Black Roof

(1)  

Why don't you face up to it (2)
if I was you
I'd have the deck at your rooftop
If I was you (3)

Up from the poles, drug from the hills
Into your present delectation

You simply cannot prove your fog-accenting notions
you cannot prove your ragged affectations
all of you left your pals in desperation
Easter island profile and care from old inwardly chuckling (4)
Chuckling inwardly
if I was you, I would not smile at present situations

If I was you, I'd never
If I was you, dig in the roof top
if I was you, I'd never dig at the root

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1. This seemingly began its life as "Black Door." Big difference between a roof and a door, but I guess Einstein showed that this sort of thing is all relative, as was confirmed by Sir Arthur Eddington, after Einstein himself was unable to prove his fog-accenting notions...

This was written with Tim Presley and Rob Barbato, formerly of Darker My Love and The Fall (they were the ones who came after the traitors, liars and cunts, if you recall), and the latter two are said to have played all the instruments. Presley's (one man) band is called "White Fence," and "Black Roof" or "Black Door" could be seen as playing on that.

One possible intepretation of what Damo Suzuki is singing on "Halleluwah" is "Searching for my black door..." That's what I hear him saying as often as not, but the lyrics sources online all have either "black dope" or "brother." It is entirely possible he's not saying anything in English at all, or maybe not even in any known language. But it is possible that MES hears it like I do and that inspired the name. Not necessarily likely, mind you, but possible...

Someone told me once that they had asked Holger Czukay and he said it was "black dope." 

Thanks to The BEF for transcribing this. 

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2. I will gladly face up to it, MES--I have no idea what these lyrics are about. 

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3. Some important trivia from Martin:

"By the way, as far as I can make out from Dannyno's concordance, MES never uses the 'if I were' variation of the conditional, preferring the slightly more colloquial (but no less correct) 'if I was' construction."

"If I were..." is in the subjunctive, which is not mandatory, according to Martin. I'm no expert but I don't have an objection to "if I was..." either...if I were William Safire, I'd be watching this page intently to determine if the language is evolving...

From Basmikel:

I always figured the black roof to be space, and the narrator an alien warning us not to explore ("dig") it further, or else...

"Up from the brook: Life on Earth began in the sea
Drug (i.e. dragged) from the hills: Urbanization 
'Fog-accenting' notions: could be either religious or scientific. Before I read it here I thought of it as 'fog-ascending' because it reminds me of the old notion of man's place in the universe being between animal and deity, striving upwards."

If the Black Roof is space, then when explored it becomes a Black Door (also see Hawkwind's song "Black Corridor," named after Michael Moorcock's novel, perhaps written with his then-wife Hillary Bailey).
 

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4. There is also a reference to Easter Island in H.O.W. Note the internal rhyme with "island" and "profile and."

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