"I'm the Slime" is a 1973 single by

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...

and The Mothers from the studio album '' Over-Nite Sensation''. The single version is a different mix and edit from the version on the album. Live recordings of the song can be found on '' Zappa in New York'' and '' You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 1'', the latter version having been performed and recorded on the same night as the majority of tracks appearing on 1974's '' Roxy and Elsewhere''. "I'm the Slime" and its b-side version of "

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

" were put on Zappa's best of ''

Strictly Commercial ''Strictly Commercial'' is a compilation album by Frank Zappa. It was released in 1995, two years after his death. The album was named as part of a 2011 lawsuit by Gail Zappa towards Rykodisc, claiming the label released several vault masters wi ...

''. It was performed in concert from 1973 to 1977 and 1984.

Lyrics and meaning

The song contains two parts; the first part is a riddle of insults in the form of "what am I?"

"I am gross and perverted. I'm obsessed 'n deranged. I have existed for years, but very little has changed. I'm the tool of the
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
and
industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...
too, for I am destined to rule and regulate you. I may be vile and pernicious, but you can't look away. I make you think I'm delicious, with the stuff that I say. I'm the best you can get. Have you guessed me yet?"

The second part discusses the evils of the answer to the riddle: the various things seen on television.

Ike & Tina Turner

For the recording of this song (and most of the ''Overnite Sensation'' LP), Zappa used

Ike & Tina Turner Ike & Tina Turner was an American musical duo consisting of husband-and-wife Ike Turner and Tina Turner. From 1960 to 1976, they performed live as the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, supported by the Kings of Rhythm and backing vocalists, the Ikettes. ...

Bolic Sound Bolic Sound Studios was a recording studio complex in Inglewood, California. It was built by musician Ike Turner in 1970, and remained in operation until it burned down in 1981. History As a young bandleader, Ike Turner had grown skeptical of the ...

studios in Inglewood.

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023) was a singer, songwriter, actress, and author. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", her vocal prowess, raspy voice, and electrifyin ...

and

the Ikettes The Ikettes, originally The Artettes, were a trio (sometimes quartet) of female backing vocalists for the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. Despite their origins, the Ikettes became successful artists in their own right. In the 1960s they had chart-toppe ...

sang backup vocals for various songs on ''Over-Nite Sensation'' including "I'm the Slime". According to Zappa,

Ike Turner Izear Luster "Ike" Turner Jr. (November 5, 1931 – December 12, 2007) was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, record producer, and talent scout. An early pioneer of 1950s rock and roll, he is best known for his work in the 1960s and ...

insisted that he pay them no more than $25 per song. However, an invoice shows that they were actually paid $25 per hour and a grand total of $187.50 each for 7 1/2 hours of service. Zappa recalled that after hearing one of the recordings in the studio, Ike Turner exclaimed, "What is this shit?" and later insisted that Tina and the Ikettes not be credited on the album.

Saturday Night Live

Zappa performed "I'm the Slime", as well as "Purple Lagoon", and "

Peaches en Regalia "Peaches en Regalia" is an instrumental jazz fusion composition by Frank Zappa. It was initially released on Zappa's album ''Hot Rats'' in 1969 and has been recorded many times since. Other versions Years later, in 1987, the piece was released ...

" in his first of two appearances on

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

announcer

Don Pardo Dominick George "Don" Pardo Jr. (February 22, 1918 – August 18, 2014) was an American radio and television announcer whose career spanned more than seven decades. A member of the Television Hall of Fame, Pardo was noted for his 70-year tenur ...

was utilized for his distinctive delivery for the second movement (or B section) of "I'm the Slime". Zappa described this as the "highlight of on Pardo'scareer." Moreover, Pardo was present and onstage live with Zappa in December 1976 at the

Palladium Palladium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1802 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas (formally 2 Pallas), ...

in New York City during a performance of "I'm the Slime", as well as during parts of "Punky's Whips" and "The Illinois Enema Bandit", as documented in ''Zappa in New York''.

Track list

7" A."I'm The Slime" – 3:08
B."

" – 4:39

40th Anniversary

The single was re-released to mark its 40th anniversary, as part of

Record Store Day Record Store Day is a semi-annual event established in 2008 to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". Held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November, the day brings together f ...

2013. It was released on transparent green vinyl, highlighted with blue smoke lines, limited to a run of 3000 copies worldwide. The vinyl was cut from the original masters, and all profit went to the Frank Zappa foundation.

Cover versions

Arjen Anthony Lucassen Arjen Anthony Lucassen (born 3 April 1960) is a Dutch singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist musician and record producer, best known for his long-running progressive metal/ rock opera project Ayreon. Lucassen started his career in 1980 as t ...

covered the song on his 2012 album '' Lost in the New Real''. Lucassen's version updates the song by replacing the words "TV set" with "internet". The industrial music band

KMFDM KMFDM (originally Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid, loosely translated by the band as "no pity for the majority") is a multinational industrial rock band from Hamburg led by Sascha Konietzko, who founded the band in 1984 as a performance art proje ...

included the lyrics in their song UAIOE from their 1989 album of the same name. The dub/

ska Ska (; , ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a w ...

/rock band Long Beach Dub Allstars uses the song's

hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved/bent back or has a deeply grooved indentation, which serves to grab, latch or in any way attach itself onto another object. The hook's d ...

in the intro of their song titled ''Luke'' from their 2001 album ''

Wonders of the World Various lists of the Wonders of the World have been compiled from antiquity to the present day, in order to catalogue the world's most spectacular natural features and human-built structures. The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is the o ...

.''

References

{{authority control Frank Zappa songs Songs written by Frank Zappa 1973 singles 1973 songs Tina Turner Record Store Day releases Song recordings produced by Frank Zappa Political songs Satirical songs Songs about television Warner Records singles