Groundsboy
Lyrics
He goes back now
Every day on the airstrip
Noticed by none
Noticed by none!
Downed enemy pilots
He would dispatch!
Groundsboy
Groundsboy
Treated like scum
Groundsboy
Cheka! Cheka! (2)
Groundsboy
Cheka! Cheka!
Property!
Property
R.R.A.A.F. (3)
Say cut it, grass...
Cut the grass!
Cuh-cuh-cuh-cuh-huh-huh-huh-
Eat some grass!
Groundsboy
Groundsboy
Groundsboy
Noticed by none
At least he was...
He was the last lad to turn
And the rock stars who had judges as fans (4)
And shoots as many as me
Groundsboy
Groundsboy
Cheka! Cheka!
Cheka! Cheka!
Groundsboy
Cheka! Cheka!
Cheka! Cheka!
Groundsboy
Oo, duh doo...
Ow! Ow! Ow!
Property R.A.A.A.F.
Notes
1. Some have pointed out the fact that Steve Hanley's post-Fall job was groundskeeper at a school as a possible inspiration for the title, if not the song.
This was originally titled "Groundsboy and the Two Amendments." Dan points out that the protagonist would seem to occupy some kind of junior position at an airstrip. Russell Richardson suggests a possible connection to the US Second Amendment (to the Constitution), which involves the right to bear arms. Whether in his mind or in reality, the "Groundsboy" seems to bear them...
It seems like the Groundsboy might be a Walter Mitty-type daydreamer, working at an air field while fantasizing about dogfights...
Some ideas from brownsocketspurpleseyes:
"I don't know whether this is another blow your own trumpet style song.
The groundsboy is portrayed as being an overlooked hero, downing enemy pilots, noticed by none and treated like scum - the underdog, not gaining the recognition he deserves.
In that way it's a bit of a 'Hip Priest' - not appreciated.
A few strained, perhaps, 'Hip Priest' parallels - 'noticed by none'/'he is not appreciated' and 'checker checker'/'check the guys track record.'
A few people have commented that 'New Facts Emerge' is a bit of a grab-bag Fall album - lots of homages to past career stylings, knowing it was potentially his last record, so this might be read as a overview of his career - 'he goes back now.'
'everyday on the air-strip'/'and shoots as many as me' - The Fall's productivity.
'noticed by none' - again the cult and lack of commercial recognition - in keeping with the 'Hip Priest' throwback.
'downed enemy pilots'/'he was the last lad to turn' - many of his 'peers' gone, or gone only to reform, which from 'The Remainderer' we know he resents.
Just a thought/my reading.
2. Orlando suggests this is onomatopoeia, the sound of gunfire (maybe an airplane strafing--see note 3 below).
^
3. R.A.A.F.= Royal Australian Air Force, or just an elongated "RAF." for Royal Air Force (UK). Earlier the groundsboy is said to be laboring on an airstrip...
4. Or "judged his ass fair" (deruntergeher's suggestion). It's nice to commit to something, but I can't be sure here.
More Information
Comments (42)

- 1. | 05/08/2017

- 2. | 05/08/2017
Also maybe, it may be nonsense like Cheka! Cheka! or Chucka! Chucka!

- 3. | 05/08/2017
No?

- 4. | 05/08/2017

- 5. | 05/08/2017
We should note that the song was originally listed as "Groundsboy and the Two Amendments".

- 6. | 05/08/2017

- 7. | 06/08/2017
Could be in an attempted Aussie accent?

- 8. | 06/08/2017

- 9. | 16/09/2017

- 10. | 16/09/2017

- 11. | 01/11/2017

- 12. | 02/11/2017

- 13. | 11/11/2017

- 14. | 11/11/2017

- 15. | 14/11/2017
I would usually take "caretaker" to mean either someone sort of "grounds-sitting," or someone taking care of an old person...I don't know, but he was sort of a groundskeeper, wasn't he? Or a maintenance man?
Ah, well maybe this is a British thing. Hanley was a school caretaker, I think - a position still commonly found, but I suppose it's a role that is changing. Not untypically they lived in a house or flat within the school grounds, and their job was indeed a mixture of groundskeeper and maintenance man. They would open and close the school, fix radiators, cut the grass, mend broken windows, act as security, etc etc. I guess "site manager" would be a modern description, except traditionally caretakers were very hands on - it was a manual or technical role, I suppose, rather than a managerial one.

