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Disambiguation-sml This article is about the 2022 single.
You may be looking for the song of the same name.


"Nobody's Nos" is a limited edition single by The Residents, featuring a previously unheard outtake of the same name, supposedly recorded around 1974 for the group's operetta Not Available.

The single was released on January 7th 2022, as a bonus item with copies of the limited edition coffee table book The Residents: A Sight For Sore Eyes, Vol. 1 by publisher Melodic Virtue. The standard edition of the book included "Nobody's Nos" on a black 7" vinyl single, whereas the deluxe edition featured the track on a 7" picture disc.

A second single featuring a previously unreleased track, "That'll Be the Day (Baby Baby)", was included with the second book in the series, A Sight For Sore Eyes, Vol. 2, released in July 2023.

History[]

Nobodysnos-picturedisc

Deluxe edition picture disc, limited to 500 copies

Supposedly originating from The Residents' 1974 sessions for their operetta which would become the 1978 album Not Available sessions, "Nobody's Nos" showcases a character, Nobody, who was removed from the operetta at some point during its development, after having been deemed "too negative" by the group.[1]

The character is also mentioned in the associated book, The Residents: A Sight For Sore Eyes, Vol. 1, which indicates that "Nobody" is the figure with his face painted black with white nose and cheek highlights who is seen in early photos of The Residents.[2]

In an interview with fan YouTube channel Mr. Riggsy's ResTube, Aaron Tanner of publisher Melodic Virtue claimed that he was as much in the dark as anyone else regarding the mysterious song, and that he had put everything he had been told about it on the back cover of the single "verbatim", along with a snippet referring to the character which he found in an old Ralph Records catalogue.[3]

"Nobody's Nos" was issued in two variants; a run of 1500 copies on black single-sided vinyl which was included with copies of the standard edition of A Sight For Sore Eyes, Vol. 1, and 500 copies on a single-sided picture disc, featuring a graphic depicting the character Nobody alongside the illustrated Edweena from the Not Available album cover; the picture disc edition was included with copies of the deluxe edition of the book.

Track listing[]

  1. Nobody's Nos (3:10)

Liner notes[]

In the original story of Not Available, there was a sixth character called Nobody. However, he was ultimately removed from the operetta by The Residents, because he was deemed too negative.

"There's somebody that lives in the Negative Zone, but I can't remember His name." -- The Mysterious N. Senada, Ralph Records Catalog No. 1, Feb. 1977, pg. 3

See also[]

External links and references[]

  1. "Nobody's Nos" liner notes, 2022
  2. Aaron Tanner, The Residents: A Sight For Sore Eyes, Vol. 1, Melodic Virtue, 2022
  3. "I'm in the dark as much as everybody else on that one. Literally, everything I know I put on the back of the single. That's what was told to me verbatim, and as I was combing through the archive, found one of the Buy Or Die! catalogs that had a brief mention of it, and so I included that little snippet as well. But, yeah, um... I don't have anything to add." Aaron Tanner, "Aaron Tanner Interview - On the Residents", Mr. Riggsy's ResTube, April 18th 2022
Notavail-edweena-transparent-sml 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

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