Crew Filth
Lyrics
From the valleys of Leicestershire (1)
And all over
Came mystic crew filth
The first was Dave Bush-babe (2)
The second was Graham pony-tail (3)
They were mystic crew filth
Crew filth
[mock Urdu or Punjabi]
Then from the land of the accordion
Came Dave Kiwi (4)
He was crew filth
He had the shirts
He wouldn't meditate
on his monitor room
Mystic
Crew filth
Hey mystic crew filth
Crew filth
Where did they come from?
The little motherfuckers
Nobody knows
Nobody bothers
Crew filth
Crew filth
Crew filth
One was a Kiwi
One was a Bush-baby (5)
One had tattoos on his legs
One had brown spectacles on his head
Motherfuckers
Crew filth
Crew filth
Hey Kenny, tell us about crew filth (6)
Crew filth
But those crew filth
They had sensitive sides to their nature
They would smoke pot in their rooms
They were always behind you
That's why we kept our backs to the walls
You gotta watch your wallet, man
Crew filth
What about crew filth Bill? (7)
Bill was King of the fucking Motherfucker crew filth
He had to do some work one night
Then his hair turned white
Crew filth baby
Crew filth motherfucker
He was the worst, one of the worst
Gotta watch your friends
Watch your girl
You never can tell
He might kill a tab
While you're jumping off (8)
All your friends might turn out to be
Crew filth
Note
1. Leicestershire is a county in central England.
Martin ran down the following:
From The Big Midweek (Steve Hanley and Olivia Pierkarski, Route, 2014; page 310): "...a throwaway piss-take recorded in the tour bus on a Casio coming back from the glitzy Palace nightclub on Blackpool front." (This dates the recording exactly to 3 December 1991.)
Joseph Holt points out a similarity between the music to "Crew Filth" and the Yamaha PSS-580 keyboard "Demonstration Song." Note that "Fortress," "The Man Whose Head Expanded," and the version of "Look, Know" on Hip Priests and Kamerads all use a pre-set from a Casio keyboard (the same one in each case).
2. Dave Bush began his tenure with the Fall as a member of the sound crew, but by the time Code: Selfish was recorded he was in the band, playing keyboards and helping to write songs. According to Bush (interviewed for Dave Simpson's The Fallen), he actually disliked the Fall's music at first, but after touring with them for a short while he approached Smith and "told him he was brilliant and I'd do anything for them on keyboards and computers"; Smith was game, and Bush remained with the band until 1995.
3. Anyone who knows anything about this "Graham" is encouraged to put me wise.
4. Anyone who knows anything about this "Dave" is encouraged to put me wise. Presumably this Dave is not Bush, since he is said to have come after the latter. The epithet "Kiwi" suggests he may be a New Zealander.
5. A bush baby is a small monkey native to Africa; the reference is again of course to Dave Bush.
6. Anyone who knows anything about this "Kenny" is encouraged to put me wise.
8. "Tab" is northern English slang for a cigarette, stank otter reports (and The Internet confirms...).
More Information
Comments (10)

- 1. | 24/05/2013

- 2. | 06/09/2013

- 3. | 18/05/2014
That last bit, "You gotta watch your wallet, man", always struck me as Mark trying to save face, not wanting to imply that the Crew Filth were homosexuals or, at least, not wanting to make a gay joke.

- 4. | 12/10/2014
"...a throwaway piss-take recorded in the tour bus on a Casio coming back from the glitzy Palace nightclub on Blackpool front." (This dates the recording exactly to 3 December 1991.)

- 5. | 10/11/2017

- 6. | 02/12/2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayPS5N8dUCU

- 7. | 29/12/2017
i learnt this myself when taking lsd for the first time at a primal scream gig with a northern fella
he asked if i wanted another tab and i was a bit disappointed when it came in the form of a not very psychedelic benson and hedges

- 8. | 07/06/2022
That said, this isn't a compliment to either song.

- 9. | 07/06/2022

- 10. | 27/06/2022
He's mentioned in MES' "Heroes and Villains" feature in the NME, 11 December 1993:
http://thefall.org/gigography/93dec11.html
MIKE THE HAIRCUT HILL AND JR ETC
THESE ARE my North Manchester friends and they're quite important to me because they're always there for me when I'm depressed or under the weather or pissed off. They come round and cheer me up, not always the easiest of tasks. Heh heh heh! I haven't got many friends but these are good lads. They're only in their mid-20s and they're not really into The Fall that much. They like grunge and speed metal and all that, but they look out for me, y'know. They always pop around and check I'm alright. I don't socialise that much though, I spend most of my time avoiding people if I can and avoiding the music industry above all, cos I hate all that rubbish. The bit. I think I met these lads when the wife bought a car off one of them.
The only possible reference to Graham on te Reformation site:
10 December 90 St. David's Hall, Cardiff:
- "Graham, can you get it flatter outside, please?" (before "And Therein")
Maybe Graham was a sound engineer?