Blood Outta Stone

Lyrics

(1)

Unfortunately I'm coming from a bad end
And I'm destined for a bad end

But hanging around with you is like blood outta stone
Getting stuff outta youse is like blood outta stone
Blood outta stone

You're history
You've quit existation
You're green grub (2)

And if I had any guts
I'd turn those money tables up (3)
You dis-corporate bore
You make me tired to the bone

Cos getting things outta you....

When all your friends have dissolved
And you're yakking on the phone
You're techno-grounded
You're blood outta stone
Might appear deranged
But you're blood outta stone
You're mutton dressed as lamb (4)
Cos you're blood outta stone
At least I've got an aim, chick
Blood outta stone
But I'm working to an aim

 

 

Notes

1. Some pretty straighforward lyrics for a change, although it is difficult to say whom they are aimed at, if anyone specific is intended. The title phrase--usually rendered "you can't get blood from a stone"--is first attested in Giovanni Torriano's The Second Alphabet Consisting of Proverbial Phrases Interpreted and Illustrated Where Most Necessary: With Pleasant and Usefull Annotations (1662), where we read: "To go about to fetch bloud out of stones, viz. to attempt what is impossible." Sometimes instead of a stone we find a turnip at the end of the phrase, although I'm not sure how old this usage is; my notes are not exhaustive, but I hope they are pleasant and usefull nonetheless.  

^

2. Of course, when a green grub quits "existation" in the normal course of things, it turns into a beetle or something...unless he means just "green grub," i.e. green food, which generally existates until it is eatated.   

^

3. This refers to Jesus' chasing the money exchangers and merchants out of the Temple, a story attested to in all four Gospels, in which it is asserted that the Temple is meant to be a house of prayer and not a place of commerce. In Matthew, Mark and John Jesus is said to overturn the money changers' tables, a detail that is omitted in Luke.  

^

4. Zack informs me that this phrase "means 'an older woman who is dressed in a style that is more suitable for a younger woman' which makes "Blood Outta Stone" yet another Angry Early 90s Fall Song About a Woman (not, as I initially suspected, Another Angry Early 90s Fall Song About Trevor Long).

^

More Information

Blood Outta Stone: Fall Tracks A-Z

The Story of the Fall: 1990

Comments (13)

dannyno
  • 1. dannyno | 14/10/2013
Lyrics here not quite right, you'll need to listen again. This is what I hear:

"Unfortunately I'm coming from a bad end
And I'm destined for the bad end
But hanging round with you is like blood outta stone
Getting stuff outta youse is like blood outta stone
Blood outta stone
Blood outta stone
You're history
You've quit existation
You're green grub
Because hanging around with you is like getting blood out of a stone
And getting stuff outta you is getting blood out of a stone
Blood outta stone
Blood outta stone
Blood outta stone

And if I had any guts I'd turn those money tables up
You dis-corporate bore
You make me tired to the bone
'Cos getting things outta you is like getting blood out of a stone
And hanging round with you is like getting blood out of a stone
Blood outta stone
Blood outta stone
When all your friends have dissolved
And you're yakking on the phone
You're techno-grounded
You're blood out of a stone
Might appear deranged
But you're blood outta stone
You're mutton dressed as lamb
'Cos you're blood outta stone
At least I've got an aim, chick
Blood outta stone
Blood outta stone
Blood outta stone
But I'm working to a aim
But you're blood out of stone
Getting stuff out of you is like getting blood out of a stone£
acoustmetre
  • 2. acoustmetre (link) | 15/05/2014
The use of the word "discorporate" is likely a Frank Zappa reference. In the song "Absolutely Free" from Zappa's album We're Only In It For the Money, Zappa begins the song with the spoken line, "The first word in this song is discorporate. It means to leave your body."

Know MES's sense of humor, and his appreciation for Zappa, its not hard to imagine he thought this line was hilarious.
Zack
  • 3. Zack | 26/01/2017
I was under the impression that "mutton dressed as lamb" was an idiom used to describe anyone who's pretending to be something better than what they really are. I was surprised to learn that it means "an older woman who is dressed in a style that is more suitable for a younger woman" (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/mutton-dressed-as-lamb) which makes "Blood Outta Stone" yet another Angry Early 90s Fall Song About a Woman (not, as I initially suspected, Another Angry Early 90s Fall Song About Trevor Long).
dannyno
  • 4. dannyno | 12/02/2017
But what if MES shares your less rigorous understanding of the idiom?
Zack
  • 5. Zack | 15/02/2017
^ Dannyno, do you have any reason to doubt that MES misunderstood the idiom in 1990?

Maybe he didn't understand "getting blood out of a stone" either; he just liked the sound of it.

If you really want to go down this road of questioning MES's understanding of the lyrics he chooses to write and sing, you might also wish to consider whether or not he truly understands the meaning of words like "repetition," "priest," "puritan" and "wired."
dannyno
  • 6. dannyno | 15/02/2017
Zack,comment #5. Well yes, if you can misunderstand the idiom, then so can MES! You seemed to be assuming that MES would be using it in a technically accurate way, and I was questioning that assumption. One need not dig very deep into Fall lyrics to find words and phrases that are not being used in technically accurate ways.

But, I was just questioning your assumption, not arguing your assumption was definitely wrong. He does, after all, use the word "chick".
Zack
  • 7. Zack | 15/02/2017
Dannyno: Fair enough. Keep up the good work, whatever it is you do.
harleyr
  • 8. harleyr | 17/02/2017
>>Unfortunately I'm coming from a bad end
And I'm destined for a bad end

I've always assumed the first line was a reference to the recent death of his dad, and the second an assessment of the likely future in store for MES if he carried on with the drinking...
Hcab
  • 9. Hcab | 13/12/2020
Probably about Marcia, who had just left at this point. (It was performed at Reading Festival 1990 sans Marcia).
dannyno
  • 10. dannyno | 18/12/2020
Comment #9. Reading seems to be its first documented performance, but The Dredger EP, on which it appeared, was released only a couple of weeks before Reading, and was obviously recorded before the group began the tour of Australia and New Zealand during which Bramah and Schofield were given their marching orders. And from which the group had only recently returned when they played Reading.
dannyno
  • 11. dannyno | 20/02/2021
Co-written with Martin Bramah, and apparently musically based on the Blue Orchids song Dream Boat.
bzfgt
  • 12. bzfgt (link) | 09/03/2021
What's the time frame here? Was Dream Boat unreleased? Is it definitely this that's based on that?
dannyno
  • 13. dannyno | 03/07/2021
Hm, good point. Dream Boat seems not to have been released until the 1993 Blue Orchids album, The Sleeper. So perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Bramah reused some musical ideas later.

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