Meet The Residents Wiki
Advertisement

"Easter Woman" is a song by The Residents, the first song on their Commercial Album, released by Ralph Records on October 29th 1980. Like all tracks on the album, it is exactly one minute long.

The song was later featured in an instrumental medley with "The Simple Song" on the soundtrack to the film The Census Taker in 1984, and live arrangements were performed by The Residents on the 13th Anniversary Show from 1985 to 1987, The Way We Were in 2005, and Shadowland from 2014 to 2016.

An animated music video for the song by artist Stéphane Ricard is featured on the Commercial DVD, released in October 2004.

History[]

"Easter Woman" debuted (alongside "End of Home" and "Amber") on the Ralph Records promotional sampler EP Buy Or Die 1980½ in October 1980, as a preview of its appearance on The Residents' Commercial Album, which was released at the end of the month.

An instrumental version featured as part of the soundtrack to the film The Census Taker in 1984, in a medley with its fellow Commercial Album track "The Simple Song". This version also appeared on the film's soundtrack album in 1985.

The song has often featured in the group's retrospective live shows; it was first performed live from 1985 to 1987 on the 13th Anniversary Show tour, featuring Snakefinger on guitar. In this show, the song was the opening track of a five-song Commercial Album suite towards the start of the second act.

It was next performed, in a new arrangement, in 2005 on the Australian retrospective mini-tour The Way We Were. Another extended arrangement was performed on the Shadowland tour from 2014 to 2016.

Three versions of "Easter Woman" were submitted by fans for use in the official tribute/collaborative album project I Am A Resident! in 2018; two of these versions (by Snakes of Christ and Substance W) are featured in the suite "Commercial Bells Toll" on the CD version of the album.

Music video[]

Easterwoman-still

Still from "Easter Woman" video by Stéphane Ricard, from Commercial DVD, 2004

An animated "one minute movie" for "Easter Woman" was created in 2004 by video artist Stéphane Ricard, and featured on The Residents' Commercial DVD, released through Mute Film and The Cryptic Corporation in October 2004.

It is one of three videos by Ricard featured on the DVD, alongside clips for "Fingertips" and "End of Home".

The music video depicts a pair of mechanical arms bursting out of a radiator and snaking their way around an abandoned complex in an industrial wasteland. In another building, a woman with dark hair is seen slumped in a chair. It is later revealed she has the face of a ragdoll as she sings the lyrics to "Easter Woman".

Lyrics[]

Original version[]

Down, feeling down
I'm down, down, down
Down, feeling down
I'm down, down, down
Easter woman came today
And took away my wife
Took her through an open doorway
To the afterlife[1]

Shadowland version[]

Down, feeling down
I'm down, down, down
Down, feeling down
I'm down
Down, feeling down
I'm down, down down
Down, feeling down
I'm down
Easter woman came today
And took away my wife
Took her through an open doorway
To the afterlife
Down... 

List of releases[]

List of versions[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Grove Street studio recording, September 1979 - July 1980 (1:00)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Grove Street studio instrumental, September 1979 - July 1980 ("Easter Woman/Simple Song", 2:00)
  3. The Eyeball Show live recording, Parco Space, Tokyo, Japan, October 30th 1985 (1:30)
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 The 13th Anniversary Show live recording, First Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota, February 10th 1986 (1:30)
  5. The 13th Anniversary Show live recording, Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands, October 25th 1986 (0:42)
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 The Way We Were live recording, What Is Music? Festival, Melbourne, Australia, March 2005 ("Commercial Album Suite", 5:42)
  7. Snakes of Christ studio recording, ca. 2018 ("Commercial Bells Toll", 3:53)
  8. Substance W studio recording, ca. 2016 ("Commercial Bells Toll", 1:58)
  9. Shadowland live recording, 2015 (2:34)

See also[]

External links and references[]

CommercialHead Commercial Album
(1980)

Side A:
"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"

Side B:
"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"

Personnel
The Residents · Fred Frith · Snakefinger · Don Jackovich · Chris Cutler
Sandy Sandwich · Mud's Sis · Nessie Lessons · Lene Lovich · David Byrne · Brian Eno

Related works
"Electronic Elaborate Waste" · "Kraftwerk" · "Cosmetics For Reality" · "Rosco's Righteous Rodent" · "Pretty Baby" · "Tuxedos"
"No Longer Unused" · "Instant Hostility" · "Elevator Lady" · "One Minute Movies" · Commercial Single ("Shut Up Shut Up" / "And I Was Alone") · "Boy In Love" · Minatures ("We're A Happy Family") · "Talkin' in the Town" · "Womb To Worm" · Greener Postures · "Theme For An American TV Show" · Ralph Radio Special · "Commercial Suite" · Commercial DVD · Commercial Album by The 180 Gs · The Commercial Single Commercials (In Mono) · Commercial Book (Commercial Album Radio Ads)

Related articles
Ralph Records · The Cryptic Corporation · Grove St. studio · Poor No Graphics · Buy Or Die 1980½ · Diskomo/Goosebump‏‏‎

Advertisement