Tongue
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"Tongue" is a series of four tracks by The Residents, which appear as linking pieces throughout their 2002 concept album Demons Dance Alone, beginning with the album's opening track "I. Tongue" (or "Tongue 1" on the 2016 reissue), and also including the album's unlisted tracks 10, 19 and 27 (which are respectively retitled "Tongue 2", "Tongue 3" and "Tongue 4" on the 2016 MVD Audio reissue of the album).
Together, the four tracks form a narrative about a "ladies' man" with a giant tongue, whose lovers begin to wither away and die when he falls in love with them. All four tracks feature samples of actress Hannah Sim from the animated short film Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions, which notably featured a score by The Residents.
Lyrics
I. Tongue (or Tongue 1)
Everybody just called him Tongue. Everybody just called him Tongue. Hell, I knew what his real name was... Everybody just called him Tongue. Of course, he had this giant tongue... It was so goddamn big He could clean his ears with it Yeah, Tongue was quite the ladies' man. He fell in love And she was something. He wanted, uh...
("Over here, Bob!")
10 (or Tongue 2)
Yeah, Tongue was quite the ladies' man.
Well, he played around, and he fell in love
And she was something.
He wanted these, uh, Miss America types, that you never see in real life
But there she was with ol' Tongue.
Well, they get married, and they're happy, but
But after a while, she starts losing weight and withering away.
("Bob!")
They go to a doctor...
("Over here!")
But he can't find...
19 (or Tongue 3)
...After about six months, she shrunk up to about fifty pounds And then died. Ol' Tongue is all tore up But after a few months he meets a new girl And she's maybe even more beautiful than the first one And they get married But then it starts to happen all over again
("Bob! Over here!")
27 (or Tongue 4)
...specialists, and all kinda doctors, but after six or seven months She shrivels up to thirty or forty pounds, and then she dies. Then, a few months later, Tongue meets another girl And it happens again, for the third time. Ol' Tongue, he doesn't know what to do He goes to doctors, he goes to police Nobody can explain it, but Well, the thing is I just heard that Tongue is in love again And now he don't know what to do He don't know what to do He's getting real sick about it
Time's up for now, Bob Watch out Watch out Watch out
List of releases
- Demons Dance Alone special edition (2002) [Version 1]
- Demons Dance Alone special edition (2002) [Version 1]
- Demons Dance Alone MVD Audio CD reissue (2016) [Version 2]
List of versions
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Demons Dance Alone studio recording, November 2001 - March 2002 (listed as "I. Tongue" and three untitled tracks)
- ↑ Demons Dance Alone studio recording, November 2001 - March 2002 (listed as "Tongue 1", "Tongue 2", "Tongue 3" and "Tongue 4")