C.R.E.E.P.
Lyrics
He reads books of the list book club
And after two months
His stance a familiar hunch
And it's that same slouch
You had the last time he was around
Depression abounds, his type is doing the rounds
He is a scum-egg; a horrid trendy wretch
C.R.E.E.P. C.R E.E.P. (2)
Black saucers at the back of your neck
Interruptions, from the side when you talk
In the presence, of his ugly gawk,
Is offending, make sure you're not absorbed
With hideous luck he'll absorb all your talk
CR E.E.P. C.R.E.E.P.
From the bright sun, he came one fine morn
"Populist" - oh well, in his class at least
But then came real age, and for that we all must pay
And for that we all do pay!
C.R.E.E.P. C.R.E.E.P.
C.R.E.E.P. C.R.E.E.P.
C.R.E.E.P. C.R.E.E.P.
C.R.E.E.P. C.R.E.E.P.
And he wants world peace!
And he loves A.B.C.(3)
Creep! Creep Creep!
Notes
1. It has often been assumed that this song is about Marc Riley, who apparently was nicknamed "creep" as a youth. RIley himself has stated that the song is about him. Both Mark and Brix Smith, however, deny this:
"As Mark points out, the song seemed to have an unsettling effect on people.
'I'm so proud of that song. I didn't see it as pure pop because it hasn't been accepted like that. It's got good words in it and that throws people off - their brains are so degenerate now, that if they hear something they don't understand ... they just drop it. I always thought it would appeal to children and it does. A lot of very young kids (seven or eight) seem to like it. I never thought, though, that the creep was the guy who smelt bad at school; it was always the most popular guy in the class, 'cos you knew damn well he wouldn't do well in life, the sort who'd cry when the exam results came out.'
Brix:- "Everyone always thinks that Fall songs are about themselves and that was especially so with "Creep." Some people thought it was about Morrisey which it wasn't. Marc Riley, our old guitarist, thought it was about him, which it wasn't. It's about every creep in the world.'"
By the time of her memoir, however, the song is about someone specific all right:
Dan: "According to Brix in her autobiography, The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise, 'Everyone assumed it was about Marc Riley, but Mark's lyrics were a takedown of the previous tour manager, Scumech ("He is a scum-egg, a horrid trendy wretch").'"
Elsewhere, she says "The European tour manager's name was Scumech. He was a trendy and Mark referred to him as a 'dickhead'. For some reason, Mark took great offence at Scumech. Perhaps it was because he would keep the tour money in his briefcase and handcuff it to radiators. He was robotic, which also annoyed Mark, He had the facade of being hip, but was actually quite bureaucratic, in a German way."
Dan has determined that the man in question is probably one Scumeck Sabottka, who is still active as a concert promoter.
From the sleeve of the single:
"This pool of disgusting smarm/The pool of luke warm/This mod effete of capricious green ham/Who is everybody, yet everybody is him/The mard blow of suck-poet's biro./The mud of everybody's mate/The pap he complains of is just the grease-reflection/On his empty pariah plate."
The title is spelled as though it is an acronym, although it is not known what, if anything, it would stand for. The only use of C.R.E.E.P. I am familiar with is the 1972 Richard Nixon campaign's "Committee to Re-Elect the President," which was officially known by the initialism "CRP" but was universally mocked with the acronym "CREEP."
Art Simak points out a musical similarity to The Archies' "Sugar Sugar," which seems obvious now that it's been pointed out...
Thanks to Zack:
The single version includes the following spoken word introduction by Brix: "Propositions are integrated within/Gen up to electric dog status/We pat you on the back/Your ears prick up/We call you Hitler/And then kick you around like homogenized milk."
2. The periods here indicate that the letters are sounded out; the title is apparently not an acronym.
3. ABC was one of the New Romantic bands popular in the 1980s. New Romantics are mentioned in "Hard Life in Country."
More Information
Comments (51)

- 1. | 24/03/2013

- 2. | 02/04/2013

- 3. | 10/04/2013
Eyes like black saucers? Like being watched from behind?

- 4. | 02/08/2013

- 5. | 02/08/2013

- 6. | 07/03/2016
Dan

- 7. | 19/03/2016

- 8. | 04/05/2016
Everyone assumed it was about Marc Riley, but Mark's lyrics were a takedown of the previous tour manager, Scumech ('He is a scum-egg, a horrid trendy wretch').

- 9. | 07/05/2016
The European tour manager's name was Scumech. He was a trendy and Mark referred to him as a 'dickhead'. For some reason, Mark took great offence at Scumech. Perhaps it was because he would keep the tour money in his briefcase and handcuff it to radiators. He was robotic, which also annoyed Mark, He had the facade of being hip, but was actually quite bureaucratic, in a German way.

