"My Mother Is a Space Cadet" is the first

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

Dweezil Zappa Dweezil Zappa (born Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa; September 5, 1969) is an American rock guitarist and occasional actor. He is the son of musical composer and performer Frank Zappa. Exposed to the music industry from an early age, Dweezil dev ...

, released in 1982. The song was co-written by sister

Moon Zappa Moon Unit Zappa (born September 28, 1967) is an American actress, singer, and author. She is the daughter of musician Frank Zappa. Early life Moon Zappa was born in New York City, the eldest child of Gail (née Sloatman) and musician Frank Zappa ...

and

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai (; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a transcriptionist for ...

. Dweezil was 12 years old at the time of the recording, sister

was 14. The back of the single features a picture of the band, which included

Greg Kurstin Gregory Allen Kurstin (born May 14, 1969) is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. He has won nine Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2017 and 2018, and written and produced four songs t ...

who would go on to become a famous producer and songwriter. The track was co-produced by

Eddie Van Halen Edward Lodewijk Van Halen ( , ; January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he co-founded along ...

(credited as "The Vards", a pun on his mother's pronunciation of his first name Edward), who also plays the (uncredited) slide guitar that opens the song.

Track listing

#"My Mother Is a Space Cadet" (D. Zappa, M. Zappa, S. Vai) #"Crunchy Water" (D. Zappa,

)

References

Dweezil Zappa songs 1982 singles Songs written by Steve Vai 1982 songs {{1980s-single-stub