Fol de Rol
Lyrics
Waiting
Human dung
To start playing
Homeric Fol de Rol (2)
She glides, she strides
In kitchens Homeric
Giant Homeric
Fol de Rol
Fol de Rol
Homogeneous (3)
Check waistband, laughing
With helper in high-vis yellow coat
With nothing
Heigh Ho metal! (4)
Hiding
Homeric metal (5)
Fol de Rol
Generic
Dreamer...
With gibbering infants
She strides
Horrible facts
You block hotel area
With metal wedge potato
Dreaming
Fol de Rol
Fol de Rol
Christian
With, with green and yellow
So-called wheels
Cogs
There he stands
Homogenous bone and head
Fol de
Heigh Ho (6)
Fol de
Fol de
Rol
Rol
Fol de Rol
de Rol
Rol
Yeah
Ho
Meric
Homeric cogs of steel
Imaginary
Excite plastic wheels
Cogs of steel
Homeric
You block
You block
The glides
He rides
Homosapien
Electric (7)
Fermenting
Imaginary hung
Electric
Electric wheels out
We can't efface it
We can't efface it
Cogs of steel Homeric!
Cogs of steel Homeric!
Notes
1. It seems that with every album that goes by, transcribing becomes more difficult. The above lyrics are highly speculative, and are the result of my intently listening and making revisions to a transcription by Buy Kurious!, whom I heartily thank.
Fol de rol--or folderol, fol-de-rol, falderal, etc.--seems to have originated as a nonsense refrain in English ballads. It subsequently came to mean nonsense, or fuss or ado about something trivial, or a bangle or useless trinket.
I found a very helpful, and helpfully short, account of the origin of the word which I will quote in full:
There are many traditional rhymes and songs with variants of “fal-de-ral” in them somewhere. For example, Robert Bell noted these words of an old Yorkshire mummer’s play in his Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry Of England of 1857: “I hope you’ll prove kind with your money and beer, / We shall come no more near you until the next year. /Fal de ral, lal de lal, etc.” And Sir Walter Scott included a few lines of an old Scottish ballad in The Bride of Lammermoor (1819): “There was a haggis in Dunbar, / Fal de ral, etc. / Mony better and few waur, / Fal de ral, etc.” Charles Dickens had gentle fun with this habit in his Sketches By Boz of 1836-7: “Smuggins, after a considerable quantity of coughing by way of symphony, and a most facetious sniff or two, which afford general delight, sings a comic song, with a fal-de-ral — tol-de-ral chorus at the end of every verse, much longer than the verse itself.” It was around 1820 that this traditional chorus [sic] is first recorded as a term for a gewgaw or flimsy thing that was showy but of no value, though it had to wait until the 1870s before it started to be widely used.?
I hope the reader will indulge me here, as I was not able to convince myself to forbear from including the entirety of this wonderful entry in the Yale Glee Club songbook, certified a "Traditional Yale Song" (I think SATB must mean "Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass"):
Eli Yale
The solo is traditionally sung by the Glee Club president.
The following is the original version.
(SATB) Arr. Fenno Heath ‘50
As Freshmen first we came to Yale,
Fol de rol de rol rol rol!
Examinations made us pale.
Fol de rol de rol rol rol!
Chorus:
Eli Eli Eli Yale,
Fol de rol de rol rol rol!
Eli Eli Eli Yale,
Fol de rol de rol rol rol!
As Sophomores we have a task;
Fol de rol de rol rol rol!
‘Tis best performed by torch and mask.
Fol de rol de rol rol rol!
Repeat Chorus.
In Junior year we take our ease,
Fol de rol de rol rol rol!
We smoke our pipes and sing our glees.
Fol de rol de rol rol rol!
Repeat Chorus.
In Senior year we act our parts
Fol de rol de rol rol rol!
In making love and winning hearts.
Fol de rol de rol rol rol!
Repeat Chorus.
And then into the world we come,
Fol de rol de rol rol rol!
We’ve made good friends, and studied—some.
Fol de rol de rol rol rol!
Repeat Chorus.
The saddest tale we have to tell,
Fol de rol de rol rol rol!
Is when we bid old Yale farewell.
Fol de rol de rol rol rol!
Repeat Chorus.
Repeat Chorus Molto Allegro
And from Paul G:
"Another possible origin of fol de rol is from a once popular children's song, "The Three Billy Goats Gruff." Originally recorded by Frank Luther in 1947, a repeated phrase is 'I'm a troll, fol-dee-rol, I'm a troll, fol-dee-rol
I'm a troll, fol-dee-rol and I'll eat you for supper.'"
Gappy Tooth on the Fall Online Forum points out that this song's riff is more than a little reminiscent of "On A Rope" by Rocket from the Crypt. This may or may not be a coincidence--the riff feels somehow inevitable--but it wouldn't be the first time the Fall has repurposed an already existing riff.
It has also been pointed out that both riffs may derive from "Zero the Hero" by Black Sabbath.
