Greenway

Lyrics

 
It's good enough for you it's good enough for me (2)
It's good enough for you it's good enough for Richard
It's good enough for Richie Sounds  (3)

Channel hopping the other day through Danish rock TV
I noticed the video, where the person beared a remarkable coincidental resemblance to myself
To the video I was in recently   (4)
So I rang the crew that the Jason fellow cited
The attitude that group had to me when I asked if they had a CD player in their room
Their tone especially
Greenway
Greenway

I decided to visit their room, where they had a pile of chairs piled behind the door
Their tone was snotty and offensive so I called them
People like that really get on my nerves  (5)
To relax I called my cat
Greenway
Greenway

I had to wank off the cat to feed the fucking dog (6)
It's good enough for you it's good enough for you
It's good enough for Richard
It's good enough for Richie Sounds
Greenway
Greenway

I had wank off the dog to feed the fucking cat
Greenway
It's good enough for me it's good enough for you boy
It's good enough for you it's good enough for me
It's good enough for Richard
It's good enough for right now
Greenway

Channel hopping the other day on danish rock TV
 

Notes

1. The music for this is taken from a song called "Gameboy" by Greek heavy metal band Anorimoi. Greenway, of course, is Peter Greenway, the Fall's guitarist, who says the song is not about him as he really is, but as MES would like to imagine him, as some kind of badass. The song doesn't, on the face of it, seem to be about Greenway at all; his name scans the same as "Gameboy," but the rest of it seems to be about the narrator (MES?) being grumpy about other bands, a familiar enough theme. Live versions seem to indicate the band in question is These New Puritans, who are named after a Fall song, which fact alone is probably enough to attract Smith's bleary raptor gaze.

^

2. "It's good enough for me" is a quote from "That Old Time Religion," which is also quoted by Captain Beefheart in "Moonlight on Vermont."

^

3. "Richard" and "Richie sounds" are probably a permutation of Richer Sounds, a retail chain in the UK that sells home entertainment equipment (thanks to Stephen below).

^

4. Zack:

"The Fall's most recent music video at the time was 'Bury! Pts 2 + 4' (2010) which features artfully lit slow-motion shots of all five members of the group. 

Sure enough, These New Puritans made at least two music videos in a similar style from the same era: 'We Want War' (2009), and 'Attack Music' (2010). TNP singer Jack Barnett does maybe bear a passing resemblance to a young MES."

On the other hand, as Dan points out, the narrator could be a fictional version of Greenway, rather than MES...

^

5. It's hard to imagine them adopting a snotty and offensive tone while cowering in their hotel room behind a barricade of chairs, but perhaps they were confident enough that the chairs would hold that they began taunting MES. As usual, he is misunderstood; he just wanted to borrow their CD player...

^

6. This is almost a quote from "But I've Got Texas" by Jon Wayne, a "Cowpunk" band formed of session musicians playing under assumed names, in which the relevant line is "I had to jack off the dog just to feed the goddamn cat." The opening lines of "Ol' Gang" also seem to echo the opening to "Texas Funeral" (as well as Hank Mizell's "Jungle Rock"). 

^

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Comments (8)

Stephen
  • 1. Stephen | 28/02/2014
I think it's likely that "Richie sounds" refers to the hi-fi and music shop 'Richer Sounds' as can be seen in many Northern towns.
Zack
  • 2. Zack | 04/03/2017
"The video I was in recently" - The Fall's most recent music video at the time was "Bury! Pts 2 + 4" (2010) which features artfully lit slow-motion shots of all five members of the group. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joY8Qn0dh3M)

Sure enough, These New Puritans made at least two music videos in a similar style from the same era: "We Want War" (2009 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIfKqgWPVvk) and "Attack Music" (2010 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ggWmnRBhXk). TNP singer Jack Barnett does bear a passing resemblance to a young MES.
dannyno
  • 3. dannyno | 27/10/2018
Comment #2: "Jack Barnett does bear a passing resemblance to a young MES"

But since the song is titled "Greenway", perhaps the incidents related are - or are imagined to be - incidents concerning Greenway. In which case maybe the resemblance is not resemblance to MES.
bzfgt
  • 4. bzfgt (link) | 15/11/2018
Right, and I was way too categorical in note 1 too, shockingly so, according to my current sensibilities and Fallgefühl. I have softened that right up and caveated note 4 where I quote Zack.
Ivan
  • 5. Ivan | 13/08/2021
If it's good enough for you, it's good enough for me is the main hook line from Brit-pop band Dodgy's 1996 hit Good Enough.
Enno de Witt
  • 6. Enno de Witt | 31/05/2022
richie valence
Paul G
  • 7. Paul G | 06/01/2023
This is unlikely to have been an influence but for the sake of completeness...

Greenway was the name of Agatha Christie's house in Devon.
Her stories often have plots where people are pretending to be someone they're not.
Mark Oliver
  • 8. Mark Oliver | 08/09/2023
Richie Valence? Do you mean Ritchie Valens (US) or Ricky Valance (UK)?

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