Edweena (character)
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This article is about the fictional character. You may be looking for the song of the same name. |
Edweena is a character created by The Residents, who is the central figure in their operetta Not Available, originally recorded in 1974 and released in 1978. In the operetta, Edweena appears only in the third person, but acts as a major plot pivot,[1] driving the story's central conflict between the Porcupine (Edweena's lover) and the Catbird (the Porcupine's rival). She is depicted on the album's front cover, in a painting by a Resident.
The character was supposedly developed by The Residents in 1974 during a series of psychodrama-influenced "rehearsals" held by the group with a female friend, who was the central figure of a real-life love triangle involving members of the group. To date, the identity of the woman who inspired Edweena has never been confirmed by the group.
Edweena in Not Available
In Not Available, the "lovely young" Edweena only appears in the third person,[1] with no lines of dialogue specifically ascribed to her in the libretto;[2] nevertheless, the character's importance to the plot is reflected in the fact that the operetta itself was originally developed under the title Edweena.[3] Edweena is prominently depicted on the album's front cover in an artwork by a Resident.
She is indirectly introduced in the opening section, also titled "Edweena", which establishes the operetta's themes and foreshadows its conclusion ("the matter that's been spoken to's a fragrant little thing, it's open and was known to need a token diamond ring")[2] with the return of the supposedly objective "Greek chorus" Uncle Remus from a mysterious journey to Easter Island ("Easter Island isn't my land, coming home once more").[4][2]
Edweena's background is explained in the second part of the operetta, "The Making of a Soul": originally from Calumet,[4] she "left from there to college" with her lover, the Porcupine, who ponders "questions [guaranteed] to shake you up".[1][2] Edweena grows tired of the Porcupine's "rambling search for meaning" and leaves ("she shut him out and left a pout to bleed upon the snow").[1][2]
In the operetta's third part, "Ship's A'Going Down";[4] the mutual love of the "highly desirable" Edweena inspires a fierce rivalry between the Catbird and the Porcupine,[4][1] whose role in the proceedings has been assumed by a stand-in, The Enigmatic Foe.[2] The Catbird and the Enigmatic Foe point pistols at each other, preparing to duel, before all parties come to the realisation that Edweena has, in the meantime, unexpectedly chosen to elope with "wise old" Uncle Remus.[4]
In the fourth part, "Never Known Questions", the Porcupine sadly recalls his romance with Edweena ("when Edweena made me mushrooms, she ate the grate and ground the groom") and ponders "how to get out of this mess",[2][1] ultimately resolving to "[emerge] from the shrubbery" and reconcile with the other characters ("to show or to be shown is a question never, never known not even by many to exist").[2] With the pistol duel now forgotten, the Porcupine, Catbird and Foe welcome Remus back into the fold.[4]
Identity
The character of Edweena was supposedly developed by The Residents with a mysterious female friend in a series of loosely scripted, psychodrama-influenced "rehearsals", intended as a "therapeutic group exercise" to resolve tensions inspired by a real-life love triangle,[5] apparently involving members of the group and the unidentified woman. To this end, the group set their conflict ("in an abstract way") within a surrealistic operetta, told through heavily allusive lyrics (later to become the album Not Available).[6]
The Residents are known to be uncomfortable with the "very personal" nature of the operetta,[6] and to date, the true identity of the woman who inspired Edweena has never been revealed (indeed, The Residents have occasionally gone so far as to claim that the operetta's events are not actually based on real events at all).[6][4]
The character has sometimes been associated with the group's friend and occasional collaborator Sally Lewis, who performs vocals on the song "Edweena" (as a character listed in the libretto only as "Young Girl");[1][2] however, the association between Edweena and Lewis has been disputed by at least one member of The Residents.[7] A Denise Byroads photograph from the early 1970s, supposedly depicting Edweena, was included in the artwork of the 2011 extended edition of Not Available; in this image, Byroads herself portrays the character.[8]
See also
External links and references
- Not Available at The Residents Historical
- Not Available at RZWeb (archived via archive.org)
- Sale 854: The Bob Jump Collection of Bill Graham Rock Posters and The Residents Collection of Hardy Fox at PBA Galleries
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Uncle Willie, "Not Available - What's it about?", UWEB Newsletter Vol. 2, No. 3, October 1990
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Ima Buddy, Ima Buddy's Totally Impartial Companion to Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated BIG MAMAS, 1992
- ↑ Jim Knipfel, "Some Answers That Are Guaranteed To Shake You Up", Not Available pREServed CD edition liner notes, 2019
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Jim Knipfel and Brian Poole, et al., Faceless Forever - A Residents Encyclopaedia, Cherry Red Books, 2022, pg. 179
- ↑ Jim Knipfel and Brian Poole, et al., Faceless Forever - A Residents Encyclopaedia, Cherry Red Books, 2022, pg. 178
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Ian Shirley, Never Known Questions: Five Decades of The Residents, Cherry Red Books, 2015
- ↑ Jim Knipfel and Brian Poole, et al., Faceless Forever - A Residents Encyclopaedia, Cherry Red Books, 2022, pg. 151
- ↑ "The young woman portraying Edweena in the center of the [Not Available reissue gatefold] is Denise." Homer Flynn in an email to a fan, posted in The Residents unofficial Facebook group, August 15th 2018
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Not Available (1974 - 1978) Side A |