Willie the Pimp

"Willie the Pimp" is a blues rock song from Frank Zappa's 1969 album Hot Rats. It features an idiosyncratic Captain Beefheart vocal and one of Zappa's classic guitar solos. It is 9 minutes and 16 seconds long on Hot Rats. It is the only track that is not instrumental on the album, though the track features a long instrumental guitar solo.

The song has also appeared on Zappa's Fillmore East - June 1971 and You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 4 albums.

The album title Hot Rats comes from a lyric of Willie the Pimp. The origin of the song was explained in a conversation Zappa recorded in 1969. This interview recording was later released as "The Story of Willie the Pimp" on the Zappa album Mystery Disc.

The song was ranked number 75 on the list of "The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time" of Rolling Stone.. Rolling Stone. 2008. Retrieved 2011-01-25. "Zappa's guitar improv never sounded more bluesy —or more jubilant— than it does on this song. His greasy skids and howling-dog tone —and the way he breaks into note-cluster fisticuffs with the rhythm section— are playfully impulsive. And that deep vocal? Zappa's teenage chum Captain Beefheart."

Musicians

Hot Rats version

• Frank Zappa - guitar, octave bass, percussion
• Ian Underwood - piano, organus maximus, all clarinets, all saxes
• Captain Beefheart - vocal
• Sugar Cane Harris - violin
• John Guerin - drums
• Max Bennett -...
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