And This Day

Lyrics

(1)

Everywhere
Everywhere
Everywhere
Everywhere

And this day
No matter what and never or who fills baskets or who's just there
You show me the bloody poor bores
You show me the bloody poor bores
And this day
And this day
The surroundings are screaming on the roads
The surroundings are screaming on the roads
So you even mistrust your own feelings
And this day
And this day
And this day
No matter what never who fills baskets or who's just there
The whole Earth shudders
And this day
And this day
Everywhere just no fucking respite for us here, Jim Kidder? (2)
And this day
Who are the translators?
And this day

And this day
And this day
Seen from a bottom glass phutt cig (3)

And this day
The old feelings came back
[?]
Everywhere just no fucking respite for us here Jim Kidder
And this day
[?]
And this day
The whole Earth shudders
The surroundings are screaming on the roads
You even mistrust your own feelings
And this day
The old feelings came back

Big basket full s'-park s'-mart (4)
And this day
The old feelings came back
Everywhere just no fucking respite for us John Kidder

And this day
And this day
No matter what and never or who fills baskets or who's just there
Who are the translators?
Who are the translators?
The body's like a US football player's
Blades make presence felt
Worked 3 weeks nearly full solid

And this day
And this day
My shoulder feels like it's got a socket and it [?]
It will soon heal up
And this day
The old feelings came back
Everywhere just no fucking respite for us here John Kidder
And this day
The whole Earth shudders
The surroundings are screaming on the roads
The surroundings are screaming on the roads
You even mistrust your own feelings
And the greyer B-1 Glandel area (5)
Who are the translators?
Who are the translators?

[?]
And this day
The old feelings came back
Take a [?] area
Big fat skinful s-plug s-mart [?] brain slag
And this day
And this day
[?]
And this day
And this day
And this day

And this day
And this day
And this day
And this day
Everywhere
Everywhere
Everywhere
Everywhere
Everywhere just no fucking respite for us here John Kidder

 


Notes

1. A controversial song among Fall fans; it is passionately defended by some but dismissed as boringly repetitive and too long by others. MES himself once remarked that it "finishes off a lot of audiences." The song is built on a repeating riff. The version on Hex Enduction Hour was reportedly edited from a 25-minute rendition to its current length of 10:18, which was calculated to make the album exactly one hour long. The 15-minute live version from the Hammersmith on the compilation Hip Priests and Kamerads (3-25-1982) is considered by some fans to be the definitive reading of the song; it is cleaner-sounding, and the lyrics are more discernable than on the studio version. The mysterious "rosso-rosso" makes an appearance in the lyrics to the latter version, which also features guest vocals from Alan (Alana) Pillay. Pillay, a gender-bending actor and musician, often supported the Fall in this period with his/her band, the I Scream Pleasures.  

Robert: on the back cover of the album MES calls this track a "Desperate attempt to make bouncy good of two drum kit line-up."

 

Dan has transcribed the note from back cover of Hex:
 


Desperate attempt to make bouncy good of 2 drum kit line-up. "The 3 days I had off. Are just a bank of fog, seen thru a glass bottom phutt cig." Watch out for lyrically related video.

Paul Hanley, in Have a Bleedin Guess, tells us to have a bleedin guess:

(p.104):
 


The lyric is the aural equivalent of Hex's sleeve, its seemingly random non-sequiturs eventually building a complete picture that's probably saying something, but is in no mood to reveal exactly what. The whole lyric feels so fragmented it's entirely possible Mark's making it up as he goes along, an example of his previously referenced confession that sometimes 'the words just come off the top of my head'. But if he is ad-libbing, quite what such lines as 'The surroundings are screaming on the roads', 'the body's like a U.S. football player's' and 'no matter what and never who fills baskets' tell us about his preoccupations at the time is anyone's guess. 'Who are the translators?' Braver people than me, that's for sure.

Thanks to Dan for running down these passages, here and elsewhere.

