1983 in a limited quantity of 250. Ralph Years (1981 - 1987) Songs For Swinging Larvae (1980 - 1981) Whilst on Holiday in San Francisco, Brian Poole visited 444 Grove Street, the headquarters of Ralph Records and The Residents. Whilst there, Poole unknowingly met with a member of The Residents, and gave him copy of Struve & Sneff. The Resident listened to the first three tracks, and told him it was excellent. Shortly afterwards, the two began a mail correspondence, where The Resident expressed interest in signing the band to Ralph. During these correspondences, the duo recorded and sent Ralph Records two demo tapes, Songs For The Surgery recorded from November 1979 to Mid 1980, and Hats Off, Gentlemen! completed in Autumn of 1980. These, combined with Struve & Sneff, were enough for Ralph, and Jay Clem, representative for the label, was sent to England to sign them. After this, the two started working on their first LP, Songs For Swinging Larvae, recording and writing new songs for it throughout late 1980, as well as overdubbing material from their Ralph demos. The album was finished in November 1980, and production on its follow up, Arabic Yodeling, began almost immediately afterwards in December. Lyrically, the album was inspired by classical European literature, with Medical Man being a direct adaption of the first chapter of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Sign of the Four, Spratt's Medium being inspired by Samuel Beckett's Endgame and Ow! Stew the Red Shoe! taking lyrics from four short stories by Beckett found in a collection titled 'First Love'. The album title is a play on Frank Sinatra's Songs For Swinging Lovers. Prior to the album's release, Renaldo & The Loaf flew to San Francisco in late February to film their Songs For Swinging Larvae music video in March. The idea was originally to film a video for 'Is Guava A Donut?', but Ralph suggested making the video a narrative about a recent abduction story. The video, directed by Graeme Whifer, would combine three songs recorded during the album's sessions, Spratt’s Medium, Lime Jelly Grass, and an outtake, Melvyn’s Repose. They knew the video would be controversial, but thought it would get them noticed. After the video was completed The Residents invited the duo to their studio, where they jammed. After the session, The Residents suggested that they record an album together in the remaining three days of their