Sun City Girls were an American experimental rock band, formed in 1979 in P… Read Full Bio ↴Sun City Girls were an American experimental rock band, formed in 1979 in Phoenix, Arizona. From 1981, the group consisted of Alan Bishop (bass guitar, vocals), his brother Richard Bishop (guitar, piano, vocals), and Charles Gocher (drums, vocals). Considered a neo-mystic melting pot of free rock, demented surf, ragas, Arabic folk songs, free-form freakouts, gamelan percussion and Dadaist poetry, their name was inspired by Sun City, an Arizona retirement community. Performances by the group were often wildly unpredictable, sometimes verging on performance art, with elaborate costumes, kabuki-inspired makeup, and the creation of a festive, ritualistic atmosphere with audience participation.

They found little mainstream success, but they have inspired and continue to inspire a devoted cult following and have recorded numerous critically acclaimed albums, released in small editions by labels like Placebo, Majora, Eclipse Records, Amarillo Records, and their own Abduction Records. Their music was hugely varied, spreading across genres such as spoken word, free improvisation, jazz and rock. Their records typically incorporated lyrics that rely heavily on their interests in mysticism, paranormal topics (especially UFOs), religious cults and other esoterica, often also manifested in their song titles, lyrics and album art. Charles Gocher died on February 19, 2007 after suffering from cancer for a long time, bringing an end to the group. In a prolific 26-year-career, they produced 50 albums, 23 cassettes, 6 feature-length videos, and many other recordings.

Space Prophet Dogon
Sun City Girls Lyrics

We have lyrics for these tracks by Sun City Girls:

Blue Mamba Finjo ser invisível Pra não ter que te encarar Afogo na pisc…
CCC I was layin' around in a sweaty chlorine aroma Drifting late…
Civet's Tango Well My Death it Lies alone between the seeds of…
Cooking with Satan Buy low Sell high A centipede between the eyes Looking hungr…
Holy Ground Daughter of the echo Hills with sheepskin clothing Hiding ce…
The Geography of the Swastika How ya doin′ fellas? This is your Uncle Jim speakin, guys. N…
The Shining Path A simple band of gold Wrapped around my soul Hard forgiving,…
Vine Street Piano Aaah Oooh Oooh oooh ooooh oooh Haaaaaa Aaaaaaaah Ooooooh ooo…
Vine Street Piano (Orchestral) Aaah Oooh Oooh oooh ooooh oooh Haaaaaa Aaaaaaaah Ooooooh ooo…

The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos

TRACKS

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01Blue Mamba3:09

02Tarmac 234:27

03Esoterica of Abyssynia3:14

04Space Prophet Dogon7:04

PT7M4S

Sun City Girls

05The Shining Path3:02

10The Vinegar Stroke1:58

11Burial in the Sky3:48

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Comments from YouTube:

@Ramentastic

13y↑36

This is the greatest song I've ever heard ever. No hyperbole.

@petertaylorarts

2y↑1

agreed

@matteo7059

4y↑30

I feel like I can go everywhere with this song playing

@saturatedneowax

3y↑2

I'm gong to space

@aproposnothing4428

8y↑49

Righteous use of the public megosphere to seed our souls with the great beauty that is art.

@mikekroll177

Tldr cool post

@lLIBER4TORl

52w↑5

They have such an intresting discography to discover

@starpimp42

11y↑11

Yes it is ! When they played it live, i would just melt & piss my pants! Damn i miss them. RIP Charlie G!

@drewlowell9337

4y↑37

a handful of cashews once asked me what led to my father choking on an unripe tomato right before the ball dropped. really i just think they were trying to intimidate me so that i wouldn't confront them when they went to gang stalk me.

@flyingcomputer624

3y↑4

Where did you find the lyrics?

@tonysigsby870

3y↑3

I'm at a loss for words

@Oliver-ty7xu

Amazing, thank you Sonic

@trash_bender420

15w

Sonic off tha goop

@aaronbelakhoua5497

4y↑15

Bruh, this is basically North African music with a different setting. I like how all the stuff they published on their label seeped into their music

@audreypathkiller297

7y↑17

Feel like I jumped through a rabbit hole of new funky music.

@kellyalves756

8y↑29

Found this song via one of Claire Dane's early shorts-- "The Suitor" . This song was used to enhance the intro, which was a bottom to top panning shot of some spectacular East Coast autumn trees. Best paring of image to song I have seen yet.

@andrewsnarr6474

4y↑2

Is there anything online or could you provide a link to that?

@emknight72

That was a great short film. It also featured the song “The Shining Path” from SCG during the closing credits.

@disruptiobrevis4935

where can i find it?