^

2. I have not determined whom, if anyone, "Jim Kidder" may have been. Lee Thacker suggests, in a bit of a speculative leap, that MES may have been thinkin of the movie The Amityville Horror which features James Brolin and Margot Kidder. Of course, even if he was, there is no way to confirm something like that, but it's a thought where one was lacking...

And Dan has uncovered lyrics where it's given as "John Kidder"...

 

A copy of the press release/handout for Hex has turned up.

It contains the following, labelled a "text excerpt from And This Day:
 

And this day no matter what and never or who fills baskets or
who's just there, the whole earth shudders
You show us the bloody poor bores/The surroundings are screaming on the roads, so you even mistrust your own feelings
And this day, the old feelings came back,
Big basket full s'-park s'-mart
Everywhere just no fucking respite for us here, John kidder
And this day, it will soon heal up

And, as seen in the transcription below, it sounds like he sings "John" on certain interations.

^

3. From the Fall online forum, Aubrey the Cat's take on this lyric:

I took it to mean something like the bottom of a beer glass that had been used for putting out cigarettes (the phutt a cigarette will make when dropped into liquid). The person doesn't realise, and lifts the glass to drink, etc.

I can't remember (if I ever knew) the context, but it seems to be based on a real event.

^

4. Dan points out this may be "supermart" (an alternate term for supermarket) and the "baskets" may have to do with this...Bazhdaddy speculates that Sedgley Park Supermarket, whatever that is, could be our reference. And, he suspects a play on "spark/smart," invoking "Underground Medicin": 

A spark inside
Ten percent that I hide

etc.

^

5. No place named "Glandel" seems to exist (or anything likely to be the reference with any spelling variations I tried), if that is indeed the lyric. There are roads designated "B-1" in Germany and Northern Ireland. There is a UK company that sells pre-cast concrete (since 1969) called "Glandel." 

Martin points out that this seems to echo "the vitamin B glandular show" in "Fortress."

In this vein, Bazhdaddy suggests this may be a wrong/lazy spelling of "glandule," which denotes a small gland. And Mitt Dem points out that glandel is Swedish for gland.

^

More Information

And This Day: Fall Tracks A-Z

The Story of the Fall: 1982

 

Handwritten lyrics (presumably by MES) headed "And This Day" in the orange lyrics book:

The red chicken claw in snow  (i)
Outside 'The Star of India'
Compounds the 'council's' lack of salt + sand,
Reminds of past blunders.

The body's like a U.S. football players
Blades make presence felt.

Worked 3 weeks nearly full solid
Got cut on finger from a steel tripod
There's a plaster on it and it will
Soon heal over.

And this day and no matter what and never
And who fills baskets or who's just there
The whole Earth shudders.
Who are the translators?
You show me the bloody poor bores
And this day the surroundings are 
Screaming on the roads
So Y'even mistrust your own feelings
And in the greyer B.1 Glandel area
The ten days I had off are just a bank
Of fog.And this day seen from a glass.

 

i. This could refer to Bumblefoot, a condition which leaves red spots on chickens' claws (thanks to John Kedward).

 

^

Comments (58)

dannyno
  • 1. dannyno | 10/04/2013
In the orange Lough Press Fall lyrics book, on the inside back cover is a handwritten lyric sheet headed "And This Day":


The red chicken claw in snow
Outside 'The Star of India'
Compounds the 'council's' lack of salt + sand,
Reminds of past blunders.

The body's like a U.S. football players
Blades make presence felt.

Worked 3 weeks nearly full solid
Got cut on finger from a steel tripod
There's a plaster on it and it will
Soon heal over.

