Craigness

Lyrics

(1)

Neighbour downstairs with one eye
Co-habs with a mass of blonde curls
Oo-ar!
Oo-ar!    (2)
T'pau (3)
Mind moving fast is mad
Mind moving slow is sane
It's
Grandpappy with Satan's eyes
Like a McEwan’s can (4)
He sports the maroon flares

Mind moving slow is sane
Mind moving fast is mad
Mind left stopped is God (5)

Writer in bed insane
Clutches pen in hand
The scrawl he wrote


Neighbour downstairs with one eye
Co-habs with a mass of blonde curls,
Her shadowed face...  (6)

Oo-ar!
Oo-ar!

Mind moving fast is mad
Mind moving slow is sane
Mind left stopped is God

Neighbour downstairs with one eye
Co-habs with a mass of blonde curls
Their babe cries (7)

SaveSave

Notes

1. Like the preceding song on The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall, "Stephen Song," this is named for the band member who wrote the music, in this case Craig Scanlon; according to Hanley, it was a working title that never got changed. Brix's comments in the liner notes to the CD:

Craig wrote that...The song was about our downstairs neighbours. Mark and I moved to the flat on Rectory Lane. It was gross, it was 20 pounds a week and there were springs coming through the upholstery. It had five cats, it stunk. I don't think we had a fridge, it was just shocking when I moved there. We were upstairs watching one day and all of a sudden, there was like smoke pouring into the flat. There was this really creepy guy downstairs who had two eyes but one of them was mutant. There was something really creepy about his wife and him, they just freaked us out. We ran downstairs and helped them put out the fire. That was the story of one-eye. And there was a prostitute across the hall.

And:

CRAIGNESS - "Shimmering violet shimmer, twisting haunts shadow passers veil night time silvery veils swirling rustling sweep. Shining, melodious Drifting." - B.E.S. 


"Joker Hysterical Face" is also about downstairs neighbors, maybe the same ones (via Reformation):

MES on "Joker Hysterical Face": "It's about a couple who live sort of downstairs from us, where we were living, and they used to play Abba and all that stuff, they always used to have it on full blast. She was a divorcee. I used to know women like her, and it's not very far from the feminist movement. Like the man is the main thing to blame." (Quoted in The Biggest Library Yet, February 1997.)

Dan quotes Brix during a Twitter listening party in April 2020:


I am playng the single note melodic hook. To go with Craig’s soundscape melody.
It gets so so SO psychedelic at the end!
It’s [producer] John Leckie at his sublime mindblowing best!!!

Paul Hanley, also on Twitter:

 


'Craigness' Craig's tune, unsuprisingly. The Riff that me and Brix are playing originally had an extra note which changed the time signature, but none of us could get it right. We had to leave it out. It was always a shame when we couldn't accommodate Craig wayward timing.

^

2. Brix on Twitter:
 


When Mark says “Ooo-ar “, he is making fun of the neighbour downstairs with one eye, like making out he was a pirate who’s eye was put out. “ It’s grandpappy with Satan’s eyes“.

^

3. It sounds sort of like "T'Pau," and that's what the Lyrics Parade had, but this is just a transcription, mind you...T'Pau was the Vulcan leader who was to preside over Mr. Spock's aborted wedding in the classic Star Trek episode "Amok Time"; a true maverick, she was the only person ever to turn down a seat on the prestigious Federation Council. A popular British group named themselves after her, although they post-date this song.

The Story of the Fall knowingly remarks that the neighbors "evidently like a bit of T'Pau," but I don't know what he's on about; he may be joking about his own ignorance of the lyric, or he may mistakenly think the band was around in 1984 (they formed in 1986). Or, he may think "T'Pau" is slang for sex or something, but if it is, the internet hasn't heard about it (I don't claim to be hip, but I can Google). What seems most likely to me is that MES is just scatting; after all, the previous line is "oo-ar." But it's good to have a pretext to mention "Amok Time."

^

4. These four lines are simultaneous. McEwan's is a Scottish ale.

^

5. Dan has found the source of these cryptic words in the movie Alone in the Dark. At one point the character played by Donald Pleasance, a psychiatrist named Dr. Leo Bain, says to his bemused colleague Dr. Dan Potter (Dwight Schultz)  "Always remember what the Hindu mystic said. 'Mind moving fast is crazy. Mind slow is saint. Mind stopped...is God!"

^

6. This could be just a flippant way of referring to the first-mentioned neighbor's cohabitant, but it also could be a description of her from his perspective if he is myopic, or doesn't see well with his remaining eye.

^

7. There is a musical shift into chaos here, which suggests that the "writer upstairs," surely MES, has succumbed to his madness due to the racket downstairs.

^

SaveSave

Comments (37)

dannyno
  • 1. dannyno | 25/01/2017
Hold the front page for this one.


