Bad News Girl

Lyrics

(1)

[What you say is true, bad news girl, is bad news girl]
Insistent girl
I'd appreciate
Not is stuff
Hot stuff girl
Hot stuff girl

After troubled place
Is talking to you
But I'm acclimatized
To your mind

What you say is true
Hot stuff girl

What you say is true
But
Jaded lust and tiresomeness
Are not what I want to look at
Hot stuff girl
Hot stuff girl
Plenty people keep you occupied
Wet sex'll keep you anaethetized
Hot stuff girl
You got a big vibe, girl
But plenty people make it all right
For hot stuff girl
Goodbye my dear
Goodbye my dear
Goodbye my dear

And you're doing well
For bad news girl
You're doing well
Bad news girl
Bad news girl
It's hot stuff girl
It's hot stuff girl
You're bad news girl
Though the people make it alright
For bad news girl
You're bad news girl
It's hot stuff girl
It's hot stuff girl
You're bad news girl
You're doing fine for bad news girl
But you're bad news girl
Bad news girl
I see you over the hill
Bad news girl
But your bad news girl
Bad news girl
It's hot stuff girl
You're bad newsgirl
Bad news girl
Bad news girl
But you're bad news girl
It's hot stuff girl
I wish you well
I see you over the hill
Bad news girl

 


Notes

1. Brix has claimed that this song is about her, and that she wrote "Star" in response (also see comments below).  

Dan: Brix, from The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise: "I wrote one tune that started off like a slow lament and built into a fast-paced punchy song. Mark turned it into 'Bad News Girl'. It was clearly about me; this wasn't some kind of riddle, he was putting our problems to the forefront. I knew it. I demanded, 'Is this song about me?' At first he told me it was about one of Michael's dancers, a very sweet, gentle, woman. We all loved her. We'd done a studio performance of 'Deadbeat Descendant' for television and she'd danced with us, in a leotard and furry boots. I was later told she was allegedly having an affair with Mark and would be taken on tour to dance with the band... Finally, Mark admitted to me that I was 'Bad News Girl'. It was a real slap in the face. Humiliatingly, I would have to actually perform the song in the ballet on stage in Amsterdam, a five-day residency in Edinburgh and a two-week stint in London."

^

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Comments (14)

Martin
  • 1. Martin | 23/01/2014
Brix didn't exactly claim that the song was about her. She said, answering a question about another Fall track, Bill is Dead, which was speculated to be about her and MES's breakup, "Yeah. I was supposed to play on that record. People say “Bad News Girl” was as well. I wrote one about him too, so we’re even. After we broke up I was basically completely devastated." [http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/brix-smith-385-v17n3]
Karl B.
  • 2. Karl B. | 31/10/2014
I think the missing lyric is you got a big vibe girl.also i think hot stuff girl might be heart stop girl.
bzfgt
  • 3. bzfgt | 03/11/2014
Big vibe: yes, great.

Heart stop: there are a couple times I can clearly hear "hot stuff," particularly the time just after "big vibe, girl."
Grimo
  • 4. Grimo | 30/04/2016
I think this song references the MES/BS break-up (Bad News Girl - 1988).

In the song, talking to her is a 'troubled place' even though the singer is 'acclimatised to' her 'mind'. He says that what the 'bad news girl' says is true but that 'jaded lust and tiresomeness' are not what he wants to look at. He is bored with her schtick.

However, 'plenty of people will keep (her) occupied' and 'wet sex'll keep (her) anaethetized'. It is OK for her to be a 'hot stuff girl' but she is also 'bad news' too. He's happy to say to her: 'Goodbye my dear'.

He wishes her well and will see this bad news girl "over the hill".

In 2016, while promoting her biography, Brix told The Daily Telegraph how she used sex as an anesthetic - as a 'power thing' to control men. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/brix-smith-start-sex-was-an-anaesthetic-i-used-it-as-a-power-thi/
dannyno
  • 5. dannyno | 07/05/2016
Brix, from The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise:


I wrote one tune that started off like a slow lament and built into a fast-paced punchy song. Mark turned it into 'Bad News Girl'. It was clearly about me; this wasn't some kind of riddle, he was putting our problems to the forefront. I knew it. I demanded, 'Is this song about me?' At first he told me it was about one of Michael's dancers, a very sweet, gentle, woman. We all loved her. We'd done a studio performance of 'Deadbeat Descendant' for television and she'd danced with us, in a leotard and furry boots. I was later told she was allegedly having an affair with Mark and would be taken on tour to dance with the band... Finally, Mark admitted to me that I was 'Bad News Girl'. It was a real slap in the face. Humiliatingly, I would have to actually perform the song in the ballet on stage in Amsterdam, a five-day residency in Edinburgh and a two-week stint in London.
dannyno
  • 6. dannyno | 20/05/2016
Just double checked. The dancer who performed alongside The Fall doing 'Deadbeat Descendant' on Snub TV (https://youtu.be/Q0EBqE6OPHM) was Ellen van Schuylenburch.
bzfgt
  • 7. bzfgt | 24/06/2016
Wow, what a sensitive guy!
Joseph Mullaney
  • 8. Joseph Mullaney | 06/03/2018
'Though the peole make it alright'- typo.

Also, every 'your' should be 'you're'.
Human
  • 9. Human | 09/03/2018
"Finally, Mark admitted to me that I was 'Bad News Girl'. It was a real slap in the face. Humiliatingly, I would have to actually perform the song in the ballet on stage in Amsterdam, a five-day residency in Edinburgh and a two-week stint in London."

What a nice story.
bzfgt
  • 10. bzfgt (link) | 17/03/2018
I don't know how those "your"s hung on so long. It should be said that of course he might sometimes mean "Your bad news girl," but that seems too speculative to have in the text...
Mechanic
  • 11. Mechanic | 09/11/2020
Brix Smith Start: 'Sex was an anaesthetic. I used it as a power thing to control men'. - Source, an unpopular right wing broadsheet.
dannyno
  • 12. dannyno | 10/11/2020
Mechanic, comment #11.

What you're quoting there is the Daily Telegraph headline, not what she actually said.

Here's the actual quotation:


"At the time I used sex as…" An anaesthetic? "No. Yeah. Partially. And as a way to boost self-esteem. So I used it as a power thing, to control men."


"An anaesthetic?" is asked by Bryony Gordon, the interviewer.

As bzfgt pointed out on the FOF at the time:


There's a big difference between "Q: Did you use sex as an anaesthetic? A: No. Yeah. Partially" and " I used sex as an anaesthetic!"


https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/thefall/brix-t2739-s785.html
dannyno
  • 13. dannyno | 10/11/2020
Comment #11, that's the headline they used in the Daily Telegraph.

This is the actual quote:


"At the time I used sex as…" An anaesthetic? "No. Yeah. Partially. And as a way to boost self-esteem. So I used it as a power thing, to control men."
Dozy
  • 14. Dozy | 11/03/2022
Electronic's Twisted Tenderness (1999) uses the phrase "bad news girl". A reference?

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