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"I don't know what I'm writing about, I'm just writing. That's all I can say about it really." (Mark E. Smith, Melody Maker)

This site is dedicated to annotating the lyrics of the Fall (the vast majority of which are written by Mark E. Smith), and corrections and suggestions are always very welcome. A quick word about interpretation: many of the Fall's lyrics are resistant to a single reading, and none of the interpretations offered here are meant to be the final word or claim to be the only correct way to understand a lyric. I also encourage readers to freely use the comment section below each song to expound on the matter in any direction they choose, as well as to offer suggestions and corrections.  

My primary source for these lyrics is The Fall Online. I have altered the lyrics when my ears contradict the testimony of the transcriptions there. 

At the bottom of the page for each song, there is a section entitled "More Information." The first link there will take you to Fall Tracks A-Z on the Reformation site, which gives all recording information and lists every time each song has been played live, and also provides a lot of helpful commentary, some of which I have incorporated into my notes. 

This site can be used as a resource for tracking down references in Fall lyrics, or a place to browse. However, anyone specifically interested in my interpretation of Fall lyrics should begin by reading the notes to "New Puritan."

I would like to acknowledge The Annotated Grateful Dead, which was the first site of its kind and inspired me to do something similar with the Fall. If you get tired of listening to the Fall, go listen to the Grateful Dead--it's good for you.

"There are too many things nowadays where people think to analyze is the be all and end all of everything and if you can't analyze it something's wrong. People are always analyzing things. You don't find out things just by knowing everything." (Mark E. Smith, Hide (?) Fanzine)

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