Hard & Tenderly

"Hard and Tenderly" is the second track from The Residents' 1988 album God in Three Persons, and the first scene in the story in which the protagonist Mr. X first meets the Twins and proposes to manage them. The phrase "hard and tenderly" clues the listener in to the ambivalence of the Twins' nature.

Composition & recording history

The track is rhythmically based on a piano pattern of atonal note clusters, textured with synthesizers and later with Richard Marriott's saxophones and Laurie Amat's vocals. The "Double Shot" riff is repeated and modulated throughout the song.

An instrumental demo of the track first appeared on a 1987 radio broadcast in which Cryptic producer Hardy Fox played a specially-prepared tape of new music being worked on at the time. Hardy said he initially thought the track to be for a future entry in the American Composers Series.

A vocal demo of the track, with reading of the text by Hardy, exists on a bootleg titled "First Words by Hardy"; likely for space reasons, it was left out of the pREServed edition of God in Three Persons.

A much more electronic cover rendition by fan Utrom appears in the bonus disc of I AM A RESIDENT!.

Live versions

Despite The Residents' ambitions, most of the God in Three Persons project would not be performed live until 2019 with the G3P Live theater production. However, "Hard and Tenderly" was performed on the 2014–2016 Shadowland tour.

Lyrics

1988 album version

They called me "Mr. X, Indeed", the special ones that saw so deep inside the souls of those who were so lonely.
I was down beneath the bottom, when my vacant staring caught them gaily parading up and down the street,
followed by some stinking masses, freeing fumes and giving gasses to the brown and nearly worn out air.
But they had that certain presence like the ether or the essence of the cleansing upper atmosphere.
Laughing, loving, and without a doubt, they simply strode about the streets that other creatures left alone.
I ran across, myself compulsive, with the feeling of a pulsing drum that pounded underneath my skin.
A tingling in my tangled brain was screaming that this was insane, but it also told me, "touch it," too.

"Stand aside," I told the masses, and with that I made my passage from the lonely to the only side.
Openly they smiled to greet me, like they always knew they'd meet me somewhere walking up and down the road.
I knew I must appear as someone far beyond the common come-on, so I could not say my name was Ed.
So I said, "I'm Mr. X who wants to come and who expects to help and guide your efforts to succeed."
They laughed a little bit at me, and then said, "Mr. X – Indeed," and hugged me somehow hard and tenderly.

2019 G3P Live version (differences in bold and italic)

They called me “Mr. X indeed”, the special ones who saw so deep inside the sickly, sorrowful and lonely.
I was down beneath the bottom when my vacant staring caught them proudly promenading like they owned 
the street and all its stinking masses, freeing fumes and giving gasses to the acrid and exhausted air.
But they had that certain presence like the ether or the essence of the cleansing upper atmosphere.
Laughing, loving, and without a doubt, they simply strode about the streets that other creatures left alone.
I ran across, myself compulsive, with the feeling of a pulsing drum that pounded down upon my bones.
A tingling in my tangled brain was screaming that this was insane, but it also told me, "touch it," too.

"Stand aside", I told the masses, and with that I made my passage from the lonely to the chosen few.
Openly they smiled to greet me, like they always knew they'd meet me with the cripples and the underfed.
I knew I must appear as someone far beyond the common come-on, so I could not say my name was Ed.
So I said, "I'm Mr. X who wants to come and who expects to help and guide your efforts to succeed."
They laughed a little bit at me, and then said, "Mr. X – Indeed," and hugged me somehow hard and tenderly.

1987 demo version (partly transcribed)

(Mr. X)

They called me "Mr. X, Indeed", the special ones that had this thing inside that other simply didn't.
I was down beneath the bottom, when my vacant staring caught them gaily parading up and down the street,
followed by some stinking masses, freeing fumes and giving gasses to the brown and nearly worn out air.

But they had that certain presence like the ether or the essence of the cleansing upper atmosphere.
Laughing, loving, and without a doubt, they simply strode about the streets that other creatures left alone.
I ran across, myself compulsive, with the feeling of a pulsing drum that pounded underneath my skin.

A tingling in my tangled brain was screaming that this was insane, but it also told me, "touch it", too.
"Stand aside", I told the masses, and with that I made my passage from the lonely to the only side.
Openly they smiled to greet me, like they always knew they'd meet me somewhere walking up and down the road.

I knew I must be special, shiny and not common metal and could not say my name was Ed.
So I said, "I'm Mr. X who wants to come and who helps to expect ???” 
They laughed a little bit at me, and then said, "Mr. X -- Indeed", and hugged me somehow hard and tenderly.

Appearances

• The Residents' 1987 demo cassette (1987)
• First Words by Hardy (1987)
• God in Three Persons (1988)
• God in Three Persons Soundtrack (1988)
• Shadowland (2015)
• 80 Aching Orphans (2017)
• I AM A RESIDENT! (2018)
• God in 3 Persons (2020)
• God in 3 Persons Live (concert film) (2023)
• Shadowland: Live in Fribourg, Switzerland, 1/30/16 (2024)

External links and references

• God in 3 Persons at The Residents Historical