@jwmeirose

yep me too. That is also a great short film

@medotata5356

8y↑19

Such a beautiful and delightfull voice.

@666msw1

7y↑7

don't think it is, If you don't believe this is a good voice then perhaps you should also know that It's just a belief which is varied from one person to another.

@ComradeCrusty

11y↑11

few bands have spoken to me as deeply over the years

@hurlydobbins8982

8y↑19

tastes like life & death.
feels like escape.

SSG, you are legacy.

@grilinhocricri

4y↑6

I want this played at my funeral

@michaelouz

3y↑1

Thank you Barrett and CONTAIN podcast for turning me onto this

@TelepathicStudios

11y↑16

I remember a concert in Tempe where they played this song. They kept splashing the audience with (grain alcohol?) some idiot jumped on stage and wanted to fight the band and he was taken down. They had a bunch of stage props that they gave away after the concert.

@kellyalves756

7y↑1

TelepathicStudios ...
...
...
Why the HELL were they splashing people with grain alcohol?
(Just curious.)

@simillarian

6y↑2

TelepathicStudios I miss Sun City Girls shows soooo much

@DogbadTV

6y↑3

Just guessing here, apparently they were manifesting their Purity Of Essence: someone in the audience was crying out for Peace On Earth. Just guessing, mind you.

@anevershiftingsun

11y↑5

its always a joy to turn on some sun city girls and jam out! peace and love to everyone <3

@jameswhyte970

7y↑6

magical song

@scalefish

4y↑6

transcendent beauty, summoned by a band of the greatest character. There will never be another, because they played from their own personalities.

Rich and rare.

@Saltedcoil

11y↑4

One of my favorite songs to play on guitar.

@saturatedneowax

so good

@PoetryHound

12y↑3

Great music to have playing in the O.R. as you fade into subconsciousness.

@MrGuilen

13y↑3

love that this exists

@sammywarren3070

3y↑2

Sounds like a velvet underground tuning he’s using . Amazing

@xxpeeblesxx

12y↑3

My God, this is wonderful.

@sonictrasher

13y↑1

BEST BAND

@thedelta72

5y↑18

Great song on a great album by a very cool band. Still hard to put my finger on the feeling of the music. I know when it was made but in which time does it exist? It also seems so authentic, even though it’s not in the way we usually think of the term. Which language it is sung in? is it a real language? Which culture is it from? On the same album (next track I think) they record a version of a Latin American folk song, giving the impression that they’re world music dabblers, but again the feeling of the music totally refutes that. We know they have a background in the AZ punk scene (JFA) making it possible they’re “taking the piss” but again, listen for a couple of bars and you realize that irony or satire are besides the point. I guess psychedelic in a deep sense (which could be further unpacked ad nauseum) is the best I can come up with. That and the sense that listening to this music makes me feel like other ways of being are within reach. Saw them twice in Vancouver. First time I was blown away watching the drummer, who seemed old and very cool, a bit like ginger baker playing a kit cobbled together from weird shit. Second time was with then Seattle-based Avant Garde violinist Eyvvind Kang. Both were singular performances and are lodged in my mind.

@MichaelDelbeecke

5y↑1

yes

@rohitchaoji

"Psychedelic in a deep sense" always made sense to me with regards to Sun City Girls' music, especially in cases where they're not using real words in lyrics and going into "world music" territories.

@tuasucks

According to an interview with Rick Bishop, he said this was inspired by a "field" recording Alan Bishop recorded of a harp song from Mali that he heard on the radio on a trip to Africa. The way I think about SCG is they're unparalleled at making music that sounds lost. Lost as in you wake up in some ancient, faraway land where you don't speak the language and the world is full of strange sounds, smells, colors, songs, voices, flavors, festivals, and rituals that you've never experienced before. But rather than panicking, you just try to take it all in, in complete awe.

@ARCTERYXSWEATSHOP

12y↑2

1 person extinguished their mystical torch.

@AsPrecesDoVigario

9y↑2

Amazing!!!!

@marceolius1

8y↑1

My song ! thanks

@doctorrivas

2y↑1

De vez en cuando alguien te sorprende

@Thisisslammin

12y

Awesome.

@noneofyoucanspell

12y↑1

Gonna have to agree with this fine gentleman.

@ARCTERYXSWEATSHOP

12y

Majestic

@transhumanisttv1771

40w

You could not have created
this song without experiencing a desert monsoon

@wl1059

5y↑1

great

@MatthewRutter-kj3bf

14w

Sir Richard bishop no longer smokes he quite met him at South street

@Kispalkovich

6y↑1

sooo fuuuckiiin goooood

@ROSSKRISTIAN

9y↑2

Yes yes yes

@venusinfurs76

7y↑1

hell yeah

@FatherRikhi

12y↑1

this is rad.