Some people feel strongly about this sort of thing--Google search "Led Zeppelin, plagiarism" and you will encounter some real invective--so I wish to say here that I think it is entirely legitimate. Essentially the entire history of music would not exist if artists did not borrow riffs and melodies, and to condemn this as unoriginal is to confuse the artistic value of a piece with its monetary value as legal property. MES has always rightly insisted that originality of any merit does not mean simply hitting on a hitherto unsuspected combination of notes.
Marvell78 on the Fall online forum points out that this is possibly an allusion to Captain Beefheart's "Big Eyed Beans from Venus," with its line "Ain't no SNAFU/No fol-de-rol."
Plastikman comments that "Fol de Rol" is phonetically somewhat similar to "Fall Heads Roll," and the album does coincide with a departure, as Eleni left the band not long before its release.
Nairng submits: "I first heard the phrase 'fol de rol' in a song my family used to sing when i was a wee bairn(g): 'I am a troll, fol de rol (x3) and i'll eat youuuuu for supper,' which made me link it back to Facebook Troll on SLT. Obviously I know now how widespread this nonsense phrase is in folksongs, but possibly worth a mention.
Rusty emphatically reminds us that both Hatfield and the North ("Fol de Rol") and Robert Wyatt ("God Song/Fol De Rol") have used the phrase in the title of a song.
2. Although I am not sure of "Homeric," it does seem to appear in a draft of "Brillo De Facto," according to Mojo:
"'You wanna know my problem? (reaches into his man-bag for a green manila folder of lyric sheets: visible on one are the scrawled words, "Homeric night, second one today, brillo-nilo").'"
3. Harley hears "Homer J. S.," which he takes to be a reference to Homer J. Simpson (the 'J' means this would seem to refer to the television program The Simpsons, rather than Nathanael West's short novel The Day of the Locust, in which the central character is named Homer Simpson--sans 'J.'). I suspect we are on a path in the woods here, but to see it through, I shall include the following information from Dan:
The Simpsons, "Once Upon A Time In Springfield":
Mr Burns: Gentlemen... Please don't leave me!
Lenny Leonard: Sir, I'm afraid it's too late.
Mr Burns: Oh, I imagine Cap City's been wooing you with trips to the seashore, a Christmas goose, Spanish lemons, folderol I can't afford to match.
(Season 21, episode 10, first aired 10 January 2010)
This needs to be included because it would be congruent with "Homeric," which refers to yet another Homer, he of no "J." and no "Simpson."
4. Heigh Ho (or Heigh-Ho, Hi Ho, Hi-Ho, etc.): According to Wikipedia, "The phrase "Heigh-Ho" was first recorded in 1553 and is defined as an expression of 'yawning, sighing, languor, weariness, disappointment.' Eventually, it blended meanings with the similarly spelled 'hey-ho.' The phrase 'hey-ho' first appeared in print in 1471, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, which says it has nautical origins, meant to mark the rhythm of movement in heaving or hauling."
"Heigh Ho metal" is reminiscent of the "Hiyo Silver, away!" with which television's Lone Ranger used to motivate his horse. Some render this as "Hi Ho, Silver!" (although the former is apparently, despite my memory and maybe yours, better attested--if you want more, Google it yourself). As silver is of course a metal, MES's lyric may be a humorous paraphrase--and may be this while being other things besides, I hasten to add.
On "Couples vs Jobless Mid 30s" the backing vocals say "Heigh Ho!" and also "Eagles of Death Metal."
5. Homer's works are thought to be set in the Bronze Age, when copper and bronze (a mixture of ten parts copper and one part tin) were the primary metals with which weapons and tools were made. See "Defensive Weapons in Homer" in Science and Technology in Homeric Epics (edited by S.A. Paipetis). However, don't sleep on "Iron in the Homeric Epics & Homer, a Sensible Ecologist" from the same volume...It is sometimes claimed that between the composition of the Iliad and that of the Odyssey, the transition to the Iron Age had gotten under way.
6. The backing vocals on "Couples vs Jobless Mid 30s" seem to give a "heigh ho," so there's a link here, presumably.
As a minor aside, HomoElectric is a long-running and widely-postered gay night in Manchester with roots running to Flesh at the Hac and the sensibilities (if not the music) of that post-punk scene in general. In the tradition of MES alluding to or even just reciting evocative things he's seen and heard, it's what comes to mind here.
More Information
Comments (56)

