"Saint Nix" is a song by The Residents, originally recorded shortly after Richard Nixon's resignation from the presidency of the United States of America on August 9th 1974,[1] following the fallout from the Watergate scandal which had dominated the national conversation for two years.
The original vocal track was deemed "unsuitable" by the group, and was later re-recorded for the song's release on the 1983 outtakes compilation Residue of The Residents.[1] The original vocal track is now said to no longer exist in The Residents' archives, with only the song's instrumental being found on the group's "MOP" tape reels (used by the group to collect otherwise unused recordings).[2]
The song's lyrics inspired the name of the later Residents off-shoot project Black Tar and the Cry Babies.
History[]
Background[]
Mr. and Mrs. "Tricky Dick", Christmas 1971
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States from 1972 to 1974, stemming from the Richard Nixon administration's persistent attempts to cover up its involvement in the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Washington, D.C., Watergate Office Building on June 17th 1972.
After the perpetrators were arrested, the press and the Justice Department connected the cash found on them at the time to the Committee for the Re-Election of the President. Further revelations led the House of Representatives to grant the House Committee on the Judiciary additional investigative authority to probe into "certain matters within its jurisdiction", and led the Senate to create the Watergate Committee, which held hearings, broadcast "gavel-to-gavel" nationwide by PBS. Witnesses testified that Nixon had approved plans to cover up his administration’s involvement in the break-in, and that there was a voice-activated taping system in the Oval Office. The Nixon administration actively resisted the investigation, leading to a constitutional crisis.
Several major revelations and obstructive presidential actions in 1973 prompted the House to commence an impeachment process against Nixon. The Supreme Court ruled that Nixon had to release the Oval Office tapes to government investigators. The Nixon White House tapes revealed that he had conspired to cover up activities that took place after the break-in, and had later tried to use federal officials to deflect attention from the investigation.
The House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment against Nixon for obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress. With his complicity in the cover-up made public, and his political support completely eroded, Nixon resigned from office on August 9th 1974. He is the only U.S. president to have resigned from office.
With Nixon's resignation, Congress dropped its impeachment proceedings. Nixon was succeeded by Vice President Gerald Ford as President, who on September 8th 1974, issued a full and unconditional pardon of Nixon, immunizing him from prosecution for any crimes he had "committed or may have committed or taken part in" as president. In a televised broadcast to the nation, Ford explained that he felt the pardon was in the best interest of the country.
In his official response to the pardon, Nixon said that he "was wrong in not acting more decisively and more forthrightly in dealing with Watergate, particularly when it reached the stage of judicial proceedings and grew from a political scandal into a national tragedy". Nixon continued to proclaim his innocence until his death in 1994.
Recording[]
As President of the United States, Richard Nixon had already been a figure of parody for the early Residents for some years by this point; he was depicted on the back cover of their 1971 demo tape The W***** B*** Album as a Mr. Peanut-esque character, dancing on the head of a young girl.
"Saint Nix" was composed in August 1974 shortly after Nixon's resignation, when The Residents were in the midst of sessions for The Third Reich 'n Roll and Not Available, however does not appear to have been intended for any particular project, instead being included on one of their "MOP" tapes, which compiled otherwise unused outtake material from the group's recording sessions.[1]
The song's melody quotes Julius Fučík's "Entry of the Gladiators", most recognizable in popular culture as the music commonly played by circuses when introducing clowns. The theme would later be re-used by The Residents in their 1988 single "Holy Kiss of Flesh".
A vocal track is said to have been recorded during the original sessions, however was later deemed "unsuitable" by the group, and may have been wiped from the master; the vocals were re-recorded in 1983 for the song's release on the rarities compilation Residue of The Residents.[1]
Legacy[]
No version of "Saint Nix" with the original vocal track exists in The Residents' archive; only the instrumental backing track was included on one of the MOP tapes.[2] The 1983 Residue version of the song was later featured as a bonus track on the CD reissue of the Diskomo EP in 1990.
Lyrics from the song's spoken word coda - "Like tar, it's black. Black! Black like tar, black!" - later inspired the name of the Residents off-shoot project Black Tar and the Cry Babies, active from 2015 to 2017.
Richard Nixon posthumously appeared in "Nixon Sings The Blues", an animated video featured in the group's live show In Between Dreams, which ran from 2017 to 2019.
Lyrics[]
Someone said that if your agents Come again at night There might not be a single nation Standing in the light
Now this was known by good Saint Nixon And he knew the way To loneliness, I must confess, I hated him in his day.
He told me of a pit, And it's way down below. It's full of stones, And under the stones are jars. In the jars are liquid Of an unknown type. But it's black. Like tar, it's black. Black! Black like tar, black! Black! Black! Black! Black.[3]
List of releases[]
- Residue of The Residents (1983) [Version 1]
- Diskomo CD reissue (1990) [Version 1]
- Residue Deux (1998) [Version 1]
List of versions[]
See also[]
- Richard Nixon
- The W***** B*** Album
- "Nixon Sings The Blues"
- MOP tapes
- Residue of The Residents
- Black Tar and the Cry Babies
External links and references[]
- Residue of The Residents at The Residents Historical
- Residue Deux at The Residents Historical
- "Saint Nix" at Genius
- The Watergate scandal at Wikipedia
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Residue of The Residents liner notes, 1983
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "I know they have the original 'Saint Nix' instrumental, but no version with the original vocal." - Richard Anderson, comment in The Residents unofficial Facebook group, October 21st 2019
- ↑ Ima Buddy, Ima Buddy's Totally Impartial Companion to Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated BIG MAMAS, 1992
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Residue of The Residents (1983) Side A |