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The Annotated Lyrics
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- Live at the Witch Trials
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- Room to Live
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- This Nation's Saving Grace
- Bend Sinister
- The Frenz Experiment
- I Am Kurious, Oranj
- Extricate
- Shift-Work
- Code:Selfish
- The Infotainment Scan
- Middle Class Revolt
- Cerebral Caustic
- Light User Syndrome
- Levitate
- The Marshall Suite
- The Unutterable
- Are You Are Missing Winner
- The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country on the Click)
- Fall Heads Roll
- Reformation Post TLC
- Imperial Wax Solvent
- Your Future Our Clutter
- Ersatz G.B.
- Re-Mit
- The Remainderer
- Sub-Lingual Tablet
- Wise Ol' Man
- New Facts Emerge
- 2014
- O! ZZTRRK Man
- New Facts Emerge
- Segue
- Ponto
- Smith and Mark
- Afternoon Disco
- Reece Stick
- Home /
- The Annotated Lyrics /
- Hey! Marc Riley
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."
Comments (17)
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 punch is also referred to in Riley's "Jumper Clown" with the lines "Dare to dance on an Aussie Floor / Bloody nose, bloody bore."
Almost certainly, I've drawn attention to this in the comments here on Sing! Harpy.
Sorry - hate to say "it's wrong" without suggesting an alternative, but that's all I got!
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.
https://thefall.org/gigography/97decesq.html
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.