Meet The Residents Wiki
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.

"Lightning" is a song by The College Walkers (also known as Residents, Uninc.), first released in December 1972 on their debut double 7" EP Santa Dog. Its title is often erroneously swapped with its adjacent track "Explosion", most recently in its appearance on the 2018 pREServed edition of Meet The Residents.

Composition[]

The song opens with an unaccompanied whistled melody, which is possibly a reference to the theme of 1960s American sitcom The Andy Griffith Show. The percussion section heard on the track is sampled from the 1930 recording of "Ritmica No. 6: Tiempo de Rhumba" by Cuban avant-garde composer Amadeo Roldán.[1]

Lyrics[]

When everyone lives in the future,
The present is au revoir
When everyone lives in the future,
The present is au revoir
When everyone lives in the future,
The present is au revoir
When everyone lives in the future,
The present is au revoir
Something pale and mercenary
left a pile of turkey
very near a little Spanish town,
And every day the big cranberries
peer into the mouths of Marys
being held for nothing more
than being what was there before
all this happened.[2]

List of releases[]

List of versions[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 El Ralpho mono studio recording, December 1972 (3:22)

External links and references[]

Santa Dog
(1972)

Side A: "Fire" by Ivory and the Brain Eaters · Side B: "Explosion" by The Delta Nudes
Side C: "Lightning" by The College Walkers · Side D: "Aircraft Damage" by Arf and Omega feat. The Singing Lawn Chairs

Personnel
Residents, Uninc. · Arf and Omega Berry (Palmer Eiland and George Ewart) · The Singing Lawn Chairs (Pamela Zeibak)

Related works
Vileness Fats ·"Santa Dog '78" · "Santa Dog '84" · "Santa Dog 88" · "Santa Dog '92" · Refused · "Santa Dog 17" · Santa Dog 50th Anniversary Collection · "Santa Dog 2022"

Related articles
Western Kennel World · The Ventures ("Peter Gunn" · Play Guitar With The Ventures Volume 7) · Sycamore St. studio · Ralph Records · Porno/Graphics · Richard Nixon · Frank Zappa · Meet The Residents

The Delta Nudes / Residents, Uninc.
(1967 - 1974)