The Commercial Album(1980)OverviewTracksLiner NotesLyricsUncle Willie
The Commercial Album is another manifestation of The Residents' whimsical relationship with pop music and their interest in music about music. The album is a collection of forty one-minute commercial songs -- their very own personal Top 40, or perhaps a collection of one-minute jingles: the music of commercials. The Residents teamed up with several artists, including their old friend Snakefinger, who not only provided guitar, but sings on Ups & Downs. The band also recruited Chris Cutler, who had worked with them on Eskimo, Fred Frith, Lene Lovich, Andy Partridge and others.
Working from September, 1979, to July, 1980, The Residents used a number of ideas which had cropped up during the recording of Eskimo but were inappropriate for that project. The Commercial Album was the first Residential album to be licenced overseas, and was heavily promoted by the licencees. PRE Records in England even put out The Commercial Single, which included two songs which had been left off of the album because The Residents felt that they didn't quite fit in.
Phonogram and Celluloid Records financed a series of four short videos called One Minute Movies, featuring the songs Moisture, The Act of Being Polite, Perfect Love, and Simple Song. Meanwhile, in North America, the Cryptic Corporation bought forty one-minute commercial slots on KFRC-AM radio, the top-40 radio station at that time in San Francisco, and broadcast the entire album in bite-sized chunks. This stunt was questioned by Billboard magazine as payola, though the time purchased was quite definately commercial time. The album is currently in a deluxe release by Mute Records. An award winning interactive DVD, also distributed by Mute, is available featuring 56 one minute videos.
- Easter Woman
- Perfect Love
- Picnic Boy
- End of Home
- Amber
- Japanese Watercolor
- Secrets
- Die In Terror
- Red Rider
- My Second Wife
- Floyd
- Suburban Bathers
- Dimples and Toes
- The Nameless Souls
- Love Leaks Out
- Act of Being Polite
- Medicine Man
- Tragic Bells
- Loss of Innocence
- The Simple Song
- Ups and Downs
- Possessions
- Give it to Someone Else
- Phantom
- Less Not More
- My Work is So Behind
- Birds in the Trees
- Handful of Desire
- Moisture
- Love is...
- Troubled Man
- La La
- Loneliness
- Nice Old Man
- The Talk of Creatures
- Fingertips
- In Between Dreams
- Margaret Freeman
- The Coming of the Crow
- When We Were Young
The 2019 pREServed edition includes the following bonus tracks:
- Shut Up, Shut Up
- And I Was Alone
- Electronic Elaborate Waste
- Kraftwerk
- Cosmetics For Reality
- Rosco's Righteous Rodent
- Pretty Baby
- Tuxedos
- No Longer Unused
- Instant Hostility
- Elevator Lady
- We're A Happy Family
- Shut Shut (Residue Version)
- And I Was Alone (Alternate)
- Ups and Downs (Residue Version)
- Boy In Love
- Die In Terror (1982 Rehearsal)
- Give It To Someone Else (1982 Rehearsal)
- Love Leaks Out (1982 Rehearsal)
- The Talk of Creatures (1982 Rehearsal)
- Easter Woman (Live 1986)
- Amber (Live 1986)
- Red Rider (Live 1986)
- Die In Terror (Live 1986)
- The Coming of Crow (Live 1986)
- Moisture (Icky Flix Version)
- Act of Being Polite (Icky Flix Version)
- Perfect Love (Icky Flix Version)
- Simple Song (Icky Flix Version)
- Red Rider (Commercial DVD Version)
- Moisture (Commercial DVD Version)
- Commercial Album Suite (Live 2005)
- Give It To Someone Else (Live 2013)
- Easter Woman (Live 2015)
- My Second Wife (Live 2015)
- Loss of Innocence (Live 2015)
Point one: Pop music is mostly a repetition of two types of musical and lyrical phrases, the verse and the chorus.
Point two: These elements usually repeat three times in a three minute song, the type usually found on top-40 radio.
Point three: Cut out the fat and a pop song is only one minute long. Then record albums can hold their own top-40, twenty minutes per side.
Point four: One minute is also the length of most commercials, and therefore their corresponding jingles.
Point five: Jingles are the music of America.
Conclusion: This compact disc is terrific in shuffle play. To convert the jingles to pop music, program each song to repeat three times.
Expand allEaster Woman
Down, down down, down down, down down...
