Auto-Tech Pilot

Lyrics

(1)

Last night I heard 3 real loud ricochets
From the police tech center at the top of my street (2)
And then the morning after, brass band in unison
Jumping, shouting, all 3000  (2)
Meanwhile I've been broke in twice
And had a maniac at door, swearing, 12:05 AM

And I really think this computer thing is getting out of hand
And I think this tech pilot isn't going to land

Three quarters of mail destined for bin
Time to put an end, to the extend
Of the boffin (3)
Time we kick this
Compute garbage in, garbage out (4)
And time to put a cap on this
With a brain, nice habit
And I'm thinking of...

(Town is deserted
All security's rightful of the perverted)

Isn't gonna land

From its purgatory banned
Auto tech pilot
Isn't gonna land
Jet isn't gonna land
Jet isn't gonna land
Took its instant pilot
Isn't coming down
Isn't gonna land
Isn't coming down
Isn't gonna land (5)
Auto tech pilot
Isn't gonna land

 

 

Notes

1. The image of an "auto-tech pilot" suggests an image of technology as a force that has become more or less autonomous of human control. I'm unsure how the break-in and the brass band in the first verse connect to all this, however. A rumor persists that Miles Davis heard this song and decided he wanted to work with the Fall; however, there doesn't seem to be any truth to it.

Dan points out that "'Auto Tech Pilot' seems to be one of the local newspaper headlines in the artwork of the Mr Pharmacist single." When you go to the link, you have to click on the cover to see all the associated art work:

DISCOGS: Mr. Pharmacist

Dan comments: "Perhaps it was the headline of a story about the kind of thing in the song - something went wrong. But also 'pilot' may mean 'trial' - I mean, a test. So it may have been an unrelated story, such as about the announcement of a trial of some new car technology, the headline of which inspired MES."

"Autotech" was an international automotive technology exhibition held at the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre in October 1985 (Dan).

^

2. This may refer to the Sedgley Police training facility in Prestwich, which seems to be more or less in the proper location. The Greater Manchester Police Band is a large and very adept group of musicians, but certainly they cannot number 3,000, which would be almost half the force. The song, which is in part a cautionary screed against the hegemonic ubiquity of technology, also seems to be an excuse for MES to grouse about his local police. However, if we take it a little more seriously (which is always a good idea, as MES often seems petty at first blush, but there is almost always more happening than at first meets the eye), the song seems to be comparing the harmonious order of a highly administered society (which is in that sense doubly technological, run with and often by machines and at the same time run, often explicitly understood, and generally treated as a machine) with the concomitant, and often simulataneous, violence and disorder that attends such a society. Both kinds of phenomenon occur at many scales and in various respects, and often the order is the violence rather than a side effect. The contrast between the violent and technologically enhanced policing techniques by night and the riotous yet (literally and figuratively) harmonious work of the band the next day is, in fact, a figure that expresses this tension. Danny points below out that "The song contrasts the disturbances caused by the police (firearms/band) with the criminality and anti-social behaviour experienced by MES/narrator" (and I think he may also mean "compares" where he says "contrasts"). But, as we can see, the interlocked complicitly of order and disorder that characterizes the role of advanced technology in serving, administering, and in many respects supplanting society can already be seen in the vignettes of the police MES provides. 

^

3. "Boffin" is British slang for a person who is a technical researcher or technician, or, more generally, someone with specialized knowledge.

^

4. "Garbage In, Garbage Out" (or "GIGO") is a famous slogan that was especially popular among early computer programmers. It was coined in 1963, and popularized by George Fuechsel, an IBM instructor. It has also been extended from the sphere of computer programming to describe human decision making, an example of how humans increasingly understand themselves on the model of a computer.  

^

5.  The vocal is double-tracked here, and "isn't gonna land" and "isn't coming down" are sung simultaneously.

^

Comments (27)

dannyno
  • 1. dannyno | 23/05/2013
I've often wondered if there is any connection between this song and the TV programme "Airwolf", about a high-tech helicopter, which ran in the mid 1980s.

Dan
dannyno
  • 2. dannyno | 25/05/2013
"Three quarters of mail destined for beer"

Destined for bin, is what it is.

Dan
dannyno
  • 3. dannyno | 25/05/2013
"the police tech center at the top of my street"

Probably refers to the Sedgley Park police training facility (owned by Greater Manchester Police since 1979): http://www.gmp.police.uk/trainingpages/17662F86DAA370BD802573E900328826 and

Greater Manchester police do have their own band: http://www.gmp.police.uk/content/section.html?readform&s=6FDB8C5C34B2BFEC80257A0000461E4A

The song contrasts the disturbances caused by the police (firearms/band) with the criminality and anti-social behaviour experienced by MES/narrator.
dannyno
  • 4. dannyno | 25/05/2013
perhaps also worth noting some news stories from the period. The song was released in September 1986.

1986 was the year of the Challenger space shuttle disaster (January).

In June 1986, John Stalker (deputy chief constable of Greater Manchester police) was suspended and removed from the inquiry into the RUC's alleged shoot to kill policy in Northern Ireland. He was cleared and returned to work but did not finish the work of the inquiry, the report of which was never published.

There was the US bombing of Libya in revenge for the bombing of a TWA airline.

