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The Observer (character)

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The Observer is a minor character in The Residents' Mole Trilogy, noted for his appearance in a segment of the same name from the mini-suite "Migration", on the first album in the series, Mark of the Mole, released in 1981.

In "Migration", the Observer (a mysterious and wizened desert-dwelling figure, witnesses the march of the Moles from their home in "the Pit" across the desert to the cities by the sea, populated by the leisure-loving and duplicitous Chubs, and predicts the tension between the two cultures that will arise following the Moles' arrival.

The character is visually depicted in The Residents' live stage version of the series, The Mole Show, which toured internationally between April 1982 and October 1983, however is not mentioned again in any of the further releases in the series (which concluded with a "fourth" album, The Big Bubble, in 1985).

The Observer may have been intended to reappear in a later, never-finished entry in the series; an instrumental dating from the late 1980s or early 1990s titled "Tired Old Man" (apparently referring to the character) has sometimes been said to derive from the long-mooted third entry in the series.

See also


Mark of the Mole
Part One of The Mole Trilogy
(1981)
The Mole Trilogy
(1981-1985)

Cast of Characters
Mohelmot · Chubs (Innisfree · The Scientist) · The Observer
Darkness · The Evil Disposer
Cross (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" · "Scent of Mint" · 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")

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