Mind moving slow is sane
Mind moving fast is mad
Mind left stopped he's got


This is an almost exact quote from the film "Alone in the Dark" (1982): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alone_in_the_Dark_(1982_film)

The lines are spoken by Dr Leo Bain, played by Donald Pleasance:


Always remember what the Hindu mystics say:
Mind moving fast is crazy
Mind slow is sane
Mind stopped... is God


The film is on youtube:
https://youtu.be/xCO7FGs4hDs
Go to about 16:10
dannyno
  • 2. dannyno | 26/01/2017
Pleasance might actually be saying "Mind slow is saint"... easy to mishear.
bzfgt
  • 3. bzfgt | 28/01/2017
Dan, this is an outstanding find. You should feel like stout Cortez, silent on a peak in Darien. Or, if I've used that one before, then Indiana Jones finding the ark of the covenant. Hell yes, this is exciting.
bzfgt
  • 4. bzfgt | 28/01/2017
Dan, to my ears it is very distinctly "saint."
bzfgt
  • 5. bzfgt | 28/01/2017
I will have to watch that movie. I gave a minimal account based on what I found on Wikipedia. That may be adequate but I want to watch it anyway, just from that scene it looks really enticing anyhow.
bzfgt
  • 6. bzfgt | 28/01/2017
I wonder about "granpathy," the -pathy seems particularly relevant now.
bzfgt
  • 7. bzfgt | 28/01/2017
Also I changed it from "he's got" to "is God," that's what it sounds like to me.
bzfgt
  • 8. bzfgt | 28/01/2017
There are also some variations in the "mind moving" parts we haven't nailed down yet.
bzfgt
  • 9. bzfgt | 29/01/2017
I watched the movie, it has some cool parts and is pretty trippy but not as exciting as one would have hoped. Nothing useful to add to the notes.
dannyno
  • 10. dannyno | 25/06/2017
From the sleeve notes to "The Wonderful and Frightening World Of..."

[quote]
CRAIGNESS

- "Shimmering violet shimmer, twisting haunts shadow passers veil night time silvery veils swirling rustling sweep. Shining, melodious Drifting." - B.E.S.
[/quote

So evidently those are Brix's words. What connection they have to this song, I do not know.
dannyno
  • 11. dannyno | 07/11/2017
The link to youtube in comment #1 is dead due to a Warner copyright claim.

So try this instead: https://youtu.be/2DsYqR4MS5o?t=15m44s
dannyno
  • 12. dannyno | 07/11/2017
... and it's clearly "saint" not "sane" there.
grottyspawn
  • 13. grottyspawn | 20/12/2017
'Oo-ar' pronounced the way Smith does here is an English way of invoking a country bumpkin stereotype, perhaps indicating where one or both of the couple came from.
bzfgt
  • 14. bzfgt (link) | 23/12/2017
Is there some way of corroborating that? Another instance?
dannyno
  • 15. dannyno | 23/12/2017
grottyspawn, comment #13, is correct that "oo-ar" is sometimes used as a comic indication of a West Country/Somerset bumpkin/farmer's accent.

Hence The Wurzel's parodic "Ooh Arr Just a Little Bit": https://youtu.be/b_gZ3eCFnaE (parodying Gina G)

And hence the "humour" in this custard advert: https://youtu.be/epbERMTlzGQ

But MES does not pronounce it that way at all. So I don't think it's intended as a comic West Country accent, and have never heard it like that.
dannyno
  • 16. dannyno | 23/12/2017
See also Cornish dialect: Jon Mills with Alistair McGowan on BBC's The ONE Show: https://youtu.be/tcMJWZBzYjU
dannyno
  • 17. dannyno | 23/12/2017
But thinking about the accent, the same accent is often used for pirates.

And if there's a neighbour with one eye.... might MES be intending to conjure up pirate imagery? The accent still isn't right, but this feels like a potentially plausible solution.
dannyno
  • 18. dannyno | 23/12/2017
Also, i wonder if its not "her shadowed face"?
ex worker man
  • 19. ex worker man | 24/03/2018
Point 3
On the WAFW box-set live disc its;

It's Grandpappy with Satan eyes
He sports the maroon flares
Like a McEwan’s can

So the LP version I guess is the same with lines 2 & 3 swapped
The sinister grandfather drinks McEwans export presumably
bzfgt
  • 20. bzfgt (link) | 07/04/2018
Yes, I can hear those now you say so! Great stuff, it's "Satan's eyes" at least the first verse.

