The Duke of Prunes Suite

The Duke of Prunes is a suite consisting of 3 tracks from the 1967 album Absolutely Free by Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention. It consists of "The Duke of Prunes", "Amnesia Vivace", and "The Duke Regains His Chops". It is one of two suites on that record, the other one being the Call Any Vegetable Suite, immediately following this one.

Background
In 1962, Frank Zappa wrote the soundtrack to a movie called Run Home Slow (released 1965). Featured in the movie as the 'love theme' (called "And Very True" at the time) was the main melody for what would become "The Duke of Prunes". On November 16, 1966, Frank presumably suggested they record the song "And Very True", which vocalist Ray Collins would sing. However, by the time The Mothers started to record, Frank didn't like simple love ballad, so Collins made up lyrics as they went along.

They ended up recording a 5-minute long song, which was planned to be on the album titled "Remember". For whatever reason, it wasn't released as one song but as three movements of a piece unofficially called "The Duke of Prunes", based on Collins' lyrics. "Amnesia Vivace" featured an homage to Charles Ives, one of Frank's favorite composers, as it featured multiple Stravinsky pieces playing over each other. "The Duke of Prunes" and "The Duke Regains His Chops" feature the same lyrics and music except for the outro of "The Duke Regains His Chops".

The story of the song is that somewhere out there, The Duke of Prunes meets his Douchess of Prunes. While going back home, he meets some cheerleaders (presumably from the high school) and hits on them. They kick the shit out of him and give him amnesia, leading him to wander back to the Douchess' house. He professes his love for her and the suite ends.

Versions
The suite was originally released in 3 movements on Absolutely Free in May 1967. The individual tracks are listed as 2a, 2b, and 2c on physical releases. It was released as one whole track on the official compilation Mothermania in 1969. That is where the suite got the name "The Duke of Prunes". Frank started performing the piece with an orchestra in June 1975, as seen on Orchestral Favorites. Instead of "Amnesia Vivace", he plays a guitar solo and just repeats the melody of "The Duke of Prunes" instead of "The Duke Regains His Chops". It has never been performed live in its entirety by The Mothers.

Personnel

 * Ray Collins – vocals (as The Duke of Prunes)
 * Frank Zappa – guitar, backing vocals
 * Roy Estrada – bass, vocals (as The Douchess of Prunes)
 * Billy Mundi – drums
 * Don Preston – keyboards, Clavinet
 * Bunk Gardner – woodwinds
 * Jimmy Carl Black – timpani