record banned from airplay (a rather pointless exercise, as Zappa's album tracks never received airplay anyway), claiming that it contained 'vulgar, sexual and anti-Semitic references which leave very little to the imagination.'

Zappa replied: 'I used to think that Jewish people had a sense of humor before I got that letter from the ADL...' adding, 'The ADL is a noisemaking organization that tries to apply pressure on people in order to manufacture a stereotype image of Jews that suits their idea of a good time. They go around saying that other people are saying things that produce stereotype images of Jews."

The ADL was founded in the wake of the trial of Leo Frank in 1913, a case which inspired the contemporary song "Little Mary Phagan" and a later musical, Parade.

It is difficult to take issue with their claim that the song is obscene - it is a rare Zappa song that isn't! - but its well-documented wire-pulling had entirely the undesired effect, as "Jewish Princess" received more press than any other Zappa song.

Zappa wrote an answer song called "Catholic Girls" for his Joe's Garage album later in 1979. Kelly Fisher Lowe's The Words and Music of Frank Zappa has it that when Zappa got criticized for "Jewish Princess," he wrote "Catholic Girls" as an answer to say, "Fine, they're slutty freaks, too!" Then he either ended up writing the whole opera Joe's Garage around that song, or just chucked it into it.