Allmusic had this to say about the Residents: "Over the course of a recording career spanning several decades, the Residents remained a riddle of Sphinx-like proportions; cloaking their lives and music in a haze of willful obscurity, the band's members never identified themselves by name, always appearing in public in disguise -- usually tuxedos, top hats and giant eyeball masks -- and refusing to grant media interviews. Drawing inspiration from the likes of fellow innovators including Harry Partch, Sun Ra, and Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, the Residents channelled the breadth of American music into their idiosyncratic, satiric vision, their mercurial blend of electronics, distortion, avant-jazz, classical symphonies and gratingly nasal vocals reinterpreting everyone from John Philip Sousa to James Brown while simultaneously expanding the boundaries of theatrical performance and multimedia interaction.
It was commonly accepted that the four-member group emigrated to San Francisco, California from Shreveport, Louisiana at some point in the early '70s. According to longtime group spokesman Jay Clem -- one member of the so-called Cryptic Corporation, the band's representative body -- they received their name when Warner Bros. mailed back their anonymous demo tape, addressed simply "for the attention of residents". Finding no takers for their oddball sounds, the Residents founded their own label, Ralph Records, for the purposes of issuing their 1972 debut "Santa Dog", released in a pressing of 300 copies which were mailed out to luminaries from Frank Zappa to President Richard Nixon. Their debut full-length, 1974's "Meet the Residents", reportedly sold fewer than 50 copies before the group was threatened with a lawsuit from Capitol Records over its cover, a twisted, dada-esque parody of the art to "Meet the Beatles".
The follow-up, 1974's neoclassical excursion "Not Available", was recorded with the intention of its music remaining unissued; locked in cold storage upon its completion, only a 1978 contractual obligation resulted in its eventual release. 1976's "The Third Reich 'N Roll" was the next official offering, a collection of pop oldies covers presented in a controversial jacket portraying Adolf Hitler clutching an enormous carrot. After a 1976 concert in Berkeley, California which cloaked the Residents behind an opaque screen, wrapped up like mummies -- the most famous of only three live performances mounted during their first decade of existence -- they issued an abrasive 1977 cover of The Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction", which became an underground hit on both sides of the Atlantic at the peak of the punk movement. As the decade drew to a close, the group released a flurry of recordings, further building upon their growing cult following; among them were 1978's "Duck Stab", 1979's "Eskimo" (purportedly a collection of native Arctic chants) and 1980's "Commercial Album", a compilation of 40 one-minute "pop songs" that aired on San Francisco radio only because the Residents played them during the advertising time they bought.
In 1981 the Residents embarked upon their "Mole Trilogy", a prog rock collection of albums -- 1981's "Mark of the Mole", 1982's "The Tunes of Two Cities" and 1985's "The Big Bubble" -- recounting an epic battle between a pair of tribes named the Moles and the Chubs; a lavish, multimedia tour, "The Mole Show", followed. In the interim, the group also mounted another ambitious project, the "American Composer" series, although only two of the projected titles -- 1984's "George & James" (a reinterpretation of songs by George Gershwin and James Brown) and 1986's "Stars & Hank Forever" (celebrating John Philip Sousa and Hank Williams) -- ever appeared. Instead, in the wake of financial and corporate difficulties which resulted in the creation of a New Ralph label, the Residents issued the one-off "God in Three Persons" (a talking blues outing), and 1989's "The King and Eye" (a reinterpretation of Elvis Presley standards).
