Flight of the Bumble Roach

Hand-written side A label from the original 1979 single, with the original title "Roaches That Fly"

### Studio

Grove Street studio, San Francisco, California

### Producer

The Residents

**"Flight of the Bumble Roach"** (originally titled **"Roaches That Fly"**) is a song by The Residents, recorded for their abandoned "three-sided" album *Tourniquet of Roses* in 1976, and released as the fourth track on the EP *Babyfingers* in January 1979.

## History

"Roaches That Fly" (later retitled "Flight of the Bumble Roach") was recorded by The Residents for inclusion on their planned fourth album *Tourniquet of Roses*, which was planned to be a "three-sided" album (with two separate grooves on one side of the LP), consisting of songs the group had composed and recorded during the previous three years.

Due to reasons of practicality, *Tourniquet of Roses* was cut down to a normal two-sided LP, retitled *Fingerprince*, and released on Ralph Records in 1977. The remaining tracks were instead compiled into a planned EP to be titled *Babyfingers*, which was ultimately released in a limited edition in January 1979 as a gift to fans who had paid for the long-delayed *Third Reich 'n Roll* Collectors' Box.

As issued on *Babyfingers*, "Flight of the Bumble Roach" concludes the first side of the EP, and is the third and final part of a short suite of songs (all of which run seamlessly into each other), where it is preceded by "Death in Barstow" and "Melon Collie Lassie". The song is largely instrumental, aside from a playground chant-inspired lyrical section in the song's introduction, and is noisy and chaotic in structure, with the screams of a Resident gradually building throughout. The wordless vocals are an early example of the abstract vocalizations which would later appear in The Residents' 1979 concept album *Eskimo* (which was in development at the time they recorded much of the material on *Fingerprince* and *Babyfingers*).

The song's lyrics, like most of the group's work, are rife with wordplay and double entendres. Similarly to "Walter Westinghouse" (which the song immediately precedes on the EP), the lyrics include an ethnic slur, in this instance the pejorative terms "c\*\*n" and "c\*\*n-ass"; the former is an offensive racial slur referring to a dark-skinned person, and the latter is an epithet referring to a person of Cajun ethnicity.

The song also features the line *"Three inch cock - roaches that fly"*, with the very particular break in the word "cockroaches" emphasising the phrase "three inch cock" (a size generally considered to be small), with the remaining words, "Roaches That Fly", composing the song's original title.

### Release

The song concludes side one of the limited edition 1979 7" EP *Babyfingers*. Due to delays in printing for the EP, the disc's label was handwritten by Ralph Records employees, and credit it as "Roaches That Fly".

All subsequent reissues of the song have instead titled the song "Flight of the Bumble Roach", in reference to Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's well-known 1900 composition "Flight of the Bumblebee". "Flight of the Bumble Roach" is the title by which the song has become best known; the original title (due to the limited nature of the original pressing of the EP) remains a relatively obscure piece of trivia.

Alongside the rest of *Babyfingers*, the song has been included on all CD reissues of *Fingerprince* since 1987.

## Lyrics

```
She's a c**n-ass cutie
With a brown-stained sole
From stompin' dem roaches
Flying by low low low

```

```
Low flying cockroaches three inches long,
Bare-footed c**n-asses steppa dem on

```

```
Three inch cock - roaches that fly
Bite bare assed c**n-feets
If they can get by

```

```
Low flying cockroaches three inches long,
Bare-footed c**n-asses steppa dem on
Low flying cockroaches three inches long,
Bare-footed c**n-asses steppa dem on

```

## List of releases

* *Babyfingers* EP (1979)
	+ titled "Roaches That Fly"
* *Fingerprince* Classic Series CD reissue (1987)
* *In Memoriam Torso* (1994)
* *Fingerprince* + *Babyfingers* Euro Ralph CD reissue (1995)
* *Fingerprince* ESD/Bomba CD reissue (1997)
* *Fingerprince* Birdsong/Hayabusa Landings CD reissue (2010)
* *Fingerprince* MVD CD reissue (2012)
* *Fingerprince* pREServed edition (2018)
* *Tourniquet of Roses* Collectors' Box edition (2020)

### List of versions

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Grove Street studio recording, 1976 (2:14)

## Buy Or Die!

### Listen online

* "Flight of the Bumble Roach" on Spotify
* "Flight of the Bumble Roach" on Apple Music
* "Flight of the Bumble Roach" (pREServed remaster) on Spotify
* "Flight of the Bumble Roach" (pREServed remaster) on Spotify

## Notes

1. ↑ Both terms have been censored on this page by The Mysterious Spanish Ladies for reasons of decorum.
2. ↑ The lyrics are printed *"Three inch cock - roaches that fly"* in every official edition of the song's lyrics to date.

## External links and references

* *Babyfingers* at The Residents Historical

1. ↑ Ima Buddy, *Ima Buddy's Totally Impartial Companion to Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated BIG MAMAS*, 1992

**Side A**
"You Yesyesyes" · "Home Age Conversation" · "Godsong" · "March de la Winni" · "Bossy" · "Boo Who?" · "Tourniquet of Roses" · "You Yesyesyes Again"
**Side B**
"Six Things To A Cycle"
**Side C** **· Babyfingers**
A: "Monstrous Intro" · "Death In Barstow" · "Melon Collie Lassie" · "**Flight of the Bumble Roach**"
B: "Walter Westinghouse"
**Personnel**
The Residents · Snakefinger · Don Jackovich · Adrian Deckbar · Tony Logan · Pamela Zeibak
**Related works**
*Vileness Fats* · *X Is For Xtra* · "Leapmus" · "Entrance to Crypt" · "Clumsy Climb" · "Piano Dittie" · Oh Mummy! Oh Daddy! performance · *The Third Reich 'n Roll* video · "Whoopy Snorp" · *The Residents Radio Special* · "Six Amber Things"
**Related articles**
Sycamore St. studio · Grove St. studio · Ralph Records · The Cryptic Corporation · Pore No Graphics · Collectors' Box series