Never Known Questions

Never Known Questions
Purple Side B label from the original recalled pressing of Not Available
Other titles	"Anaconda Montana", "O Solo Meow"
Artist	The Residents
Album	Not Available
Recorded	April 1974, 1978
Released	October 9th 1978
Studio	El Ralpho Studio, San Francisco, California
Length	8:54
Label	Ralph Records
Writer	The Residents
Producer	The Residents
Track chronology
Previous	"Ship's A'Going Down"
Next	"Epilogue"

"Never Known Questions" (working titles "Anaconda Montana" and "O Solo Meow") is a suite by The Residents, largely recorded in April 1974 and later "reprocessed" for release as the fourth and penultimate track on their second album Not Available, belatedly issued by Ralph Records on October 9th 1978.

In the context of the Not Available operetta, the suite depicts a monologue delivered by The Porcupine as he emerges from a bush, shattering the tension of the operetta's climactic pistol duel between The Catbird and his rival The Enigmatic Foe.

In October 2010, the full suite was performed live for the first time at a one-off show in Olomouc, Czech Republic by The Residents' lead singer Randy Rose with Czech band Už Jsme Doma. A shortened cover version was recorded in 2014 by the group's long-time composer and keyboardist Charles Bobuck and released as a digital single.

History

"Never Known Questions" is the fourth part of The Residents' operetta Not Available, which was composed, rehearsed and recorded in secrecy by the group at their Sycamore Street studio between February and September 1974.

After completing the sessions, The Residents shelved the tapes, feeling that the recordings were too personal for release, and deciding that they should not be issued until the participants had forgotten the tapes existed, in accordance with their mentor N. Senada's Theory of Obscurity. The album was eventually released by The Residents' management company The Cryptic Corporation on October 9th 1978, as a stop-gap following a delay in production on the group's "documentary" album Eskimo.

Like most of the tracks on the album, "Never Known Questions" is a lengthy suite comprised of smaller sections. A number of instrumental demos and alternative takes of sections of the suite were compiled on the 1974 demo tape X is For Xtra (A Conclusion), including "Anaconda Montana" (the "spot the rot" section) and "O Solo Meow" (the Porcupine's monologue).

The suite depicts the conclusion of a pistol duel between the operetta's characters The Catbird and The Enigmatic Foe, who realise that the central character Edweena (the object of their mutual affection) has eloped with Uncle Remus, the operetta's hitherto objective narrator. The Porcupine emerges from a bush to interrupt the tension with a monologue that paraphrases Shakespeare.

Legacy

An instrumental outtake, "Available Piece", appeared on the outtakes and rarities compilation Beautiful Eyes in 2010, and consists of instrumental takes of parts of "The Making of a Soul", "Never Known Questions", and "Epilogue". This instrumental track can be heard playing faintly in the background of "New Mexico Dream", released in 2019 on the pREServed edition of Not Available, which features an early vocal take of a monologue from "The Making of a Soul."

Another instrumental piece from the same sessions, "Asonarose", was included as an uncredited introduction to "Never Known Questions" on the extended reissue of Not Available in 2011. The extended version of the album was not featured on the pREServed reissue in 2019, however "Asonarose" was included separately on the second disc.

Later versions

Artwork accompanying the Charles Bobuck solo version of "Never Known Questions", released online in 2014

"Never Known Questions" was first performed live by The Residents' lead singer Randy Rose with Czech band Už Jsme Doma at the one-off live show Moravian Meeting in Olomouc on October 20th 2010. This version (with added drum overdubs) was first officially released on the Hardy Fox tribute album The Godfather of Odd in 2019. The original recording was released on the Moravian Meeting live album the following year.

Two demo versions of "Never Known Questions" were recorded in 2012 in preparation for the group's 40th Anniversary tour, The Wonder of Weird; the demos were first released as "Easter eggs" on The Residents' official website, and were later collected in the 2021 compilations WOW Demos 1 and WOW Demos 2.