- 1. | 05/08/2017

- 2. | 05/08/2017

- 3. | 05/08/2017

- 4. | 05/08/2017
This is very sloppy and will need to be revisited. I didn't actually find such a claim, just a claim that bronze is mentioned more in the Iliad vs iron in the Odyssey. It must be either as I say, or else Homer was consciously portraying a historical transition, ie. aware that there had been a shift within the time frame he describes, but the latter seems less likely (the second work follows chronologically closely on from the first). This will have to be researched or deleted I guess.

- 5. | 05/08/2017
without a wedge potato"
"With" seems more likely, and is suitably MESian, but there's definitely another syllable in there of come kind.
"Christian/Wit(c)h"
I think BK had the fragment "Christian/With...."
They seem equally likely....he often pronounces words with an extra sibilance, so this could be either....I thought instead of deciding between them, or else indicating uncertainty in the lyric, I'd make the ambiguity MESes and make like "Wit(c)h" is the lyric. VERY arbitrary I acknowledge, and it may not last.

- 6. | 05/08/2017
Yes, good call, Martin.

- 7. | 08/08/2017

- 8. | 11/08/2017

- 9. | 11/08/2017

- 10. | 11/08/2017
"Waiting human galyed"

- 11. | 11/08/2017
Well, that's nice, but it sucks extra when you're stumped on the first line.

- 12. | 11/08/2017

- 13. | 11/08/2017
"Waiting - human dog"
Or possibly "human dung" but I think it's more likely a phlegmy "human dog".

- 14. | 30/08/2017
You wanna know my problem? (reaches into his man-bag for a green manila folder of lyric sheets: visible on one are the scrawled words, "Homeric night, second one today, brillo-nilo"). It's Lee Brilleaux out of Dr. Feelgood, but this track's better than Dr. Feelgood. Imagine it played by Motörhead, with Pete [Greenway]'s guitar... The house is full of lyrics, I'm not fucking short of words. There's too many.
"Homeric night" seems to have ended up here.

- 15. | 04/09/2017

- 16. | 16/09/2017
Maybe I've just brainwashed myself but I can finally hear it as everyone else does, "Human dog"; that'll stay until someone comes up with something more convincing. It's still a lot like "gal-yit!"