@xdistortxjapanx

9y↑25

Grails do a great instrumental cover of this

@Searchinmano

so is this one the original version?

@grilinhocricri

@@Searchinmano yes

@rohitchaoji

3y↑3

I do think a part of the magic is lost without Alan Bishop doing his signature croons.

@kowalityjesus

9y↑1

sick

@opiamzen

12y↑1

SUN CITY GIRLS the fucking best! AWESOME!

@Owlute

12y↑1

great song about a great myth (Sirius star and the Dogon people)

@nilzardo

11y

I agree. Well err, have a nice life, man.

@chucklopresti7262

1y↑1

1 comment after 108. Bliss

@avefiggy2128

😍

@kosmiktrigger23

8y↑1

"Forest of Bliss" by Robert Gardner...just watch it.

@MichaelDelbeecke

bram bram demunter, bram demunter bram!

@patcharisma

9y↑1

O my God - shall you ever forgive me all my drug-sins... together with this Pre-Goa-Thang... xD
(Pat, Switzerland)

@starpimp42

11y↑1

UNCLE JIM

@natasja123456

13y

@Swindlersfist By doing what exactly?Blowing sir Richard and narrating how clever you are and how big is your musical experience?

@natasja123456

13y↑1

@Swindlersfist Im into that kind of knowledge only if its creator wants that.I mean,when nietzsche says ''not everyone should read my book,not everyone should know how to read in general'' i agree and im pissed when everyone is using him for small talk at the beach. But,music is sth completely different and i haven't heard alan richard or charles saying we want our music to be exlusive.

@johnrusso4087

Decent

@theworldlooksred

13y

Fucking righteous!

@wulfgreyhame6857

3y↑2

Found this mob far too late.

@bwlamorte93

12y↑1

saw Sir Richard Bishop play with Michael Gira last night. the only thing that would have completed the amazingness would have been if The Sun City Girls rose from the dead and played "The Shining Path". Sigh. O well.

@nilzardo

11y

"no u"

@obzenful

10y↑3

Bishop is da shit. Anyone know what language is this song?

@boatstrips

9y↑12

Hamza Cynic It's scat singing. Just vocal improvisation.

@Adrianovaz2007

10y↑12

Animal Collective brought me here

@ValseInstrumentalist

10y

What did Animal Collective do that brought you to this song? I have to hear it :)

@Adrianovaz2007

10y↑1

ValseMusic They mentioned Sun City Girls among other bands as their inspiration on an interview about CHz.

@ValseInstrumentalist

10y↑5

Oh. I was hoping for an Animal Collective Sun City Girls cover.

@Adrianovaz2007

10y↑1

ValseMusic That woould be great, oh well now I'm sad we don't have that.

@user-og6hl6lv7p

***** I love it when two of your favourite bands acknowledge each other, I find comfort in that

4 More Replies...

@nilzardo

11y

@franciscoochoa8317

7y↑2

It´s pretty wierd to me hear this song when I've only heard Dante's Disneyland Inferno from them, even if dante's is wierder than this.

@knicks9899

3y↑1

I always hear a little Tina Turner in the vocals...

@JasonQuackenbushonGoogle

11y

glossolalia

@444damn

12y

what language are the lyrics in?

@ColeWheeler4Lyfe

He’s speaking in tongues.

@nilzardo

11y↑1

Did you learn a new word?

@jamesralcoon

11y↑1

fellas

@transhumanisttv1771

40w

This song is dusty laundromats in the late twentieth century deserts of urban Tempe and Phoenix for me—their seed ground. This so specifically feels so Tempe and Phoenix to me
from that era when they (and I) lived there. I knew a brilliant underground musician who knew them as well then. something very mystical that resonates in this song with desert winds and desolation and mystical visions.

@ARCTERYXSWEATSHOP

12y↑1

Thumbs up if you're using youtube.

@natasja123456

13y

@cityhermitus The Intellectual Potheads Beach. And there is something called metaphorical speech. Google it.

@epizootics

11y

Hipster is a term colored

@natasja123456

13y

@Swindlersfist .........I agree,not everyone can be touched fron this song,ok,but whats wrong with hearing it?It wont make any difference to him. Last,do you actually have this record?Cause it costs 70 euros or more now.I'm sorry,but giving 70 euros for ''the right to listen to it'' doesn't work for me.

@joaoquintela2183

11y↑1

So... you're one of those guys that scrolls videos with less than 50k views and yells about hipsters? Tell me more about your [probably] wonderful life. :)