Easter Woman

"Easter Woman" is a song by The Residents, the first song on their Commercial Album, released by Ralph Records on October 29th 1980. Like all tracks on the album, it is exactly one minute long.
The song was later featured in an instrumental medley with "The Simple Song" on the soundtrack to the film The Census Taker in 1984, and live arrangements were performed by The Residents on the 13th Anniversary Show from 1985 to 1987, The Way We Were in 2005, and Shadowland from 2014 to 2016.
An animated music video for the song by artist Stéphane Ricard is featured on the Commercial DVD, released in October 2004.
== History ==
"Easter Woman" debuted (alongside "End of Home" and "Amber") on the Ralph Records promotional sampler EP Buy Or Die 1980½ in October 1980, as a preview of its appearance on The Residents' Commercial Album, which was released at the end of the month.
An instrumental version featured as part of the soundtrack to the film The Census Taker in 1984, in a medley with its fellow Commercial Album track "The Simple Song". This version also appeared on the film's soundtrack album in 1985.
The song has often featured in the group's retrospective live shows; it was first performed live from 1985 to 1987 on the 13th Anniversary Show tour, featuring Snakefinger on guitar. In this show, the song was the opening track of a five-song Commercial Album suite towards the start of the second act.
It was next performed, in a new arrangement, in 2005 on the Australian retrospective mini-tour The Way We Were. Another extended arrangement was performed on the Shadowland tour from 2014 to 2016.
Three versions of "Easter Woman" were submitted by fans for use in the official tribute/collaborative album project I Am A Resident! in 2018; two of these versions (by Snakes of Christ and Substance W) are featured in the suite "Commercial Bells Toll" on the CD version of the album.
== Music video ==
An animated "one minute movie" for "Easter Woman" was created in 2004 by video artist Stéphane Ricard, and featured on The Residents' Commercial DVD, released through Mute Film and The Cryptic Corporation in October 2004. 
It is one of three videos by Ricard featured on the DVD, alongside clips for "Fingertips" and "End of Home".
The music video depicts a pair of mechanical arms bursting out of a radiator and snaking their way around an abandoned complex in an industrial wasteland. In another building, a woman with dark hair is seen slumped in a chair. It is later revealed she has the face of a ragdoll as she sings the lyrics to "Easter Woman".
== Lyrics ==
=== Original version ===
 Down, feeling down
 I'm down, down, down
 Down, feeling down
 I'm down, down, down
 Easter woman came today
 And took away my wife
 Took her through an open doorway
 To the afterlifeIma Buddy, Ima Buddy's Totally Impartial Companion to Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated BIG MAMAS, 1992
=== Shadowland version ===
 Down, feeling down
 I'm down, down, down
 Down, feeling down
 I'm down
 Down, feeling down
 I'm down, down down
 Down, feeling down
 I'm down
 Easter woman came today
 And took away my wife
 Took her through an open doorway
 To the afterlife
 Down... 
== List of releases ==
* Buy Or Die 1980½ EP (1980) Grove Street studio recording, September 1979 - July 1980 (1:00)
*Commercial Album (1980) 
* The Census Taker: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1985) Grove Street studio instrumental, September 1979 - July 1980 ("Easter Woman/Simple Song", 2:00)
* Heaven? (1986) 
* The Eyeball Show (Live In Japan) (1986) The Eyeball Show live recording, Parco Space, Tokyo, Japan, October 30th 1985 (1:30)
* Live In The USA! 13th Anniversary Tour (1986) The 13th Anniversary Show live recording, First Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota, February 10th 1986 (1:30)
* 13th Anniversary Show - Live In Holland (1987) The 13th Anniversary Show live recording, Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands, October 25th 1986 (0:42)
* Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated Guide To The Residents (1993) 
* In Memoriam Torso (1994) 
* Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Huddled Masses (1997) 
* Commercial DVD (2004) 
* The Way We Were (2005) The Way We Were live recording, What Is Music? Festival, Melbourne, Australia, March 2005 ("Commercial Album Suite", 5:42)
* Intermission/The Census Taker (2011) 
* Triple Dub-Ya: The Way We Were Melbourne (2012) 
* Whatever Happened To Vileness Fats?/The Census Taker (2014) 
* 80 Aching Orphans (2017) 
*I Am A Resident! CD edition (2018) Snakes of Christ studio recording, ca. 2018 ("Commercial Bells Toll", 3:53)Substance W studio recording, ca. 2016 ("Commercial Bells Toll", 1:58)
* Commercial Album pREServed CD edition (2019) Shadowland live recording, 2015 (2:34)
=== List of versions ===
== See also ==
* The Census Taker
* "The Simple Song"
* The 13th Anniversary Show
* The Way We Were
* Shadowland
*"Commercial Bells Toll"
== External links and references ==
* Commercial Album at The Residents Historical
* Commercial Album at RZWeb (archived via archive.org)
* Commercial Album on Discogs
Category:Songs
Category:The Census Taker
Category:Heaven?
Category:Heaven? and Hell!
Category:Commercial Album
Category:Commercial DVD