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.
He Also Serves
The Residents Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
They can heal and they can do some
Things that no one ever did before
He really loved them, he really cared
Silently I stood between them
Holding up the crimson gleaming
Circle with its ends not quite in line
Softly like it was my lover
And I felt them shudder as they sighed
As I clamped the metal on it
Something like a liquid donut
Shimmered by the holy union side
Then the people screamed and shouted
As the donut grew and sprouted
Little bitty dust balls made of fire
And then these soon enough descended
Down the lines that finally ended
At the screams and unbelieving cries
For soon the cripples would be walking
And the dummies would be talking
But no one knew exactly how or why
The Residents' song "He Also Serves" is a surreal and enigmatic piece of music with complex and ambiguous lyrics that defy easy interpretation. The song seems to describe a strange and miraculous spectacle involving two holy figures who possess the power to heal and perform supernatural feats beyond human understanding. The singer, who appears to be an observer of these events, recounts the moment when he lifts up a crimson, gleaming circle and clamps a metal device on it, causing a strange and mystical reaction that leads to the creation of little dust balls made of fire. The people around him scream and shout, and miraculous things happen that nobody can explain or understand.
The lyrics of "He Also Serves" are open to a wide range of interpretations, but there are some recurring themes and symbols that suggest possible meanings. One interpretation is that the song is a commentary on religion and faith, and how people often see what they want to see in religious symbols and rituals, even if they are contradictory or nonsensical. The song may be criticizing the blind faith people place in religious leaders and symbols without questioning their true motives or effectiveness. Another interpretation is that the song is an allegory about human relationships, and how people create their own myths and fantasies to cope with the complexities and anxieties of their lives. The holy twosome in the song may represent two idealized and unattainable lovers, and the strange and miraculous events may be a metaphor for the emotional and psychological struggles that people face in their relationships.
Line by Line Meaning
Come and see the holy twosome
Take a look at the two divine beings
They can heal and they can do some
They have the power to cure and perform wonders
Things that no one ever did before
Miracles that no one has ever witnessed
He really loved them, he really cared
The artist truly adored the divine pair
Silently I stood between them
I stood in silence between the two holy beings
Holding up the crimson gleaming
Holding up the shining red object
Circle with its ends not quite in line
A circle with slightly misaligned edges
And then I lifted up the cover
The artist then revealed what was beneath the cover
Softly like it was my lover
The artist treated the object delicately
And I felt them shudder as they sighed
I sensed a slight trembling and exhalation from the divine beings
As I clamped the metal on it
Once the metal was attached to the object
Something like a liquid donut
It appeared like a circular form of liquid
Shimmered by the holy union side
The divine couple's vicinity was illuminated by the object's flickering light
Then the people screamed and shouted
The crowd reacted with screams and cheers
As the donut grew and sprouted
As the circular liquid expanded and branched out
Little bitty dust balls made of fire
Tiny fiery particles were formed
And then these soon enough descended
The particles gradually fell down
Down the lines that finally ended
Along the paths that eventually came to a stop
At the screams and unbelieving cries
Arriving at the sounds of amazement and disbelief
For soon the cripples would be walking
Because of the miracle, the disabled would soon be able to walk
And the dummies would be talking
Even those who were unable to speak would now be able to communicate
But no one knew exactly how or why
The reason behind the miracle was unknown
Contributed by Aiden Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Epizootics
reminds me of "God in Three Persons". (So does the music video which has the cover of it.)
Jesse Baughman
@Mr. Resident - It's got some elements of Freak Show too.
Mr. Resident
Balso Snell Its actually a bunch of the songs from that album mashed together. That's the whole thing behind Our Finest Flowers.