Bobby Brown (song)

"Bobby Brown" ( (song sample, 600Kb)) or "Bobby Brown (Goes Down)" is a song by Frank Zappa released on his album Sheik Yerbouti in 1979. One of his best known songs, it was hugely successful in Europe.

The song describes a wealthy, misogynist student named Bobby Brown, "the cutest boy in town", whose life is the archetypical American Dream until a traumatic sexual encounter with "Freddie", a lesbian involved in the women's liberation movement, leaves him questioning his sexuality. Bobby transforms into a leisure suit-wearing closeted homosexual working in radio promotions; by the end of the song, he and "a friend" (later implied to be his boss, as he will "do anything to get ahead") have become self-described "sexual spastic(s)" involved in golden showers and S&M, for which he thanks his "friend", Freddie. This song was more successful in Europe than America (the song's pervasive sexual content made it unfit for broadcast on U.S. radio) and this is why it is only featured on the vinyl and European CD version of Zappa's best of compilation, Strictly Commercial.