"Hot Rats" was Frank Zappa's second solo album after "Lumpy Gravy" and the musicians playing on it are so good, they should be considered a super group.
Written by Zappa, with vocals by the one and only Captain Beefheart, the song "Willie The Pimp" is a marvel of a tune.
The rest of the players were Don "Sugarcane" Harris on violin, Ian Underwood playing the tack piano, Max Bennett on bass, and John Guerin on drums.
These guys have played with everybody from Joni Mitchell and Frank Sinatra to Alice Cooper and Janet Jackson, and literally tons more.
In 1956 Sugarcane Harris was half of the duo Don & Dewey, and even though they didn't have any hits, the pair of songwriters were responsible for some very classic songs like "Farmer John" by The Premieres, "I'm Leaving It Up To You," by Dale and Grace, and "Big Boy Pete" by The Olympics.
Not as big a hit, but one of my favorite compositions of theirs is this maniacal upbeat rocker.
So here you go, driven by the violin of Sugarcane Harris and Zappa's guitar work, one of my all-time favorite songs.
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