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"Perfect Love" is the second track on The Residents' Commercial Album, released by Ralph Records on October 29th 1980. Like all songs on the album, it is one minute long.

It was one of four songs from the album selected for inclusion in the short film One Minute Movies; it was re-recorded by The Residents for the soundtrack of their 2001 video retrospective Icky Flix, in a new arrangement which was performed live on the corresponding tour.

History[]

"Perfect Love" was first released on The Residents' Commercial Album, on October 29th 1980. It was one of four songs from the album selected by The Residents to feature in the promotional film One Minute Movies", which premiered later in the year.

In 1992, the song's lyrics were used as the basis for the outro to the song "Perfect Goat" on the album Our Finest Flowers; the group's 20th Anniversary project, the album comprises a selection of "new" songs which were composed using elements of other songs from The Residents' catalog.

In 2001, "Perfect Love" (along with the other three One Minute Movies songs) was re-recorded by The Residents for their DVD video retrospective Icky Flix. This arrangement of the song was also performed live by the group on the subsequent Icky Flix tour in the same year.

Music videos[]

The original One Minute Movies clip, directed by The Residents themselves, features an old man (Bill Owens) lying on a bed, watching a film on a television set. The film is interrupted by four eyeball-headed hand puppets, singing the lyrics of the song. The man is blown off his mattress onto his wall, where he lies flat with his arm obscured by a portrait of a woman. The final shot is of the man sitting on the wall, holding the painting and looking at it sadly.

In 2004, a second music video for the song was produced by John Payson for inclusion in the Commercial DVD. This music video features an animated heart with legs and pubic hair, who is shown walking through a city and then menstruating onto a wall.

Lyrics[]

There's something I must tell you
There's something I must say
The only really perfect love
Is one that gets away[1]

List of releases[]

List of versions[]

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 Grove Street studio recording, September 1979 - July 1980 (1:00)
  2. 2.0 2.1 Studio recording, December 1990 - September 1992 ("Perfect Goat", 2:49)
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Studio recording, August 1998 - August 2000 ("One Minute Movies", 1:07)
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Icky Flix live recording, February - October 2001 ("One Minute Movies")

See also[]

Buy Or Die![]

Listen online[]

External links and references[]

Commercial Album
(1980)

Side A:
"Easter Woman" · "Perfect Love" · "Picnic Boy" · "End of Home" · "Amber" · "Japanese Watercolor" · "Secrets"
"Die in Terror" · "Red Rider" · "My Second Wife" · "Floyd " · "Suburban Bathers" · "Dimples and Toes" · "The Nameless Souls"
"Love Leaks Out" · "Act of Being Polite" · "Medicine Man" · "Tragic Bells" · "Loss of Innocence" · "The Simple Song"

Side B:
"Ups and Downs" · "Possessions" · "Give It to Someone Else" · "Phantom" · "Less Not More" · "My Work Is So Behind" · "Birds in the Trees"
"Handful of Desire" · "Moisture" · "Love Is..." · "Troubled Man" · "La La" · "Loneliness" · "Nice Old Man"
"The Talk of Creatures" · "Fingertips" · "In Between Dreams" · "Margaret Freeman" · "The Coming of the Crow" · "When We Were Young"

Personnel
The Residents · Fred Frith · Snakefinger · Don Jackovich · Chris Cutler
Sandy Sandwich · Mud's Sis · Nessie Lessons · Lene Lovich · David Byrne · Brian Eno

Related works
"Electronic Elaborate Waste" · "Kraftwerk" · "Cosmetics For Reality" · "Rosco's Righteous Rodent" · "Pretty Baby" · "Tuxedos"
"No Longer Unused" · "Instant Hostility" · "Elevator Lady" · "One Minute Movies" · Commercial Single ("Shut Up Shut Up" / "And I Was Alone") · "Boy In Love" · Minatures ("We're A Happy Family") · "Talkin' in the Town" · "Womb To Worm" · Greener Postures · "Theme For An American TV Show" · Ralph Radio Special · "Commercial Suite" · Commercial DVD · Commercial Album by The 180 Gs · The Commercial Single Commercials (In Mono) · Commercial Book (Commercial Album Radio Ads)

Related articles
Ralph Records · The Cryptic Corporation · Grove St. studio · Poor No Graphics · Buy Or Die 1980½ · Diskomo/Goosebump‏‏‎

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