A Maze Of Jigsaws

'The Sand Mazes of Moaning Jigsaws' as depicted by Matt Howarth in The Comix of Two Cities

### Producer

The Residents

***A Maze of Jigsaws*** is the second track from The Residents' 10th studio album, The Tunes of Two Cities. It is an intentionally off-putting introduction to Mole music that follows the relatively easy-listening Serenade For Missy.

## Background

Following on from the release of the Mark of The Mole, The Residents began to develop the album's rich fantasy setting even further and, aided by the newly released EMU Emulators, created two sets of 6 tracks depicting the type of music the Moles and Chubs create.

The result was The Tunes of Two Cities, an album for which The Residents took advantage of two approaches to the Emu-s sampling capability. The Chub's tracks were based on the Emu's ability to sample instruments, and thus created easy-listening big band jazz-inspired tracks, while The Moles' songs sampled typically non-musical sounds, thus creating a more abstract and primitive style of music.

'A Maze of Jigsaws' is the second track on The Tunes of Two Cities and is an example of the Mole's music, following on from the Chub's Serenade for Missy. The song is notably sung in mohelmot, the fictional language of the Moles, which would be featured more prominently on The Big Bubble album.

The track was later featured in the 2017 Best of compilation, 80 Aching Orphans.

### Matt Howarth interpretation

Matt Howarth's Comix of Two Cities, published seven months after the album, depicts the cultural elements which inspired the Tunes songs as interpreted by Howarth, starting with A Maze of Jigsaws. Howarth depicts this as 'The Sand Mazes of Moaning Jigsaws,' vast deserts which 'The Keepers' (Chub mutants revered as Gods for their sense of humor) run through to maintain their absurdity in events often televised by The Chubs.

Since these deserts were above the surface, where Moles were forbidden to travel, Howarth implies the Maze of Jigsaws as a piece of Chub culture, maybe implying the Tunes track is a Mole's interpretation of the location after their migration.

## Lyrics

```
[Booh booh]

```

```
Hey yah, beop a beot.
Ai yea yahyop beot.
Ehyo eyadeba do
Ehyo badee

```

## Releases

* The Tunes of Two Cities (1982)
* 80 Aching Orphans (2017)
* Mole Box (2019)

## See Also

* Serenade for Missy
* The Comix of Two Cities

**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