Editing We're Only in It for the Money (section)

== Recording ==

Recording for ''We're Only in it for the Money'' began on March 6, 1967, with the basic tracking of "Who Needs the Peace Corps?" at TTG Studios which was then under the title of "Fillmore". The working title was inspired by a series of performance the Mothers of Invention held at the [[The Fillmore|Fillmore Auditorium]], finishing a day prior to the recording session. Zappa would then inaugurate a three-day recording stint at Capital Studios to record ''Lumpy Gravy'' from March 14-16, 1967.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=FZ chronology: 1965-1969 |url=https://www.donlope.net/fz/chronology/1965-1969.html#y1967 |access-date=2023-07-14 |website=www.donlope.net}}</ref> The band returned to New York in the following week, where Zappa became acquainted to then [[Cream (band)|Cream]] guitarist [[Eric Clapton]] during an acoustic guitar led jam at his home. The band subsequently spent from April to June rehearsing and gigging locally in support of their previous album ''[[Absolutely Free]]'', which released on May 26, 1967.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Frank Zappa Gig List: 1967 |url=http://fzpomd.net/giglist/1967.html |access-date=2023-07-14 |website=fzpomd.net}}</ref> Popular contemporaries such as guitarist [[Jimi Hendrix]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=FZ Musicians & Collaborators H-L |url=https://www.donlope.net/fz/musicians/H-L.html |access-date=2023-07-14 |website=www.donlope.net}}</ref> and singer-songwriter [[Essra Mohawk]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Secret Diva |url=https://procolharum.com/99/kr_mohawk.htm |access-date=2023-07-14 |website=procolharum.com}}</ref> joined the Mothers of Invention during their New York shows.

In July, band member Ray Collins had left the Mothers before the New York recording sessions took place, but later rejoined when the band was recording the doo-wop songs that formed the album ''Cruisin' with Ruben & the Jets''.<ref name="Fricke" /> [[Gary Kellgren]] was hired as an engineer for the project, and subsequently wound up delivering whispered pieces of dialogue that linked segments of ''We're Only in It for the Money''.<ref name="Walley">{{cite book |title=No Commercial Potential: The Saga of Frank Zappa |last=Walley |first=David |year=1980 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=0-306-80710-6 |pages=85, 89 }}</ref> During the recording sessions, Verve requested that Zappa remove a verse from the song "Mother People". Zappa complied, but reversed the recording and included the backwards verse as part of the dialogue track "Hot Poop", concluding the album's first side,<ref name="Icons Of Rock 363">{{cite book|last=Schinder|first=Scott|title=Icons of Rock : An Encyclopedia of the Legends who Changed Music Forever|year=2008|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, Connecticut|isbn=978-0-313-33847-2|page=363|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CzWE_J3ZZfoC&pg=PA363 |author2=Schwartz, Andy }}</ref> but this would be removed by Verve themselves on subsequent represses of their own. Also censored on all copies was the [[Lenny Bruce]] reference in "Harry, You're A Beast",<ref name="Courrier" /> and a spoken segment of "Concentration Moon" in which Kellgren called [[the Velvet Underground]] "as shitty a group as Frank Zappa's group".<ref name="Slaven" />

Primary recording sessions ran from July until September 1967 at Mayfair Studios in New York. During this period of work on the album, the band recorded at a continuous rate, only taking breaks on the weekends.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=We're Only In It For The Money: Notes & Comments |url=https://www.donlope.net/fz/notes/We%27re_Only_In_It_For_The_Money.html |access-date=2023-07-14 |website=www.donlope.net}}</ref> While the [[Jimi Hendrix Experience]] occupied Mayfair Studios on July 19 and 20, to record "[[The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam's Dice]]", the band worked on and executed ideas for the cover art for ''We're Only in it for the Money''. Hendrix would make an appearance in the ''[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]'' mock cover, blending in with the cardboard cutouts of other major figures.<ref>{{Cite web |title=We're Only In It For The Money Cover: Notes & Comments |url=https://www.donlope.net/fz/notes/We%27re_Only_In_It_For_The_Money_Cover.html |access-date=2023-07-14 |website=www.donlope.net}}</ref>  Weekday work was only halted again on August 4, when Bob Dylan booked the studio to mix and press an acetate disc of [[Too Much of Nothing|"Too Much Of Nothing"]].<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=1967 |url=https://www.searchingforagem.com/1960s/1967.htm |access-date=2023-07-14 |website=www.searchingforagem.com}}</ref> A majority of the basic tracks would be finished in August, and September was spent mostly overdubbing onto the basic recordings.<ref name=":0" /> On September 4,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Unterberger |first=Richie |title=White Light/White Heat: The Velvet Underground Day-by-Day |publisher=Jawbone Press |year=2009 |isbn=9781906002220 |pages=61}}</ref> the Velvet Underground, who the Mothers of Invention then detested, entered the studio's second recording space with [[Tom Wilson (record producer)|Tom Wilson]], the band's previous producer, to record their sophomore album, ''[[White Light/White Heat]]''. Both bands did however co-operate in the studio, and Zappa even suggested to Velvet Underground front-man [[Lou Reed]] that he record himself stabbing a cantaloupe with a wrench in the band's song [[The Gift (The Velvet Underground song)|"The Gift"]].<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Epstein |first=Dan |date=2018-01-30 |title=Velvet Underground's 'White Light/White Heat': 10 Things You Didn't Know |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/the-velvet-undergrounds-white-light-white-heat-10-things-you-didnt-know-205478/ |access-date=2023-07-14 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref> The Mothers of Invention halted work on September 22 to pursue what is considered to be their first European tour,<ref name=":1" /> before returning to Apostolic Studios, also in New York, from October 3-8 in order to finish the album off, with final overdubs and mixing occurring.<ref name=":0" />