- 16. | 14/11/2017
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janitor
Here's a job description from the uk: http://www.skillsforschools.org.uk/roles-in-schools/caretaker-site-manager

- 17. | 01/02/2018
not then that it matters, but my reading of this is (until new facts emerge) there's a reference to a US style shooting spree, carried out by (or stopped by?) an unassuming groundsboy/ groundskeeper / janitor
I'd read the Two Amendments as a clear reference to the US constitutions 2nd Amendment which is the one about gun control and the "right to bear arms" which the US right is so smoked up about.... even though the amendment itself is not about citizens being allowed to stockpile assault rifles, but specifically to make it legally possible for an anti-government dissenting militia to form its own army and overthrow the current incumbents.
So, some floating of the idea of how that idea of tough liberty is currently being used to allow loners to attack schools, etc etc
still now seems a bit pointless arguing the toss, eh?
RIP MES

- 18. | 11/03/2018

- 19. | 30/08/2018
The groundsboy is portrayed as being an overlooked hero, downing enemy pilots, noticed by none and treated like scum - the underdog, not gaining the recognition he deserves.
In that way it's a bit of a 'Hip Priest' - not appreciated.
A few strenuous, perhaps, 'Hip Priest' parallels - "noticed by none"/"he is not appreciated" and "checker checker"/"check the guys track record".
A few people have commented that 'New Facts Emerge' is a bit of a grab-bag Fall album - lots of homages to past career stylings, knowing it was potentially his last record, so this might be read as a overview of his career - "he goes back now".
"everyday on the air-strip"/"and shoots as many as me" - The Fall's productivity.
"noticed by none" - again the cult and lack of commercial recognition - in keeping with the 'Hip Priest' throwback.
"downed enemy pilots"/"he was the last lad to turn" - many of his 'peers' gone, or gone only to reform, which from 'The Remainderer' we know he resents.
Just a thought/my reading.

- 20. | 01/09/2018

- 21. | 01/09/2018

- 22. | 28/04/2019

- 23. | 21/06/2019

- 24. | 21/06/2019

- 25. | 21/06/2019

- 26. | 06/09/2019

- 27. | 07/09/2019

- 28. | 17/09/2019

- 29. | 21/09/2019

- 30. | 21/09/2019
Also going with posh "eat some grass!" for now, "he's so boss" does not seem like a lyric MES would devise

- 31. | 02/02/2020

- 32. | 07/03/2020

- 33. | 07/03/2020

- 34. | 04/04/2020

- 35. | 17/10/2020
'Step aside' @59 seconds in (it's muffled).

- 36. | 20/10/2020

- 37. | 21/10/2020
Once a year I’d get to spend a week at a real RAF camp. First night there, I managed to get some cider from the camp shop and stayed up all night drinking with three fellow cadets. The next day I had to fly. It might all have been pretty relevant training for my current position in The Fall.
and maybe "the last lad to turn" could refer to Hanley, if you wanted it to.
But I just don't think MES would bother writing in this way about ex-group members, even if they had published a memoir 3 or 4 years previously.

- 38. | 22/10/2020
hat tip, "Imperial Wax Band"- presumably Greenway - during Tim Burgess' twitter listening party devoted to New Facts Emerge, 22 October 2020:
https://twitter.com/ImperialWaxBand/status/1319382666995814400

- 39. | 22/10/2020
https://twitter.com/ImperialWaxBand/status/1319382869828116486

- 40. | 06/02/2021

- 41. | 10/04/2021

- 42. | 14/09/2021
That track predates "Groundsboy" by about 10 years I think...so there is likely no connection but I can't help but thinking about one when the other is playing.
Maybe.