- 17. | 16/09/2017

- 18. | 17/09/2017

- 19. | 18/09/2017
The Simpsons, "Once Upon A Time In Springfield":
https://youtu.be/EAWwjGYj1gk?t=10m46s
Mr Burns: Gentlemen... Please don't leave me!
Lenny Leonard: Sir, I'm afraid it's too late.
Mr Burns: Oh, I imagine Cap City's been wooing you with trips to the seashore, a Christmas goose, Spanish lemons, folderol I can't afford to match.

- 20. | 18/09/2017

- 21. | 07/10/2017
"'You wanna know my problem? (reaches into his man-bag for a green manila folder of lyric sheets: visible on one are the scrawled words, "Homeric night, second one today, brillo-nilo"). It's Lee Brilleaux out of Dr. Feelgood, but this track's better than Dr. Feelgood. Imagine it played by Motörhead, with Pete [Greenway]'s guitar... The house is full of lyrics, I'm not fucking short of words. There's too many.'"

- 22. | 07/10/2017

- 23. | 14/10/2017
Top fookin tune nevertheless !!

- 24. | 25/11/2017

- 25. | 26/11/2017
I forgot to note here that when The Fall did this song live, Greenway would often wear a hat, and Keiron a gimp mask.

- 26. | 02/12/2017

- 27. | 17/01/2018
A reference to Couples vs Jobless Mid '30s?

- 28. | 07/02/2018

- 29. | 10/02/2018

- 30. | 10/02/2018

- 31. | 17/02/2018
with a wedge potato
Dreaming"
(3.07>)
You block hotel area
With nylon wigs
Potato man
Dreaming
Fol De Rol
Fol De Rol
(at 3.40) Dresden

- 32. | 19/02/2018

- 33. | 02/03/2018
I wonder if MES's general idea is to draw a bitterly ironic contrast between Homer and himself. One expresses heroism, the other expresses absurdity, in other words, fol-de-rol. (The idea of Homer Simpson serves to sharpen the irony.)
There is a song called "Fol-de-Rol" on the 2013 album Country Mile by English folk revivalist Johnny Flynn.
There is a pivotal quote "Form is folderol [sic]" at p 267 of the English (Lowe-Porter) translation of Thomas Mann's novel The Magic Mountain. It is important because it shows the central character reaching the nihilistic conclusion that, philosophically, there is no significant difference between life and death. But I'm not aware of any evidence that MES read any Thomas Mann, though he was a fan of Nietzsche, one of Mann's main influences.
"Human dog" may refer to Iggy Pop's "I Wanna Be Your Dog" (see also "Elves").
"Heigh ho metall" (note 4) - "Hi Ho Silver Lining" by Jeff Beck Group? (I think Beck was rude about The Fall in an interview in the 80s.)
"It glides ... Electric" reminds me of "New Electric Ride" by Captain Beefheart. But I can't believe that MES would have rated anything off the derided Unconditionally Guaranteed album.
"Homosapien" Could refer to the song by (fellow Mancunian) Pete Shelley but I can't see how it fits in.

- 34. | 06/03/2018

- 35. | 08/03/2018

- 36. | 17/03/2018

- 37. | 17/03/2018

- 38. | 24/08/2018
At 1:40 MES starts singing in the background and I think he says this: “Homer and his chased rings/Merge with/Desiccating wits/Tonge-in-cheeking/Homer and his changelings emerge/With desecrating/Waves from weak hearts.” Chased rings” could also be “chaste rings,” but chased is a metalworking term so it seems appropriate. I am also not very confident about “weak hearts”
At 2:13 it is hard to make out, but I hear “with brine (Heigh ho, oh metal) crying.” Not sure about that though
At 2:40 and 2:46 MES says “sneering” in the background. He might say something else one of the times but it is hard to tell
At 2:50 in the background “With desecrating/Waves from weak hearts” again
At 2:52 “With gibbering infants/She strides” (I think MES gives gibber a hard g)
At 3:12 “Desecrating waves” in the background
From 3:07 it should go “You block hotel area/With metal wedge potato” This is presumably a reference to an ugly building that’s come up. Someone else might know more.
At 3:40 its “Christian bris!”
At 4:03 “There he stand Homunculus - folded-in” I am positive about Homunculus, not so sure about folded-in
At 5:22 “Imaginary incited icepick wheels”
From 5:34 on I think it should read” You block…/You block/The glides he rides:/Homosapien - electric, fermenting (imaginary) dung”
At 6:06 MES twice says “We can’t efface it”