- 10. | 24/06/2016

- 11. | 24/06/2016

- 12. | 17/09/2016
http://www.freundevonfreunden.com/workplaces/scumeck-sabottka/
For three decades the work of Scumeck Sabottka has revolved around the “concert experience,” as he says, to create the “perfect evening.”
After a few wild years in West Berlin’s punk scene, he founded the concert firm, MCT – “Music Consulting Team,” who in their early years organized tours for punk bands like the Ramones or King Kurt, but also for avant-garde musicians like John Cale, and later for international alternative rock giants like R.E.M., Red Hot Chili Peppers and Nick Cave, as well as pop singers such as Lenny Kravitz and Robbie Williams.

- 13. | 17/09/2016
"I started out working as a driver, then increasingly as a tour manager for German concerts, at the time for London indie label Rough Trade: mainly with post-punk bands like The Smiths or Cabaret Voltaire."
It has to be him!

- 14. | 15/10/2016

- 15. | 07/12/2016
Propositions are integrated within
Gen up to electric dog status
We pat you on the back
Your ears prick up
We call you Hitler
And then kick you around like homogenized milk

- 16. | 27/12/2016

- 17. | 28/12/2016

- 18. | 11/02/2017
So then of course I went looking....
and, has MES been reading linguistics?
I ask because in Roger Van De Velde's "Prolegomena to Inferential Discourse Processing" (1984), the following line appears (p.38):
Semantic-logical inferences can also make transparent how individual ideas entrenched in propositions are integrated within the complex propositional structure of discourse.
Or maybe he read it quoted elsewhere, like in a Private Eye pseud's corner column or some-such (not that it seems a particularly bad example), or else read some other linguistics text with a similar line?
I'm not being entirely serious. But I bet there's a source along these lines.

- 19. | 18/02/2017

- 20. | 25/01/2018
Thanks
"Propositions are integrated within
Gen up to electric dog status
We pat you on the back
Your ears prick up
We call you Hitler
And then kick you around like homogenized milk"

- 21. | 26/01/2018

- 22. | 26/01/2018
https://www.discogs.com/Sylvia-Plath-Sylvia-Plath-Reading-Her-Poetry/release/5748359

- 23. | 26/01/2018

- 24. | 26/01/2018
http://www.sylviaplath.info/poetryworks.html#audio

- 25. | 29/01/2018
Martsville says:
This poetry (below) spoken before C.R.E.E.P. isn't Brix Smith speaking, it's the american poet Sylvia Plath's voice, reading one of her own poems.
This is definitely not correct. The voice has an American accent and is certainly Brix's voice.
You can hear Brix's voice at the time in various places, but here's an example: https://youtu.be/YYmDKWd2S2s
Sylvia Plath didn't sound anything like that. Here's an example of Plath reciting some of her poetry: https://youtu.be/6hHjctqSBwM
So the voice is not Plath. Is the poem one of hers?
I've been through Sylvia Plath's Collected Poems, and can't find the lines anywhere in there. I've yet to listen to the various recordings that are available on YouTube, but I will.
Dan

- 26. | 29/01/2018

- 27. | 04/02/2018

- 28. | 04/02/2018
That is DEFINITELY Brix!

- 29. | 07/12/2018

- 30. | 12/01/2019

- 31. | 12/01/2019

- 32. | 16/07/2019

- 33. | 09/08/2019

- 34. | 09/08/2019

- 35. | 21/01/2020

- 36. | 02/04/2020

- 37. | 02/04/2020

- 38. | 03/04/2020

- 39. | 04/04/2020

- 40. | 04/04/2020

- 41. | 04/04/2020

- 42. | 08/04/2020

- 43. | 08/04/2020

- 44. | 10/04/2020

- 45. | 10/04/2020

- 46. | 22/04/2020
‘C.R.E.E.P.’... ushers in Brix's first major influence but was initially written in Mark’s school days – God knows what they were like – about popular classroom warriors who would ultimately fail in life.
https://thequietus.com/articles/25199-the-fall-458489-singles-reissues-beggars-album-review

- 47. | 24/04/2020

- 48. | 27/09/2020
MES I always thought it would appeal to children and it does. A lot of very young kids (seven or eight) seem to like it.
Unsurprising as the hook is a blatant plag of The Archie’s “Sugar Sugar”!

- 49. | 07/11/2020

- 50. | 21/05/2021
the humanoid aliens, who had arrived by saucer, could place a death disc at the back of a human's neck, causing them to have a spontaneous cerebral haemorrhage.
(p.39)
For more on the series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invaders

- 51. | 16/08/2023
According to Brix on Twitter / X, 2:46 PM, 16 August 2023 (responding to a few posts about how the song was not about Morrissey - which she confirms):
My favourite line in the song is “With hideous Luck, he’ll absorb all your talk” I love the way Mark delivers that particular line, because he was impersonating Elvis. We thought that was especially hilarious.
https://twitter.com/Brixsmithstart/status/1691808613709271527?s=20
A reference to the band, obviously.