The Baby King Part 3
"The Baby King Part 3" is the third of five original monologues featured on The Residents Elvis cover album "The King & Eye".
The Residents Version
When The Residents were developing their Cube-E show, they decided that to complete their set of American music that Elvis would be a perfect ending. Shortly before the debut of the completed Cube-E show, they were able to record in studio an Elvis cover album in a single day. While the album is mostly covers, the residents wrote five monologues to tell the story of Elvis throughout the album. Notably, in the studio versions of these songs, it features Jana Flynn and Simon Timony (then under 10 years old) reacting and commenting on the singing residents' story, giving the whole thing an "innocent" tone. Later, when Cube-E was finalized, instead of bringing the kids on tour, The Residents made two ventriloquist dummies thoughtfully named "Shorty & Shirley." This led to Granddad having full control over their commentary, leading to a more comedic tone then in the studio.
This song specific monologue heavily references Elvis relationship with his ex-wife Priscilla Presley and his mother.
Legacy
As with most songs from The Residents "Cube-E Live In Holland" this song went unreleased for quite some time. No official footage for the song exist but it was released as part of the Cube-E Box in 2006. The most recent time the track was acknowledge was on The Residents Cube-E pREServed box where it was revealed that in preparation for their time in the "Different Fur" studio the whole album was recorded at home.
Lyrics
Studio
The Singing Resident: Everybody's got a momma you know?
Simon: Um-hm
Jana: Yeah
Singing Resident: Yeah
Jana: Yeah
Singing Resident: yeah and everybody loves their momma
Jana and Simon: yeah
Singing Resident: You love your momma?
Simon: Yeah
Jana: I do
Singing Resident: You do?
Simon: A lot
Singing Resident: Good, good, well he loved his momma so much, he loved his momma a lot more than anybody else, he loved his momma so much that he turned her into a madonna, and his mind she was momma madonna, Momma Madonna, but you know sometimes sooner or later your mommas not gonna be there and you know someday your gonna have to take care of things yourself.
Simon: Yeah
Singing Resident: Someday it's a long time but someday. And so that's what happened to him, and he didn't know what to do, so he went and he got up a little girl, and he worked, and he built, and he worked so hard to make her into a momma madonna but you know what happened?
Simon: What?
Singing Resident: She turned into a woman
Simon: Woah
Singing Resident: She turned into a woman that's not what he wanted that wasn't a momma madonna.
Simon: Um-hm
Singing Resident: So she left. And then he was all alone, and he went to sleep and he dreamed about his momma madonna.
Live In Amsterdam
Shirley: So, so you went, you went Vegas huh?
Grandad: Yeah, yeah Shirley he went Vegas alright. But that's another part of the story and uh, well get to that in a minute. First so uh, there's one part of this uh, dream that uh, kinda been hauntin’ me a little bit, we're gonna talk about that now. Tell me Shirley uh, you love you momma huh?
Shirley: Yeah, yeah grandad yeah yeah yeah
Grandad: Yeah you're a sweet girl kinda figured you did uh. Say there uh, Shorty! Shorty uh, you love your momma Huh. Huh! Huh!
Shorty: Back off grandad.
Grandad: Now everybody loves their momma Shorty, I know that, and this baby king, he loved his momma so much, he loved his momma more than anybody else. That he turned her into a Madonna, Momma Madonna, Momma Madonna, well you know guys I guess it aint so bad worse things could happen but uh, whats gonna happen sooner or later though to you and it's what happened to him, you know sooner or later you know your mommas not gonna be there, and you'll have to take care of yourself and it aint gonna be easy buddy boy, well anyway thats what happened to him, his momma wasn't there so, so what he did next was kinda a little bit strange, he went out and got himself a little girl.
Shirley: What!
Grandad: Yeah, she's a little bigger than you but uh same sorta idea. And he tried to turn her into a Momma Madonna, and you know well that kinda worked for a little while too but uh, funny thing about those little girls is uh, they grow up and uh they turn into women, and they're very strong, they don't want any of this Momma Madonna stuff, well. That's what's happened and uh she left him. And there was nothing else for him to do except go to sleep and uh dream about his Momma Madonna.
Demo
Chuck: Lets keep going
Singing Resident: Yeah
Simon: So we've done half of it?
Singing resident: uhhh close
Chuck: Sorta
Singing Resident: Close to half of it
Simon: Oh I mean of that story or is that the next one?
Singing resident: Oh we've done that story
Chuck: (Unintelligible)
Simon: Uh-huh
Jana: That's the, oh
Chuck: Now we gotta new story
Singing Resident: Well everybody's gotta momma you know
Simon: Yeah
Singing Resident: And everybody loves their momma
Jana: Pretty much
Singing Resident: But, but he really loved his momma. He really loved his momma. He loved his momma so much that he made her into a Madonna. And she was Momma Madonna. That's what she was, he loved his momma so he made her into Momma Madonna, Momma Madonna, Momma Madonna. And when he was with his Momma Madonna everything was fine, and everything was great because
Jana: Papa? The other one is easy
Singing Resident: And when he was with his Momma Madonna everything was fine, and everything was great, because Momma Madonna was good, Momma Madonna was love, and Momma Madonna took care of everything. Butcha know? Sometimes sooner or later your mommas not there, and you have to take care of yourself, and that's what happened to him, and he didn't know what to do, because he needed momma love, he needed Momma Madonna love but he didn't know what to do so, so what he did was he went and he got a baby. And he took the baby and he got a Baby Madonna. And he was gonna build himself a brand new Momma Madonna, so he got the brand Momma Madonna, and he worked, and he built, and he worked so hard, to make his little girl into a Momma Madonna.
Simon: Um-Hm
Singing Resident: And you know what happened?
Simon and Jana: Hm?
Singing Resident: You know what happened?
Simon: What?
Jana: I don't know
Singing Resident: She turned into a woman. She turned into a woman and that wasn't what he wanted, he wanted a Momma Madonna. So, he didn't know what to do, he wanted a Momma Madonna to, to love him like a Momma Madonna and take care of him like a Momma Madonna. He didn't want a woman, because women think for themselves and they take care of themselves. So
Jana: So he needed a man?
Singing Resident: No he needed a Momma Madonna is what he needed and, so, finally she left. The new one that he tried to make, and so he was all alone, and he went to sleep, and he dreamed about his Momma Madonna.
Releases
- The King & Eye (1989) [Version 1]
- Cube-E (2006) [Version 2] [Version 3]
- Cube-E Box (2020) [Version 1] [Version 3] [Version 4] [Version 5]