Fingerprince(1977)OverviewTracksLiner NotesLyricsUncle Willie
Fingerprince started out as Tourniquet of Roses, which was to be the world's first three-sided album. This idea was abandoned due to impracticality.
In the end, the band put only two-thirds of the music on the album and put the rest on an EP called Babyfingers which was then several years later once again merged into Fingerprince.
Fingerprince and Babyfingers have similar structures: each has one side of short songs with a single longer work on the second side. Walter Westinghouse, on the EP, is a sort of mini-opera, while Six Things to a Cycle on Fingerprince was originally written as a ballet. The piece is similar to an early conceptual piece of improvisational orchestra called Number One. The Residents created a work about how "man, represented by a primitive humanoid, is consumed by his self-created environment only to be replaced by a new creature, still primitive, still faulty, but destined to rule the world just as poorly" for Maurice Bejart, who used music by The Residents for a dance piece performed on a barge moving down the canals of Venice. The Residents created a shortened version of the ballet for this album and performed an even shorter live rendition at a concert called Oh Mummy! Oh Daddy! Can't You See That It's True; What the Beatles Did to Me, "I Love Lucy" Did to You presented as part of the 5th Anniversary celebrations for Rather Ripped Records in June, 1976.
The piece draws on many influences: Indonesian Gamelan (percussion) music, the Minimalist Movement (Philip Glass, Steve Reich, etc.), and most of all, Harry Partch. Partch was an American composer who was known for inventing his own instruments, music theory, and languages. The Residents indulged in similar experiments, using invented languages not only in Six Things, but also later on Eskimo and The Big Bubble. The Residents later acknowledge Partch's influence with the song Death in Barstow, on Babyfingers, a reference to Partch's death in Barstow, California, in September, 1976.
EuroRalph has also released a CD version of Fingerprince. It consists of two CDs, one full-length, one with the original album contents, and the other a 3" CD single of Babyfingers as a salute to the original structure.
- You Yesyesyes
- Home Age Conversation
- Godsong
- March de la Winni
- Bossy
- Boo Who?
- Tourniquet of Roses
- Six Things to a Cycle (parts 1-6)
- You Yesyesyes Again
CD versions of the album inserted tracks from Babyfingers in order to reinstate the original Tourniquet of Roses tracklist:
- You Yesyesyes
- Home Age Conversation
- Godsong
- March de la Winni
- Bossy
- Boo Who?
- Tourniquet of Roses
- Death In Barstow
- Melon Collie Lassie
- Flight Of The Bumble Roach
- Walter Westinghouse
- Six Things to a Cycle (parts 1-6)
- You Yesyesyes Again
The 2018 pREServed edition includes the following bonus tracks:
- Monstrous Intro
- Death In Barstow
- Melon Collie Lassie
- Flight Of The Bumble Roach
- Walter Westinghouse
- Leapmus (February, 1976)
- Entrance To Crypt
- Clumsy Climb
- Piano Dittie
- You Yesyesyes ('Oh Mummy' Mix)
- Whoopy Snorp
- God Song (1982 Rehearsal)
- Walter Westinghouse (1982 Rehearsal)
- God Song (Studio Rehearsal)
- Tourniquet Of Roses (Tromsø, Inconvenienced, 1986)
- Walter Westinghouse (Live 1997)
- Once I Went To Barstow (Live 2011)
- Melon Collie Lassie (Live 2014)
- Fingerprince Concentrate
Recorded in 1976, Fingerprince is The Resident's fourth album. However, when it was being recorded it was not called "Fingerprince". In 1976 it was called "Tourniquet of Roses" and was so long that it would have consumed three LP sides. The record company, Ralph Records, insisted that the record be cut back to the standard length of two sides, which was renamed "Fingerprince". The remaining side was eventually released in limited numbers as Babyfingers. The two pieces to note here are "Walter Westinghouse" and "Six Things to a Cycle", which is a ballet. The plot outline was provided by The Residents reads: "Man, represented as a primitive humanoid, is consumed by his self-created environment only to be replaced by a new creature, still primitive, still faulty, but destined to rule the world just as poorly". "Walter Westinghouse", on the other hand, is noteworth as a kind of mini-opera with characters and dialogue interaction, a trend which points towards much of The Residents 'later work. Thanks to the convenient length of Compact Discs, we are happy to finally present the original "Tourniquet of Roses" as it was conceived. True, the title "Fingerprince" is still on the cover in attempt to prevent confusion, but this is the real thing, folks. Dig it. --- The Cryptic Corporation
Expand allYou Yesyesyes
Yoooooooou yes yes yes yesyesyes yoooooooou
Yoooooooou yes yes yes yesyesyes yoooooooou
Yoooooooou yes yes yes yesyesyes yoooooooou
Home Age Conversation
Walking where the windy stops
The tops of trees are bare
Where'd you go, you didn't say
And I was so upset
And I saw a thousand motorcycles
As they made meat out of Mars.
Way to go
You know the way
To San Jose in cars.
Let the best of Wild Wild West
Digest and have some tea.
Godsong
God never really did like man anyway
At least not after they started walking around
On their hind leg(s)
And talking on the telephone
Of course poor God's point of view wasn't easy now (to) understand
He had invented man from dead things
At that time there were no grave yards to rob
So He had been forced to use dead worms, some sea weed
That had laid out on the beach for quite a while
For quite a while.
