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The Annotated Lyrics
- (Birtwistle's) Girl in Shop
- (Jung Nev's) Antidotes
- (We Are) Mod Mock Goth
- (We WIsh You) A Protein Christ
- 15 Ways
- 2 x 4
- 2nd Dark Age
- 4 1/2 Inch
- 50 Year Old Man
- 986 Generator
- A Figure Walks
- A Lot of Wind
- A Past Gone Mad
- Afternoon Disco
- Age of Chang
- All Leave Cancelled
- Alton Towers
- Amorator!
- An Older Lover Etc.
- And Therein...
- And This Day
- Anecdotes+Antidotes in B#
- Arid Al's Dream
- Arms Control Poseur
- Assume
- Athlete Cured
- Australians in Europe
- Auto Chip 2014-2016
- Auto-Tech Pilot
- Backdrop
- Bad News Girl
- Barmy
- Before the Moon Falls
- Behind the Counter
- Bill is Dead
- Bingo-Master
- Birmingham School of Business
- Birthday Song
- Black Roof
- Blindness
- Blood Outta Stone
- Bo Demmick
- Bombast
- Bonkers in Phoenix
- Bound
- Bournemouth Runner
- Breaking the Rules
- Bremen Nacht
- Brillo De Facto
- British People in Hot Weather
- Bug Day
- Bury Pts. 1+3
- Butterflies 4 Brains
- C'n'C-S Mithering
- C.R.E.E.P.
- Cab It Up
- Calendar
- Can Can Summer
- Carry Bag Man
- Cary Grant's Wedding
- Cheetham Hill
- Chicago, Now!
- Chilinism
- Chino
- Choc-Stock
- City Dweller
- City Hobgoblins
- Clasp Hands
- Clear Off!
- Cloud of Black
- Coach and Horses
- Contraflow
- Copped It
- Cosmos 7
- Couldn't Get Ahead
- Couples vs Jobless Mid 30s
- Cowboy George
- Cowboy Gregori
- Crackhouse
- Craigness
- Crap Rap 2/Like to Blow
- Crew Filth
- Crop-Dust
- Cruiser's Creek
- Cyber Insekt
- D.I.Y. Meat
- Das Boat
- Das Katerer
- Das Vulture Ans Ein Nutter-Wai
- Dead Beat Descendant
- Dedication Not Medication
- Deer Park
- Detective Instinct
- Devolute
- Dice Man
- Disney's Dream Debased
- Distilled Mug Art
- Dktr Faustus
- Dog is Life/Jerusalem
- Don't Call Me Darling
- Don't Take the Pizza
- Dr. Bucks' Letter
- Draygo's Guilt
- Dresden Dolls
- Early Days of Channel Führer
- Eat Y'Self Fitter
- Ed's Babe
- Edinburgh Man
- Elf Prefix
- Elves
- English Scheme
- Enigrammatic Dream
- Entitled
- Everybody But Myself
- Everything Hurtz
- Exploding Chimney
- Extricate
- Fall Sound
- Fantastic Life
- Feeling Numb
- Fibre Book Troll
- Fiery Jack
- First One Today
- Fit and Working Again
- Flat of Angles
- Fol de Rol
- Fortress
- Free Range
- Frenz
- Frightened
- Futures and Pasts
- Garden New
- Gentlemen's Agreement
- Get a Hotel
- Get A Summer Song Goin'
- Gibbus Gibson
- Glam-Racket
- God Box
- Gramme Friday
- Green Eyed Loco Man
- Greenway
- Gross Chapel-British Grenadier
- Groundsboy
- Guest Informant
- Guide Me Soft
- Gut of the Quantifier
- H.O.W.
- Haf Found Bormann
- Hands Up Billy
- Happi Song
- Happy Holiday
- Hard Life in Country
- He Pep!
- He Talks
- Hexen Definitive/Strife Knot
- Hey! Fascist
- Hey! Luciani
- Hey! Marc Riley
- Hey! Student
- High Tension Line
- Hilary
- Hip Priest
- Hit the North
- Hittite Man
- Hollow Mind
- Hostile
- Hot Aftershave Bop
- Hot Cake
- Hot Runes
- Hotel Bloedel
- How I Wrote Elastic Man
- Hurricane Edward
- I African Mancunian
- I Am Damo Suzuki
- I Come and Stand At Your Door
- I Feel Voxish
- I Wake Up In The City
- I'm Frank
- I'm Into C.B.