Easter woman came today
And took away my wife
Took her to an open doorway
To the afterlife
Perfect Love
There's something I must tell you
There's something I must say
The only really perfect love
Is one that gets away
Picnic Boy
She called my friend a picnic boy
I never could stand that
Oh she called my friend a picnic boy
And said he was too fat
I left her in the early morning
Looking at the rain
I found I could not take the pressure
So I took the train
End of Home
Darkness fell upon the garden
As I sadly sat alone
Dreaming of the end of summer
And again the end of home
Our love was like a flowing river
Deeper still than what it seemed
It consumed my waking hours
Creeping deep into my dreams
Amber
Life is just a situation
Life is just a game
Life is just a whirlpool
And it's calling out my name
Amber were the autumn leaves
And amber was her skin
Amber was the evening
When the whirlpool pulled her in
It was irresistible
Was what she used to say
Like the sound of running horses
Early in the day
Japanese Watercolor
Instrumental
Secrets
Something's going on between them
Something I can see
Nobody seems to pay attention
So it's up to me
They're always touching
Always looking
In a secret way
I thought that I might cut them deep
Die in Terror
She said she wished to die in terror
Screaming in the night
To feel the crawling flesh of panic
As her hair turned white
She also had a pretty little
See-through negligee
I often wonder where she went
And if she got her way
Red Rider
Cellar doors were open
For the storms were out that night
The night reflected from the leaves
The sky was still too bright
I saw her passing as the wind
Was rising in the air
She rode upon a red bicycle
And she had red hair
My Second Wife
Yesterday my second wife fell in the afternoon
Slipped into hysteria and talked about the moon
Well this was only temporary so the doctor said
So I watched a football game and she went off to bed
Floyd
Instrumental
Suburban Bathers
Suburban bathers own the sea
But just between you and me
The sun has never fully set
That's seen the bathers fully wet
I see the sea,
The sea sees me
They seem to run to morning light
And crash the boards between the night
If they'd learn to love themselves
They might survive the murky depths
I see the sea,
The sea sees me
If I'd learn to love myself
I might survive the murky depths
Dimples and Toes
She is unhappy and even unkind
She would not listen but I do not mind
Kissing her dimples and touching her toes
She is attractive but very restrained
Slightly because of worry and strain
I was her father a long time ago
Kissing her dimples and touching her toes
The Nameless Souls
She was just uncaring
She was just untrue
She was just indifferent
What else could she do?
I was just a stranger
I was just subdued
I was just uneasy
What else could I do?
We were just the nameless
Souls that sit inside
Wishing that we were
Someone on the outside
Wishing that we were
The ones on the outside
Wishing that we weren't
The ones who were stuck
Love Leaks Out
Hour by hour
Day by day
Love leaks out
And goes away
Act of Being Polite
I found her crying in the morning
Sitting in a chair
She was wrapping something up
And wrapping it with care
I did not mean to hurt her
When I fell asleep last night
I was just exhausted
From the act of being polite
Yes, I was just exhausted
From the act of being polite
Medicine Man
Instrumental
Tragic Bells
Tragic bells are ringing for me
Tragic bells are ringing in my ear again
And I don't know why I'm going on
Loss of Innocence
Amusement parks are caked with sounds
A solid hunk of meat
A barker's sweat flings from his tongue
His tattoo shines with heat
A wary stranger stands and sways
Enraptured by his stance
Two-headed goats come stumbling by
And give a troubled glance
The barker looks into the eyes
The stranger tries to bend
The barker swears to more delights
For all who seek within
The stranger enters canvas doors
And smells the fresh cut hay
The barker points to Siamese twins
The stranger looks away
The eyes of horse faced women
Watch the few who wander through
They sense the tension in the air
And smell the sweet taboo
A heart beats fast against a chest
The stranger leaves the tent
The waves of people drown the sounds
Of loss of innocence
The Simple Song
We are simple
You are simple
Life is simple, too
Ups and Downs
She was opening up an elevator
On a rainy day
Sitting on a little stool
And looking far away
I asked if she would take me
To another floor
She laughed and said she probably would
And then she closed the door
Possessions
Some are into silver
Some are into gold
Some are into having
Something nice to hold
Give it to Someone Else
I wanted to give it to someone else
And hear what they would say
I wanted to give it to someone else
And watch them as they played
I left it helpless all alone
And waiting on the floor
Squirming just a little bit
And looking at the door
He would take it as he wished
And I would listen in
Documenting as I would
The sound of slapping skin
Phantom
Instrumental
Less Not More
The railings of the bridge
Were moving by the glass
The opportunity to leave
Was coming up fast
The situation passed across my
Mind once more,
And I decided that I needed
Less not more
Less not more
Less not more
My Work is So Behind
Smoke was feeling up the house
A burning yearning heat
The cats were looking through the haze
And licking at their feet
They were licking at their feet
A caller came and looked at me
And asked me if I'd mind
I said I would not normally
My work is so behind
I'm just way behind
The fire it sparkled in his smile
And then beneath his skin
And so he jumped right in right in
And so he jumped right in
Birds in the Trees
Birds in the trees
Shook dust from their wings
I thought of the heartaches
That shattered our love not long ago
Birds in the trees
Now asleep
Handful of Desire
Sinews crackled in the heat
Of noonday raptured thrill
A moisture laden syncopated
Automated thrill
A handful of desirous needs
That's much too soon fulfilled
Moisture
Someone saw a strange amount
Of moisture on her lips
And it was also seen upon
Her arms and on her hips
No one knows exactly
Who she was or how she died
But when they opened up her purse
They found a snail inside
Love is...
