The Mad Sawmill of Copenhagen, Germany
"The Mad Sawmill of Copenhagen, Germany" (sometimes known simply as "The Mad Sawmill") is an instrumental piece featured in six short segments on The W***** B*** Album, the 1971 demo tape by the group who would later become known as The Residents.
History
Included throughout the first half of The W***** B*** Album in a series of six short snippets, "The Mad Sawmill of Copenhagen, Germany" was first heard outside The Residents' circle of friends in 1977 when Bill Reinhardt aired the tape in full on the radio on a Residents-themed radio festival on KBOO-FM in Portland, Oregon. Home recordings of this broadcast would circulate among fans for decades.
The Residents have performed in Copenhagen (which in reality is in Denmark, rather than Germany) six times over the course of their career to date, with stops during The Mole Show, The 13th Anniversary Show, Cube E, Talking Light, Shadowland and In Between Dreams. The group has possibly made frequent stops in Copenhagen as something of an inside joke; it is said that the nonsensical title of this suite is considered hilarious by The Residents to this day.
The first official release of "The Mad Sawmill" in any format was a radically remixed version created by The Cryptic Corporation in 2003 in response to repeated fan requests to release the group's early demo tapes. This, and other remixed tracks from The W***** B*** Album, were released on the album WB:RMX.
A heavily remixed version of the original track appeared on the compilation ERA B474 in 2012, and it was officially released in its original six-part form as part of the entire original demo tape on Record Store Day 2018, and again in 2019 on the compilation A Nickle If Your Dick's This Big.
Releases
- The W***** B*** Album (recorded 1971, released 2018) [version 1]
- WB:RMX (remix, 2003) [version 2]
- ERA B474 (2012) [version 3]
- The Delta Nudes' Greatest Hiss (2013) [version 3]
- The Residents Present The Delta Nudes (2013) [version 3]
- A Nickle If Your Dick's This Big (2019) [version 1]
Versions
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 San Mateo home recording, 1971
- ↑ remix of San Mateo home recording, interpolated with "Strawberry Fields Forever", 2003
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 alternate edit of San Mateo home recording, 1971
See also
