The Making of a Soul
“The Making of a Soul” is a suite by The Residents, the second part of their operetta Not Available, recorded in May 1974 and released October 12th 1978 on Ralph Records.
A lengthy track which establishes the operetta's story arc and introduces its protagonist, the Porcupine, "The Making of a Soul" closes the first side of the album. A supposedly "hidden" spoken monologue by Hardy Fox is buried in the mix of one of the instrumental sections of the song; this originates from Fox's demo recording "Where To Begin", later heard on the 2019 pREServed expanded CD edition of the album.
An excerpt from "The Making of a Soul" was included on the 1979 promotional compilation Please Do Not Steal It! (also released as Nibbles); another excerpt featured on the Japanese compilation CD Twenty-Five Years of Eyeball Excellence in 1998.
A section of the suite was later adapted as "Mourning Glories" for The Residents' live show Shadowland, which toured internationally from 2014 to 2016. A "RDX" mix of the same section of the suite, derived from the original master tapes, was released on the limited edition outtakes compilation Leftovers Again?! in 2021.
History
Background
"The Making of a Soul" was (at least partly) recorded by The Residents at their Sycamore Street studio in May 1974, during the "X Is For Xtra" recording sessions which would later result in their belatedly issued "second" album, Not Available. These sessions are often said to have been a therapeutic exercise for the group, after they had nearly split following the release of their debut album, Meet The Residents, in April of that year.
Following their completion, the "X Is For Xtra" tapes (thought to reflect the real-life tensions which nearly tore The Residents apart) were promptly shelved by the group, who had become adherents of the Theory of Obscurity posited by the group's mentor, the Bavarian music theorist N. Senada, which states that an artist does their best work in obscurity, when no consideration is paid to the expectations of the audience.
Recording
"The Making of a Soul" is partly derived from a Hardy Fox composition titled "Where To Begin". This early recording appears to have been mixed directly into the final version of "The Making of a Soul"; "Where To Begin" closes with a spoken monologue by Fox, which is very faintly audible in the final mix of the album, under the instrumental introduction to the "Mourning Glories" section of the suite.
In the early 2000s, this so-called "hidden monologue" was extracted from "The Making of a Soul" by a fan; the resulting audio clip, with the spoken monologue presented at an audible volume for the first time, was posted by The Residents' webmaster Big Brother to the group's Official News BOG in March 2004. The original "Where To Begin" was later released in its entirety on the pREServed expanded CD reissue of Not Available in 2019.
Within the context of Not Available, "The Making of a Soul" introduces one of the operetta's primary characters, the Porcupine, and details the history of his broken relationship with Edweena, who leaves the Porcupine when she grows weary of his existential and romantic questions that are "guaranteed to shake you up".
Legacy
Since the release of Not Available in October 1978, "The Making of a Soul" has occasionally reappeared throughout The Residents' history. Short excerpts from the suite have appeared on two compilation albums; the 1979 promotional compilation Please Do Not Steal It! (also released in Australia as Nibbles) and the 1998 Japan-only compilation Twenty-Five Years of Eyeball Excellence.
Between 2014 and 2016, the "mourning glories" section was performed as "Mourning Glories" on The Residents' international tour Shadowland; to date, this is the only part of the suite to have been performed live by the group. A "RDX" mix of the same section of the suite, derived from the original master tapes, was released on the limited edition vinyl compilation Leftovers Again?! in 2021, titled "Mourning Glories RDX".
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 titled "Residents' Personal Favorites". Despite the group's supposed discomfort with the release of Not Available, "The Making of a Soul" was one of forty songs chosen for the playlist.
Lyrics
Original version (1978)
Chorus: Edweena went to calumet and left from there to college; She took along a porcupine whose name was known as knowledge; Now their relationship was fraught with pangs of loving hunger. The Porcupine could question all, but all she knew was slumber.
Porcupine: A huge easy cozy wants our kiss to triumph, But unbelievable admits -- Some questions receive a guarantee to shake you up. How much marriage urges a windmill to pinch infinity? Is a magic hide-a-bed the final home of Spanish fire? Is firm corn merrier under gifts of less important love? We wonder. But fantasy moves ahead; For the iceman just took a turn for the better And a small object flies from his mouth; A daring jewel scales down the belted ear system And you have the modular optimistic silver original. Welcome to the offshoots of Jupiter.
Chorus: Edweena, never knowing why her friend would ramble so She shut him out and left a pout to bleed upon the snow.
Porcupine: Mourning glories open only after noon begins; The open and the broken have begun to blend again. They freeze a shape about the nape Of nectar and of knee; They leave a sleeve, they weave a grieve fox Mourning's never free.
Uncle Remus: The aching and the breaking are the making of a soul. (The empties that have been returned relieve us of a goal.)
Chorus: Now who is gone and who is right And who is left to see For who is left is just a few Can two be more than three?[1]
"Where To Begin" monologue
Once upon a time in a faraway land, south of the steaming jungles, north of the mighty rivers, and east and west of the wastelands, there lived a human person. He named himself by making up a sound he liked. His name was only a grunt, but he liked it, and liking something was the first awareness that he'd had that was not directly associated with his survival. In fact, he made this almost every facet of his life. He preferred to make up things he liked, but you'd hardly expect less from a human person.
The man met a human person and they liked each other, and that's what they liked about liking each other. But then, they hung up about what they liked, and suddenly one day they needed to remember what they liked, or why they liked, and wonder if they even really liked each other; and this was the second awareness not directly associated with their survival. The choice seemed to be that you stop wondering how you're starting to like what the other person didn’t like.
The third awareness was the most important, and made things sheerly out of nostalgia to the same degree.
List of releases
- Not Available (1978)
- Please Do Not Steal It! aka Nibbles (1979)
- Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated Guide To The Residents (1993)
- Twenty-Five Years of Eyeball Excellence (1998)
- Shadowland (2015)
- Not Available pREServed CD edition (2019)
- Leftovers Again?! (2021)
- Not Available pREServed vinyl edition (2023)
- "Not Available (Work in Progress)" (2023)
See also
- Not Available 2011 extended edition at MVDshop (US)
- Not Available pREServed vinyl edition at Cherry Red Records (UK/EU)
Listen online
- "The Making of a Soul" (pREServed remaster) on Spotify
- "The Making of a Soul" (pREServed remaster) on Apple Music
- "Mourning Glories" (Shadowland live version) on Spotify
- "Mourning Glories" (Shadowland live version) on Apple Music
- "Mourning Glories RDX" on Spotify
- "Mourning Glories RDX" on Apple Music
Resources
- The "hidden" monologue (MP3 file, 256 kbps, 1:18)
Listen online
External links and references
- Not Available at The Residents Historical
- Not Available at RZWeb (archived via archive.org)
- Not Available at Discogs
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Not Available (1974 - 1978) Side A |