While recording ''We're Only in It for the Money'', Zappa discovered that the strings of [[Apostolic Recording Studio|Apostolic Studios']] grand piano would resonate if a person spoke near those strings. The "piano people" experiment involved Zappa having various speakers improvise dialogue using topics offered by Zappa. Various people contributed to these sessions, including [[Eric Clapton]], [[Rod Stewart]] and [[Tim Buckley]], who Zappa became familiar with after a concert in December 1966.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Frank Zappa Gig List: 1965-1966 |url=http://fzpomd.net/giglist/1966.html |access-date=2023-07-14 |website=fzpomd.net}}</ref><ref name="James">{{cite book|last=James|first=Billy|title=Necessity is.... : the early years of Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention|year=2002|publisher=SAF Publishing Ltd|location=Middlesex|isbn=0-946719-51-9|pages=59|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q9AkNKdIuEcC&pg=PA59 |edition=2.}}</ref> The "piano people" voices primarily consisted of [[Motorhead Sherwood]], [[Roy Estrada]], Spider Barbour, All-Night John (the manager of the studio) and Louis Cuneo, who was noted for his laugh, which sounded like a "psychotic turkey".<ref name="Slaven">{{cite book |title=Electric Don Quixote: The Definitive Story of Frank Zappa |last=Slaven |first=Neil |year=2003 |publisher=Omnibus Press |isbn=0-7119-9436-6 |pages=85, 100, 105 }}</ref> 

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During the production, Zappa experimented with recording and editing techniques which produced unusual textures and [[musique concrète]] compositions; the album featured abbreviated songs interrupted by segments of dialogue and unrelated music which changed the continuity of the album.<ref name=Huey/> Segments of [[orchestral music]] included on the album came from a solo orchestral album by Zappa previously released by [[Capitol Records]] under the title ''Lumpy Gravy'' in 1967.<ref name=Walley/> MGM claimed that Zappa was under contractual obligation to record for them, and subsequently Zappa re-edited ''Lumpy Gravy'', releasing a drastically different version on [[Verve Records]], after the release of ''We're Only in It for the Money''. The artwork of ''Lumpy Gravy'' identified it as "phase 2 of ''We're Only in It for the Money''", while ''We're Only in It for the Money'' was identified in its artwork as "phase one of ''Lumpy Gravy''", alluding to the conceptual continuity of the two albums.<ref name=Walley/>

For some pressings of the album, MGM censored several tracks without Zappa's knowledge, involvement or permission.<ref name=Walley/><ref name=Zappa>{{cite book| title = The Real Frank Zappa Book| url = https://archive.org/details/realfrankzappabo0000zapp| url-access = registration| first = Frank with Occhiogrosso, Peter| last = Zappa| year = 1989| publisher=Poseidon Press| location = New York| isbn = 0-671-63870-X |page=[https://archive.org/details/realfrankzappabo0000zapp/page/84 84]}}</ref> On the song "Absolutely Free", the line "I don't do publicity balling for you anymore" was edited by MGM to remove the word "balling", changing the meaning of the sentence.<ref name=Walley/> Additionally, on "Let's Make the Water Turn Black", the line "and I still remember Mama, with her apron and her pad, feeding all the boys at Ed's Cafe" was removed.<ref name=Zappa/> Zappa later learned that this line was censored because an MGM executive thought that the word "pad" referred to a [[sanitary napkin]], rather than a waitress's order pad.<ref name=Zappa/> The Kellgren dialogue segment in "Concentration Moon" was also re-edited, making it seem that he was calling the Velvet Underground "Frank Zappa's group." Zappa later declined to accept an award for the album upon being made aware of the censorship, stating "I prefer that the award be presented to the guy who modified this record, because what you're hearing is more reflective of his work than mine."<ref name=Zappa/>