What Is 200 Motels?

Domestic press comin' in New York?
Okay, we're rolling
Well, could I ask you a question about the movie?
Yeah (sure)
I mean, what, what is it?
Well, (tell him, Howard, you...) I'll tell ya
As far as we're concerned "200 Motels" is, is like a surrealistic documentary, you know
It's just a collage of real events and, and time spent on the road and...
And conceptual byproducts of the actual guys in the group and things that happened
It's really hard to explain, it's one of those things you've got to see, you know

Well, still. So tell me, you haven't told me. What is it?
"200 Motels" is a surrealistic documentary
But it might also be helpful to think of the overall shape of the film
In the same way you might think of the shape of a piece of orchestra music
With light motifs, harmonic transpositions
Slightly altered repetitions, cadences
Atonal areas, counterpoint
Polyrhythmic textures
Onomatopoeic imitations
Et cetera. That means imitations of the sounds of nature

Yeah, well. In the first place, I hate orchestra music, hate it
And I have no idea what any of those things are, you know
I don't know what you're talking about
I only like rock and roll
Tell me, is this a rock and roll movie or not?

This is a rock and roll movie
And it is also an or what, not an or not
Granting the fact that "The Mothers" tend to operate
Somewhere on the uttermost fringes of your real life rock and roll consciousness
The film is an extension and a projection of the group specialized view of
And participation in this intriguing area of contemporary human experience
In other words, two...
(You're not dreaming) I'm so sleepy
(You're not dreaming)

"200 Motels"... (Am I dreaming?)
You're not dreaming
...deals with things like (I dreamt I saw 200 Motels)
Groupies! Life on the road (with Frank Zappa)
Relationship to audience (The Mothers Of Invention)
Group personality chemistry (Theodore Bikel)
Macrobiotic food and tie-dye shirts, et cetera (Ringo Starr, Keith Moon)
But it deals with things in ways you might not expect or approve of
Simply because "The Mothers" is not your average sort of pop group (say that again)

And if for instance, we have experiences with groupies on the road
"Winnipeg Ranger, Ranger Alert"
These experiences will not be very ordinary, no, siree
Our relationship to audiences is not ordinary. No, no, no
Our group personality chemistry is not ordinary
Therefore an ordinary documentary based on our exploits wouldn't be ordinary (no!)
And a surrealistic documentary extended from these circumstances
Might seem to be just a little peculiar at first
(Don't let it shake you though)

Well, OK
If you can't tell me what it is, and you obviously can't
Tell me what happens in it, you know
Something, anything
Help me
God!