Gotta Gotta Get

The Big Bubble Side A label (on pink vinyl)

**"Gotta Gotta Get"** is the fourth track of The Residents' thirteenth studio album, *The Big Bubble* (Part Four of The Mole Trilogy), released September 30th 1985 by Ralph Records.

Within the context of The Mole Trilogy, the song's lyrics are written and performed mostly in the fictional (and forbidden) Mohelmot language by The Big Bubble, a fictional garage band comprised of Cross, a hybrid race formed of the Moles and the Chubs.

According to the in-universe credits featured on the back sleeve of the album, the song was written by Frank Leone and Ramsey Whiten, the fictional band's guitarist and lead vocalist/percussionist respectively.

## History

The Residents wrote "Gotta Gotta Get" between 1984 and 1985. At this point, their disastrous 1982-1983 Mole Show world tour was still evidently in their minds. For several years Ralph Records and The Cryptic Corporation had been promoting a promised sequel to *Mark of the Mole* and *The Tunes of Two Cities*, and The Residents likely wanted to express the stress they were under, and thus instead began work on Part *Four* of the Mole Trilogy.

They had originally conceived the Mole "Trilogy" to comprise six installments, with parts 1, 3 & 5 narrative-based, and parts 2, 4, & 6 focusing on the differing and changing musical cultures behind the narrative. Having ideas for Part Three but an aversion to fleshing them out, the group decided to create the much more therapeutic Part Four. The album focuses on the rebellious and downtrodden Big Bubble, whose primal vent music allowed for The Residents to directly tell their audience how they were feeling.

"Gotta Gotta Get" is written and performed almost entirely in Mohelmot, the outlawed language of the fictional Moles, with the title being the song's only comprehensible lyrics.

It was later featured on the 1998 compilation *Twenty-Five Years Of Eyeball Excellence*.

## Credits

* Written & Performed by: The Residents
* A Cryptic Corporation Production

### Fictional credits

* Ramsey Whiten: Vocals, Percussion
* Frank Leone: Electric Guitar
* Paul Sage: Grand Piano, Synthesiser
* Alex Beason: Electric Guitar

## List of releases

* *The Big Bubble* (1985)
* *Twenty-Five Years Of Eyeball Excellence* (1998)
* *The Tunes of Two Cities / The Big Bubble* (2005)
* *Mole Box: The Complete Mole Trilogy pREServed* (2019)

### List of versions

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Clementina Street studio recording, October 1983 - July 1985 (4:23)

## See also

* The Big Bubble (band)
* Mohelmot
* The Mole Trilogy

## External links and references

* *The Big Bubble* at The Residents Historical
* *The Big Bubble* at RZWeb (archived via archive.org)
* *The Big Bubble* at Discogs

**Cast of Characters**
Mohelmot · Chubs (Innisfree · The Scientist) · The ObserverDarkness · The Evil DisposerCross (Zinkenites · Kula Bocca · The Big Bubble · Frankie DuVall)
**Part One: *Mark of the Mole* (1981)**
(video game · novel)
**Side A: Hole-Workers at the Mercy of Nature**
"Voices of the Air" · "The Ultimate Disaster" · "Migration"
**Side B: Hole-Workers vs. Man and Machine**
"Another Land" · "The New Machine" · "Final Confrontation"
**Part Two: *The Tunes of Two Cities* (1982)**
(*The Comix of Two Cities*)
**Side A:** "Serenade For Missy" · "A Maze Of Jigsaws" · "Mousetrap" · "God Of Darkness" · "Smack Your Lips (Clap Your Teeth)" · "Praise For The Curse"
**Side B:** "The Secret Seed" · "Smokebeams" · "Mourning The Undead" · "Song Of The Wild" · "The Evil Disposer" · "Happy Home (Excerpt From Act II of "Innisfree")"
***Intermission: Extraneous Music From The Residents' Mole Show* (1982)**
**Side A:** "Lights Out (Prelude)" · "Shorty's Lament (Intermission)"
**Side B:** "The Moles Are Coming (Intermission)" · "Would We Be Alive? (Intermission)" · "The New Hymn (Recessional)"
**The Mole Show (1982-1983)**(*Mole Dance 82* · *Live At The Roxy* · *La Edad de Oro* · Uncle Sam Mole Show · VHS · *Live In Holland* · DVD bag set)
**Part Three: ???**
"Now It Is Too Late" · "Going Nowhere" · "Tired Old Man" · "Marching To The We" · *Mole Suite*
**Part Four: *The Big Bubble* (1985)**(fictional band · Black Shroud Records)
**Side A:** "Sorry" · "Hop A Little" · "Go Where Ya Wanna Go" · "**Gotta Gotta Get**" · "Cry For The Fire"
**Side B:** "Die-Stay-Go" · "Vinegar" · "Firefly" · "The Big Bubble" · "Fear for the Future" · "Kula Bocca Says So"
**Part Five: ???**
**Part Six: ???**
**Related works**
"Open Up" · "Anvil Forest" · The 10th Anniversary Show (*Assorted Secrets*) · *PAL TV LP* · The 13th Anniversary Show · *Mole Box: The Complete Mole Trilogy pREServed* ("From MOM1" · "Untitled" · "Jingle Bell" · "Another Another Land")
**Related articles**
Ralph Records · The Cryptic Corporation · Grove St. studio · Minna St. studio · Porno Graphics · Penn Jillette · Nessie Lessons · Snakefinger · Matt Howarth · Greg Easter · T.D. Wade