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Gingerbread Man is an album by The Residents, released in 1994. It was their first foray into computer graphics. Original versions of the CD were "enhanced" with animations that followed the music when played on a computer. The album explores the personalities of nine characters and their "rather strange outlooks on life". Each character, according to The Residents, has the Gingerbread Man in them somewhere, represented in the music by the Gingerbread Man theme: Run, run, as fast as you can You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man. Each of the songs have the same general format: a 30-second introduction (which usually features the Gingerbread Man theme) followed by a verse sung by the character, and then a mix of comments and thoughts by the character over music which expands on the themes in the verse, given the listener glimpses into the person's thoughts. The interactive CD-ROM program also uses the same format, letting the user play his or her keyboard like a visual instrument by triggering various images, sounds, texts, and effects through the keyboard and mouse. The album is a series of audio portraits done in a unifying style (much as the busts created for the album are all very similar in style but different in details) rather than as a collection of distinct songs. The animations served as a basis for the costumes of the characters when a number of the songs were performed in the 25th anniversary shows in 1997. Later the same year regular CDs, with just the music, were released. The inside cover of the album special edition was held together with a branded label of Velcro. The music tracks are as follows: The Weaver - The fool and the death-maker die alone, The Dying Oilman - Blinded by the hostages of fortune, The Confused Transsexual - Stamen and pistillate together again, The Sold-Out Artist - Black are the legs inside the white sepulchre, The Ascetic - Shadows doubt the strength of the sun, The Old Soldier - Safety sells but war always wins, The Aging Musician - Narcissus knows no one naked, The Butcher - The flesh of animals angers anew… and moos, The Old Woman - Kissless are the isolated, rootless are their tongues, Ginger's Lament. |