In August came the news that Boeing were to introduce the "microwave landing system".
bzfgt
  • 5. bzfgt | 02/02/2014
I can't believe this has been sitting there all this time with the Lyrics Parade's "time we cake this" and nobody's called me on it...
bzfgt
  • 6. bzfgt | 02/02/2014
Danny, this link:

"robably refers to the Sedgley Park police training facility (owned by Greater Manchester Police since 1979): http://www.gmp.police.uk/trainingpages/17662F86DAA370BD802573E900328826"

does not work, but currently this one is working:

http://www.gmp.police.uk/content/section.html?readform&s=026EFA3ADED371C880257C4A0041156C
bzfgt
  • 7. bzfgt | 02/02/2014
Any idea why he'd call SP a "tech center," though?
bzfgt
  • 8. bzfgt | 02/02/2014
Because footnotes are often ephemeral, I didn't want to put this in the notes, but for your pleasure here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFVe4sQrxKM
dannyno
  • 9. dannyno | 19/07/2017
"auto tech pilot" seems to be one of the local newspaper headlines in the artwork of the Mr Pharmacist single.

https://www.discogs.com/Fall-Mr-Pharmacist/release/372022

Perhaps it was the headline of a story about the kind of thing in the song - something went wrong. But also "pilot" may mean "trial" - I mean, a test. So it may have been an unrelated story, such as about the announcement of a trial of some new car technology, the headline of which inspired MES.
bzfgt
  • 10. bzfgt (link) | 22/07/2017
I can scarcely believe one of us has just noticed that^
dannyno
  • 11. dannyno | 22/07/2017
It's not a new observation. But it's one of those things where I kind of assume it will already be in the notes here, but turns out not to be.
dannyno
  • 12. dannyno | 22/07/2017
Another association to note:

"Autotech" was an international automotive technology exhibition held at the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre in October 1985.
Joseph Mullaney
  • 13. Joseph Mullaney | 17/11/2017
It should be:
Time to put an end, to the extent
Of the boffin

Not 'bump men'
bzfgt
  • 14. bzfgt (link) | 02/12/2017
I hope you're right, "bump men" is awful. About to check.
bzfgt
  • 15. bzfgt (link) | 02/12/2017
Hell yeah, I'm on board
dannyno
  • 16. dannyno | 15/07/2018
"Boffin" definitely better than "bump men", and "cake" does sound more like "kick".

But I still hear "extend" rather than "extent".
John
  • 17. John | 22/03/2019
The "police tech centre" at Sedgley Park is also referred to in 2nd Dark Age.
Bazhdaddy
  • 18. Bazhdaddy | 28/03/2019
Suggestions;

The second vocal at 2.33 sounds like;
"Town is deserted, all securities rightful of the perverted"

Main vocal at this point "Then, time to put a cover on this, with no brain - re -MiG habit"

from 02:42;
Isn't commandand
from it's purgatory band
Auto tech pilot
Isn't gonna land
Jet isn't gonna land
Jet isn't gonna land
???this inst-tech-pilot
isn't commandand
Isn't commandand
Isn't gonna land
Auto Tech Pilot
Isn't Commandand
Shhhhhh!

Commandand seems like some odd pronounce of commanded and commandant - isn't gonna land is easier to take but he doesn't sing that every time
bzfgt
  • 19. bzfgt (link) | 04/05/2019
John #17--is that the same as the "police college"?
bzfgt
  • 20. bzfgt (link) | 04/05/2019
I'm calling it "purgatory banned" but I'll listen to arguments to change it back. "From its purgatory banned"
bzfgt
  • 21. bzfgt (link) | 04/05/2019
I don't know where you hear "commandand" I can't get it

Or "insta-tech pilot," I hear either "instant pilot" or "insta-pilot"
bzfgt
  • 22. bzfgt (link) | 04/05/2019
I am 99% sure "commandand" is one voice saying "coming down" and the other saying "gonna land"
bzfgt
  • 23. bzfgt (link) | 04/05/2019
Actually 100%, I can hear both
dannyno
  • 24. dannyno | 07/06/2021
Miles Davis.

The origin of the "rumour" is NME's comedy T-Zers column, 20 September 1986, p.7:


Miles Davis 'rumoured' to be 'keen' to work with The Fall after hearing 'Auto Pilot', the B-side of their new single. Well, he might be. Maybe.


Years later the notion got recycled by Vox magazine, dated 1 July 1995. They ran a feature on "Rock's Weirdest Five Collaborations Ever" (p.6).

It included Lemmy and the Nolans, David Bowie and Bing Crosby, Chuck D and Sonic Youth, KLF and Extreme Noise Terror, and Inspiral Carpets and Mark E Smith ("I Want You"), of which the magazine says:


Oldham's finest whip up a melodic beat-pop frenzy, while a surly janitor figure arses around in the background, randomly bellowing like a park-bench drunk.


This was followed by "Five that Got Away" (i.e. which didn't happen), starting with:


MILES DAVIS AND THE FALL

In 1981, the ground-breaking jazzer applied to borrow Mark Smith's rhythm buddies. Chairman Smith said he didn't lend out his lads to anyone, cocker.


The others are: Scott Walker and David Sylvian, Primal Scream and Kylie Minogue, and Kurt Cobain and Michael Stipe.

It's not clear whether Vox knew that the Miles Davis/Fall connection was originally made up for a humorous/satirical/parodic NME gossip column, or if they really thought it was a genuine thing. But notice that on their timeframe it supposedly happened several years before the T-Zers story.

(originally written up here: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/thefall/miles-davis-and-mark-e-smith-connections-t3754-s73.html)
thehippriestess
  • 25. thehippriestess | 16/10/2022
"Auto-Tech Pilot" is not part od the headline on the rear sleeve - it's an overlay added to the 12". Compare with the rear sleeve of the 7".

https://www.discogs.com/release/830454-The-Fall-Mr-Pharmacist
dannyno
  • 26. dannyno | 31/01/2024
Comment #25 - no, but it appears to be a headline, or part of a headline. I'm counting three such.
dannyno
  • 27. dannyno | 31/01/2024
... on the 12". Just the one cutting on the 7".

Add a comment