Why do we assume he's saying exactly "T-Pau"? It seems presumptuous.
bzfgt
  • 21. bzfgt (link) | 07/04/2018
And who the hell decided it was "granpathy," and why has it said that these many years? "Grandpappy" seems more reaosnable.
bzfgt
  • 22. bzfgt (link) | 07/04/2018
This is a classic, I think it's underrated though. Also "Bug Day," same deal.
bzfgt
  • 23. bzfgt (link) | 07/04/2018
It sounds kind of like "Shane McEwan, " but maybe it overlaps with "sane" there or something, it's hard to concentrate on both vocals at once...
bzfgt
  • 24. bzfgt (link) | 07/04/2018
Dan, I do think "shadowed face"....delayed reaction...
dannyno
  • 25. dannyno | 06/05/2018
I'm totally loving that we've finally cracked the granpathy thing.

Re: the significance of the McEwan's can - could be that the colour of the cans matches the "maroon flares"? Also the Belgian Duvel ale ("Duvel" is "devil" in Flemmish) is based on imported McEwan's yeast. So maybe a link to Satan's eyes? The McEwan's logo was an adaptation of the painting "The Laughing Cavalier".

"Maroon flares" are - or were - also a lifeboat-launch/distress/air-raid signal, although in the lyric they are "sported" and so presumably the trousers are meant.
bzfgt
  • 26. bzfgt (link) | 13/10/2018
"bzfgt (link) | 07/04/2018
Dan, I do think "shadowed face"....delayed reaction..."

Also see new note 5
Xyralothep's cat
  • 27. Xyralothep's cat | 28/11/2019
Beshadowed face, I think
bzfgt
  • 28. bzfgt (link) | 21/12/2019
He swallows the syllable so it's hard to say, unless there's another version where he enunciates it which would at least make one more likely...
dannyno
  • 29. dannyno | 04/03/2020
The youtube links to Alone in the Dark keep being suppressed.

I've created a short clip of the relevant bit:

http://dannyno.org.uk/fall/craigness.mp4
dannyno
  • 30. dannyno | 02/04/2020
Brix Smith Start, during the @Tim_Burgess curated TWAFWOTF ##timstwitterlisteningparty on 2nd April 2020, said:


I am playng the single note melodic hook. To go with Craig’s soundscape melody.
It gets so so SO psychedelic at the end!
It’s John Leckie at his sublime mindblowing best!!!


https://twitter.com/Brixsmithstart/status/1245827166631272448


When Mark says “Ooo-ar “, he is making fun of the neighbour downstairs with one eye, like making out he was a pirate who’s eye was put out. “ It’s grandpappy with Satan’s eyes“.


https://twitter.com/Brixsmithstart/status/1245827021378211840


Craig brought in the riff as I recall
Mark and I live on Recory lane in Prestwich. Below us we had these creepy neighbors. A couple. The guy has one eye.
His wife was blond curly hair. The set the chip pan alight and caused a fire.


(it's Rectory Lane, of course)

https://twitter.com/Brixsmithstart/status/1245826777647325184
dannyno
  • 31. dannyno | 02/04/2020
Paul Hanley, during the @Tim_Burgess curated TWAFWOTF ##timstwitterlisteningparty on 2nd April 2020, said


'Craigness' Craig's tune, unsuprisingly. The Riff that me and Brix are playing originally had an extra note which changed the time signature, but none of us could get it right. We had to leave it out. It was always a shame when we couldn't accommodate Craig wayward timing.


https://twitter.com/hanleyPa/status/1245826670113816577
bzfgt
  • 32. bzfgt (link) | 10/04/2020
Cool, I put a link in the note now that it's your thing...

I wish I could do this line thing right in the thing, I have to try to copy it in from comments
bzfgt
  • 33. bzfgt (link) | 10/04/2020
I wonder if she's right about that, MES's "oo-ar" doesn't sound all that piratical...
Chris
  • 34. Chris | 10/08/2020
Re annotation 3 and the sauciness of oo-ar or as it was more commonly stated n those days "oo-er, missus". I shared in a house in Bradford, West Yorkshire in the 90s with a bloke who was from Cressage in Shropshire. He was unaware of this Fall song but told me that he knew Carol Decker from T'Pau in her pre-fame days and whether well-deserved or not she had a reputation as 'the town bike'. I mention this because it's written above that "he may think "T'Pau" is slang for sex or something" and I know one reason why that would indeed be the case!
dannyno
  • 35. dannyno | 22/02/2021
I uploaded the Alone in the Dark clip to Youtube, so it's there as well as on my own site:

dannyno
  • 36. dannyno | 01/04/2021
Alone in the Dark was released on video in November 1983.
dannyno
  • 37. dannyno | 09/04/2022
Downstairs neighbours also appear in People You Were Going To by Van Der Graaf Generator:


The people in the downstairs flat
Are no longer there now because they left
The gas tap on, they're all dead.


There's no obvious connection, I just thought it was interesting, since MES was I think clearly influenced by Hammill.

Add a comment