Metal, Meat & Bone

* CD artwork
* LP artwork

***Metal, Meat & Bone - The Songs of Dyin' Dog*** is an album by The Residents, released in two-CD and double LP versions on July 10th 2020 through Cherry Red/MVD.

*Metal, Meat & Bone* features The Residents' interpretations of long-lost demo tracks by Alvin "Dyin' Dog" Snow, an obscure Lousiana blues musician who was briefly associated with The Residents' early collaborator Roland Sheehan in the mid 1970s.

Both the CD and vinyl editions also feature the original Dyin' Dog demo tracks, and the CD edition includes an additional six tracks by The Residents which were inspired by him. These six tracks were released as a limited edition 12" EP on Psychofon Records on the same day.

## History

    First announced alongside *Intruders* in late 2017, *Metal, Meat & Bone - The Songs of Dyin' Dog* is a cover album featuring the known works of Alvin "Dyin' Dog" Snow, an obscure Louisiana blues musician who had worked briefly with The Residents' early collaborator Roland Sheehan in the 1970s.

Sheehan had shown The Residents the recently rediscovered demo recordings he had made in the mid-1970s with Dyin' Dog, which ultimately became the basis for a long-gestating "blues album" project which the group had long considered but had never been able to conceptualize to their satisfaction previously.

The Residents' interpretations of the Dyin' Dog songs "Tell Me", "Hungry Hound", "Die! Die! Die!" and "Mamma Don't Go" were all premiered on the group's 2018-2019 In Between Dreams tour in 2018 and 2019. "Hungry Hound", "Die! Die! Die" and "Tell Me" were all officially released for the first time in July 2019 on the live album *In Between Dreams Live*.

Demo versions of both "Tell Me" and "Mama Don`t Go" circulated on the internet, and a video purporting to feature the original Dyin' Dog version of "Bury My Bone" surfaced on YouTube in July 2019. The complete original Dyin' Dog demo recordings were released on Psychofon Records in September 2018, as a limited edition set of five 7" singles entitled *The Residents Present Alvin Snow, aka Dyin' Dog*.

## Release

The release of *Metal, Meat & Bone* was preceded by the single "Die! Die! Die!", released digitally and as a 7" vinyl on Psychofon Records, featuring the Dyin' Dog demo version of the song on the A-side, and The Residents' cover (featuring guest vocalist Black Francis) on the B-side.

The single was accompanied by the release of an animated video which notably referenced the then-current COVID-19 pandemic and parodied Donald Trump. A second, digital-only single, "Bury My Bone", was released June 28th 2020, accompanied by a music video by the group's frequent collaborator John Sanborn.

The album was released July 10th 2020 through MVD Audio and Cherry Red in double CD and LP editions. The vinyl edition omits the six additional songs by The Residents, "Blood Stains", "She Called Me Doggy", "Cold As A Corpse", "Evil Hides", "Cut To The Quick" and "Midnight Man", which were released separately as a limited edition 12" EP entitled *Metal, Meat & Bone - Six Songs Inspired By Dyin' Dog*. The EP was released by Psychofon Records on the same day as the album, in three distinct "metal", "meat", and "bone" colored vinyl variants.

## Dog Stab! tour

The Residents planned to launch a tour in April 2020 to promote the upcoming release of *Metal, Meat & Bone*, but had to cancel all performances in March and postpone the tour to 2021 due to the spread of the COVID-19 virus across the world.

After further postponements and cancellations, the tour, initially titled Dog Stab!, premiered with a truncated string of California shows in September 2021, featuring a set of songs from *Metal, Meat & Bone*, as well as selections from their 1978 album *Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen*.

The cancelled tour was reworked to become the group's 50th Anniversary tour, Faceless Forever, which the group successfully toured in America and Europe between January and April 2023. Six songs from *Metal, Meat & Bone* (three composed by The Residents, and three composed by Alvin Snow) remained in the tour's revised setlist.

