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"Migration" is a suite from The Residents' 1981 album Mark of the Mole - the first entry in their unfinished Mole Trilogy.
The suite contains three parts, "March To The Sea", "The Observer" and "Hole-Workers' New Hymn" and closes the first side of the album (itself subtitled "Hole-Workers at the Mercy of Nature"). The full suite was performed live on their 1982-1983 debut tour The Mole Show.
History[]
Detail from "Migration" stage backdrop for The Mole Show, 1982
"Migration" is a suite in three parts. It is told mostly from the perspective of the Moles, as they escape their ravaged homes in the tunnels following a great storm, heading towards the sea in search of another land.
As the Moles march to the sea, the perspective changes to that of an "Observer"; a tired old man who warns that the Moles' entry into a new land won't lead to any good.
The suite ends with a hymn sung by the Moles as they lament their lost home; this piece was later expanded to become the pre-recorded closing music for The Mole Show live tour, "The New Hymn (Recessional)", released in 1982 on the EP Intermission. The melody is again reprised in "Marching To The We", a song recorded in the late 1980s which may or may not have been intended for the unreleased Part Three of The Mole Trilogy.
The suite[]
- March To The Sea
- The Observer
- Hole-Workers' New Hymn
Synopsis[]
Too late, all was destroyed. The storm passed, but as the hole-workers remembered Innisfree and the other chubs who had visited them, there was little choice but to pack their few belongings and march toward the sea in hopes that life could begin anew.
The long line of workers began the excruciating trip across the pit, trudging on the surface of a planet which few had ever before seen. In the distance an old man watched and knew that the foretold time had come at last.[1]
Lyrics[]
March To The Sea[]
The Moles: We are rising as the sun retreats into the trees; We're thinking of our destination as we start to leave; We're marching to the sea, marching to the sea.
Smiling from the gentle touches of the evening breeze; No one is unhappy now and no one is fatigued; We're marching to the sea, marching to the sea.[1]
The Observer[]
The Observer: I'm a tired old man in a tired old land Watching shadows moving across the sand; Now they move at night and I understand That they cannot see more than they can stand.
I have been deceived, I have murdered and I have seen the soul of an unborn lamb; It can burn a hole in a guilty man, But it cannot stand in a distant land.[1]
Hole-Workers' New Hymn[]
The Moles: We have left our lives, we have left our land, We have left behind all we understand, Now we must cry out, yes we must demand --
Let my children live in a land that's low, Where the holes are deeper than light can go; Let them have not pride but instead a soul That can see the shame of the hands that glow.[1]
List of releases[]
- Mark of the Mole (1981)
- Mole Show (1983)
- 1982 Live Version
- Mole Show: Live In Holland (1989)
- 1983 Live Version
- In Memoriam Torso (1994)
- 80 Aching Orphans (2017)
- Mole Box (2019)
See also[]
External links and references[]
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Mark of the Mole Part One of The Mole Trilogy (1981) Side A: Hole-Workers at the Mercy of Nature |
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The Mole Show (1982-1983) Set list |