And this day and no matter what and never
[blot] who fills baskets or who's just there
The whole Earth shudders.
Who are the translators?
You show me the bloody poor bores
And this day the surroundings are
Screaming on the roads
So Y'even mistrust your own feelings
And in the greyer B.1 Glandel area
The ten days I had off are just a bank
Of fog.And this day seen from a glass.
Mark
  • 2. Mark | 20/05/2014
"Got cut on finger from a steel tripod/There's a plaster on it and it will/Soon heal over." <-- "Plaster On The Hands"?
Martin
  • 3. Martin | 30/05/2014
The line "...the greyer B-1 Glandel area"echoes, to a point, this line in "Fortress"

"the vitamin B glandular show..."

I've been googling various sites to see direct connections between vitamin B1 and various glandular disorders and will report back if anything conclusive comes up.
Antoine
  • 4. Antoine | 24/05/2016
I had a thought along the same lines as Martin, just read his comment now. This is (as always) very impressionistic but there's something interesting to "Greyer B-1 glandAL area," strong brain imagery, an organ of course but the obvious grey matter thing is there, B-1 could mean "main brain" or something in Smith's personal word-logic (eg facing up to the sea is a V. hard thing, etc) and obviously there's glands, Pituitary, etc... That somewhat loopy interpretation does make rather a lot of sense (I think...) with the full original passage especially:

"And in the greyer B.1 Glandal area, the ten days I had off are just a bank of fog. and this day seen from a glass"

And even the updated one:

"You even mistrust your own feelings and (he might be saying "in") the greyer B-1 Glandal area"

Maybe Glandel was just a drunken scrawl typo on the lyric sheet.... Well, crackpot theory in any case!
Mike Watts
  • 5. Mike Watts | 01/12/2017
I wonder if Jim Kidder and No Joe (no joke?) are related in some way, does MES weave prankster characters thru his verses?
bzfgt
  • 6. bzfgt (link) | 09/12/2017
What is No Joe from?
dannyno
  • 7. dannyno | 09/12/2017
Who Makes The Nazis?, depending how you read the line.
James
  • 8. James | 28/01/2018
Comments 3 and 4 - could this be relevant? (from Wikipedia)

Korsakoff's syndrome is an amnestic disorder caused by thiamine deficiency usually associated with prolonged ingestion of alcohol. It is rare among other people but some cases have been observed after bariatric surgeries, when deficiency was not prevented by use of nutritional supplements. This neurological disorder is caused by a lack of thiamine (vitamin B1) in the brain, and is also often exacerbated by the neurotoxic effects of alcohol.
bzfgt
  • 9. bzfgt (link) | 12/02/2018
Dan, is that presumably in MES's hand in the orange book? I've been napping on this one...
bzfgt
  • 10. bzfgt (link) | 12/02/2018
James, it certainly could be, although I feel like we're missing some key ingredient here.
dannyno
  • 11. dannyno | 18/02/2018
comment #9: it is in handwriting in the orange book, presumably MES's (but I don't know that for certain).
Lee Thacker
  • 12. Lee Thacker | 21/02/2018
Could the 'Jim/Kidder' (note the forward slash) be a reference to this (knowing how much MES loved his 'horror' stuff...) 'James' and 'Kidder' reference: 'The Amityville Horror is a 1979 American supernatural horror film based on Jay Anson's book of the same name (1977). Directed by Stuart Rosenberg, it features James Brolin and Margot Kidder.'
Also, I always heard 'Prole art translators' rather than 'Who are the translators?', referring to people trying to interpret the lyrics to 'Prole Art Threat'.
bzfgt
  • 13. bzfgt (link) | 24/02/2018
Lee, I like the thoughts you have thunken. I would imagine "prole art translators" (which I am now listening for) would have a broader application than the song "Prole Art Threat," no? Perhaps people who try to interpret prole art, rather than just "Prole Art Threat"?
bzfgt
  • 14. bzfgt (link) | 24/02/2018
But it sounds like "Who are the translators?" to me still...
dannyno
  • 15. dannyno | 04/03/2018
"So you even mistrust your own feelings"

There's an Alcoholics Anonymous questionnaire about the impact of alcoholism on families, in which one of the questions is "Do you mistrust your own feelings and feelings expressed by others?" But I haven't found a source for this that is older than the early 1980s.
dannyno
  • 16. dannyno | 04/03/2018
Comment #14:

Yeah, I can't hear anything other than "Who are the translators?"