At that time man had four legs and no telephone
A major mistake came when God decided that man should think
(A trait that He'd long desired for Himself)
What God no doubt intended was
For man to think about Him
And that was important because
God just wanted to be
Just another normal deity
Deity Deity Ty Ty Ty Ty Ty
All that God wanted to be
Was just a normal deity
All that God wanted to be
Was just another normal deity
All that God wanted to be
Was just a deity
Just a normal deity
All that God wanted to be
Just a normal deity
All that God wanted to be
Just a normal deity
All went well for quite a while
Man was a wonderful creature
With long rich engraved face
Four fine legs ending in five mini-legs
And a coat of satiney hair
And large genitals
His thoughts were pure and
Full of wonder
The wonder part was God's favorite,
(at least at first)
Because that's the part that gave Him
His Identity Identity Identity Identity
Oh, it was so wonderful for God
Man's... Man's questions turned to visions
And visions gave God
All kinds of exciting things to do
Someday He would be a God of wrath
Reeking havoc upon undiscipline mankind
And at other times He'd be a God of love and compassion
Of course these were all things that man had invented
So God had a hard time getting the full grasp
But...
One of His favorite things
Was man's believing in Him, and then not believing in Him
One of His favorite things
Was man's believing in Him, and then not believing in Him
Believing in Him, Not believing in Him
Believing in Him, Not believing in Him
Believing in Him, Not believing in Him
Believing in Him, Not believing in Him
Believing in Him, Not believing in Him
Believing in Him, Not believing in Him
Believing in Him, Not believing in Him
Believing in Him, Not believing in Him
Believing in Him, Not believing in Him
Believing in Him, Not believing in Him
Like some hide and seek game
Over
And
Over
And
Over and Over
Believing in Him
Believing in Him
Believing in Him
Not believing in Him...
Not believing in Him?
I think He liked believing in Him much better...
But I'm not sure...
March De La Winni
Instrumental
Bossy
Sat upon an empty box of Cheerios and settled
Through the cracks of wooden floors
Forming little cone mountains
Fertile soil on which to rest
My dirty little white stone
With dimples to keep it from
Rolling down the dusty trail
Brought such straight rows
Like corn and peas
And foot caves in cold dirt
And the sore throat that follows
"Everyone always knew it ended this way,
But I still don't understand why...
Milking the cow didn't work."
She was warm and had a rough
Mus-cular tongue for licking
Salt blocks and brown eyes like a cow
And her name was Bossy.
We didn't eat her I don't think
Boo Who?
Now ---- there just is a cow
Where --- once was a calf
Now ---- there just is a stare
Where --- once was a laugh
Now ---- there just is a bone
Where --- once was a bath
Now ---- a tink-er-y toy
Is ---- an epi-taph
A smile - would make believe
That ---- it had a friend
And ---- tomorrow's name
Once ---- never would end
Tourniquet of Roses
The onion's in the fat
And the bacon's bought the bat
And the Posie's never even near the picture
(Now where to went that rotten egg
For feelin' up my lover's leg
I'll boil him `til the begs to be a breakfast)
So I'm left all alone
Because my father fought the foam
And now I can't accept the pharmacy's prescription
So now there is a bank
Where once a summer spring
Remined us of what we thought we ought to ding.a ling
For ringing ringing rockets
Roar a tub of a' lard today
And all that's left
Is something else
There is no more to say
Is no more to say now... Is no more to say...
Is no more to say now... Is no more to say...
Is no more to say now... Is no more to say...
Is no more to say now... Is no more to say...
Is no more to say now... Is no more to say...
Is no more to say now... Is no more to say...
Is no more to say now... Is no more to say...
Is no more to say now... Is no more to say...
Is no more to say now... Is no more to say...
You Yesyesyes Again
Instrumental
Six Things to a Cycle
Chew chew GUM chew GUM GUM chew chew
Chew chew GUM chew GUM GUM chew chew
Chew chew GUM chew GUM GUM chew chew
Smack Smack Smack
Fingerprince was conceived as the world's first three sided album (apparently, they weren't aware of the fact that Monty Python had already made one; their Matching Tie and Handkerchief LP of 1973). The Residents never specified whether it would be a double record with one side blank, or a single album with two concentric grooves on one side. They probably toyed with the idea of making it triangular!
However they'd planned to do it, Ralph Records decided the albums would be uneconomical to manufacture, so Fingerprince became a conventional two-sided LP. The leftover songs were relegated to a proposed EP, Babyfingers. Due to considerable artistic distractions (the most notable being Eskimo), Babyfingers was not released in the actual EP format until 1979, but four of its five songs had appeared on The Residents Radio Special cassette in 1977.
Babyfingers was Fingerprince's miniature twin, since both records consisted of several short songs on side one and a side-long composition on side two.
Fingerprince was an important transitional album for The Residents. It bridged the gap between their early, primitive music and virtually all the original compositions the band would eventually create.
The songs whose importance would become apparent soon were "You, Yesyesyes," "Tourniquet of Roses" and the songs jettisoned to Babyfingers, which point the way towards the wacky, sinister pop of Duck Stab, Subterranean Modern, etc.
The album includes the long form composition ?"Six Things to a Cycle." It was the first stepping stone on the path towards Eskimo, Mark of the Mole and their other long form works.
It even includes a 60 second song (and a 58 second song) anticipating The Commercial Album.
Less developed in the gestation of The Residents creativity are a tongue-in-cheek attempt at religious philosophizing "God Song" and an attempt at narrative on "Walter Westinghouse" (a Babyfingers track). Both these concepts would later be fleshed out to epic proportions on God in Three Persons. At the time Fingerprince was released, the full possibilities of these concepts were still light years away in The Residents' creative development.
Fingerprince and The Third Reich 'N' Roll were The Residents' most seminal albums. Fingerprince provided the blueprints for their future original compositions, while Third Reich suggested their creative approach to playing cover versions. Together the two albums planted the seeds that generated The Residents' entire universe. Fingerprince may not be a great album, but it's a historically important album for The Residents none the less.
- Sinister Scratcher
