Jump to content

Birds in the Trees

From RZWiki

"Birds in the Trees" is the twenty-seventh track on The Residents' Commercial Album, released by Ralph Records in October 1980. It was recorded on October 17th 1979, alongside the group's cover of "We're a Happy Family". [1]

Music video

An animated video for this song was created by longtime Residents associates Steven Cerio and Rich Shupe for the Commercial DVD in 2004.

In the summer of 2021, Homer Flynn and John Sanborn collaborated on a handful of TikTok videos featuring merchandise from the Cryptic Corporation archives, each set to a selected track from Commercial Album and including the original Commercial DVD video somewhere during its duration; this is one of the songs represented in that endeavor.

Lyrics

Birds in the trees
shook dust from their wings;
I thought of the heartaches
that shattered our love not long ago.

Birds in the trees,
now asleep. [2]

Trivia

  • French artist Katerine sampled this song for their track "Une Fanfare de 400 Sexagénaires" in 1999. [3]

List of releases

List of versions

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Commercial Album studio version, recorded late 1979 (1:04)
  2. ↑ Animated short by Steven Cerio (assisted by Rich Shupe), 2004
  3. ↑ 2021 RDX mix, "COMS 1-3 suite"
  4. ↑ Radio ad (1:00)
  1. ↑ Leftovers Again Liner Notes
  2. ↑ Ima Buddy, Ima Buddy's Totally Impartial Companion to Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated BIG MAMAS, 1992
  3. ↑ whosampled.com
Commercial Album
(1980)

Side A:
"Easter Woman" · "Perfect Love" · "Picnic Boy" · "End of Home" · "Amber" · "Japanese Watercolor" · "Secrets"
"Die in Terror" · "Red Rider" · "My Second Wife" · "Floyd " · "Suburban Bathers" · "Dimples and Toes" · "The Nameless Souls"
"Love Leaks Out" · "Act of Being Polite" · "Medicine Man" · "Tragic Bells" · "Loss of Innocence" · "The Simple Song"

Side B:
"Ups and Downs" · "Possessions" · "Give It to Someone Else" · "Phantom" · "Less Not More" · "My Work Is So Behind" · "Birds in the Trees"
"Handful of Desire" · "Moisture" · "Love Is..." · "Troubled Man" · "La La" · "Loneliness" · "Nice Old Man"
"The Talk of Creatures" · "Fingertips" · "In Between Dreams" · "Margaret Freeman" · "The Coming of the Crow" · "When We Were Young"

Personnel
The Residents · Fred Frith · Snakefinger · Don Jackovich · Chris Cutler
Sandy Sandwich · Mud's Sis · Nessie Lessons · Lene Lovich · David Byrne · Brian Eno

Related works
"Electronic Elaborate Waste" · "Kraftwerk" · "Cosmetics For Reality" · "Rosco's Righteous Rodent" · "Pretty Baby" · "Tuxedos"
"No Longer Unused" · "Instant Hostility" · "Elevator Lady" · "One Minute Movies" · Commercial Single ("Shut Up Shut Up" / "And I Was Alone") · "Boy In Love" · Minatures ("We're A Happy Family") · "Talkin' in the Town" · "Womb To Worm" · Greener Postures · "Theme For An American TV Show" · Ralph Radio Special · "Commercial Suite" · Commercial DVD · Commercial Album by The 180 Gs · The Commercial Single Commercials (In Mono) · Commercial Book (Commercial Album Radio Ads)

Related articles
Ralph Records · The Cryptic Corporation · Grove St. studio · Poor No Graphics · Buy Or Die 1980½ · Diskomo/Goosebump‏‏‎

Retrieved from "https://residents.wiki/index.php?title=Birds_in_the_Trees&oldid=21131"