After losing control of the Ralph label as well as their back catalog, the Residents regained the rights to their music in 1990 and began reissuing long-out-of-print material as well as the new "Freak Show", a meditation on circus sideshows and carnival dementia. Four years later, Freak Show was reissued as a CD-ROM, marking the group's first leap into the new digital interactive technology; "Have a Bad Day" followed in 1996, and included the soundtrack to the CD-ROM game "Bad Day on the Midway." In 1997, the band celebrated their silver anniversary with the release of the career-spanning overview "Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Huddled Masses". "Wormwood: Curious Stories From the Bible" followed the next year, with "Roadworms" (songs from Wormwood as performed in the stage show) being issued in mid-2000. They followed that up with the awesome "Icky Flix" DVD, an incredibly detailed collection of their videos that featured both old and new soundtracks, 5.1 Digital Stereo Surround sound, countless hidden videos and in-depth histories of each individual track. That was followed by another one of their rare tours, which saw them incorporate the DVD into their live act and bring out guest singer Molly Harvey for some truly creative duets. The "Petting Zoo" retrospective followed in the spring of 2002, acting as a budget sampler for new fans and giving old fans something to tide them over while several high concept projects neared completion. The first was "Demons Dance Alone", a complicated pop album that hearkened back to the catchier material from "Duck Stab" and the "Commercial Album". That was followed in 2002 by a live retrospective called "Kettles Of Fish On The Outskirts Of Town" that contained 3 cd's and a DVD, and a further look at their past via remasters and remixes put out by EuroRalph (including a remix of their previously unreleased and notorious "Warner Brothers Demo"). A DVD of the Demons Dance Alone tour came out in 2004 and another new project, "Animal Lover" was released in 2005."
Summer of 2006 brought the internet download project, The River of Crime: Episodes 1-5. River of Crime was their first project with Warner Music Group's Cordless label. Following the success of "River of Crime", The Residents launched their weekly Timmy video project on YouTube. In 2007 they did the music for the documentary "Strange Culture" and also released a double instrumental album, "Night of the Hunters". On the Fourth of July, 2007, the planned October release of their latest project with Mute Records, The Voice of Midnight (a music theater adaptation of E.T.A. Hoffmann's short story Der Sandmann), was announced on their website.
On the 21st of May 2008 they announced on their website that their first North America tour since "Demons Dance Alone" for a project entitled "The Bunny Boy" is set to begin on October 9th in New York — later an earlier date was added for Santa Cruz. Soon, it was announced that the tour will also include Europe, starting November 13th. On June 3rd, the Residents.com website boasted the planned release of "The Bunny Boy" which was released on September 1st. The website had posted information in which Foxboro claimed this would be a Farewell Tour; it was later revealed that this was nothing more than a mistake by Foxboro.
In October 2017, Hardy Fox identified himself as both the anonymous primary composer and producer for The Residents as well as the pseudonymous Charles Bobuck.
Hardy Fox died on October 30, 2018.
Benny The Bouncing Bump
The Residents Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Made it all the more disturbing knowing Benny hid
A bump that looked like clods of dirt inside a sickly lung
That barely peeked beneath his shirt and twitched like Toto's tongue.
For fifty cents inside a tent adjacent to the rest,
The weaker souls could hide their eyes while Benny bared his chest;
He rubbed the bump with oleo and little bits of meat
Bounce, Benny bounce, bouncing Benny
Bounce, bouncing Benny, bouncing Benny
Benny bounce, Benny bounce, Benny bounce
Benny bounce, Benny bounce, Benny bounce
He would put a record on then go into a trance
Until he heard his mother's favorite polka then he danced;
The record player went to fast but Benny didn't care,
He simply bounced around the room while people stood and stared.
Benny really only cared about one single thing --
He collected magazines called "Women in the Ring";
He kept them all in plastic bags and everybody said
That Benny talked to them at night before he went to bed.
Bounce, Benny bounce, bouncing Benny
Bounce, bouncing Benny, bouncing Benny
I need someone to wrestle with she'd have to wear a hood.
And hold me in a hammerlock if she was feeling good.
She'd probably have a ponytail that stuck out from the back
And I bet her eyes would shine -- right when she attacked;
She might be kind of mean some times and act like we weren't friends,
But when the match was over we'd be buddies till the end;
I've got to go! I've got to go! I know that she is there --
Waiting in a ring for me to hug her like a bear.