In 2014, the group's long-time composer Charles Bobuck recorded a shortened solo version of the song (with an appearance from guitarist Nolan Cook). It was released on the Codgers on the Moon website, and later included on the Bobuck compilation THIS in 2016. On THIS, the song's composition is credited to Bobuck and Rose.

Lyrics

Chorus:
The cloud continues and the spot
Diminishes without even the 
Hint of a glow. 
Is glowing a continuous process 
Or does the spot find its
Way out where it needs to be?
Way out where it needs to be?
Way out where it needs to be?
Way out where
Spot the rot, spot the rot, 
Spot the rot we say
Spot the rot they tell the 
Tot while feeding him some say. 
Spot the rot, oh spot the 
Rot and then you'll be okay. 
Spot the rot, oh spot the
Rot, but still you'd better pray.
Spot the rot, oh, spot the rot, 
Spot the rot we say 
Spot the rot, they tell the 
Tot, while feeding him some say.
Spot the rot, oh spot the 
Rot and then you'll be okay.
Spot the rot, oh spot the 
Rot, but still you'd better pray.

Porcupine:
When Edweena made me mushrooms, 
She ate the grate and ground the groom;
My mother made me eat boysenberries,
But my gracious sakes just ate me first.
Calling cards and polling wards are just too many, see?
Oh, oh, calling cards and winking bards are just a way to see.
Calling cards and winking bards are just the way to be?
Falling guards and winking bards are just a need today.
Falling guards and winking bards are just my needs. Okay? Okay?
Okay? Okay? Okay? 
Okay! Okay! Okay! 
Okay! Okay! Okay! Okay! 
Okay okay! Okay okay! Okay okay! 
To show or to 
To be shown is 
A question never
Even not known by many to exist.
To show or to 
Be shown 
A question never, never known not even by many to exist.
To show or to 
Be shown 
A question never, never known not even by many to exist.
To show or to 
Be shown 
A question never, never known not even by many to exist.
To show or to
Be shown
A question never, never known not even by many to exist.
To show or to
Be shown 
Is a question never, never known not even by many to exist.
To exist,
To exist,
Not even by many to exist.

List of releases

• Not Available (1978)
• Please Do Not Steal It! (1979)
• Nibbles (1979)
• Beautiful Eyes (2010)
• Not Available expanded edition (2011)
• "The Sycamore Street Studio (1974-77 Embracing Obscurity)" (2014)
• "Never Known Questions" by Charles Bobuck (2014)
• THIS by Charles Bobuck (2016)
• Not Available pREServed edition (2018)
• The Godfather Of Odd - A Hardy Fox Tribute (2019)
• Moravian Meeting (2020)
• WOW Demos 1 (2021)
• WOW Demos 2 (2022)

See also

• Not Available
• The Porcupine
• X Is For Xtra (A Conclusion)
• "Asonarose"
• Vileness Fats
• Moravian Meeting
• Randy Rose
• Charles Bobuck
• "Never Known Questions" (Bobuck single)

External links and references

• Not Available at The Residents Historical
• Not Available at RZWeb (archived via archive.org)
• Not Available at Discogs
• "Never Known Questions" lyrics at Genius

Not Available (1974 - 1978) Side A Part One: "Edweena" · Part Two: "The Making Of A Soul" Side B Part Three: "Ship's A'Going Down" · Part Four: "Never Known Questions" "Epilogue" Characters Edweena · Porcupine · The Catbird · Uncle Remus · The Enigmatic Foe · Nobody Personnel The Residents · Sally Lewis · Reed Paulsen Related works "Russian Love Song" · Vileness Fats · X Is For Xtra · "Available Piece" · "Available Nonsensical" · Fingerprince · Shadowland · "Nobody's Nos" (song) · Not Available (Work in Progress) Related articles N. Senada (Theory of Obscurity) · Residents, Uninc. · Sycamore St. studio · Ralph Records · The Cryptic Corporation · Pore-Know Graphics · Eskimo