Amber
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"Amber" is the fifth track from The Residents' Commercial Album, released by Ralph Records on October 29th, 1980. Like all songs on the album, it is exactly one minute long. It features vocals from Helen Hall (credited as "Mud's Sis"), then-wife of The Residents' producer and co-composer Hardy Fox.
In 2020, The Cryptic Corporation asked The Residents to curate a list of their favorite songs from their own back catalog for a Spotify playlist of their own music titled "Residents' Personal Favorites"; this song was one of 40 selected by the group.
History
The song was first previewed on Ralph Records' Buy or Die 1980½ sampler EP, along with "Easter Woman" and "End of Home". It was also featured on the international Commercial Single shortly after the album's release.
The Residents performed the song live on their 13th Anniversary Show (1985–1987) as part of a medley of Commercial Album songs. This medley was performed again on the Way We Were mini-tour of Australia in 2005, with Molly Harvey on vocals.
The song was mixed with "Six Things to a Cycle" for the track "Six Amber Things" on the 1992 anniversary album Our Finest Flowers.
Music video
Animator Doug Carney – who went on to work for Pixar – created a video for the song featured on the 2004 Commercial DVD. Carney's video depicts a shirtless man dancing in a wasteland as he narrowly avoids being hit by boulders flying at high speed towards him.
Lyrics
Life is just a situation Life is just a game Life is just a whirlpool And it's calling out my name
Amber were the autumn leaves And amber was her skin; Amber was the evening When the whirlpool pulled her in. It was irresistible, Was what she used to say, Like the sound of running horses Early in the day.[1]
List of releases
- Commercial Album (1980) [Version 1]
- Commercial Single (1980) [Version 1]
- Heaven? (1986) [Version 1]
- 13th Anniversary Show - Live in Japan (1986) [Version 2]
- Live in the USA! 13th Anniversary Tour (1986) [Version 3]
- Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Huddled Masses (1997) [Version 1]
- Commercial DVD (2004) [Version 4]
- The Way We Were (2005) [Version 5]
- 13th Anniversary Show - Ritz NY (2010) [Version 6]
- 13th Anniversary Show - Cleveland (2014) [Version 7]
- 80 Aching Orphans (2017) [Version 1]
- Loss of the Lizard Lady (2018) [Version 5]
- Commercial Album pREServed (2019) [Version 1] [Version 3] [Version 5]
- Commercial Book bonus disc (2024) [Version 8]
List of versions
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Commercial Album studio version (1:00)
- ↑ 13th Anniversary Show recording; Tokyo, October 1985 (1:41)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 13th Anniversary Show recording; Minnesota, February 1985 (1:45)
- ↑ Animated video by Doug Carney, 2004
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 The Way We Were recording; Australia, March 2005 (1:17)
- ↑ 13th Anniversary Show recording; NYC, January 1986 (1:17)
- ↑ 13th Anniversary Show recording; Cleveland, OH, January 1986 (1:20)
- ↑ Radio ad, 1980
External links and references
- Commercial Album at The Residents Historical
- Commercial Album at RZWeb (archived via archive.org)
- Commercial DVD at The Residents Historical
