“Montana” is a song composed by Frank Zappa for the Mothers 1973 Over-Nite Sensation album. As the last track on the album, it is one of Zappa’s most renowned commercial compositions. It features backing vocals by Tina Turner and the Ikettes throughout the entire track, notably in the middle and ending sections.

The song was released as the B-side to “I’m the Slime”. The lyrics, sung by Zappa in a humorous manner, talk about a person who decides to go to Montana to grow “a crop of dental floss”, and mount a pony named “Mighty Little”. He dreams to become a “dental floss tycoon”.

Of the Ikettes’ harmonies, Zappa later said: “It was so difficult that one part in the middle of the song, the three girls needed to rehearse it for a couple of days. Just that one section. You know that part that goes “I’m pluckin’ the ol’ dennil floss….” One of the harmony singers got it first. She came out and sang her part and the other girls had to follow her track, Tina was so pleased that she was able to sing this that she went into the next studio where Ike Turner was working and dragged him into the studio to hear the result of her labor. He listened to the tape and said, “What is this shit?” and walked out”.

This piece of work combines a 2013 Record Store Day limited edition record mounted on a 1975 Rand McNally Cosmopolitan Atlas map.

Various Sources