Many people often wonder where the band got the name for this album. Actually, I was reading the liner notes from the CD the other day, and it said that the original title of the album was "Smack Some Skull On Yer." The band decided to tone down the reference to fellatio and named the album "Brain Salad Surgery" after a lyric by the blues artist Dr. John.
Interestingly enough, there was actually a rather obscene picture on the original album cover. A rather obvious phallic symbol was protruding from the bottom of the album, going to the lips of the woman on the cover. Rather than painting the picture over again, the artist used an airbrush to conceal it. If you look closely at the jacket from the LP, you can still vaguely see the outline.