The actual usage of The Residents band name first appeared in 1974 on the cover of Meet the Residents. The name arose from a communication from Hal Haverstadt of Warner Brothers Records. The loosely bonded friendship of musicians & other crazies that would become The Residents had mailed a reel-to-reel tape to Haverstadt in a bold attempt by the (unnamed on the mailing) group to secure a recording contract with Warner Bros. Haverstadt mailed the tape back months later with a short rejection notice which he simply addressed to 'Residents, 20 Sycamore St., San Francisco'. Along with the rejection he also noted that the mysterious artists at least deserved an A for originality.
The unnamed band was really The Delta Nudes, from Shreveport, Louisiana. In 1966, lured to the Flower Power Revolution going on in California, the group moved to the Bay Area, settling down in San Mateo, about 20 miles south of San Francisco (according to Residential lore, their van broke down there & they decided to stay). At that time in California, experimentation artistically, culturally, & socially was in full swing. Many young people from the much more conservative South who were looking for more freedom of expression tended to drift toward the West.
By 1971, the Delta Nudes had recorded a great deal of material. They were looking for someone who might be interested in their brand of insanity. They sent one of their early demo tapes to the Warner Brothers executive Hal Halverstadt who had signed Captain Beefheart.
The Warner Bros. Album contains approximately 40 minutes of short songs, recorded only on reel-to-reel tape. Complete front & back artwork along with strange liner notes were designed for the tape box, even though the music was never released. The artwork is credited to one N. Senada. There is debate as to whether or not he really existed, or was simply an invention of The Residents.
N. Senada (which may be a play on 'Ensenada'…'en se nada', meaning "in himself nothing," or 'enseñada', a form of the past participle meaning "taught" [or N. may stand for Nigel???]) was supposedly a Bavarian composer & music theorist who formulated the
Theory of Obscurity. Supposedly born in 1907 & dying in 1993 at the age of 86, Senada was one of The Residents' earliest collaborators, having arrived in San Mateo, California, with Philip Lithman (better known to Residents' fans as Snakefinger). It has also been speculated that N. Senada may have been Captain Beefheart himself because in the late 1960s Beefheart & his Magic Band lived in a residence on Ensenada Drive in Woodland Hills, California,
while recording
Trout Mask Replica &
Safe as Milk. Beefheart’s influence can be heard in early Residents works. Senada allegedly collaborated with band on their pre-
Santa Dog work & then disappeared. He resurfaced in the mid-1970s, returning from an Arctic expedition bringing with him a sealed bottle of pure Arctic air; this served as inspiration for The Residents
Eskimo project.
A rare copy of the unreleased tape was played in its entirely on KBOO-FM (Portland, Oregon) during a 1977 Residents Radio Festival. The song list on the reel-to-reel varies slightly from the CDr listing. I have noted the variations in the tracklist. This, as well as Baby Sex were recorded in San Mateo as the San Francisco studio was not completed until 1972.
Tracklist –
Strawberry Fields Forever
The Mad Sawmill of Copenhagen, Germany
Baby Skeletons & Dogs
Bop Bop (Shoo Bop Bop)
Stuffed Genital (originally entitled Snippet #1)
Every Day I Masturbate on A Merican Fag
Oh Mommy Oh Daddy Can’t You See That it’s True
Baby Skeletons & Dogs Reprise
The Mad Sawmill of Copenhagen, Germany Reprise
Love & Peace (originally entitled Going to Arcata Blues)
The Mad Sawmill of Copenhagen, Germany Reprise 2
Black Velvet Original
The Mad Sawmill of Copenhagen, Germany Reprise 3
Christmas Morning Foto (originally entitled Jimi Hendrix Dildo)
The Mad Sawmill of Copenhagen, Germany Reprise 4
In the Still of the Night
Maggie’s Farm (originally the ending of this track was entitled Snippet #2)
Snot & Feces (live at The Grunt Festival)
Sweet Meat
Oh Yeah Uhh Bop Shoo Bop
Ohm is Where the Art Is
Concerto in R Flat Minor I
Concerto in R Flat Minor II
Concerto in R Flat Minor III (originally entitled Snippet #3)
Gagagapiggaeioupe
Sell American
Love Theme from a Major Motion Picture
Prelude for Accordion, Sousaphone, & French Horn
Oh God You’re a Pie in the Sky
Short Circuit Comes to Town I (originally entitled Snippet #4)
Short Circuit Comes to Town II (originally entitled Snippet #5)
Marching Toward AEIOU Blues
In the Still of the Night Again
Unknown Title (originally entitled Snippet #6)
Oh Mommy Oh Daddy Can’t You See That it’s True Again
Art, the White Elephant (Instrumental I & II were originally part of this track)
Instrumental I
Instrumental II
Psychedelic & Orgasmic Finale I
Psychedelic & Orgasmic Finale II
On October 18, 1971 The Residents would play their first show at The Boarding House, a small club in San Francisco. It was 'open mic' night that evening, & the group along with Senada & Lithman took over the stage. They performed 30 minutes of poetry set to music. For Lithman, the event would provide yet another monumental moment in moniker mutation. Someone had taken a photo of him playing his violin. Upon viewing it, one of The Residents noted that his pinky finger was positioned in a manner much like how a snake would appear just prior to making an attack. Hence, Lithman became 'Snakefinger'. He would use the name for the rest of his life. He would remain a close friend & collaborator with the group until his death. The Boarding House performance was captured on tape. Portions of it make up parts of Baby Sex, the band's last sub-subterraneaneously self-manufactured tape before making a go at making the music world wobble on a different axis altogether.
Baby Sex is another experimental reel-to-reel tape which has never been release in its entirely in any form. Portions of this 37 minute album were recorded live at the Boarding House in San Francisco on October 18, 1971 as mentioned above & also at radio station KHSC-FM (Arcata, California) during a live interview. The shocking & censored front cover illustration for the tape box was taken from a kiddie-porn advertisement from Denmark. Only the back cover design is pictured here. Once again, the complete Baby Sex tape was heard during the 1977 KBOO-FM Residents Festival
Kamikaze Lady was released on the Residue album, the Heaven?/Hell! CD & was also included with the instrumental track "King Kong" on The Residents Radio Special cassette; "Eloise" was included on the Whatever Happened To Vilness Fats? soundtrack LP & on The Eyeball Show live album. The full recording of The Boarding House show was released in 1991 on the Daydream B Liver CD (UWEB). The full recording of the KHSC show was released in 1997 as part of Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Huddled Masses 4xCD box set (Euro Ralph). Margaret Swaton née Margaret Smyk played the part of night-club singer Peggy Honeydew on several Residents outings. She sings on "Hallowed Be Thy Ween".
Track A1 – riff borrowed from the Tim Buckley's song “Down by the Borderline".
Track A2 – a parody of Led Zeppelin's song "Whole Lotta Love".
Track A5 – written by Frank Zappa.
Tracks B1 & B2 – live at The Boarding House, San Francisco, CA (October 18, 1971).
Tracks B3, parts A to E – live in studio KHSC-FM, Arcata, CA (October 30, 1971).
Side A –
We Stole This Riff
Holelottadick
Baby Sex
Deepsea Diver Song
King Kong
Cantaten to der Dyin Prunen
Side B –
Something Devilish
The Fourth Crucifixion
Hallowed Be Thy Ween Medley
- Sandman
- Eat Me Mother
- Eloise
- For Doorknob
- Kamikaze Lady
Enjoy,
NØ
