Cary Grant's Wedding
Lyrics
(I said shut up!)
Everybody go Cary Grant's wedding
Everybody go Cary Grant's wedding
Champagne hip hip hooray
Thank you folks for coming today
How much was the price on the door?
Sure it's worth a whole lot more
I said go to Cary Grant's wedding
All you folks and fools (2)
Cary Grant's Wedding
All you folks and fools
Have been invited to
A new-wave personality
Stumbles out of the ruins
Cos he's been invited to
Cary Grant's wedding (3)
Buster Keaton he turned up
He wasn't an old woman
He didn't take hallucigens (4)
A poor mate for Cary Grant
Slaughterer of innocents (5)
Add on 30 years
And you've got Jake Burns (6)
Joe Strummer
All you're going to
Cary Grant's wedding
A new-wave Hollywood
Where everybody's good
But not great
Cary Grant's wedding
Notes
1. According to Reformation, "Cary Grant was married five times, in 1935, 1942, 1949. 1965 and, most interesting for pre-cog specialists, on April 11 1981, about 18 months after the song was first played in concert." According to Raging Ostler, "The last lines are the key to this song. It's having a go at the post punk British music scene devolving into a sub-Hollywood star system, that kind of thing. Musicians falling back into the old thing of behaving like stars. Not sure of the relevance of Cary Grant, except as a chance to refer to LSD."
Grant famously experimented with LSD (see note 4). In fact, the title may be an oblique way of referring to an acid trip, as Mac comments:
"I watched a Cary Grant documentary a few weeks ago. A thought occurred that the 'Wedding' referred to might be an Alchemical Wedding. Those hippy 60's guys often compared taking acid to an Alchemical experience. Pre-that "New Age" stuff The Alchemical Wedding most referred to was taken from the 'Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz,' Johann Valentin Andreae. (1459). In that wedding all sorts of characters are invited and stumble upon it. Just a thought given MES's broad, un-childish bloody reading habits."
2. Dan: "There's an old blues song by Funny Papa Smith called "Fool's Blues", which has the lines: 'Some people tell me that god takes care of old folks and fools But since I been born they must 'ta have changed his rules.'"
This may not have anything to do with the lyrics here, but it's a darn good line anyway, isn't it?
3. Martin identifies the following lines in the 1980/11/5 reading of the song (somewhere in London):
"Yoko Ono stumbles out of the ruins; save your anger for the publishing wolverines; keep it for the K- Tel marines...A new wave personality stumbles out of the ruins...a tenth rate Pole man and here he is, the man and his cronies... OK, maybe a [?] bit more bars [?]. And if I have a preference for Cary Grant, slaughterer of innocents. Add on thirty years and you've got Mark E Smith."
Here we have the earliest, so far, identified instance of a Wolverine reference. Adapted from my notes to "Arid Al's Dream":
Wolverines also figure in "Bury 1+3," "Service," "Clasp Hands," and "Session Musician," in each case somewhat opaquely. The wolverine is sort of a mini-theme, then, one that has persisted at a low level of intensity for 30 or more years. It isn't clear to me what is going on with wolverines. Wolverine is one of the X-Men in the Marvel series of the same name, a mutant with superpowers who fights evil criminals. At times this Wolverine, or anyway someone called "Wolverine," could possibly be intended, as in "Bury 1+3," when MES proclaims "I'm Wolverine." The reference in "Arid Al's Dream" is less clear. On the one hand, while it would be unusual to drop an indefinite article, it must be observed that MES drops the definite article as much as any native Russian speaker who is starting to learn English ("Behind tormentor was wolverine," so the usage would be parallel, as the definite article preceding "tormentor" has also been ditched). And in some instances, for instance "Service" ("Time of the wolverines"), it seems relatively clear that the word is not being used as a name. It is simplest to assume that MES uses it to mean roughly the same thing each time he sings it, either the animal or someone named after the animal, which makes Marvel's Wolverine somewhat unlikely to be the answer to our question, but the possibility cannot be completely dismissed based on the current evidence.
4. The second line of the stanza is possibly "He was an old woman." Dr. X O'Skeleton suggests this could be a taunt that is directed at Keaton due to his avoidance of LSD. However, existing versions seem to corroborate "wasn't an old woman," according to our correspondent (Martin).
Cary Grant and Barbara Hutton lived on Buster Keaton's former estate in Beverly Hills (Dan). Grant was really into LSD, which he said brought him inner peace.
5. The phrase "Slaughter (or 'Massacre') of the Innocents" usually refers to the story in the Bible that relates that Herod had all the male children in the Jerusalam area killed to avoid losing his kingdom to a prophesied King of the Jews who was about to be born. It's not entirely clear whether Grant or his "mate" Buster Keaton is the slaughterer in this context, but see note 3 above where it seems to be Grant.
6. Burns was the guitarist and singer of Stiff Little Fingers, and Strummer performed the same functions in the Clash.
More Information
Comments (65)

- 1. | 23/01/2015

- 2. | 23/01/2015

- 3. | 23/01/2015

- 4. | 31/01/2015

- 5. | 28/03/2016
Despite reports in America that Cary intends to make Barbara his fifth wife, there is no chance of it happening - he is happy to remain single, although he depends on her greatly for advice and companionship.
Oops.