- I've Been Duped
- I've Seen Them Come
- Ibis-Afro Man
- Iceland
- Idiot Joy Showland
- Immortality
- Impression of J. Temperance
- In My Area
- In The Park
- In These Times
- Industrial Estate
- Inevitable
- Insult Song
- Irish
- Is This New
- It's A Curse
- It's The New Thing
- Ivanhoe's Two Pence
- Jam Song
- Janet, Johnny + James
- Jawbone And The Air-Rifle
- Jazzed Up Punk Shit
- Jetplane
- Jim's "The Fall"
- Job Search
- Joker Hysterical Face
- Junger Cloth
- Just Step S'Ways
- Kick The Can
- Kicker Conspiracy
- Kinder of Spine
- Kurious Oranj
- L.A.
- Ladybird (Green Grass)
- Laptop Dog
- Last Commands of Xyralothep Vi
- Last Orders
- Latchkey Kid
- Lay of the Land
- Leave the Capitol
- Levitate
- Lie Dream of a Casino Soul
- Life Just Bounces
- Light/Fireworks
- Live at the Witch Trials
- Living Too Late
- Loadstones
- Look, Know
- Lucifer Over Lancashire
- Ludd Gang
- M5 #1
- Mad.Men-Eng.Dog
- Mark'll Sink Us
- Marquis Cha-Cha
- Married, Two Kids
- Mask Search
- Masquerade
- Medical Acceptance Gate
- Mere Pseud Mag. Ed.
- Mess of My
- Mexico Wax Solvent
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- Middle Mass
- Midnight in Aspen/Aspen Repris
- Midwatch 1953
- Mike's Love Xexagon
- Mister Rode
- Mollusc in Tyrol
- Monocard
- Mother-Sister
- Mountain Energei
- Music Scene
- Muzorewi's Daughter
- My Condition
- My Door Is Never
- My Ex-Classmates' Kids
- My New House
- Nate Will Not Return
- Neighbourhood of Infinity
- New Big Prinz
- New Face in Hell
- New Facts Emerge
- New Formation Sermon
- New Puritan
- Nine Out Of Ten
- No Bulbs
- No Respects Rev.
- No X-mas for John Quays
- Noel's Chemical Effluence
- Noise
- North West Fashion Show
- O! ZZTRRK Man
- O.F.Y.C. Showcase
- Octo Realm/Ketamine Sun
- Oh! Brother
- Ol' Gang
- Oleano
- On My Own
- One Day
- Open The Boxoctosis
- Oswald Defence Lawyer
- Over! Over!
- Overture From "I Am Curious, O
- Oxymoron
- Pacifying Joint
- Paintwork
- Papal Visit
- Paranoia Man/Cheap Sh*t Room
- Pat-Trip Dispenser
- Pay Your Rates
- Pearl City
- Perverted by Language
- Petty (Thief) Lout
- Pilsner Trail
- Pine Leaves
- Pittsville Direkt
- Pledge
- Plug Myself In
- Ponto
- Pop Stickers
- Portugal
- Powder Keg
- Pre-MDMA Years
- Printhead
- Prole Art Threat
- Proteinprotection
- Psycho Mafia
- Psykick Dancehall
- Psykick Dancehall #2
- Pumpkin Head Xscapes
- Pumpkin Soup and Mashed Potato
- Put Away
- Putta Block
- Quit iPhone
- R.O.D.
- Race Hatred
- Rainmaster
- Rebellious Jukebox
- Recipe for Fascism
- Recovery Kit
- Reece Stick
- Reformation!
- Rememberance R
- Repetition
- Reprise: Jane--Prof Mick--Ey B
- Return
- Riddler
- Ride Away
- Room to Live
- Rose
- Rowche Rumble
- Rude (All The Time)
- Scareball
- Scenario
- Secession Man
- Second House Now
- Segue
- Senior Twilight Stock Replacer
- Serum
- Service
- Session Musician
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- Shift-Work
- Shoulder Pads
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- Sir William Wray
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- Slates, Slags, Etc.
