Jewish Princess

A Jewish Princess is a stereotype of a bratty, privileged Jewish girl. This song attracted attention from the Anti-Defamation League, to which Zappa denied an apology, arguing: "Well, I didn't make up the idea of a Jewish Princess. They exist, so I wrote a song about them."

There have been several biographies of the inimitable Mr. Zappa, including by Barry Miles, whose book, Frank Zappa, was published by Atlantic Books of London in 2005. Herein, Miles says of the song and of the reaction of the ADL and Zappa's non-reaction to the ADL's reaction: "'Jewish Princess' brought Zappa up against the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith (ADL), a powerful Jewish lobby group who filed a protest with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to have the record banned from airplay (a rather pointless exercise, as Zappa's album tracks never received airplay anyway), claiming that it contained 'vulgar, sexual and anti-Semitic references which leave very little to the imagination.' Zappa replied: 'I used to think that Jewish people had a sense of humor before I got that letter from the ADL...' adding, 'The ADL is a noisemaking organization that tries to apply pressure on people in order to manufacture a stereotype image of Jews that suits their idea of a good time. They go around saying that other people are saying things that produce stereotype images of Jews."

The ADL was founded in the wake of the trial of Leo Frank in 1913, a case which inspired the contemporary song "Little Mary Phagan" and a later musical, Parade. It is difficult to take issue with their claim that the song is obscene - it is a rare Zappa song that isn't! - but its well-documented wire-pulling had entirely the undesired effect, as "Jewish Princess" received more press than any other Zappa song.