The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
Well, right about that time people
A fur-trapper who was strictly from commercial
Had the unmitigated audacity to jump up from behind my igloo peekaboo
And he started into whippin' on my favorite baby seal
With a lead-filled snowshoe
I said, with a
Lead-Filled
With a lead filled snowshoe
He said, peekaboo
I said, with a
Lead-Filled
With a lead filled snowshoe
He said, peekaboo
He went right upside the head of my favorite baby seal
He went whap with a lead-filled snowshoe, and
He hit him on the nose and hit him on the fin, and he
That got me just about as evil as an eskimo boy can be. so I bent down
And I reached down, and I scooped down and I gathered up a generous
Mitten-ful of the deadly yellow snow
The deadly yellow snow, from right there where the huskies go!
Whereupon I proceeded to take that mittenful of the deadly yellow snow
Crystals and rub it all into his beady little eyes with a vigorous
Circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined
To take the place of the mudshark in your mythology
Here it goes,the circular motion, now rub it!
(Here fido)
And then
In a fit of anger
I pounced
And I pounced again
Great googly moogly!
I jumped up and down on the chest of the him
I injured
The fur trapper
Well he was very upset, as you can understand
And rightly so, because the
Deadly yellow snow crystals had
Deprived him of his
Sight
And he stood up, and he looked around, and he said
I can't see
I can't see
Oh, woe is me
I can't see
Well.....you know
I can't see
Nothin'
He took a dog-doo snow cone and stuffed it in my right eye
He took a dog-doo snow cone and stuffed it in my other eye
And the husky wee-wee
I mean the doggie wee-wee
Has blinded me
And I can't see
Temporarily
Well, the fur-trapper stood there, with his arms outstretched across the
Frozen white wasteland, trying to figure out what he was going to do about
His deflicted eyes. and it was at that precise moment that he remembered
And ancient eskimo legend, wherein it is written (on whatever it is that
They write it on up there) that if anything bad ever happens to your eyes
As the result of some sort of conflict with anyone named
Nanook,
The only way you can get it fixed up is to go
Trudging across the tundra
Mile after mile
Trudging across the tundra
Right down to the parish of st. alphonzo
A fur-trapper who was strictly from commercial
Had the unmitigated audacity to jump up from behind my igloo peekaboo
And he started into whippin' on my favorite baby seal
With a lead-filled snowshoe
I said, with a
Lead-Filled
With a lead filled snowshoe
He said, peekaboo
I said, with a
Lead-Filled
With a lead filled snowshoe
He said, peekaboo
He went right upside the head of my favorite baby seal
He went whap with a lead-filled snowshoe, and
He hit him on the nose and hit him on the fin, and he
That got me just about as evil as an eskimo boy can be. so I bent down
And I reached down, and I scooped down and I gathered up a generous
Mitten-ful of the deadly yellow snow
The deadly yellow snow, from right there where the huskies go!
Whereupon I proceeded to take that mittenful of the deadly yellow snow
Crystals and rub it all into his beady little eyes with a vigorous
Circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined
To take the place of the mudshark in your mythology
Here it goes,the circular motion, now rub it!
(Here fido)
And then
In a fit of anger
I pounced
And I pounced again
Great googly moogly!
I jumped up and down on the chest of the him
I injured
The fur trapper
Well he was very upset, as you can understand
And rightly so, because the
Deadly yellow snow crystals had
Deprived him of his
Sight
And he stood up, and he looked around, and he said
I can't see
I can't see
Oh, woe is me
I can't see
Well.....you know
I can't see
Nothin'
He took a dog-doo snow cone and stuffed it in my right eye
He took a dog-doo snow cone and stuffed it in my other eye
And the husky wee-wee
I mean the doggie wee-wee
Has blinded me
And I can't see
Temporarily
Well, the fur-trapper stood there, with his arms outstretched across the
Frozen white wasteland, trying to figure out what he was going to do about
His deflicted eyes. and it was at that precise moment that he remembered
And ancient eskimo legend, wherein it is written (on whatever it is that
They write it on up there) that if anything bad ever happens to your eyes
As the result of some sort of conflict with anyone named
Nanook,
The only way you can get it fixed up is to go
Trudging across the tundra
Mile after mile
Trudging across the tundra
Right down to the parish of st. alphonzo
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great googly moogly!
No. The song is about not eating yellow snow. Its good advice.
Maybe this song (Well the first couple songs of Apostrophe are tied together) was just meant to be a piece of imagery that you werent meant to disect and all you were supposed to do was let yourself get lost in its imagery rather than ruin the fun and disect it into deep political statements....
Just sayin
I think this song is about the trials of adolescent love and denial, drugs and satanic ritual, set against the backdrop of the Donner Party crossing. Any other thoughts?
The entire "Nanook Suite", including "Nanook Rubs It", "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow", and "St. Alphonzo's" shows that Frank Zappa is a musical genius. They combine abstract and bizarre lyrics with three beautifully written sections within the suite. Its unfortunate that many people listen to Zappa's lyrics only and think he is superficial and without substance.
I love when a song only has a few entries that span several years; this one takes me back to the day. Living in the tundra of suburban Michigan, with yellow snow. Its a protest song, about that there is no doubt. But I still think ramthar is on to something. alty6905 has got to get some credit as well. Last place I saw zappa was on a fledgling cable channel called. FNN (Financial News Network). He was explaining how product outsourcing was affecting our dollar value in real terms and that the republicans are using it for profit taking, That was like 86 or 87. He may rest in peace and we are fools.
i think yellow snow represents hard liquer. it can make you blind, but its hella fun. thats why your told to stay away, its tempting, but so strong some kids go blind after one drink.
err not liquer, dont get scared, i mean hard rum, like pirate hard rum.
i have an odd take on this song and your all gonna think im an idiot, anyway i see a pretty strong elusion to "oedipus" the greek play where an arrogant tyrant( the fur trapper) goes blind after his arrogance leads on his entire fate without realizing it, just like how the trapper knows of an eskimo legend but still provokes nanook. in the play the kings fate is to now roam the desert for the rest of his life as a blind man , just as the trapper does in the tundra.
other than that i think its just a song of advice, the "yellow snow" is whatever impure toxin you want it to be and obviouslsy revenge and anger caused by the snow brings the ruin of the fur trapper as well as nanook
I believe that Frank was intelligent and well read enough to have possibly blended such a meaning into the song. At the very least I doubt he would disagree and enjoy the possibility of your interpretation. Archetypes are my favorite subjects and Franks lyrics are more intelligent and his musical phrasing is top notch.