- 6. | 30/04/2016

- 7. | 12/06/2016
Dan

- 8. | 12/06/2016
Dan

- 9. | 04/12/2016
There are a couple of lyrical variation - or maybe we should call them ad-libs - in one later performance:
November 80 London (exact date unknown)
- "A new wave personality stumbles out of the ruins... ten great Pole men and here he is, the man and his cronies... OK, maybe (...). And if I have a preference for Cary Grant, slaughterer of innocents. Add on thirty years and you've got Mark E Smith."

- 10. | 20/12/2016

- 11. | 27/12/2016

- 12. | 27/12/2016

- 13. | 28/12/2016
Dan

- 14. | 28/12/2016

- 15. | 22/02/2017
There's an old blues song by Funny Papa Smith called "Fool's Blues", which has the lines:
Some people tell me that god takes care of old folks and fools
But since I been born they must 'ta have changed his rules

- 16. | 22/02/2017

- 17. | 17/05/2017

- 18. | 18/05/2017

- 19. | 19/05/2017
Probably irrelevant, but there is a famous Buston Keaton scene from "Sherlock Junior" (1924), where he leaps from a window into an old woman disguise.

- 20. | 01/06/2017

- 21. | 06/07/2017

- 22. | 06/07/2017

- 23. | 10/07/2017

- 24. | 10/07/2017

- 25. | 12/07/2017
By the way, I also listened to the November 1980 rendition of the track and have accordingly edited/extended the appropriate entry on the Pithy Smithisms section on the Reformation! website. The ad-libs now read:
- "Yoko Ono stumbles out of the ruins; save your anger for the publishing wolverines; keep it for the K- Tel marines...A new wave personality stumbles out of the ruins...a tenth rate Pole man and here he is, the man and his cronies... OK, maybe a (?) bit more bars (?). And if I have a preference for Cary Grant, slaughterer of innocents. Add on thirty years and you've got Mark E Smith."
(Note the earliest - as known up to now - reference to "wolverines" in MES-speak.)
I've also upgraded the known number of performances of the song to 12, thus rendering comment no.8 obselete.

- 26. | 12/07/2017

- 27. | 12/07/2017
So I've been looking again at Grant's film credits. "Arsenic and Old Lace"? That's got marriage in it, and murder, albeit Cary Grant's character doesn't actually kill anyone....
I

- 28. | 13/07/2017

- 29. | 15/07/2017

- 30. | 15/07/2017

- 31. | 15/07/2017

- 32. | 15/07/2017

- 33. | 15/07/2017

- 34. | 15/07/2017

- 35. | 16/07/2017
Yes, that's true. The track info for the reissue states: "Live in London, November 1980".
Now there are other songs played at the same gig:
https://sites.google.com/site/reformationposttpm/gig-reviews/the-fall-live/1980-gigs/19801105---unknown-venue-london
so presumably there was some information pre-2004 about this concert. Whether the information was accurate or not is another matter. When did the first Fall gigography appear on the net and was this gig included in it? Actually, there are not so many concerts for which "unknown venue" is recorded, so the fact that three songs from this one were included on an official release is odd to say the least (leaving aside the Receiver compilations/27 Points live (or live-ish) releases, which is a whole other kettle of Fall fish.

- 36. | 16/07/2017

- 37. | 16/07/2017
http://z1.invisionfree.com/thefall/index.php?showtopic=3410&view=findpost&p=22446811

- 38. | 18/07/2017
"The last 4 words are crap - they are tracks from another live recording
in London, November 1980. I know because I sent them to Sanctuary."
Subsequent question from jacurtis:
"Just out of curiousity, where are these live tracks you're giving Sanctuary coming from? I mean, are these things from your own collection, or what? "
Conway: "Yeah, from my collection. I've been through Sanctuary's master tape library listing and there's not much unreleased stuff there at all. Sadly."
Completely irrelevant and erase completely if you want but the conversation continued:
JC on Slates:
> this looks *so* much better than the version
> stupidly-paired with APOAT, an album which I never much
> liked..
Yeah, I'm pleased that Sanctuary agreed to split them up - gives Slates the status that it really deserves. And actually, it was the most practical option given the amount of bonus material being added to both Slates & APOAT.
Another thing that bugged me was how Lie Dream/Fantastic Life had always been stuck on Room To Live CD reissues (for timing convenience), when chronologically and stylistically they really belonged with Slates. So that's now fixed. Means we now have to find something else to put with RTL, I suppose....
> Any idea what the bonus HEH material might end up being?
I have proposed a tracklisting to Sanctuary, but it's still not confirmed. HEH will be in the next batch of reissues, probably just before Christmas. My suggestion is a 2 disc set with the original album on CD1 and CD2 containing Peel session #5 (Deer Park / Look, Know / Winter / Who Makes The Nazis?); Look Know, I'm Into CB; and 6 live tracks that I have sent to Sanctuary. I can't say what the live tracks are until they've been cleared.

