Amber

Buy Or Die 1980½ Side A label

**"Amber"** is the fifth track from The Residents' *Commercial Album*, released by Ralph Records on October 29th, 1980. It features vocals from Helen Hall (aka "Mud's Sis"), then-wife of The Residents' producer and co-composer Hardy Fox.

## History

As with the other 39 tracks on The Residents' *Commercial Album*, "Amber" was written to be one minute long, resembling a bizarre radio ad or one-third of a 3-minute pop song. "Amber" was prominently featured in the album's promotion; it was included on both the *Buy Or Die 1980½* sampler EP and the *Commercial Single*.

The song features a guest appearance from Nessie Lessons, aka Helen Hall (then-wife of The Residents' producer, co-composer and arranger Hardy Fox), who has historically been credited as "Mud's Sis" for her appearances on the *Commercial Album*.

The song's first verse is sung by Hall from the perspective of an unnamed woman who views life as "a whirlpool, and it's calling out my name". The following two verses, sung by The Singing Resident, describe the amber color of the autumn leaves and the woman's skin as "the whirlpool pulled her in".

## Later versions

Between 1985 and 1987, The Residents performed "Amber" on their 13th Anniversary tour with Snakefinger. This version almost doubles the length of the original by adding an extended outro that features a reprise of the opening lyrics to "Easter Woman" - performed earlier in the medley. In 1992, The Residents recorded "Six Amber Things" - a sort of follow-up to the song combining the lyrics with "Six Things to a Cycle."

In 2005, The Residents performed the track for the first time in 18 years, with Molly Harvey taking the second and third verses - a gender reversal of the original. Unlike many other live arrangements of *Commercial Album* songs, this version lasts only a minute, staying true to the original structure.

Cover versions of the song have been featured on the official Klanggalerie released tribute albums *The 180 Gs' Commercial Album* and *Alieno de Bootes**' Unconventional Residents II.* Popular 1990s indie rock act Dump released a cover of the song in 2019.

## Music video

In 2004, animator Doug Carney created a video for "Amber", featured on The Residents' *Commercial DVD*. Carney's video depicts a shirtless man dancing in a wasteland; he narrowly avoids death by hazardous rocks, but remains optimistic and continues to dance.

## Lyrics

### *Commercial Album* (1980)

```
*Life is just a situation*
Life is just a game
Life is just a whirlpool
And it's calling out my name

```

```
Amber were the autumn leaves
And amber was her skin
Amber was the evening
When the whirlpool pulled her in

```

```
It was irresistible
Was what she used to say
Like the sound of running horses
Early in the day.

```

### The 13th Anniversary Show (1985-1987)

```
Life is just a situation
Life is just a game
Life is just a whirlpool
And it's calling out her name

```

```
Amber were the autumn leaves
And amber was her skin
Amber was the evening
When the whirlpool pulled her in

```

```
It was irresistible
Was what she used to say
Like the sound of running horses
Early in the day.

```

```
Down
 Feeling down
 I'm down
 Way down

```

## Credits

* Mud's Sis (aka Helen Hall)
* The Residents

## List of releases

* Commercial Album (1980)
* Commercial Single (1980)
* Heaven? (1986)
* 13th Anniversary Show - Live In Japan (1986)
* Live In The USA! 13th Anniversary Tour (1986)
* In Memoriam Torso (1994)
* UWEB Box Set (1995)
* Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Huddled Masses (1997)
* Commercial DVD (2004)
* The Way We Were (2005)
* 13th Anniversary Show - Ritz NY - Jan 16, 1986 (2010)
* 13th Anniversary Show - Cleveland (2014)
* 80 Aching Orphans (2017)
* Loss Of The Lizard Lady (2018)
* Commercial Album pREServed (2019)

### List of versions

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1980 Studio Version (1:00)
2. ↑ 1985 'Live in Japan' Version (1:41)
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 1986 'Live in the USA' version (1:45)
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 2005 'The Way We Were' version (1:17)
5. ↑ 1986 'Ritz NY' version (1:17)
6. ↑ 1986 'Cleveland' version (1:20)

## See also

* Nessie Lessons
* "Six Amber Things"
* The 13th Anniversary Show
* The Way We Were

## External links and references

* *Commercial Album* at The Residents Historical
* *Commercial DVD* at The Residents Historical

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

**Side A:**
"Easter Woman" · "Perfect Love" · "Picnic Boy" · "End of Home" · "**Amber**" · "Japanese Watercolor" · "Secrets""Die in Terror" · "Red Rider" · "My Second Wife" · "Floyd " · "Suburban Bathers" · "Dimples and Toes" · "The Nameless Souls""Love Leaks Out" · "Act of Being Polite" · "Medicine Man" · "Tragic Bells" · "Loss of Innocence" · "The Simple Song"
**Side B:**
"Ups and Downs" · "Possessions" · "Give It to Someone Else" · "Phantom" · "Less Not More" · "My Work Is So Behind" · "Birds in the Trees""Handful of Desire" · "Moisture" · "Love Is..." · "Troubled Man" · "La La" · "Loneliness" · "Nice Old Man""The Talk of Creatures" · "Fingertips" · "In Between Dreams" · "Margaret Freeman" · "The Coming of the Crow" · "When We Were Young"
**Personnel**
The Residents · Fred Frith · Snakefinger · Don Jackovich · Chris CutlerSandy Sandwich · Mud's Sis · Nessie Lessons · Lene Lovich · David Byrne · Brian Eno
**Related works**
"Electronic Elaborate Waste" · "Kraftwerk" · "Cosmetics For Reality" · "Rosco's Righteous Rodent" · "Pretty Baby" · "Tuxedos""No Longer Unused" · "Instant Hostility" · "Elevator Lady" · "One Minute Movies" · *Commercial Single* ("Shut Up Shut Up" / "And I Was Alone") · "Boy In Love" · *Minatures* ("We're A Happy Family") · "Talkin' in the Town" · "Womb To Worm" · *Greener Postures* · "Theme For An American TV Show" · *Ralph Radio Special* · "Commercial Suite" · *Commercial DVD* · *Commercial Album* by The 180 Gs · *The Commercial Single Commercials (In Mono)*
**Related articles**
Ralph Records · The Cryptic Corporation · Grove St. studio · Poor No Graphics · Buy Or Die 1980½ · *Diskomo/Goosebump*‏‏‎