Die in Terror

"Die In Terror" is the eighth track on The Residents' Commercial Album, released in 1980 on Ralph Records. Like all other songs on the album, it is exactly one minute long.

Live versions

In 1981, the group considered the song for a 10th anniversary live show (the project was scrapped in favor of the more ambitious Mole Show); a recording of a studio rehearsal is heard on the Assorted Secrets compilation. An earlier sketch of this version is found on the streaming-only release LS1: Sketches for a Live Show.

The song did get to be performed live on the 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 on March 2005.

Music videos

Still from Incorect's "Die in Terror" video

An animated video for the song was created by digital artist Incorect for the Commercial DVD in 2004. Incorect also produced the video for "Suburban Bathers".

A second video for the song was also created by The Residents – one of ten new videos made for the project.

In the summer of 2021, Homer Flynn and John Sanborn collaborated on a handful of homemade TikTok shorts incorporating the Commercial DVD videos through the use of an iPhone. The group's TikTok account has since been deleted, but the shorts have been archived on YouTube.

Lyrics

She said she wished to die in terror
Screaming in the night
To feel the crawling flesh of panic
As her hair turned white
She also had a pretty little
See-through negligee
I often wonder where she went
And if she got her way

List of releases

• Commercial Album (1980)
• Assorted Secrets (1984)
• Hell! (1986)
• The Eyeball Show (Live in Japan) (1986)
• Live in the USA! 13th Anniversary Tour (1986)
• Liver Music (1990)
• Stranger Than Supper (1990)
• Commercial DVD (2004)
• The Way We Were (2005)
• 13th Anniversary Show - Ritz NY - Jan 16, 1986 (2010)
• The 13th Anniversary Show - Cleveland (2014)
• Commercial Album pREServed edition (2019)
• LS1 - Sketches for a Live Show (2023)
• Commercial Book bonus disc (2024)

External links and references

• Commercial Album at The Residents Historical
• Commercial Album at RZWeb (archived via archive.org)
• Commercial Album on Discogs

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