Hey! Marc Riley

Lyrics

Hey! Mark Riley had a home
In that home he had some lizards
Lizards here, and lizards there,
Lizards and spiders crawling everywhere

He had a manager called Khambatta (2)
We've always known him as a bit of a dancer
And we all know him as a pillock

Hey! Marc Riley!

One day Marc Riley went for a ride
Had his best stratocaster by his side
And he saw me coming over the hill
I'd better run, that boy's on pills

Ha ha ha ha

See Mark Riley by the window sill
Wondering what's 'A New Face in Hell'
Grotesque here and a Dragnet there
Grotesque and Dragnet
Witch Trials everywhere (3)

Hey! Marc Riley

Notes

1. Riley has come in for a beating fairly regularly since he left the Fall; he responded with "Jumper Clown," in the most heralded exchange of insult songs short of Ice Cube vs. NWA. Musically this is a retread of "Hey! Bo Diddley."

According to Zack, "Riley's snakes, lizards and spiders (or at least the tanks they called home) can be seen in the Creepers' music video for "Judas Sheep", which was apparently filmed in Riley's front room."

The studio version of this was released on the omnibus version of This Nation's Saving Grace under the title "Ma Riley." Harleyr points out that this may be in reference to the music hall act "Old Mother Riley."

2. Jim Khambatta is a keyboard player and erstwhile collaborator of Riley's; in the spirit of note 1, perhaps we could say that he was Riley's Jerry Heller.

3. Also Sprach Zackathustra: "The fourth verse likely refers to a major disagreement between Riley and Smith, which was Riley's desire to play 'the old stuff' or 'the hits.'"

Apparently Riley's antics on stage were out of control, also, as MES (who should be taken as telling the literal, gospel truth about this) says in Renegade that Riley insisted on donning a cowboy hat when the band played "Container Drivers," and "all that sort of thing."

More Information

Hey! Marc Riley: Fall Tracks A-Z

Comments (17)

1. Mark | 02/09/2013

The Creepers also did a version of "Bo Diddley Is A Gunslinger" around this time, which may or may not be related here somehow.

2. Mark | 21/05/2014

Jim Khambatta also ran In-Tape Records with Marc Riley and was The Creepers' manager, I believe.

3. Zack | 22/04/2015

The fourth verse likely refers to a major disagreement between Riley and Smith, which was Riley's desire to play "the old stuff" or "the hits."

Riley's snakes, lizards and spiders (or at least the tanks they called home) can be seen in the Creepers' music video for "Judas Sheep", which was apparently filmed in Riley's front room.

4. Antoine | 08/11/2015

There's a hilarious anecdote in Steve Hanley's book where Mark cajoles him into accompanying him to visit Riley at home after his sacking, needing his approval for some release of older material featuring him (or something close to that). Hanley's descriptions of MES visibly uneasy, sitting on a couch surrounded by tanks of tarantulas, snakes and the like are a real hoot. Seems Mark wasn't fond of creepy-crawlies!

5. Antoine | 08/11/2015

Oh yeah, and the lines "He had a manager called Khambatta / We've always known him as a bit of a dancer" seem to refer to Khambatta as a dancer, but they're more likely to be about that infamous incident in Australia where the band were all getting slaps in the face courtesy of MES for dancing at a nightclub after having performed a sloppy gig due to jetlag/lack of sleep. Come Riley's turn, he socks Mark in the face instead, resulting in a black eye that required much makeup to cover when the pair appeared on the "Sounds" program the next day. It was also Kay Carrol's idea that Marc should accompany him (the studio had told them MES and one more member were to appear but didn't specify who) to patch things up, seeing as they still had a tour to finish.

The punch is also referred to in Riley's "Jumper Clown" with the lines "Dare to dance on an Aussie Floor / Bloody nose, bloody bore."

6. bzfgt | 23/11/2015

Antoine--right, Riley is probably the "dancer," rather than Khambatta!

7. harleyr | 04/12/2015

Ma Riley - might be a reference to the dance hall act Old Mother Riley: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Mother_Riley

8. dannyno | 06/12/2015

harleyr:

Almost certainly, I've drawn attention to this in the comments here on Sing! Harpy.

9. Nairng | 29/09/2018

I'm listening to the Schtick Yarbles Revisited vinyl, which I gather is CD2 from the 3CD TNSG re-issue. I have to say, it sounds nothing like "he'll never ruck and fuck again". It's soaked in effects, so really difficult to tell what is really being sung, but it definitely seems to rhyme with the previous line. There are a few words before the "ha ha ha" bit, too.
Sorry - hate to say "it's wrong" without suggesting an alternative, but that's all I got!

10. bzfgt (link) | 13/10/2018

Yeah, I can readily believe it's wrong! Hopefully we get it eventually.

11. Darrg | 10/01/2019

The effecty bit on the Schtick-Yarbles version sounds to me something like 'he thought, "I'd better run, that boy's on pills".'

12. bzfgt (link) | 26/01/2019

"Had his best stratocaster" is wrong

13. bzfgt (link) | 26/01/2019

"pills" is right but I don't know about what comes just before

14. Darrg | 12/02/2019

I've just heard the 'rough mix' now and it sounds to me like 'One day Marc Riley went for a ride, his ? stratocaster by his side, and he saw me coming over the hill, and thought ‘I’d better run, that boy’s on pills’ – there was fear in him, there was fear in him'

The only thought I had about the Stratocaster business is that guitar types talk about 'MIJ Stratocasters' - ie., Made In Japan. Perhaps this is some kind of put-down, not being as good as a 'proper' Stratocaster? But it seems unlikely to me that MES would be that au fait with guitarist slang, and it still doesn't sound quite right with the recording.

15. Floppy mong | 20/11/2020

"It's almost exactly as I forecast. I said he'd get into astrology and the runes and end up as some floppy mong on TV." "I was really sick - you know when you're feeling so ill you think you're going to die and everything looks really big? We came over a hill and saw this big poster of Marc Riley and Mark Radcliffe this big fuckin' head on a wall, like 1984. I thought I was going to die and all the people I'd ever known were flashing before my eyes. It was fuckin' scary." - 1997 interview.

16. dannyno | 21/11/2020

Comment #15: specifically the Esquire interview, issue dated December 1997:

https://thefall.org/gigography/97decesq.html

17. dannyno | 20/12/2022

Riley's Jumper Clown is sometimes said to be a response to Hey! Marc Riley.

However, since Jumper Clown was released in October 1983 and Hey! Marc Riley wasn't performed until June 1984, this is obviously not the case.

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