Dktr Faustus

(1)

(parts in brackets are Brix)

[Yeah... yeah...]
Doctor Faustus
Horseshoes splackin'
Swallows hay cart, cart horse
Of the peasants blocking his path

Doctor Faustus
Power showin'
Spits out hay cart, cart horse, hay and box, 
Outside the gates of the town of Anholt (2)

[Had your chances... you've had your chance
You've had your chances... you've had your chance
Yeah....]

Doctor Faustus
At the court of the Count
Made fruits exotic pleasure-licious
Appear behind curtains in Winter (3)

[Banana! Apple... Plum...]   (4)
Faustus
[Exotic fruits]
At court of decadent Count [yeah]
Made animals from sunny lands appear [banana!]
In the sparse gartens
[Straw-berrieees... exotic fruits
You've Had your chances... you've had your chance
You've had your chances... you've had your chance--
Banana!!]

Doctor Faustus
Horseshoes splackin'
Swallows hay cart, cart horse, 
Hay and box [cherry]
Of the peasant blocking his path [banana]
Had to leave (apples... cherries)
His drinking student friends (exotic fruits)

[Doctor Faustus... Doctor Faustus]

[Yeah... exotic fruits... strawberry]
LEMON!
[Doctor Faustus... Doctor Faustus
Had your chances... you've had your chance
Had your chances... you've had your chance
Had your chances... you've had your chance
Had your chances... you've had your chance]

There's a blood silhouette through the ceiling sky (5)
There's a blood silhouette through the ceiling sky
There's a blood silhouette through the ceiling sky
There's a blood silhouette through the ceiling sky
[Banana!]
Had your chance... you've had your chances [banana!]
[There's a blood silhouette through the ceiling sky]
Had your chance [banana!]
There's a blood silhouette through the ceiling sky
[Doctor Faustus, Doctor Faustus]

[Banana!]
There's a blood silhouette through the ceiling sky
There's a blood silhouette through the ceiling SKY!!!!
Banana!]

[Doctor Faustus
Had your chance
Banana
Had your chances
Banana
There's a blood silhouette through the ceiling sky
Banana]

1. In a radio interview with Steve Barker (On The Wire, BBC Radio Lancashire, 1986), MES said that the riff was "one of Craig's standard ones. San Quentin type...me and the wife got together over this really good story book I had...and it sort of came out from that." (thanks to Dan)

Doctor Faustus, or Faust, is a character from German folklore whose story appears in numerous permutations in German literature. It seems from the above that MES had a version in a fairy tale book, although as we will see below he also had a version of Goethe's Faust at some point before or after writing the song, but this was not, according to MES, the inspiration for the lyrics. 

In the story, Faust sells his soul to the devil, in exchange for unlimited knowledge. The story has been treated both as a cautionary tale of a vain and hubristic man and also as a Promethean fable of the scientific spirit. It's most famous retellings by Goethe and Marlowe are philosophically and theologically ambiguous, in contrast to the original legend which takes a straightforwarldly negative view of Faust's contract. The expression "Faustian bargain" denotes a deal or decision in which someone cedes something esential, such as their integrity or independence, for a tangible increase of property or power. 

From the NME, MES weighs in:

"I don't really like working with other voices but 'Faustus' is OK because the mix is fucked up - the backing vocals are at the level the lead vocals should be. It works because it sounds like hell straining to break through.

People go to me, 'Is that Faustus by Goethe or Faustus by Mann?', but I read it in a fairytale book. Somebody gave me a copy of this Goethe book and the drawings of Faustus are the spitting image of me. But I couldn't cope with the book, too hard. Not that I'm a simple fellow or anything but you have to give those things a lot of time."

Harry Clarke's illustrations of Goethe's Faust are indeed generally considered to bear a strong resemblance to MES, particularly the one at the top of the page here.

Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus is a novel about a fictional 20th century composer (modeled on Arnold Schoenberg) who, his wits addled by syphilis, strikes a deal with a demon who proclaims "that you can only see me because you are mad, does not mean that I do not really exist." Aside from Goethe and Mann, the most famous literary treatment of the Faust legend is the play The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe. 

Nairng from the FOF has found a lot of relevant material in Marlowe's Doctor Faustus:

Act 4 Scene 6 does not seem to appear in the Project Gutenberg version of the text – the intro to my copy (Longman Study Texts) explains that there are 2 versions of the play, one of which omits a lot of the comic scenes. In this one, various ‘low’ characters complain how they have been ill-used by Faustus; they get drunk and decide to seek him out. They are presumably near the court of the Duke of Vanholt, where the next scene will take place (MES has ‘Anholt’). A hay-carter known only as ‘Carter’ says:

"As I was going to Wittenburg t’other day with a load of hay, he [Faustus] met me and asked me what he should give me for as much hay as he could eat. Now, sir, I, thinking that a little would serve his turn, bade him take as much as he would for three farthings. So he presently gave me my money and fell to eating; and, as I am a cursen [Christian] man, he never left eating till he had eat up all my load of hay!"