- 39. | 22/07/2017

- 40. | 24/07/2017

- 41. | 29/07/2017

- 42. | 31/07/2017
There were only 3 bonus tracks: Cary Grant's Wedding, Totally Wired & The NWRA. They come from a bootleg tape that was simply notated as London November 1980. Venue and actual date not known.

- 43. | 12/10/2019
Pre-that "New Age" stuff The Alchemical Wedding most referred to was taken from the "Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz", Johann Valentin Andreae. (1459). In that wedding all sorts of characters are invited and stumble upon it. Just a thought given MES's broad, un-childish bloody reading habits.
https://39514839f4a6dc8a84ae-eaa972a576b84b28f1b3596cd9812f8f.ssl.cf5.rackcdn.com/chymical_wedding.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chymical_Wedding_of_Christian_Rosenkreutz

- 44. | 29/12/2019
Taking acid/mushrooms has always had a ceremonial aspect, from its shamanic days to those original Hippies climbing to the top of Big Sur to be "initiated", ingesting was always a big deal. Until Timothy Leary convinced people it should be a recreational pursuit that is.
The idea has bugged me further.
If attending Cary Grant's Wedding could be seen as a symbolic phrase for the ingesting of hallucinagins (yum), maybe MES was commenting on how trendy that practice had become. I certainly remember at the time blotters being far more prevalent and cheaper than they had been before.
He begins by saying everybody is invited these days "folks and fools", then gets specific re New Wave personalities named and unnamed.
We know MES liked a trip, it's also pretty well known Lydon took acid as well as Buzzcocks who, by legend, recorded everything whilst tripping from the first album onwards. Dunno how justified MES was if being scathing but the unwritten Punk Rock Rule Book certainly saw Acid as "Hippy Shite" - and those rules melted away one by one after Ian Curtis sang in an American accent. Imbibing became very common.
** re the lines
'A poor mate for Cary Grant
Slaughterer of innocents.'
Maybe the "Slaughterer of innocents" isn't Cary Grant but refers to his 'poor mate', who seems to be Buster Keaton. Could the line refer to Keaton rather than Grant?
On the other hand, if it says "innocence" then it could also refer to hallucinogens, in that they "kill the ego", it has been said acid reveals the universe as it really is etc, killing our old way of looking at things: opening the "doors of perception" as Huxley said. There is a "price on the door" reference there in the lyrics, why would you pay to enter an actual wedding?

- 45. | 10/01/2020

- 46. | 19/01/2020

- 47. | 19/01/2020

- 48. | 19/01/2020

- 49. | 21/01/2020

- 50. | 25/01/2020

- 51. | 07/09/2020

- 52. | 13/09/2020

- 53. | 13/09/2020

- 54. | 16/09/2020
I don't think it was common knowledge that Arbuckle had been acquitted, certainly when I was at school in the late 70s I just knew the Hollywood Babylon side of the story...

- 55. | 30/09/2020
I just wonder why MES would hide an Arbuckle reference so cryptically if one were intended.

- 56. | 09/10/2020

- 57. | 10/10/2020

- 58. | 14/11/2020

- 59. | 27/12/2020
On Totales Turns I've always heard this as "Jake Burns......drummer" after an interview where Smith had a go at Burns for having a go at Stiff Little Fingers drummer on stage for coming in late...I do like the idea of that coexisting an lp with " fuckin get it together n stop showin' off."

- 60. | 23/01/2021

- 61. | 13/02/2021

- 62. | 13/02/2021

- 63. | 13/02/2021

- 64. | 20/02/2021
Grant lived with wife number two, Barbara Hutton in the villa Buster Keaton had built in 1926 . She had inherited a fortune from her grandfather, Frank Winfield Woolworth. Grant and Hutton were known as "Cash and Cary".
Stop mithering!

- 65. | 24/10/2023

Things to note are several apparent textual differences from what is on record.
Mention of Magnus Pyke, who didn't make it into the recorded version.
And we have Clark Gable instead of "new wave personality".
The last lines are the key to this song. It's having a go at the post punk British music scene devolving into a sub-Hollywood star system, that kind of thing. Musicians falling back into the old thing of behaving like stars. Not sure of the relevance of Cary Grant, except as a chance to refer to LSD.