Brown Shoes Don't Make It
As played on Absolutely Free
By Frank Zappa
Chart by Paul Wilson
In the first Verse the chords change on the 2 and the 4.
Time 4/4 untill I say it changes
Intro: F#m7 B F#m7 B
F#m7 B F#m7 B
F#m7 B F#m7 B
Brown shoes don't make it
F#m7 B F#m7 B
Brown shoes don't make it
F#m7 B F#m7 B
Quit school, why fake it
F#m7 B F#m7 B
Brown shoes don't make it
C
TV dinner by the pool
Db
Watch your brother grow a beard
C
Got another year of school
Bb
You're OK, he's too weird
A A
Be a plumber He's a bummer
A A
He's a bummer every summer
Em F#m G A Bm C#m
Be a loy-al plas-tic ro-bot
D E A F#m E F#m
For a world that does-n't care
Bb6
Smile at every ugly
Shine on your shoes and cut your hair
Intro: F#m7 B F#m7 B
F#m7 B F#m7 B
F#m7 B F#m7 B
Be a jerk and go to work Be a jerk and go to work
F#m7 B F#m7 B
Be a jerk and go to work Be a jerk and go to work
F#m7 B
Do your job, and do it right
F#m7 B
Life's a ball! (TV tonight!)
F#m7 B
Do you love it, do you hate it?
F#m7 B F#m7
There it is, the way you made it (WOOOooow)
[Changes to a moderate waltz, 3/4 time sig]
B C#
A world of secret hungers,
B C#
Perverting the men who make your laws
B C#
Every desire is hidden away,
Db Cb Fm7add5 Db6/9 Gbmaj7 Fm7add5
In a drawer, in a desk,
Cbmaj7 Dbmaj7 Eb F Gbmaj7 Eb Gb
By a Nau-ga-hyde chair
G
On a rug where they walk and drool
G
Past the girls in the office
The 12 piece string ensemble plays here, I couldn't make out any chords and the
Frank Zappa Songbook has none for this part either.
[back to 4/4 time sig]
[ Tab from: https://www.guitartabs.cc/tabs/f/frank_zappa/brown_shoes_dont_make_it_crd.html ]
N.C
(throte clearing sounds)
N.C
You see in the back, of the cynical mind
N.C
The dream of a girl about thirteen
N.C
Off with her clothes and into a bed,
N.C
Where she tickles his fancy all night long
(all 8ths)
N.C D D C B A G A B
His wife's attending an orchid show
(can do the above but a screaming sound is played here)
She squealed for a week to get him to go
N.C
But back in the bed his teenage Queen
Is rocking and rolling and acting obscene
Baby! Baby!
Baby! Baby!
C Dm
And he loves it! He loves it! It curls up his toes!
Em F G F Em
She bites his fat neck, And it lights up his nose, But
Em C Dm
He cannot be fooled, Old City Hall Fred,
C Bb C D9 E9
She's nasty, she's nasty, She digs it in bed!
Cmaj7 C/Em Dm7 Eb/Bb
Do it a-gain, and do it some more!
Cmaj7 Em6(sus Eb) Dm Am7
That does it, by golly, it's nasty for sure!
Nasty-nasty-nasty! Nasty-nasty-nasty!
Only thirteen, and she knows how to nasty
G Dm F Em Dm C
She's a dirty young mind. Cor-rupt-ed, cor-rod-ed
G Dm F Em Dm C
Well she's thir-teen to-day, And I hear she gets load-ed
(This part is random keyboard and guitar sounds)
If she were my daughter I'd
What would you do, Daddy?
If she were my daughter I'd
What would you do, Daddy?
If she were my daughter I'd
What would you do, Daddy?
Bb A Ab G7
Smother my daughter in chocolate syrup,
C7 F7 Bb Dbdim F7
And strap her on again, Oh ba-by!
Bb A Ab7 G7
Smother that girl in chocolate syrup,
C7 F7
And strap her on again!
Bb Bb7
She's a Teenage Baby, and she turns me on,
Eb
I'd like to make Her do a nasty
Gb7
On the White House Lawn!
Bb A Ab G7
Going to smother that daugh-ter in chocolate syrup,
C7 F7 Bb
And boogie till the cows come home!
N.C
Time to go home, Madge is on the phone
N.C
Gotta meet the Gurneys And a dozen gray attorneys
N.C
TV dinner by the pool I'm so glad I finished school
C Bb Ab
Life is such a ball
Gb D C Am9
I run the world from Ci-ty Hall