"Jim Kidder", by the way, and I'm not certain that it is "Jim Kidder" at all, tends to sound more like a plural: "Jim Kidders".
dannyno
  • 17. dannyno | 02/04/2018
A copy of the press release/handout for Hex has turned up.

It contains the following, labelled a "text excerpt from And This Day:

And this day no matter what and never or who fills baskets or
who's just there, the whole earth shudders
You show us the bloody poor bores/The surroundings are screaming on the roads, so you even mistrust your own feelings
And this day, the old feelings came back,
Big basket full s'-park s'-mart
Everywhere just no fucking respite for us here, John kidder
And this day, it will soon heal up


Maybe no quite what we actually here on record, but very interesting.
bzfgt
  • 18. bzfgt (link) | 07/04/2018
Could it be "John Kidder" on the record?

And, has no one noticed "B.1 Glandel area? What is that, and doesn't it seem awfully close to "Vitamin B glandular hour?" As in "glandular show"? Isn't B1 a B vitamin? I see a English "Glandel" concrete company, but no Glandel area in England, according to Google....
bzfgt
  • 19. bzfgt (link) | 07/04/2018
THere's too many syllables in that "Jim Kidder" part
bzfgt
  • 20. bzfgt (link) | 07/04/2018
No there's not
bzfgt
  • 21. bzfgt (link) | 07/04/2018
OK, basket s'mart plugged right in where a line was previously opaque
bzfgt
  • 22. bzfgt (link) | 07/04/2018
I can't tell what he's saying in that "Glandel" part but maybe someone with better ears can listen and keep in mind the possible "Fortress" linkage...
Robert
  • 23. Robert | 10/04/2018
It is perhaps notable that on the back cover of the album MES calls this track a "Desperate attempt to make bouncy good of two drum kit line-up."
John Kedward
  • 24. John Kedward | 14/04/2018
A real shame the album version sounds so thin. I saw them do this live in 1982 at PNL Holloway and it was fantastic pulsating performance from the 2 drummers and the organ thing. It went on for so long MES went away for awhile (for a drink probably) Only coming back to finish the song after a long interval. It's hard to know what he's ranting about, but when he did the song, he did it with an intensity. I remember especially, the 'No fucking respite' haha. Red chicken claw is a symptom of a disease from poor housing with chickens. Maybe it's kind of symbolic of modern urban life and the inadequacy of private and council rented (project) housing The Star of India sounds like a restaurant maybe they had bought diseased chickens and ulitimately affected the mental outlook of the community Who knows? Anyway it was great experience and it's the one song I remember from that night.
bzfgt
  • 25. bzfgt (link) | 22/04/2018
Robert--absolutely notable, thanks
bzfgt
  • 26. bzfgt (link) | 05/07/2018
Thanks for the excellent comment, John
dannyno
  • 27. dannyno | 16/12/2018
It's just leapt out at me that there is something in the lyric that suggests supermarkets or grocery stores.

"Who fills baskets" - supermarket/groceries baskets?

"s'-park s'-mart" - "Supermart"?

From Chambers' Dictionary:


supermarket /soo' or sū'pər-mär-kit/

noun

A large, mainly self-service, retail store selling food and other household goods (sometimes shortened to su'permart)


But, er, that's all I have.
nutterwain
  • 28. nutterwain | 10/01/2019
Could it just simply be kidder as in 'you can't kid a kidder?
bzfgt
  • 29. bzfgt (link) | 19/01/2019
Yeah could be but I don;t know what to do with it, I guess Supermart should be noted...
dannyno
  • 30. dannyno | 23/01/2019
The full annotation for the song from the back cover of Hex is:


Desperate attempt to make bouncy good of 2 drunk kit line-up. "The 3 days I had off. Are just a bank of fog, seen thru a glass bottom phutt cig." Watch out for lyrically related video.


cf comment 23, which partially quotes this.
bzfgt
  • 31. bzfgt (link) | 26/01/2019
Dan is "drunk kit" a typo or is it the clang method and Robert had it wrong? I'm assuming the former until you tell me otherwise.
dannyno
  • 32. dannyno | 26/01/2019
Oops, sorry, yes, a typo.