- 39. | 25/08/2018
Yeah, "Hail Mary" has to go, I can't remember who convinced me of that but now you say it, I don't know how it's lasted this long.
“Homer and his chased rings/Merge with/Desiccating wits/Tonge-in-cheeking/Homer and his changelings emerge/With desecrating/Waves from weak hearts.” Chased rings”
Crap, I can't hear a lot of that
At 2:13 it is hard to make out, but I hear “with brine (Heigh ho, oh metal) crying.”
Not sure about that though Maybe
At 2:40 and 2:46 MES says “sneering” in the background. He might say something else one of the times but it is hard to tell
I can't get it clearly
At 2:52 “With gibbering infants/She strides” (I think MES gives gibber a hard g)
That's either right or anyway closer than I had it
From 3:07 it should go “You block hotel area/With metal wedge potato” This is presumably a reference to an ugly building that’s come up. Someone else might know more.
I think so
At 3:12 “Desecrating waves” in the background
I don't get "waves" from that
At 3:40 its “Christian bris!”
I think "Christian." "Bris" I don't know about, could be "breeze," "idiots," almost anything
At 4:03 “There he stand Homunculus - folded-in” I am positive about Homunculus, not so sure about folded-in
Sounds like "Homunculus bone and head"
At 5:22 “Imaginary incited icepick wheels”
Sounds like "Imaginary excite icepick wheels" to me
From 5:34 on I think it should read” You block…/You block/The glides he rides:/Homosapien - electric, fermenting (imaginary) dung”
At 6:06 MES twice says “We can’t efface it”
I've adopted most of this

- 40. | 24/10/2018
Originally recorded by Frank Luther in 1947, a repeated phrase is "I'm a troll, fol-dee-rol, I'm a troll, fol-dee-rol
I'm a troll, fol-dee-rol and I'll eat you for supper".

- 41. | 15/11/2018

- 42. | 02/04/2019
Ad lib: "Down the Old Kent Road."
From possibly? old song Wot Cher! Knocked 'em in the Old Kent Road
Last week down our alley came a toff
Nice old geezer with a nasty cough.
Laugh! I thought I should 'ave died
Knock'd 'em in the Old Kent Road!

- 43. | 16/04/2019
https://www.residentadvisor.net/images/events/flyer/2012/7/uk-0706-379710-front.jpg
In the tradition of MES alluding to or even just reciting evocative things he's seen and heard, it's what comes to mind here

- 44. | 06/05/2019

- 45. | 09/06/2019

- 46. | 15/10/2019

- 47. | 09/11/2019

- 48. | 09/11/2019

- 49. | 18/06/2020
Could "wheels" be "weals"?

- 50. | 01/08/2020

- 51. | 28/12/2020
She glides, she strides
Check waste back, laughing
With gibbering infants
Homogenous bone and head
Imaginary hung
Seems to be about a DJ (cogs of steel)

- 52. | 27/02/2021
I still hear "waistband," at least it seems like a 'd' at the end
Yes "with"
"Homunculus" might be wrong, don't know about "homogenous", I'll try it
Don't know about "hung" but sounds closer than "dung"

- 53. | 27/02/2021

- 54. | 25/08/2021
you may sow'.

- 55. | 17/12/2021

- 56. | 28/03/2022
This is slightly naughty, since as far as I'm aware he has never actually said this, but it is clearly his stance. At least for now I'm leaving it in... I always remember an anecdote according to which one of Lincoln's biographers wrote that one of his favorite books was Plutarch's Lives, and then told Lincoln to go get it and read it if this wasn't already true...