The New Hymn

"The New Hymn (Recessional)" is a song by The Residents (derived from their earlier track "Hole-Workers' New Hymn" from the 1981 album Mark of the Mole), composed as pre-recorded closing music for the group's Mole Show live tour from October 1982 to April 1983.
It was released as the closing track of the EP Intermission: Extraneous Music From The Residents' Mole Show on Ralph Records on October 10th 1982.
== History ==
Acting as a "recessional""You know that The Residents have a difficult time staying off the tape recorders. Even in the midst of putting together their most ambitious project ever, The Mole Show, they decided to record new music for the 15 minute intermission, as well as a prelude to start the show and a recessional to end it." Ralph Records advertisement for Intermission, 1982 (ie. a hymn sung while the clergy and choir process out of a church at the end of a service), "The New Hymn" is a re-arrangement and expansion of "Hole-Workers' New Hymn", the third part of the suite "Migration" from The Residents' 1981 album Mark of the Mole. It features backing vocals from guests Annie Stocking, Jeanette Sartain and Joan Cashel.
From October 1982 to April 1983, it was featured as the pre-recorded music heard at the end of The Residents' live tour The Mole Show, and on October 10th 1982 it was released as the closing track of the 12" EP Intermission: Extraneous Music From The Residents' Mole Show.
It was later included on the compilation albums Heaven? (in 1986) and Morning Music (in 2010), as well as being reissued alongside Mark of the Mole as part of Intermission on CD reissues, including the 2019 pREServed box set Mole Box. 
Cover versions of the song were submitted by artists Diablo, Coeur Atomique, and Kreatur Null for The Residents' 2018 collaborative project I Am A Resident!, however none of these were included on the album. 
==Lyrics==
 Chorus:
 Let our children live in a holey land
 Let our children live in a holey land
 Let our children live in a holey land
 Let our children live in a holey land...
 The Moles:
 We have left our lives, we have left our land,
 We have left behind all we understand,
 Now we must cry out, yes we must demand --
 Let our children live in a land that's low,
 Where the holes are deeper than light can go;
 Let them not have pride but instead a soul,
 That can see the shame of the hands that glow.
==List of releases==
*Intermission EP (1982) Grove Street studio recording, 1982 (4:18)
*Heaven? (1986) 
*Mark of the Mole Torso/ESD CD reissue (1988) 
*In Memoriam Torso (1994) 
*Mark of the Mole / Intermission Mute CD reissue (2005) 
*Morning Music (2010) 
*Heaven? / Hell! CD reissue (2012) 
*Mole Box: The Complete Mole Trilogy pREServed (2019) 
== List of versions ==
==See also==
*The Mole Show
*Intermission
*"Hole-Workers' New Hymn"
==Buy Or Die!==
===Listen online===
*"The New Hymn (Recessional)" on Spotify
*"The New Hymn (Recessional)" on Apple Music
*"The New Hymn (Recessional)" (pREServed remaster) on Spotify
==External links and references==
*Intermission at The Residents Historical
*Intermission at Discogs
*"The New Hymn (Recessional)" at Genius
Category:Songs
Category:Intermission
Category:The Mole Show
Category:Mole Box
Category:Heaven? and Hell!
Category:Heaven?
Category:In Memoriam Torso
Category:Non-album tracks