Should be "drum kit".

"Drunk kit" seems appropriate, somehow.

Dan
Bazhdaddy
  • 33. Bazhdaddy | 04/02/2019
S'park s'mart = Sedgely Park supermarket?
Glandel = Glandule?
Bazhdaddy
  • 34. Bazhdaddy | 04/02/2019
With a play on the 'spark' inside that makes him 'smart'
bzfgt
  • 35. bzfgt (link) | 16/02/2019
Oo, nice thought with the "spark." I don't know from Sedgely parks but seems reasonable. "Glandule" seems rather likely, doesn't it? Don't we have a handwritten fragment somewhere? I have to check.
bzfgt
  • 36. bzfgt (link) | 16/02/2019
OK, Comment one. SO a note, not a revision. Also, B1.
bzfgt
  • 37. bzfgt (link) | 16/03/2019
Anyone want to volunteer to transcribe Leigh Bowery's rap from the HPAK version?
dannyno
  • 38. dannyno | 08/06/2019
From Pink Proles and Psychological Purple, by Ewald Braunsteiner, translated by Jakob Boysen of Hamburg for The Biggest Library Yet #13 (October 1998). Source described only as "German magazine article from July 1981".


I also like John Cale, I really like the album 'Helen of Troy' , particularly one track on it: 'Sudden Death'.


I tracked the source down, it's from the German monthly music magazine Sounds (1966-1983). It was originally published under the title Pink Proleten und psychologischer Purpur in issue #149, July 1981.

See my comment #83 in the entry for "New Puritan" here on Annotated Fall for some further info/images re magazine.

Anyway, if you listen to the lyrics to Cale's Sudden Death, you'll hear this:


Then the ships were leaving port full of tourists in disguise
They said they'd seen quite enough
Didn't matter who was dead or who was alive or who'd done what
They just wanted to get away from sudden death


That third line there is somewhat reminiscent of the various permutations of this line from And This Day:


No matter what and never who fills baskets or who's just there


At any rate, it feels reminiscent to me. Um.
bzfgt
  • 39. bzfgt (link) | 29/06/2019
Yeah, maybe. I'll not contest "reminiscent."
duncan goddard
  • 40. duncan goddard | 05/11/2019
"who are the transistors?" courtesy of pillay on the kamerad live version, & also the troublesome n***** again.
seems like pillay had some of the lyrics either first-hand or written down from MES as they're delivered consistent with his own delivery earlier in the performance.
duncan goddard
  • 41. duncan goddard | 05/11/2019
don't know much about pillay, but "trans sisters" might be being suggested.
dannyno
  • 42. dannyno | 27/12/2019
Paul Hanley, Have a Bleedin Guess (p.104):


The lyric is the aural equivalent of Hex's sleeve, its seemingly random non-sequiturs eventually building a complete picture that's probably saying something, but is in no mood to reveal exactly what. The whole lyric feels so fragmented it's entirely possible Mark's making it up as he goes along, an example of his previously referenced confession that sometimes 'the words just come off the top of my head'. But if he is ad-libbing, quite what such lines as 'The surroundings are screaming on the roads', 'the body's like a U.S. football player's' and 'no matter what and never who fills baskets' tell us about his preoccupations at the time is anyone's guess. 'Who are the translators?' Braver people than me, that's for sure.
dannyno
  • 43. dannyno | 25/06/2020
The press release referred to;

