C.R.E.E.P.

(1)

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!

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."  

^

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C.R.E.E.P.: Fall Tracks A-Z

The Story of the Fall