N-ER-GEE (Crisis Blues)

"N-ER-GEE (A Crisis Bluesuite)" (alternatively "N-ER-GEE (Crisis Blues)", "N-ER-GEE" or "NRG") is a suite by The Residents, from their debut album Meet The Residents, released April 1st 1974 on Ralph Records. An excerpt was also featured on a flexidisc sampler promoting the album, released in the February 1974 issue of File Magazine.
The suite, which closes the album, obliquely refers to the then-current oil crisis of 1973 and resulting global recession. It prominently samples The Human Beinz' 1968 cover of The Isley Brothers' "Nobody But Me". The climax of the suite, a sung refrain ("Go home America / Fifty-five'll do"), is a direct reference to the thousands of American casualties incurred at that point in the Vietnam War.Ian Shirley, Never Known Questions: Five Decades of The Residents, Cherry Red Books, 2016
Just over ten minutes in length in its original mono mix, "N-ER-GEE" was remixed into a shorter stereo version in 1977; the stereo mix of the suite is almost three minutes shorter than the original release. Although it has never been played live to date, The Residents' founding composer and keyboardist Charles Bobuck produced a solo arrangement of the suite, which was released on the 2017 EP Clank Clank Clank.
==Lyrics==
 The, the
 The end of the rainbow
 Is a speedin' up news
 But the, the
 The knot in the
 The fuse
 Is the speed that,
 That you lose?
 Go home America
 Fifty-five'll do
 Go home AmericaIma Buddy, Ima Buddy's Totally Impartial Companion to Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated BIG MAMAS, 1992
==List of releases==
*Meet The Residents Sampler (1974) Sycamore Street studio recording, February - October 1973 (sampler edit)
*Meet The Residents (1974) Sycamore Street studio recording, February - October 1973 (original mono version, 10:06)
*Meet The Residents stereo remix (1977) Sycamore Street studio recording, February - October 1973 (1977 stereo remix, 7:16)
*Clank Clank Clank by Charles Bobuck (2017) Charles Bobuck studio recording, 2014
*Meet The Residents pREServed CD edition (2018) Sycamore Street studio recording, February - October 1973 ("N-ER-GEE Crisis Outro", 0:55)
*Meet The Residents pREServed vinyl edition (2023) Sycamore Street studio recording, February - October 1973 (outro "RDX" mix, 1:37)
===List of versions===
==See also==
*Meet The Residents
*Charles Bobuck
*Clank Clank Clank
==External links and references==
*Meet The Residents at The Residents Historical
Category:Suites
Category:Songs
Category:Meet The Residents
Category:Clank Clank Clank
Category:Meet The Residents Sampler