Telefunken

German manufacturing company that once made things like microphones, amplifiers and radios. Telefunken now just makes giant antennas and powerful fm broadcasting equipment.

Frank Zappa sings about a Telefunken U-47 in Joe's Garage. I always thought it was just a nonsense phrase, but it turns out that it's really a microphone that was manufactured by Neumann and sold with a Telefunken label.

If you really care, check out: http://john.ccac.rwth-aachen.de:8000/telefunken/
http://www.telefunken-sendersysteme.com/

The line from Frank Zappa about the Telefunken U-47 was in a song called "Crew Slut". As part of a dialogue in the song, Mary (the so-called Crew Slut) asks, "What are you gonna give me?" Larry replies, "It looks just like a Telefunken U-47. You'll love it..." This of course, is a not so veiled reference to his enormous, waist-level partner, and action on her part colloquially referred to under the brand name of a modern off-road vehicle.