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.
Inner Space
The Residents Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I see a silver ship
Sailing on the oceans of nirvana
When I think about my father
On his sad and lonely trip
I wonder if he misses me and mama
When I think about my father
Of breathing life into a lost persona
When I went to see my father
I was his only friend
No one knew he was a lonely soldier
When I went to see my father
He was bitter at the end
When the wind was a blowing so much bolder
I went to see my father
Who was dying to pretend
The emptiness of like would soon be full of him
I went to see my father growing colder
"Inner Space" by The Residents is a poignant reflection on the relationship between a father and a son. The song begins with the singer pondering about his father and his journey towards death. He visualizes his father as a silver ship sailing on the oceans of nirvana, transcending the worldly existence. The singer wonders about the loneliness of his father during this transcendental voyage and whether he misses him and his mother. These lines suggest that the singer regrets the emotional distance he and his father had between them.
The second verse provides a contrasting viewpoint of the father, which paints him as someone who is sick of living a life that does not align with his inner self. The singer sees his father as someone who is tired of pretending to be someone he is not. This view of the father is a reminder to the singer of the emotional baggage his father carried and how that impacted their relationship.
In the final verse, the singer remembers visiting his father, who was bitter and growing colder as death approached. The singer became his father's only friend during this time, and he witnessed the profound emptiness his father was grappling with.
Overall, "Inner Space" showcases the complexities of father-son relationships and how unspoken emotions can impact that relationship.
Line by Line Meaning
When I think about my father
Reflecting on memories of my father
I see a silver ship
I imagine my father sailing towards enlightenment
Sailing on the oceans of nirvana
He is on a spiritual journey to reach a higher state of being
On his sad and lonely trip
His journey is a painful and isolated one
I wonder if he misses me and mama
I question whether or not my father thinks of his family and misses them
I see someone who's sick
I perceive my father as being ill
Of breathing life into a lost persona
He is exhausted from trying to keep up an image that he isn't truly happy with
I was his only friend
During my visit, I was the only one who offered him companionship
No one knew he was a lonely soldier
In reality, my father battled his inner demons alone and no one knew the extent of his suffering
He was bitter at the end
Towards the end of his life, my father became pessimistic and resentful
When the wind was a blowing so much bolder
During a moment of vulnerability or danger
Who was dying to pretend
He desperately tried to keep up appearances even as he was dying inside
The emptiness of like would soon be full of him
My father sought to fill the void in his life with something, but it would ultimately consume him
I went to see my father growing colder
As I visited my father, I noticed his health declining and how he was becoming closer to death
Contributed by Nicholas G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Jason Schultz
Hauntingly beautiful!
Peter Choyce
I play this song every year on FATHERS DAY on KXLU FM LA. "When i think about MY FATHER i see a silver ship sailing on the oceans of... (??). when i think about MY FATHER one sad and lonely trip i wonder if he misses me and ... (??)" Then "first we take manhattan" as Leonard Cohen goes "It's Fathers day and everyone is wounded..."
Katnipkitkat (Cthülhu Kthûl'hu)
Makes me think of when my father was feeling unwell and went to hospital and they found out it was very advanced cancer and he died within 10 days of going to hospital and I was unable to get back home in time to say goodbye as I was on the other side of the globe. My mom didn't actually tell me he was dying until he had already been in hospital a few days. And the last time I saw him was his body in the casket, I hadn't seen him for a few years before that but we had always kept in regular contact.
doombuggy123
+slinkyb303 I always interpreted it as a song about a father regretting his life choices at the end.
doombuggy123
+slinkyb303 I always interpreted it as a song about a father regretting his life choices at the end.
slinkyb303
+Peter Choyce "Nirvana" ... "When I think about my Father on his sad and lonely trip"..."Mama"'
It's a terribly sad song about a father dying
Nik Nimbus
Wow! I lurves the vid! My fave AL song too! Beautiful :)
jyhem vacarme
RIP Hardy Fox
Mandy Pink
<3
Toxic Bananas
Despicable Me?