Oh Mummy! Oh Daddy! (live performance)
Oh Mummy! Oh Daddy! Can't You See That It's True; What The Beatles Did To Me, "I Love Lucy" Did To You is the name of a performance by The Residents at Rather Ripped Records' fifth anniversary party at the Longbranch Saloon in Berkeley, California, on June 7th 1976.
This was the first performance by the group under the name The Residents, and would be their last public performance until the beginning of The Mole Show in 1982. The show was shot on 1/4" videotape and recorded; the complete audio was first released in 2010 through the group's Robot Selling Device, and was later remastered and reissued on the pREServed edition of The Third Reich 'n Roll in 2018.
History
Oh Mummy! Oh Daddy! was a special performance on June 7th 1976 at a party at the Longbranch Saloon celebrating the fifth anniversary of Rather Ripped Records. The Residents showed 16mm clips from their ongoing Vileness Fats movie project at the event, as well as the Third Reich 'n Roll short film.
The Oh Mummy! show was the group's first known performance in any guise since their appearance at a friend's party in October 1972, and is considered their first official live performance as The Residents, having only officially adopted the name in 1974. The name of the performance is a lyric from the song of the same title from the group's 1971 demo tape The W***** B*** Album (though the song does not feature in the performance itself).
The group were joined onstage by Snakefinger on guitar, and Pamela Zeibak and The Pointless Sisters on vocals. The Residents appeared wrapped in bandages (like mummies), and Snakefinger was dressed as a giant artichoke. These costumes proved to be a problem as the group had rehearsed without them and when they took to the stage they found that it was difficult to play their instruments in such restrictive outfits.
Aside from that the concert was planned very thoroughly. Most of the performance was pre-recorded on tape, since there was no way to get some of the sounds or effects the group wanted outside of a studio environment. Only the vocals, drums and Snakefinger's guitar were actually performed live.
Near the end of the performance, Palmer Eiland and George Ewart appeared as their Vileness Fats characters Arf and Omega, performing "Aircraft Damage" from the Santa Dog EP. This rendition of the song was first released on UWEB's Liver Music compilation in 1990. The group appeared to suffer some technical difficulties in the middle of this song, which were covered by The Singing Resident who appeared wearing an oversized prop skull while performing "Kamikaze Lady".
Although arguably the most successful of the group's performances to date (and their first known performance since the Party of '72) the group did not generally consider the performance to have met their expectations due to technical limitations and difficulties. It would take another six years before the group considered touring with a performance on a much larger scale.
Three minutes of footage of the performance (shot on 1/4" open reel videotape) have been released to fans; two short clips of "Aircraft Damage" were featured as Easter eggs on the 2002 DVD Live!... On The Outskirts, with snippets of these also being included in the 2015 documentary Theory of Obscurity: A Film About The Residents.
Set list
- Numb Erone (Extended Version)
- Satisfaction (Abridged Version)
- Spotted Pinto Bean (Abridged Version, with Zeibak)
- You YesYesYes (Abridged Version)
- Hitler Was A Vegetarian (It's My Party excerpt, with Peggy Honeydew)
- Six Things To A Cycle (Part One)
- Swastikas on Parade (Wipeout excerpt)
- Six Things To A Cycle (Part Two - Three)
- Aircraft Damage (Extended Version, with Arf & Omega)
- Kamikaze Lady
- Aircraft Damage (Abridged Version, with Arf & Omega)
Release
Robot Selling Device release (2010)
The full audio of the Oh Mummy! Oh Daddy! performance was released digitally in 2010 via the group's Robot Selling Device online store. The release features a single 29 minute track containing the entire performance.
Track listing
- The Mummy Show (29:38)
pREServed releases (2018)
A new remaster of the recording of the Oh Mummy! show, as well as a "concentrate" of the backing track used throughout the performance, was released on the second disc of the pREServed edition of The Third Reich 'n Roll in 2018.
The backing track for the Oh Mummy! version of "You Yesyesyes" was issued on the pREServed edition of Fingerprince, released later in the same year.
Line Up
The Band
- Snakefinger: Guitar
- Don: Drums
- Adrian: Violin
- The Residents: Other Instruments
Guests
- Algenon Ripley
- Zeibak: Vocals on 'Spotted Pinto Bean'
- Peggy Honeydew: Vocals on 'It's My Party'
- Arf & Omega: Vocals on 'Aircraft Damage'
- Firebird: Body Interpretations
Backing Tape Musicians
- Tony Logan: Drums on 'Six Things To A Cycle'
- The Pointless Sisters: Backing vocals on 'Satisfaction'
- Jim Whitaker: Piano on 'Spotted Pinto Bean'
- Helen Purdum
- Diane Paulsen
- Graeme Whifler
See also
- The Third Reich 'n Roll pREServed edition at MVDShop (US)
- The Third Reich 'n Roll pREServed edition at Cherry Red Records (UK)
Listen online
- The Third Reich 'n Roll pREServed edition on Spotify
- "You Yesyesyes ('Oh Mummy' mix)" on Spotify
- The Third Reich 'n Roll pREServed edition on Apple Music
- "You Yesyesyes ('Oh Mummy' mix)" on Apple Music
External links and references
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Tourniquet of Roses Fingerprince / Babyfingers (1976-1979) Side A |
