The Spot (song)

"The Spot" is a song produced by The Residents, which served as the A-Side to Snakefinger's debut single, who co-wrote the song. The song later formed the lyrical basis for The Residents' own "I Can't Get No Spot," which first appeared on the 2009 digital rarities compilation El Año Del Muerto. The original recording of "The Spot" also appeared on the 1979 Residents sampler LP Please Do Not Steal It!.

Randy Rose performed guest vocals on Už Jsme Doma's October 20th 2010 live performance of the song, as well as 11 other songs from Residents albums, later released on the Moravian Meeting album.

Background

Recording

Following release of Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers' second and final album in 1974, frontman and songwriter Philip 'Snakefinger' Lithman returned to the United States to continue his work with The Residents. Concurrently, he recorded several demo tapes in an attempt to court major labels as a straight rock act, "Hollywood Blues" in 1976 (for Warner Bros,) and "Wanderers Return" in 1977 (for RCA.) In 1978, Lithman asked The Residents if he could use their El Ralpho studio to record a new tape; The Residents agreed, but only if he would "work with them on a Residents sounding song." .

The session for "The Spot" took place over one day in May 1978 (or June-July), during the Buster & Glen sessions, with the recording of his "Mary Anne" demo happening in April. The song was based on an absentminded riff created by Lithman, with lyrics adapted from an earlier piece called "The Stain," which was featured in The Residents' Duck Stab/Buster & Glen notebook, decades later.

The song was produced by The Residents, who accompany Lithman on synthesisers, with drums performed by Don Jackovich; Jackovich had collaborated with The Residents on three separate occasions prior, on the 1976 tracks "Loser ≅ Weed," "Six Things to a Cycle" and their debut live performance at Rather Ripped Records, which also featured Snakefinger.

Snakefinger said "The Spot" was "My first attempt at going out there and trying something completely new and completely different. It was a minor hit in England and it basically was the thing that inspired me to keep on trying to keep taking it further out."

Release

After "much persuasion," "The Spot" was released as the A-Side to Snakefinger's debut single in August of 1978, Snakefinger was among the first artists to be signed to Ralph Records, and the second to be given a multi-release recording contract. The song went to #1 in the Sounds Magazine New Wave singles chart.

In March of 1979, the recording appeared on The Residents sampler LP, Please Do Not Steal It!, and was later included on the 2016 CD release of Snakefinger's debut album Chewing Hides The Sound, alongside other recordings from this period.

Legacy

Snakefinger performed "The Spot" as the encore to his live shows between 1979 and 1982, and it appeared on the 'best of' album A Collection Of Songs Written And Produced With The Residents (1988), as well as the rarities compilations Against the Grain (1983) and Who Do You Love (2020).

A version of the song entirely by The Residents titled "I Can't Get No Spot" appeared on the 2009 rarities compilation album El Año Del Muerto; the recording features the same instrumental as their 1993 track "The Cry Of A Crow," released shortly after the Our Finest Flowers CD, which focused on creating new songs from old material.

A cover of "The Spot" record by Czech artist Miroslav Wanek lead group FPB, was included on their 2008 boxset Kniha Přání A Stížností, with Wanek performing the song at a release party for the boxset with Už Jsme Doma. Two years, later Už Jsme Doma performed the song (as well as its B-Side) at a Residents art exhibition, during a set with Randy Rose (singer for The Residents) performing lead vocals for the group. This version later appeared on the live album Moravian Meeting, with studio overdubs.

American musician Ty Segall called "The Spot" one of his favourite songs in a 2024 interview, "[Snakefinger's] a really big influence on me as a songwriter and a guitarist in aesthetics and sonics. That record is just great, start to finish."

Lyrics

Transcribed from the single's back sleeve.

A pox upon a chicken or a fight about a bear
Would not be worse that what I've seen and what I have to wear
It first appeared on my birthday beneath an empty cocktail tray
I scrubbed but found to my dismay a spot that would not go away

I got... the spot... the spot... the spot...

"Oh what the hell" I seemed to say
And laughed a little bit
But when I saw the spot had moved
I nearly had a fit!
A fever froze me in my place when then I found it on my face
Curdling my blood I screamed
"Be gone or be some heinous dream!"

I got... the spot... the spot... the spot...

Oblong it interacted with my follicles of hair
And now it grows in magnitude and sits upon a chair
It sleeps upon my only shirt and smiles at me when I get hurt
I can't believe that blotch is there!
But still I cover it with care
I got... the spot... the spot... the spot

Credits

• Written by Snakefinger, The Residents
• Snakefinger Lithman: vocals, guitars
• Don Jackovich: Drums
• The Residents: synthesisers
• Produced by The Residents
• Recorded at El Ralpho Studios, San Francisco

Releases

(Residents involved versions only)

• Snakefinger - "The Spot" / "Smelly Tongues"
• The Residents - Please Do Not Steal It! / Nibbles (1979)
• Various Artists - Best Of Ralph
• Snakefinger - Against The Grain (1983)
• Various Artists - 17x7 The Ralph Singles
• Snakefinger - A Collection Of Songs Written And Produced With The Residents (1988)
• The Residents - El Año Del Muerto (2009)
• Snakefinger - Chewing Hides The Sound (2016)
• Už Jsme Doma & Randy - Moravian Meeting (2020)
• Snakefinger - Who Do You Love (B-Sides & Rarities) (2020)