- Sleep Debt Snatches
- Smile
- Smith and Mark
- Snazzy
- So What About It?
- So-Called Dangerous
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- Sons of Temperance
- Spectre vs. Rector
- Spencer Must Die
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- Spoilt Victorian Child
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- Stephen Song
- Stepping Out
- Stout Man
- Surmount All Obstacles
- Surrogate Mirage
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- Symbol of Mordgan
- Systematic Abuse
- Taking Off
- Telephone Thing
- Tempo House
- Ten Houses of Eve
- Terry Waite Sez
- That Man
- The 500 Dollar Bottle of Wine
- The Acute
- The Aphid
- The Ballard of J. Drummer
- The Book of Lies
- The Boss
- The Classical
- The Coliseum
- The Container Drivers
- The Crying Marshal
- The Joke
- The Knight, the Devil and Deat
- The League of Bald-Headed Men
- The Littlest Rebel
- The Man Whose Head Expanded
- The Mixer
- The N.W.R.A.
- The Past #2
- The Quartet of Doc Shanley
- The REAL Life of the Crying Ma
- The Reckoning
- The Remainderer
- The Steak Place
- The Usher
- The War Against Intelligence
- The Wright Stuff
- Theme From Error-Orrori
- Theme From Sparta F.C.
- Time Enough At Last
- To Nk Roachment: Yarbles
- Tom Raggazzi
- Tommy Shooter
- Totally Wired
- Touch Sensitive
- Touchy Pad
- Town Called Crappy
- Trust in Me
- Tuff Life Booogie
- Twister
- Two Face!
- Two Librans
- Two Steps Back
- U.S. 80s-90s
- Underground Medecin
- Unutterable
- Van Plague?
- Various Times
- Venice With The Girls
- Victoria Train Station Massacr
- Victrola Time
- Vixen
- W.B.
- W.M.C.--Blob 59
- Way Round
- Weather Report 2
- What About Us?
- What You Need
- Where's the F***in Taxi? C**t
- Whizz Bang
- Who Makes the Nazis?
- Win Fall CD 2088 AD
- Wings
- Winter (Hostel-Maxi)
- Wise Ol' Man
- Wolf Kidult Man
- Words of Expectation
- Wrong Place, Right Time
- Xmas With Simon
- Y.F.O.C./Slippy Floor
- Yes O Yes
- You Don't Turn Me On
- You Haven't Found It Yet
- You're Not Up To Much
- Your Heart Out
- Youwanner
- Zagreb
- Zandra
-
Arranged By Album
- Live at the Witch Trials
- Dragnet
- Grotesque (After the Gramme)
- Slates
- Hex Enduction Hour
- Room to Live
- Perverted by Language
- The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall
- This Nation's Saving Grace
- Bend Sinister
- The Frenz Experiment
- I Am Kurious, Oranj
- Extricate
- Shift-Work
- Code:Selfish
- The Infotainment Scan
- Middle Class Revolt
- Cerebral Caustic
- Light User Syndrome
- Levitate
- The Marshall Suite
- The Unutterable
- Are You Are Missing Winner
- The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country on the Click)
- Fall Heads Roll
- Reformation Post TLC
- Imperial Wax Solvent
- Your Future Our Clutter
- Ersatz G.B.
- Re-Mit
- The Remainderer
- Sub-Lingual Tablet
- Wise Ol' Man
- New Facts Emerge
- 2014
- O! ZZTRRK Man
- New Facts Emerge
- Segue
- Ponto
- Smith and Mark
- Afternoon Disco
- Reece Stick
- Home /
- The Annotated Lyrics /
- Don't Take the Pizza
Don't Take the Pizza
Lyrics
All that is gone is shredded by the Automan (2)
The glass ceiling it did shake and then it did undulate (3)
Don't take the pizza off me
Slumber I told yer
Don't take the pizza off me
Birmingham nonsense from city that once was bronze (4)
QED each day
QED is "quid each day" (5)
Don't take the pizza off me
Don't take it...
