|
Won't you keep us working? Working down below? This page needs work to reach an encyclopedic standard. If you see something missing, you can help The Mysterious Spanish Ladies by joining the wiki and expanding the article. |
"Engine 44" is the 5th song from The Residents "Black Barry" Suite. It is best known for being featured in their live show Cube-E , which toured internationally between 1989 and 1990. This song acts as the beginning to Black Barry's story. Even though both Buckaroo Blues and The Baby King are mostly covers, this suite features the most original music with this song being completely original.
Background[]
This song acts as the end to "Forty-Four". At this point in the story, Barry is now on engine 44 taking his tears to the voodoo queen. Despite the idea of a train ride sounding relaxing in true Resident's fashion, this song is extremely chaotic with lots of lights in the live version. The theme of this instrumental is up to interpretation but some fans that this song is Barry having a breakdown privately on the train. This is because he was very close to killing his wife in the last song and is openly about to cry to the Voodoo Queen.
It is unknown exactly when this song was made and there is sadly no studio recording of it. It was played live in every single Cube-E show once it was fully developed on July 21st, 1989. It was first released alongside a live recording of Buckaroo Blues on a UWEB cassette exclusive. This tape famously excludes the 3rd act of the show but was released on the "Cube-E pREServed box" giving this tape a CD release for the first time in over 30 years. This song does have some significance due to its theme of trains and chaos. The Residents would revisit this idea in 2017 for their album "The Ghost Of Hope". Despite is length and relative insignificance this track remains a favorite among many fans, especially the Mysterious Spanish Ladies.
Releases[]
- Buckaroo Blues & Black Barry (1989) [Version 1]
- Cube-E - Live In Holland (1990) [Version 2]
- In Memoriam Torso (1994) [Version 2]
- Cube-E (2006) [Version 3]
- Cube-E Box (2020) [Version 1] [Version 2]