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

== Themes ==

In his lyrics for ''We're Only in It for the Money'', Zappa speaks as a voice for "the [[freak scene|freaks]]—imaginative outsiders who didn't fit comfortably into any group", according to [[AllMusic]] writer Steve Huey.<ref name=Huey/> Subsequently, the album satirizes [[hippie]] culture and [[left-wing politics]], as well as targeting [[right-wing politics]], describing both political sides as "prisoners of the same narrow-minded, superficial phoniness."<ref name="Icons Of Rock 363"/><ref name=Huey/><ref name=Shuker>{{cite book|last=Shuker|first=Roy|title=Understanding popular music|year=2001|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=0-415-23509-X|page=121|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PRavFA8l2FQC&pg=PA121 |edition=2.}}</ref>

Zappa later stated in 1978, "hippies were pretty stupid. ... the people involved in [youth] processes ... are very sensitive to criticism. They always take themselves too seriously. So anybody who impugns the process, whether it's a peace march or love beads or whatever it is – that person is the enemy and must be dealt with severely. So we came under a lot of criticism, because we dared to suggest that perhaps what was going on was really stupid."<ref name=Fricke/>

Another element of the album's lyrical content came from the [[Los Angeles Police Department]]'s harassment and arrests of young rock fans, which made it difficult for the band to perform on the West Coast, leading the band to move to New York City for better financial opportunities.<ref name=Fricke/> Additionally, Zappa made reference to comedian [[Lenny Bruce]]; the song "Harry, You're A Beast" quotes Bruce's routine "To Is A Preposition, Come Is A Verb".<ref name=Courrier>{{cite book |title=Dangerous Kitchen: The Subversive World of Zappa |last=Courrier |first=Kevin |year=2002 |publisher=ECW Press |isbn=1-55022-447-6 |pages=9, 81 }}</ref>

The song "Flower Punk" parodies the [[garage rock]] staple "[[Hey Joe]]", and depicts a youth going to San Francisco to become a [[flower child]] and join a [[psychedelic rock]] band.<ref name=pc42>{{Gilliland |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19801/m1/ |title=Show 42 – The Acid Test: Psychedelics and a sub-culture emerge in San Francisco. [Part 2] |show=42 |track=1}}</ref> Additionally, the track makes a reference to "[[Wild Thing (The Troggs song)|Wild Thing]]", one of the songs that defined the counterculture of that period. The rhythmic pattern of "Flower Punk" is complex, consisting of 4 bars of a fast 5 (2–3), followed by 4 bars of 7 (2–2–3).<ref name=Ulrich>{{cite book |title=The Big Note: A Guide to the Recordings of Frank Zappa |last=Ulrich|first=Charles |year=2018|publisher=New Star Books |page=605 }}</ref>