Follow that dream, follow that dream
Follow that dream Benny follow that dream (x8)
The opening lines describe Benny, whose eyes are half-closed, hiding a bump that looks like dirt clods in a sickly lung that twitches like Toto's tongue under his shirt. This description alone is disturbing, but is compounded by the fact that Benny appears to be aware of his condition and is intentionally emphasizing it. For fifty cents, Benny would bare his chest under a tent and invite people to watch him rub it with oleo and bits of meat to make it bounce. Once the record player was turned on, Benny would go into a trance and dance along to his mother's favorite polka. The song speaks to his fixation on collecting magazines about "Women in the Ring", and how he talks to them before going to bed. Benny dreams of having a woman wrestle with him, wearing a hood and holding him in a hammerlock.
This song is an unsettling portrait of a bizarre individual, a carnival freak whose abnormality is on display for the amusement of others. This carnival freak show-like setting is common in The Residents' songs. They create stories of strange characters who are fascinated by odd objects and behaviors. The lyrics describe the body horror of Benny's physical condition and the obsessive nature of his fixation on his "Women in the Ring" magazine collection. The song is punctuated by the refrain of "Bounce, Benny bounce", which is made more disturbing by the juxtaposition of the upbeat melody and the rather bleak subject matter.
Line by Line Meaning
Seeing that his eyes were empty under half closed lids,
Benny's eyes looked empty under his half-closed lids, which made it more disturbing to know that he had a bump like dirt inside his chest, which twitched like Toto's tongue.
Made it all the more disturbing knowing Benny hid
It was even more disturbing because Benny hid the bump inside his chest.
A bump that looked like clods of dirt inside a sickly lung
The bump inside Benny's chest resembled clods of dirt in a sickly lung.
That barely peeked beneath his shirt and twitched like Toto's tongue.
The bump barely showed under his shirt and twitched like Toto's tongue.
For fifty cents inside a tent adjacent to the rest,
People could pay fifty cents to see Benny in a tent next to other attractions.
The weaker souls could hide their eyes while Benny bared his chest;
Those who were weak could close their eyes while Benny exposed his chest.
He rubbed the bump with oleo and little bits of meat
Benny rubbed the bump with oleo and bits of meat.
And stroked the shape as it extended down towards his feet.
He stroked the bump as it extended downwards towards his feet.
Bounce, Benny bounce, bouncing Benny
This is the chorus of the song, encouraging Benny to bounce.
He would put a record on then go into a trance
Benny would play a record and then go into a trance.
Until he heard his mother's favorite polka then he danced;
He would start to dance when he heard his mother's favorite polka.
The record player went too fast, but Benny didn't care,
Although the record player was too fast, Benny didn't care and continued to dance.
He simply bounced around the room while people stood and stared.
He bounced around the room while people were standing and staring at him.
Benny really only cared about one single thing --
Benny only cared about one thing.
He collected magazines called 'Women in the Ring';
Benny collected magazines with the title 'Women in the Ring.'
He kept them all in plastic bags and everybody said
Benny kept these magazines in plastic bags, and everyone knew.
That Benny talked to them at night before he went to bed.
Before Benny went to sleep, he talked to these magazines.
I need someone to wrestle with, she'd have to wear a hood.
Benny needed someone to wrestle with, and she would have to wear a hood.
And hold me in a hammerlock if she was feeling good.
She would hold Benny in a hammerlock if she felt good.
She'd probably have a ponytail that stuck out from the back
Benny thought she would have a ponytail that stuck out from behind.
And I bet her eyes would shine -- right when she attacked;
Benny assumed that her eyes would shine brightly when she attacked him.
She might be kind of mean some times and act like we weren't friends,
Sometimes, she might be mean to Benny and act like they weren't friends.
But when the match was over we'd be buddies till the end;
At the end of the match, they would still be friends.
I've got to go! I've got to go! I know that she is there --
Benny felt he had to go and that she was waiting for him somewhere.
Waiting in a ring for me to hug her like a bear.
She was waiting for him in a ring so he could hug her like a bear.
Follow that dream, follow that dream
This is the final chorus of the song, encouraging Benny to follow his dream.
Follow that dream Benny follow that dream (x8)
The song ends with an encouragement for Benny to follow his dream eight times.
Contributed by Juliana E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Jimbo
on BUCKAROO BLUES: The Stampede
A true mirror of American culture. The Residents are a national treasure