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.
Mr. Wonderful
The Residents Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Life would be wonderful
If I was a little taller
If I was not quite so old
If my raincoat had a collar
To help me keep away the cold
Was still alive inside the sock
He used to keep himself so cozy
Inside his little cardboard box
If I had a nice location
To sit where people passing by
Looked like they were on vacation
And helped me buy some pecan pie
If I could afford a breakfast
Of bacon, toast and scrambled eggs
If I hadn't been so reckless
When I lost my other leg
If there was an open doorway
Where I could be warm and dry
And visit with some memories
I made once upon a time
Life would be wonderful
The lyrics of The Residents's song Mr. Wonderful express a desire for things to be different, better, or more convenient. The first two lines establish a hypothetical situation where life would be wonderful, followed by a list of specific things that would make it so. The singer wishes he were taller and younger. He also wishes his raincoat had a collar, so he wouldn't be cold, and that his pet mouse Norman was still alive. And, all he wants is a place to sit and people-watching to buy himself some pie. The singer misses his leg, but he is not solving the reasons he ended up in his current situation. Instead, he focuses on small things like breakfast and a memory doorway, demonstrating his ability to appreciate the basics of what life has to offer.
Overall, the song has a reflective and imaginative quality that seems to be questioning what truly brings happiness into a person's life. The lyrics show that perhaps the singer believes that material things and even health do not necessarily equate to happiness. Instead, it may be the simple pleasures and memories that we cherish in life that make it truly wonderful.
Line by Line Meaning
Life would be wonderful
The singer longs for their life to be wonderful
If I was a little taller
The singer wishes they were taller
If I was not quite so old
The singer wishes they were not so old
If my raincoat had a collar
The artist wishes their raincoat had a collar to better protect them from the cold
To help me keep away the cold
The artist wants to be warm and protected from the cold
If my little mouse named Norman
The singer reminisces about their mouse named Norman
Was still alive inside the sock
The singer wishes their mouse named Norman was still alive and living in the sock they used to stay in
He used to keep himself so cozy
The artist remembers how their mouse named Norman used to make themselves warm and comfortable
Inside his little cardboard box
The artist remembers how their mouse named Norman used to stay in a little cardboard box
If I had a nice location
The artist wishes they had a nice place to sit and watch people pass by
To sit where people passing by
The singer wants to sit and watch people pass by
Looked like they were on vacation
The artist imagines the people passing by look like they are on vacation, and the artist wishes they were on vacation too
And helped me buy some pecan pie
The singer wants people passing by to buy them some pecan pie
If I could afford a breakfast
The singer wishes they could afford a nice breakfast
Of bacon, toast and scrambled eggs
The singer imagines a nice breakfast of bacon, toast, and scrambled eggs
If I hadn't been so reckless
The artist regrets being reckless and wishes they had made better choices in life
When I lost my other leg
The artist lost a leg in the past and wishes they had been more careful to prevent it
If there was an open doorway
The singer wishes there was an open doorway where they could find shelter
Where I could be warm and dry
The singer wants to be warm and dry
And visit with some memories
The artist wants to reminisce about the past
I made once upon a time
The artist made some memories in the past that they want to remember
Contributed by Riley K. 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