Lights Out

"Lights Out (Prelude)" is an instrumental by The Residents, intended to be played as pre-recorded music immediately prior to the start of their live performance The Mole Show. 
As a prologue of sorts to the group's Mole Trilogy of albums,Mark of the Mole Torso/ESD CD reissue liner notes, 1988 "Lights Out" introduces a number of themes that would recur throughout various albums in the series. It was released as the opening track on their EP Intermission: Extraneous Music From The Residents' Mole Show on Ralph Records on October 10th 1982.
A shortened mix of the song appears in The Residents' score for the 1984 film The Census Taker; this version of the song appears on the film's soundtrack album. Another edited version of the song was created for the retrospective compilation album Hell! in 1986.
== History ==
When The Residents began developing their first tour, The Mole Show, they conceived that venues would want to play music before the show, after the show, and during the intermission. As a result, they crafted their own music to be played during these segments.
The first part, "Lights Out (Prelude)", was intended to be played as pre-recorded music directly before the start of the show; the song's title refers both to the dark caverns preferred by the show's titular Moles, and the dimming of houselights that takes place prior to the opening of a performance.
As a prelude to The Mole Show, "Lights Out", by extension, acts as a kind of prologue to the group's Mole Trilogy of albums; unlike the other "intermission" songs, it is entirely instrumental, evoking (but not exactly replicating) musical themes heard in The Mole Trilogy. 
== Release ==
"Lights Out" was first released as the opening track of The Residents' 12" EP Intermission: Extraneous Music From The Residents' Mole Show on Ralph Records on October 10th 1982, corresponding with the official start of the Mole Show tour. The EP also included the three "intermission" songs and "recessional" which had also been composed as interstitial music for The Mole Show. 
The song (alongside the rest of the Intermission EP) has regularly been reissued on CD alongside Mark of the Mole, beginning with the Torso/ESD reissue in 1988. A suggested programming order in the liner notes of this release suggests that "Lights Out" should be positioned at the start of the playlist, immediately prior to the first side of Mark of the Mole. 
== Legacy ==
An abridged edit of the song (excising the outro) was later included in The Residents' score for the 1984 film The Census Taker. On CD versions of the film's soundtrack, this version of the song is merged with the following track, "Where is She? (Reprise)"; to date the two have only been indexed separately on the original vinyl release. 
The Cryptic Corporation included a second edited version of the song on the 1986 career-spanning compilation Hell!, where it is crossfaded with an abridged version of "The Ultimate Disaster". This edit shortens the introduction, but maintains much of the outro.
== List of releases ==
* Intermission EP (1982) Grove Street studio recording, April - July 1982 (5:50)
* The Census Taker: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1985) Grove Street studio recording, April - July 1982 (1983 Census Taker edit, 5:24)
* Hell! (1986) Grove Street studio recording, April - July 1982 (edited version, 5:20)
* Mark of the Mole Torso/ESD CD reissue (1988) 
* In Memoriam Torso (1994) 
*Mark of the Mole / Intermission Mute CD reissue (2005) 
* Intermission Hayabusa Landings/Birdsong CD reissue (2011) Grove Street studio recording, April - July 1982 (1983 Census Taker edit, with "Where Is She?", 6:29)
* Whatever Happened To Vileness Fats? / The Census Taker MVD CD reissue (2014) 
* Mole Box: The Complete Mole Trilogy pREServed (2019) 
=== List of versions ===
== Buy Or Die! ==
=== Listen online ===
* "Lights Out" on Spotify
* "Lights Out" on Apple Music
* "Lights Out" (pREServed remaster) on Spotify
* "Lights Out/Where Is She? (Reprise)" (Census Taker version) on Spotify
* "Lights Out/Where Is She? (Reprise)" (Census Taker version) on Apple Music
== External links and references ==
* Intermission at The Residents Historical
* The Census Taker at The Residents Historical
Category:Songs
Category:Suites
Category:The Mole Trilogy
Category:The Mole Show
Category:The Census Taker
Category:Heaven? and Hell!
Category:Hell!
Category:Intermission