Faustus seems to have done this purely out of mischief. 

In Act 4 Scene 7, Faustus is at the court of the Duke of Vanholt, whose pregnant wife has a craving for grapes. Faustus produces some, explaining:

"Please it your grace, the year is divided into two circles over the whole world, so that, when it is winter with us, in the contrary circle it is likewise summer with them, as in India, Saba [Sheba], and farther countries in the east, where they have fruit twice a year. From whence, by means of a swift spirit that I have, I had these grapes brought as you see."

At various points in the play, Faustus is advised by a ‘bad angel’ and a ‘good angel’ – in Act 2 Scene 2 the latter tells him it’s “never too late” to repent. Faustus, therefore, has his chances. 

Also in Act 2 Scene 2, Faustus quizzes Mephistophilis on the nature of the universe. He confirms the ancient belief that, if you go far enough, you’ll get to the ‘firmament’ – a solid boundary in which the stars are set. This could possibly be the ‘ceiling sky’ of Dktr Faustus…

See More Information below for a possible source for the lyrics, and note this also includes interpretation of some the lyrics.

^

2, Some versions of the Faust story place him in "Anholt," which is a district of Isselburg, Germany, but the original name was "Anhalt," a duchy in the German state of Saxony-Anholt.

^

3. In some versions of the story, Faust magically produces a dish of fruit out of season for the Duchess of Anhalt/Anholt, or, in some cases, for some other person or persons. See note 1 above.

^

4.  Brix wasn't pleased about the lyrics MES gave her to sing:

"Mark asked me to shout 'banana, strawberry and exotic fruits' in 'Dktr Faustus'. I cringe when I hear it. I hated having to say those stupid lyrics." (The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise)

From the booklet to the 2019 Beggars Banquet reissue of Bend Sinister (thanks to Dan):
 

BRIX: Mark made me sing and scream 'Banana' - I wonder if it was a reference to the Velvet Underground, because there is something about that song that reminds me of the Velvets. Mark was very emphatic about me singing it. It was my idea to put the other fruits into it to try and give it some kind of context.

Sumsiadad remarks that this may be a subtle tribute to the German band, Faust:

"The recurring use of the word, 'Banana' makes me think of the Faust song, 'No Harm,' the entire lyric of which is, 'Daddy, take the banana/ Tomorrow is Sunday.'" Considering the title of this song and the fact that MES is known to be an aficionado of krautrock, it seems entirely plausible that the connection is intentional. As Dan points out, MES mentions Faust at least once, in the "Invisible Jukebox" feature, The Wire, January 2001:
 

FAUST
"It's A Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl" from So Far: The Wümme Years 1970-73
(Recommended) 1972
Many more to go now, Edwin? Are they all like this? Is it Can?
Close: it's Faust.
Oh right, right. Really? Is it new stuff?
No, old stuff. It's from So Far, their second album.
I prefer Faust Tapes or the first one to this.
Are there any other Krautrock groups you appreciate apart from Can and Faust?
I really liked both versions of Amon Düül a lot when I first heard them. Especially Amon Düül I, I thought they were very inventive.

^

5.  From the booklet to the 2019 Beggars Banquet reissue of Bend Sinister (thanks to Dan):
 

BRIX: 'There's a blood silhouette through the ceiling sky' - the ceiling sky was my lyric - I had this weird thing about the ceiling. As a small child, I used to lay in bed and stay up all night thinking about what was past the ceiling, past the sky, past the galaxy, past the universe, where does it end, how far does it go? It used to torture me, and the ceiling sky is the opening to everything. His 'blood silhouette' was the body passing through the ceiling sky, then, what's left, the traces of the body.

A reader named Dan, who is not the usual Dan, remarks:

The "blood silhouette through the ceiling sky" may be a reference to Faust's final soliloquy in Marlowe's play, in which he is on the verge of repentence:
 

See, see where Christ's blood streams in the firmament!
One drop would save my soul, half a drop. Ah, my Christ!

^

Dktr Faustus: Fall Tracks A-Z

The Story of the Fall: 1985

Dan has located a version of the Faust story that may be the same as in MES's source. Note the chart below, which juxtaposes elements of the Faust story from Dan's source and MES's lyrics. Dan's information and comment below:

Folk Tales and Legends
Retold by Michaela Tvrdíková
Translated by Vera Gissing
Illustrations by Vojt?ch Kubašta
Cathay Books, 1981
ISBN 0 86178 056 6

Just to set lyric and story text side by side [note Anholt is the spelling found in the book, so that works with the way MES pronounces it]:

Return to Note 1

Return to Lyrics