## Track listing

### CD edition

#### Disc One - The Songs of Dyin' Dog / The Songs Inspired By Dyin' Dog

1. Bury My Bone (2:12)
2. Hungry Hound (2:03)
3. Die! Die! Die! (4:05)
4. River Runs Dry (2:50)
5. The Dog's Dream (2:51)
6. I Know (3:56)
7. Pass For White (3:13)
8. Tell Me (2:59)
9. Mama Don't Go (2:22)
10. Dead Weight (3:14)
11. Cold As a Corpse (2:40)
12. Blood Stains (2:45)
13. Cut to the Quick (2:21)
14. She Called Me Doggy (3:03)
15. Evil Hides (3:12)
16. Midnight Man (5:40)

#### Disc Two - The Original Dyin' Dog Demos

1. Bury My Bone (2:15)
2. Hungry Hound (2:08)
3. Die! Die! Die! (4:03)
4. River Runs Dry (2:12)
5. The Dog's Dream (3:09)
6. I Know (3:25)
7. Pass For White (3:50)
8. Tell Me (2:39)
9. Mama Don't Go (2:02)
10. Dead Weight (3:16)

### Vinyl edition

#### Disc One - The Residents Pay Tribute To Dyin' Dog

##### Side A

1. Bury My Bone (2:12)
2. Hungry Hound (2:03)
3. Die! Die! Die! (4:05)
4. River Runs Dry (2:50)
5. The Dog's Dream (2:51)

##### Side B

1. I Know (3:56)
2. Pass For White (3:13)
3. Tell Me (2:59)
4. Mama Don't Go (2:22)
5. Dead Weight (3:14)

#### Disc Two - The Original Dyin' Dog Demos

##### Side C

1. Bury My Bone (2:15)
2. Hungry Hound (2:08)
3. Die! Die! Die! (4:03)
4. River Runs Dry (2:12)
5. The Dog's Dream (3:09)

##### Side D

1. I Know (3:25)
2. Pass For White (3:50)
3. Tell Me (2:39)
4. Mama Don't Go (2:02)
5. Dead Weight (3:16)

## Credits

* Dyin' Dog Songs Written by Alvin Snow
* Demos Arranged by Roland Sheehan & Alvin Snow
* Dyin' Dog Interpretations Arranged and Performed by The Residents
* With special guests: Eric Drew Feldman, Nolan Cook, Carla Fabrizio, Sivan Lioncub, Peter Whitehead, Rob Laufer and Black Francis
* Produced by Eric Drew Feldman and The Residents
* Mixed by Gabriel Shepard and Eric Drew Feldman
* Cover and art by Poor Know Graphics
* Residents Photos by Henrik Kam
* Mastered by Mark Chalecki at Little Red Book Mastering
* Published by Pale Pachyderm Publishing
* Special thanks to Roland Sheehan, Nick Vincent and our pals at Cherry Red Records and MVD (Music Video Distributors)
* Watch for DOUBLE TROUBLE coming soon to a theater or drive-in
* ©2020 The Cryptic Corporation. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws.

## See also

* Alvin "Dyin' Dog" Snow
* *The Residents Present Alvin Snow, aka Dyin' Dog*
* *Metal, Meat & Bone* (EP)
* "Die! Die! Die!" (single)
* "Bury My Bone" (single)
* Roland Sheehan
* In Between Dreams (tour)
* *In Between Dreams Live* (album)

## Buy Or Die!

* *Metal, Meat & Bone* (CD edition) at MVDshop (US)
* *Metal, Meat & Bone* (CD edition) at Cherry Red Records (UK/EU)
* *Metal, Meat & Bone* (vinyl edition) at MVDshop (US)
* *Metal, Meat & Bone* (vinyl edition) at Cherry Red Records (UK/EU)

### Listen online

* *Metal, Meat & Bone* (CD edition) on Apple Music
* *Metal, Meat & Bone* (CD edition) on Spotify

## External links and references

* *Metal, Meat & Bone* at The Residents Historical
* "The Residents Present Dyin' Dog" on YouTube
* "Lost In The Blues: The Search for Dyin' Dog" by Paul Lyllyde at The Chiseler (archived via archive.org)
* *Metal, Meat & Bone* (vinyl edition) at Discogs
* *The Residents Present Alvin Snow, AKA Dyin' Dog* at Psychofon Records

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**Related articles**
The Residents discography (W.E.I.R.D., 1979) · Ralph Records discography