Love is only loneliness
Divided by another
Love is only living for the lonely
Love is only loneliness
Divided by another
And I know that life is lonely
Troubled Man
His wife had left him long ago
For someone without skin,
And now he faced the mirror
And he saw a doubled chin
He was having trouble
And he'd had it for awhile,
His doctor died a year ago
She was his only child
La La
La, la-la
La, la-la
La, la, la
La, la-la
La, la-la
La, la, la
La, la-la
La, la-la
La, la, la
Loneliness
I came upon it in the night
And left it in the rain
And from that moment to today
I've never been the same
I knew not what the weather meant
When he said goodbye
I only know this loneliness
Will never make me cry
Make me cry
Nice Old Man
Something smiling sweetly
Something tall and thin
Something deep within my heart
Reminded me of him
He was not my lover
He was not my friend
He was just a nice old man
Who played the violin
The Talk of Creatures
Mumbling weighs upon my mind
The talk of creatures in my spine
A contest fought between two souls
To know which thought that each controls
They argue deep into the night
Displaying wrongs, inciting rights
They sing their songs with unknown tones
And keep the beat upon my bones
Fingertips
Something faintly emanating
Perfume and decay
Whispered lightly in the wind
That she had got away
Longing for the touch of something
Soft upon my face
I thought about her fingertips
And not her lack of grace
In Between Dreams
Instrumental
Margaret Freeman
Margaret Freeman had a body
Unlike any I'd seen
It seemed to drip her mental thoughts
Like much too warm ice cream
One day while she washed the dishes
In the nude I saw
How her mother's sodden ways
Had rubbed her rib cage raw
The premise of this album, which contains 40 one-minute songs, was for The Residents to create their own Top-Forty. They very nearly succeeded. The Commercial Album takes over where Duck Stab left off. It further distils the music of The Residents into a stream of compact and multi-faceted musical and lyrical gems. The songs on this kaleidoscopic album are conveying more with less.
One of the most important aspects of this album was the accompanying release of their four One Minute Movies. These brought to life the visual imagery of The Residents and spread it further than it had been before. Since they had not yet gone on tour, these videos gave us a chance to see what the Residents looked like. Created before MTV, they received a lot of air play when MTV was finally invented.
In order to make easier the task of discussing this album, I've chosen from their Top-Forty a list of Top-Ten songs. I feel that these ten songs accurately capture the soul of this album. They are listed in the order in which they appear on the album. If you own a CD player which allows you to program the order in which the songs are played, program it to play them in the following order.
Easter Woman (1) Amber (5) Red Rider (9) Floyd (11) The Nameless Souls (14) Love Leaks Out (15) The Simple Song (20) Moisture (29) Loneliness (33) When We Were Young (40)
The result is a ten-minute piece of music which passes through the disturbing open doorway on "Easter Woman", the languid trotting whirlpool of "Amber", the glowing embers of "Red Rider", the sonorous textures coaxed from the analog synthesizer on "Floyd", the quirky variety of instruments on "The Nameless Souls", the impending doom of "Love Leaks Out", the silly simplicity of "The Simple Song", the loneliness of "Loneliness", and the nostalgia of "When We Were Young". "Moisture" deserves a sentence all to itself. I believe that it is the finest song on this album and that to write about it would be fruitless.
Due to the self-imposed time limitations, the lyrics for each song usually consist of no more than two to three sentences and last about thirty seconds. In spite of this economy of words, bright, bizarre, disturbing, languid, sad, ethereal, and silly images abound. The ability to create such complete and compelling images with so few words is an extraordinary talent indeed.
The idea of a commercial album by The Residents is contradictory. It is always difficult to compare their music with that of their contemporaries (in this case the year is 1980) for they follow no trends and their music disregards time and place.
It is fitting to end this section of the book with this album, for it marks the end of an era. Soon the technology of making music will drastically change. There will be computers and MIDI, digital synthesizers and samplers, and hard disk recording. Since the nature of The Residents is to be on the cutting edge of art and technology, they will be among the first to embrace these new changes. Besides, looming in the distance can be heard the rumbling of the Moles.
- David Willenbrink