Your brain splits each day from information anxiety (6)
From me pinch I cringe
You dopey randy acid clone
Don't take the pizza off me
Slash fat cats
See vamp watch out
Get rid of straight away
Don't take the pizza off me
Don't pick up mind track
Notes
1. This song is credited to MES and Simon Rogers, who nevertheless couldn't recall the song when asked about it in 2006. The lyrics are well-nigh impenetrable, but they seem to fit the music, for whatever reason.
Martin points out the evident pun of the title, which seems to play on "Don't take a piece out of me" and "Don't take the piss out of me"...
2. Automan was a short-lived (1983-4) American sci-fi tv series, and, while it seems not entirely unlikely that this is what MES is thinking of here, in any case that doesn't get us much deeper into the song. Wikipedia has the following information:
Automan (the "Automatic Man") follows the adventures of a police officer and computer programmer named Walter Nebicher (Desi Arnaz, Jr.), who had created an artificially intelligent crime fighting program that generated a hologram (Chuck Wagner) able to leave the computer world and fight crime.
While in the real world, Automan posed as a government agent by the name of "Otto J. Mann." This was a secret to all except Walter's close associate, Roxanne Caldwell (Heather McNair).
Nebicher could merge with Automan to become one being, sharing consciousness and skills, while retaining Automan's invulnerability.
Cursor was his sidekick, a floating, shifting polyhedron which could "draw" and generate physical objects as needed. The most common forms taken were a car (the Auto Car), an airplane, and a helicopter, all of which could seemingly defy the laws of physics.
The title seems to be a pun for "don't take a piece out of me," and perhaps also "don't take the piss out of me."
3. The phrase "glass ceiling" most often appears as a term that indicates an invisible barrier that prevents women from ascending the "corporate ladder" beyond a certain point, and is also sometimes used in reference to male minorities.
"Birmingham" is a clue that this song might be another gripe about former Fall manager Trevor Long, and several phrases suggest embezzlement: "don't take," "quid each day," "from me pinch," "slash fat cats" etc.
DanM remarks:
"It's a bit oblique admittedly, but probably refers to Birmingham's industrial/manufacturing past - it was known as the 'city of a thousand trades,' and probably had several foundries.
It was also a key scientific centre in the enlightenment era.
Recently, in an ironic twist, they gilded the bronze statue commemorating this history.
As discussed on "Birmingham School of Business School," it's almost certainly damning Birmingham with faint praise rather than genuinely nodding to the city's scientific and industrial past."
5. Q.E.D. stands for quod erat demonstrandum, which means "which had to be demonstrated." It is generally used as follows: a claim is made, a proof or argument is provided that establishes the claim, then the claim is repeated and followed by "Q.E.D." It is sometimes used more loosely, however, to follow any brief argument, even if the conclusion is not stated first. "Quid" is British slang for one pound in currency. "Quid each day" is a relatively straightforward alternative interpretation of Q.E.D. The one in the preceding line, however, "Q.E.D. each day," is recursive, insofar as every time one tries to say what "Q.E.D." stands for in the phrase, one winds up repeating the entire phrase, as in "'Q.E.D. each day' stands for 'Q.E.D. each day each day,' i.e. 'Q.E.D. each day each day each day,' i.e. 'Q.E.D. each day each day each day each day,'" etc.
6. "Information anxiety" is a feeling that results from too much information, what Alvin Toffler called "information overload." In the presence of a surfeit of information, it is easy to feel that one does not have enough of it to make an informed decision or, on the other hand, one may take in so much information that it is difficult to interpret or understand it all.
Comments (6)
What does this mean? That it was third place? That it had a fake tan? This could bear some thinking about.
There is a chrysanthemum called "Bronze Birmingham", which doesn't help.
It was also a key scientific centre in the enlightenment era: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midlands_Enlightenment
Recently, in an ironic twist, they gilded the bronze statue commemorating this history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulton,_Watt_and_Murdoch
As discussed on http://annotatedfall.doomby.com/pages/the-annotated-lyrics/the-birmingham-school-of-business-school.html#n3 it's almost certainly damning Birmingham with faint praise rather than genuinely nodding to the city's scientific and industrial past
The latter most certainly, as MES sings on the demo version on a few occasions, "They took the piss out of me".
"The glass ceiling it did shake"
was originally
"The glass ceiling it shrieks"