Epilogue (Not Available)

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This article is about the epilogue from The Residents' 1978 album Not Available. You may be looking for a similarly named track from the 2007 album The Voice of Midnight.

"Epilogue" is the closing track from The Residents' second album Not Available, supposedly recorded in early 1974 and later released by Ralph Records on October 12th 1978.

Comprising themes from two of the album's suites, "Edweena" and "The Making of a Soul", the track (as the title suggests) is the epilogue of the Not Available operetta, and is the shortest song on the album. It features a closing verse delivered by a minor character, The Son (voiced by Reed Paulsen), who is not featured anywhere else on the album.

History

"Epilogue" reprises themes from two suites from Not Available, "Edweena" and "The Making of a Soul", using elements derived from the 1974 demo tape X is for Xtra. The demo recordings were released in 2019 on the pREServed CD edition of Not Available, under their original titles, "Theme From X (With Roman Overtones)" and "New Mexico Dream".

The epilogue introduces a minor character to the operetta, a young boy named The Son, who delivers the closing moral of the story. Although not specifically credited as such on the original release, in the liner notes of the 1997 retrospective box set Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Huddled Masses, The Son was revealed to be portrayed by Reed Paulsen.

Lyrics

Chorus:
The son of the know thing flew into today.
He left in a hurry -- had little to say;
But fore the barking sub side in his wake,
He helped out with vestiges sweeter than cake:

The Son:
Opulent givings are seldom a dread.
They help you relieve all them lies in your head.
But for the giving begets a sure vain,
Leave open a window and let in some rain.

List of releases

• Not Available (1978)
• Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Huddled Masses box set (1997)
• Beautiful Eyes (2010)
• Not Available expanded edition (2010)
• Not Available pREServed CD edition (2019)
• Not Available pREServed vinyl edition (2023)

See also

• The Son
• Reed Paulsen

Buy Or Die!

Listen online

• "Epilogue" (pREServed remaster) on Spotify

External links and references

• Not Available at The Residents Historical
• Not Available at RZWeb (archived via archive.org)

Not Available (1974 - 1978) Side A Part One: "Edweena" · Part Two: "The Making Of A Soul" Side B Part Three: "Ship's A'Going Down" · Part Four: "Never Known Questions" "Epilogue" Characters Edweena · Porcupine · The Catbird · Uncle Remus · The Enigmatic Foe · Nobody Young Girl · The Son Personnel The Residents · Sally Lewis · Reed Paulsen Related works "Russian Love Song" · Vileness Fats · X Is For Xtra · "Available Piece" · "Available Nonsensical" · Fingerprince · Shadowland · "Nobody's Nos" (song) · Not Available (Work in Progress) Related articles N. Senada (Theory of Obscurity) · Residents, Uninc. · Sycamore St. studio · Ralph Records · The Cryptic Corporation · Pore-Know Graphics · Eskimo