Don't Take the Pizza

Lyrics

(1)

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. 

^

4. Zack acutely remarks:

"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)

Zack
  • 1. Zack | 26/01/2017
"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.
Zack
  • 2. Zack | 26/01/2017
^ I really ought to read Fall Tracks A-Z before I comment here; they already said everything I just said.
dannyno
  • 3. dannyno | 12/02/2017
"city that once was bronze"

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.
DanM
  • 4. DanM | 04/01/2020
@dannyno it's a bit oblique admittedly, but probably refers to Birmingham's industrial/manufacturing past - 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: 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
Martin
  • 5. Martin | 11/04/2020
"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.""

The latter most certainly, as MES sings on the demo version on a few occasions, "They took the piss out of me".
Martin
  • 6. Martin | 11/04/2020
Small change from demo to album version:

"The glass ceiling it did shake"

was originally

"The glass ceiling it shrieks"

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