Infant Tango

Original B-side label design for Meet The Residents

**"Infant Tango"** is a song by The Residents, featured as the opening track of the B-side of their debut album, *Meet The Residents*, released April 1st 1974 by Ralph Records.

## History

"Infant Tango" was recorded between February and October 1973 by Residents, Uninc. in sessions for their debut album *Meet The Residents*, released on April Fool's Day 1974 as the first full-length album release from Ralph Records.

The song, described by a Resident as a "shuck and jive soul number featuring Chinese instrumentation (properly wah-wahed) and electronically altered jazz saxophone", consists of a repeated verse (with some seemingly improvised scat vocals from The Singing Resident) followed by a suite-like series of instrumental sections, driven by bass guitar from noted early collaborator Bobby Tangney.

Originally mixed and released in mono, in 1977 *Meet The Residents* was remixed into stereo; the stereo mix of "Infant Tango" is more than thirty seconds shorter than the mono version.

The song was excerpted on the compilation CD *Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated Guide To The Residents* (as part of a short *Meet The Residents* concentrate) in 1993.

A new arrangement of the song was demoed in 2014 by the group's long-time composer Charles Bobuck for a planned (but abandoned) 40th anniversary re-recording of *Meet The Residents*; this recording was later issued on the EP *Clank Clank Clank* in 2017.

## Lyrics

```
Watch
That Infant Tango
See
That Infant Tango
All
That Infant Tango
Is a
Dance for You.

```

```
Watch
That Infant Tango
See
That Infant Tango
All
That Tnfant Tango
Is a
Dance for You.

```

```
Watch
That Infant Tango
See
That Infant Tango
All
That Infant Tango
Is a
Dance for You.

```

## List of releases

* *Meet The Residents* (1974)
* *Meet The Residents* stereo remix (1977)
* *Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated Guide To The Residents* (1993)
* *Clank Clank Clank* EP by Charles Bobuck (2017)
* *Meet The Residents pREServed* CD edition (2018)
* *Meet The Residents pREServed* vinyl edition (2018)

### List of versions

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 El Ralpho studio recording, February-October 1973 (original mono version, 6:01)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 El Ralpho studio recording, February-October 1973 (1977 stereo remix, 5:28)
3. ↑ El Ralpho studio recording, February-October 1973 (edited version, 0:53)
4. ↑ Charles Bobuck studio recording, 2014 (2:46)

## Buy Or Die!

### Listen online

* "Infant Tango" (original mono version) on Spotify
* "Infant Tango" (pREServed mono version) on Spotify
* "Infant Tango" (pREServed stereo version) on Spotify

## External links and references

* *Meet The Residents* at The Residents Historical
* *Meet The Residents* at RZWeb (archived via archive.org)

1. ↑ Harvey Sox, "On Meet The Residents", 1974
2. ↑ Ima Buddy, *Ima Buddy's Totally Impartial Companion to Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated BIG MAMAS*, 1992

**Side A**
"Boots" · "Numb Erone" · "Guylum Bardot" · "Breath and Length" · "Consuelo's Departure" · "Smelly Tongues" · "Rest Aria" · "Skratz" · "Spotted Pinto Bean"
**Side B**
"**Infant Tango**" · "Seasoned Greetings" · "N-ER-GEE (Crisis Blues)"
**Personnel**
The Residents · Ruth Essex · Barry "Wool" Eiland · Pamela Zeibak · Philip Friehofner · Jim Whitaker · Bob Tangney · James Aaron
**Related works**
"Russian Love Song" · *1-10 (With A Touch of 11)* · "7733 Variations" · Tuesday tapes ("Sokurha") · "Overday" · "Inka Don't Dry" · "Horny Song" · "George's Horn" · "The Ralph Records Guided Tour" · *Meet The Residents Sampler* · "Saint Nix" · *Clank Clank Clank* · "Poisoned Popcorn"
**Related articles**
N. Senada (Theory of Phonetic Organization) · Residents, Uninc. · Sycamore St. studio · *Santa Dog* · Ralph Records · Porno/Graphics · *Vileness Fats* · "Nobody But Me" · The Beatles

**Resources**
Image gallery