https://thefall.org/gigography/image/1982-03_Hex-press-2-sm.jpg
namename
  • 44. namename | 25/09/2020
I'm like 90% sure that the second time "No matter what and never or who [...] baskets or who's just there" is sung, the word "fills" changes to "throws".
namename
  • 45. namename | 25/09/2020
Also, I'm (way) less sure about this one, but maybe "The ten days I had off are just a bank of fog" is actually "The few[b][/b] days I had off are just a bank of fog". Idk, that's the impression I'm getting.
bzfgt
  • 46. bzfgt (link) | 27/09/2020
44: first time sounds like it could be either to me, and the second one sounded like "fills" to me...crap
Robert Meldrum
  • 47. Robert Meldrum | 28/09/2020
My C.D. had the 25 min version of this song.
dannyno
  • 48. dannyno | 04/10/2020
Comment #47: your C.D. of what? There's no known official release with the 25 minute version. There's 15+ minutes on Hip Priest and Kamerads, which is from Hammersmith Palais, 25 March 1982. I've never heard a recording of it that's longer than that. Are you saying you've got the pre-edited studio recording of the version that ended up on Hex?
DQ
  • 49. DQ | 23/12/2020
I think there should be an "or" before each "who fills baskets", as in the press release in note 2. I see the orange lyrics book has "and", but what I hear is closer to "or". Either way, there's definitely a conjunction of some kind there.
bzfgt
  • 50. bzfgt (link) | 16/01/2021
Doesn't seem to be there the second time, the first time probably, Anyway this is a mess, Jim/John Kidder got to be wrong among other things
Mitt Dem
  • 51. Mitt Dem | 21/01/2021
Star of India was an Indian restaurant on Oxford Rd in Manchester, building demolished about 15 yrs ago. 5 mins from Manchester Town Hall (council's lack of salt?). Further along the road was the BBC.
Mitt Dem
  • 52. Mitt Dem | 21/01/2021
Also, I seem to think Kidder was just a term of address in 80s Manchester, a bit like 'mate' now. Y'alright, kidder? Like, our kid. So the name John or Jim may be much of a muchness.
Mitt Dem
  • 53. Mitt Dem | 21/01/2021
And glandel appears to be Swedish for gland.
pall nonuna
  • 54. pall nonuna | 25/12/2021
"and this day" always struck me as a play on "Agnus Dei" from Roman Catholic mass.

it could relate to the lyric:
"Everywhere just no fucking respite for us here, Jim Kidder?"

Latin:
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.

English:
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnus_Dei)

Asking for mercy, but there is no mercy—"no fucking respite"—for them

To go further: if the name is "John Kidder" and "Kidder" was indeed slang for mate, then John Kidder could be a familiar-sounding aside to John the Baptist.

There is also a painting - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnus_Dei_(Zurbarán) - and the note here about "Its repeated use is to symbolise the trussed nature of the guilty character who has put himself on the path to perdition", while referring to programs well after this song, would still have similar meaning when the song was written.
MartinM
  • 55. MartinM | 28/07/2022
re: pall nonuna/Agnus Dei/John Kidder-John the Baptist
this rings true
+
'who fills the baskets or who's just there' - Christ feeding the 5000?
no respite from sin
One reading of the whole song is that it is Christ resurrected getting his head together in the here and now and thinking what a shitshow.
Crucifixion/resurrection - the whole world shuddered
Shoulder healed. Unhappy with the translators of his legacy (religions etc). Looking to feed the multitudes from Supermarket basket etc.
Old feelings come back - it was miserable and difficult pre-Crucifixion and its just as bad now
John
  • 56. John | 29/12/2022
Agree with Mitt Dem's comment at 52, - it was also used in that context in Teesside when I was growing up, and by Terry in 'Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'
Scott
  • 57. Scott | 06/04/2023
One grey B1 area I can think of is Birmingham City Centre
Mark Oliver
  • 58. Mark Oliver | 20/09/2023
I was going to make the point about 'Kidder' being a term of greeting (cf. 'Youth' or 'Youther' in Stoke), then I saw others had beaten me to it... Poo.

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