Easter Woman

Buy Or Die 1980½ A-side label, 1980

**"Easter Woman"** is a song by The Residents, the first song on their *Commercial Album*, released by Ralph Records on October 29th 1980. Like all tracks on the album, it is exactly one minute long.

The song was later featured in an instrumental medley with "The Simple Song" on the soundtrack to the film *The Census Taker* in 1984, and live arrangements were performed by The Residents on the 13th Anniversary Show from 1985 to 1987, The Way We Were in 2005, and Shadowland from 2014 to 2016.

An animated music video for the song by artist Stéphane Ricard is featured on the *Commercial DVD*, released in October 2004.

## History

"Easter Woman" debuted (alongside "End of Home" and "Amber") on the Ralph Records promotional sampler EP *Buy Or Die 1980½* in October 1980, as a preview of its appearance on The Residents' *Commercial Album*, which was released at the end of the month.

An instrumental version featured as part of the soundtrack to the film *The Census Taker* in 1984, in a medley with its fellow *Commercial Album* track "The Simple Song". This version also appeared on the film's soundtrack album in 1985.

The song has often featured in the group's retrospective live shows; it was first performed live from 1985 to 1987 on the 13th Anniversary Show tour, featuring Snakefinger on guitar. In this show, the song was the opening track of a five-song *Commercial Album* suite towards the start of the second act.

It was next performed, in a new arrangement, in 2005 on the Australian retrospective mini-tour The Way We Were. Another extended arrangement was performed on the Shadowland tour from 2014 to 2016.

Three versions of "Easter Woman" were submitted by fans for use in the official tribute/collaborative album project *I Am A Resident!* in 2018; two of these versions (by Snakes of Christ and Substance W) are featured in the suite "Commercial Bells Toll" on the CD version of the album.

## Music video

An animated "one minute movie" for "Easter Woman" was created in 2004 by video artist Stéphane Ricard, and featured on The Residents' *Commercial DVD*, released through Mute Film and The Cryptic Corporation in October 2004.

It is one of three videos by Ricard featured on the DVD, alongside clips for "Fingertips" and "End of Home".

## Lyrics

### Original version

```
Down, feeling down
I'm down, down, down
Down, feeling down
I'm down, down, down

```

```
Easter woman came today
And took away my wife
Took her through an open doorway
To the afterlife

```

### Shadowland version

```
Down, feeling down
I'm down, down, down
Down, feeling down
I'm down

```

```
Down, feeling down
I'm down, down down
Down, feeling down
I'm down

```

```
Easter woman came today
And took away my wife
Took her through an open doorway
To the afterlife

```

```
Down...

```

## List of releases

* *Buy Or Die 1980½* EP (1980)
* *Commercial Album* (1980)
* *The Census Taker: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack* (1985)
* *Heaven?* (1986)
* *The Eyeball Show (Live In Japan)* (1986)
* *Live In The USA! 13th Anniversary Tour* (1986)
* *13th Anniversary Show - Live In Holland* (1987)
* *Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated Guide To The Residents* (1993)
* *In Memoriam Torso* (1994)
* *Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Huddled Masses (1997)*
* *Commercial DVD* (2004)
* *The Way We Were* (2005)
* *Intermission/The Census Taker* (2011)
* *Triple Dub-Ya: The Way We Were Melbourne* (2012)
* *Whatever Happened To Vileness Fats?/The Census Taker* (2014)
* *80 Aching Orphans* (2017)
* *I Am A Resident!* CD edition (2018)
* *Commercial Album* pREServed CD edition (2019)

### List of versions

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Grove Street studio recording, September 1979 - July 1980 (1:00)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Grove Street studio instrumental, September 1979 - July 1980 ("Easter Woman/Simple Song", 2:00)
3. ↑ The Eyeball Show live recording, Parco Space, Tokyo, Japan, October 30th 1985 (1:30)
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 The 13th Anniversary Show live recording, First Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota, February 10th 1986 (1:30)
5. ↑ The 13th Anniversary Show live recording, Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands, October 25th 1986 (0:42)
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 The Way We Were live recording, What Is Music? Festival, Melbourne, Australia, March 2005 ("Commercial Album Suite", 5:42)
7. ↑ Snakes of Christ studio recording, ca. 2018 ("Commercial Bells Toll", 3:53)
8. ↑ Substance W studio recording, ca. 2016 ("Commercial Bells Toll", 1:58)
9. ↑ Shadowland live recording, 2015 (2:34)

## See also

* *The Census Taker*
* "The Simple Song"
* The 13th Anniversary Show
* The Way We Were
* Shadowland
* "Commercial Bells Toll"

## External links and references

* *Commercial Album* at The Residents Historical
* *Commercial Album* at RZWeb (archived via archive.org)
* *Commercial Album* on Discogs

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*‏‏‎