Picnic Boy
"Picnic Boy" is the third track on The Residents' Commercial Album, released by Ralph Records on October 29th 1980. Like all songs on the album, it is one minute long. The song features lead vocals from American new wave singer Lene Lovich.
In 2020, The Cryptic Corporation asked The Residents to curate a Spotify playlist of their favorite songs from their own catalog, titled "Residents' Personal Favorites"; this song was one of forty selected by the group.
The song was performed live for the first (and, to date, only) time on Halloween in 1998, with Molly Harvey on vocals, as an encore following The Residents' first Wormwood show at the Fillmore in San Francisco.
Fan-made cover versions of the song by Dr. Fritz Rotwang and The Beaches are featured on the bonus disc of the CD edition of the 2018 tribute album I Am A Resident!.
History
"Picnic Boy" was recorded by The Residents between September and November 1979, and released on their seventh studio album, Commercial Album, on October 29th 1980. It was also included on the A-side of the promotional 7" Commercial Single, released in the same year.
It has long been recognized that American vocalist Lene Lovich performed lead vocals on the song, however she remained uncredited until the 2004 Mute Records CD reissue (in which she was credited as a guest musician, but not on "Picnic Boy" specifically).
In 1981, "Picnic Boy" was one of four songs from Commercial Album featured in the soundtrack of Light, a ballet by French dancer and choreographer Maurice Béjart which was performed in Brussels. To date, no footage of this performance has surfaced publicly, however an excerpt from the piece was performed in July 2017 as part of a retrospective of Béjart's work at the Festival Peralada in Spain.[1]
Legacy
"Picnic Boy" has only been performed live on the group's October 1998 run of Wormwood shows at the Fillmore in San Francisco. This version features a repeated verse and is sung by Molly Harvey. A recording of the entire show was released on the Wormwood Box in 2022.
The song was first covered in 1988 by French musician Cripure S.A., for the unofficial tribute album Constantinople: A Tribute to The Residents. In 2018, two fan versions of the song – one by Dr. Fritz Rotwang, and one by The Beaches – were included on the bonus disc of the 2CD edition of the I AM A RESIDENT! album.
Music videos
A short video was produced by animator Eric Nordhauser for the Commercial DVD in 2004, comprised of digitally manipulated stock images, and depicts an anthropomorphic cat living with the titular "picnic boy" in an apartment surrounded by violent children. The cat sends the boy out and drives away in a flying car, while the boy is decapitated by the children, who carve off the skin from his face.
"Picnic Boy" was also one of ten videos newly created by The Residents for the project. It features a Halloween toy skeleton most famous for its appearance on this viral YouTube video.
Lyrics
She called my friend a picnic boy I never could stand that Oh she called my friend a picnic boy And said he was too fat
I left her in the early morning Looking at the rain I found I could not take the pressure So I took the train[2]
List of releases
- Commercial Album (1980) [Version 1]
- Commercial Single (1980) [Version 1]
- Commercial DVD (2004) [Version 2] [Version 3]
- I AM A RESIDENT! 2CD (2018) [Version 4] [Version 5]
- Wormwood Box (2022) [Version 6]
- Commercial Book bonus disc (2024) [Version 7]
List of versions
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Grove Street studio recording, September 21st - November 8th 1979 (1:01)
- ↑ New video created by The Residents, 2004
- ↑ Animated short film by Eric Nordhauser, 2004
- ↑ Fan version by Dr. Fritz Rotwang, 2017 (1:03)
- ↑ Fan version by The Beaches, 2017 (1:09)
- ↑ Wormwood live recording, The Fillmore, San Francisco, California, October 31st 1998 (1:36)
- ↑ Radio ad, 1980
External links and references
- Commercial Album at The Residents Historical
- Commercial Album at RZWeb (archived via archive.org)
- Commercial Album at Discogs
