"Arctic Hysteria" is the third track on The Residents' "cultural documentary" album Eskimo, released in 1979 on Ralph Records.
The track depicts a Polar Eskimo woman suffering from a temporary madness caused by the harshness of the polar winter, and features chanting and sound effects from the group.
Liner notes[]
Still from the Eskimo DVD, 2002
Arctic hysteria is a phenomenon that occurs in the dead of winter, primarily to women. The weeks of darkness and general sensory deprivation lead to the eventual temporary loss of a firm touch with reality.
Darkness prevailed everywhere. Beside her igloo, a woman sat in the wind singing softly to herself while beating the snow from her husband's seal fur clothing. Her voice and mind drifted with the soft tones of the nearby koa player. Her song was about her work, but her unfocused eyes revealed a growing distance. The darkness seemed to confine her, and the singing voice seemed not to be her own.
The realization struck! "I am dead, or at least the others believe I am", she thought. Already she hears the pounding of the tribe's hands packing down the snow on her icy grave as they sing their song of farewell. The rhythm of death sounds in her ears.
She felt cold no more as her worst fears were realized. She had been sent to the "Land of the Crestfallen", where only the spirits of poor hunters and badly tattooed women spent eternity snapping at butterflies. But wait! Even worse! Instead of butterflies, the dreaded Arctic locust swarmed into the evening air devouring all in their path.
The men in the tribe had become aware of the woman's hysterical suffering and joined in a circle to sing a chant of releasement. "Chukaroq, chukaroq, chukaroq, ei", they sang, until finally the woman once again returned to beating the snow mindlessly from her husband's clothing, virtually unaware of what had happened as her song of work faded into the wind.
Lyrics[]
The below derives from a "possible phonetic Anglicization" of the Polar Eskimo chants heard on this track, transcribed by noted Residents collector and fan Ima Buddy and featured in the 1992 document Ima Buddy's Totally Impartial Companion to Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated BIG MAMAS.
Woman: ???? Cocaine... Cocaine...
Tribe: Chicken shacka, chicken shacka Chicken shacka, hey! Chicken shacka hogfat blows us all away. Chicken shacka, chicken shacka Chicken shacka, hey! Chicken shacka hogfat blows us all away. Chicken shacka, chicken shacka Chicken shacka, hey! Chicken shacka hogfat blows us all away. Chicken shacka, chicken shacka Chicken shacka, hey! Chicken shacka hogfat blows us all away.
Chukaroq, chukaroq, chukaroq, ei! Chukaroq, cupcake etouffe ???? Chukaroq, chukaroq, chukaroq, ei! Chukaroq, cupcake etouffe ????[1]
List of releases[]
External links and references[]
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Eskimo (1979) Side A: |