Menu
-
The Annotated Lyrics
- (Birtwistle's) Girl in Shop
- (Jung Nev's) Antidotes
- (We Are) Mod Mock Goth
- (We WIsh You) A Protein Christ
- 15 Ways
- 2 x 4
- 2nd Dark Age
- 4 1/2 Inch
- 50 Year Old Man
- 986 Generator
- A Figure Walks
- A Lot of Wind
- A Past Gone Mad
- Afternoon Disco
- Age of Chang
- All Leave Cancelled
- Alton Towers
- Amorator!
- An Older Lover Etc.
- And Therein...
- And This Day
- Anecdotes+Antidotes in B#
- Arid Al's Dream
- Arms Control Poseur
- Assume
- Athlete Cured
- Australians in Europe
- Auto Chip 2014-2016
- Auto-Tech Pilot
- Backdrop
- Bad News Girl
- Barmy
- Before the Moon Falls
- Behind the Counter
- Bill is Dead
- Bingo-Master
- Birmingham School of Business
- Birthday Song
- Black Roof
- Blindness
- Blood Outta Stone
- Bo Demmick
- Bombast
- Bonkers in Phoenix
- Bound
- Bournemouth Runner
- Breaking the Rules
- Bremen Nacht
- Brillo De Facto
- British People in Hot Weather
- Bug Day
- Bury Pts. 1+3
- Butterflies 4 Brains
- C'n'C-S Mithering
- C.R.E.E.P.
- Cab It Up
- Calendar
- Can Can Summer
- Carry Bag Man
- Cary Grant's Wedding
- Cheetham Hill
- Chicago, Now!
- Chilinism
- Chino
- Choc-Stock
- City Dweller
- City Hobgoblins
- Clasp Hands
- Clear Off!
- Cloud of Black
- Coach and Horses
- Contraflow
- Copped It
- Cosmos 7
- Couldn't Get Ahead
- Couples vs Jobless Mid 30s
- Cowboy George
- Cowboy Gregori
- Crackhouse
- Craigness
- Crap Rap 2/Like to Blow
- Crew Filth
- Crop-Dust
- Cruiser's Creek
- Cyber Insekt
- D.I.Y. Meat
- Das Boat
- Das Katerer
- Das Vulture Ans Ein Nutter-Wai
- Dead Beat Descendant
- Dedication Not Medication
- Deer Park
- Detective Instinct
- Devolute
- Dice Man
- Disney's Dream Debased
- Distilled Mug Art
- Dktr Faustus
- Dog is Life/Jerusalem
- Don't Call Me Darling
- Don't Take the Pizza
- Dr. Bucks' Letter
- Draygo's Guilt
- Dresden Dolls
- Early Days of Channel Führer
- Eat Y'Self Fitter
- Ed's Babe
- Edinburgh Man
- Elf Prefix
- Elves
- English Scheme
- Enigrammatic Dream
- Entitled
- Everybody But Myself
- Everything Hurtz
- Exploding Chimney
- Extricate
- Fall Sound
- Fantastic Life
- Feeling Numb
- Fibre Book Troll
- Fiery Jack
- First One Today
- Fit and Working Again
- Flat of Angles
- Fol de Rol
- Fortress
- Free Range
- Frenz
- Frightened
- Futures and Pasts
- Garden New
- Gentlemen's Agreement
- Get a Hotel
- Get A Summer Song Goin'
- Gibbus Gibson
- Glam-Racket
- God Box
- Gramme Friday
- Green Eyed Loco Man
- Greenway
- Gross Chapel-British Grenadier
- Groundsboy
- Guest Informant
- Guide Me Soft
- Gut of the Quantifier
- H.O.W.
- Haf Found Bormann
- Hands Up Billy
- Happi Song
- Happy Holiday
- Hard Life in Country
- He Pep!
- He Talks
- Hexen Definitive/Strife Knot
- Hey! Fascist
- Hey! Luciani
- Hey! Marc Riley
- Hey! Student
- High Tension Line
- Hilary
- Hip Priest
- Hit the North
- Hittite Man
- Hollow Mind
- Hostile
- Hot Aftershave Bop
- Hot Cake
- Hot Runes
- Hotel Bloedel
- How I Wrote Elastic Man
- Hurricane Edward
- I African Mancunian
- I Am Damo Suzuki
- I Come and Stand At Your Door
- I Feel Voxish
- I Wake Up In The City
- I'm Frank
- I'm Into C.B.
- I've Been Duped
- I've Seen Them Come
- Ibis-Afro Man
- Iceland
- Idiot Joy Showland
- Immortality
- Impression of J. Temperance
- In My Area
- In The Park
- In These Times
- Industrial Estate
- Inevitable
- Insult Song
- Irish
- Is This New
- It's A Curse
- It's The New Thing
- Ivanhoe's Two Pence
- Jam Song
- Janet, Johnny + James
- Jawbone And The Air-Rifle
- Jazzed Up Punk Shit
- Jetplane
- Jim's "The Fall"
- Job Search
- Joker Hysterical Face
- Junger Cloth
- Just Step S'Ways
- Kick The Can
- Kicker Conspiracy
- Kinder of Spine
- Kurious Oranj
- L.A.
- Ladybird (Green Grass)
- Laptop Dog
- Last Commands of Xyralothep Vi
- Last Orders
- Latchkey Kid
- Lay of the Land
- Leave the Capitol
- Levitate
- Lie Dream of a Casino Soul
- Life Just Bounces
- Light/Fireworks
- Live at the Witch Trials
- Living Too Late
- Loadstones
- Look, Know
- Lucifer Over Lancashire
- Ludd Gang
- M5 #1
- Mad.Men-Eng.Dog
- Mark'll Sink Us
- Marquis Cha-Cha
- Married, Two Kids
- Mask Search
- Masquerade
- Medical Acceptance Gate
- Mere Pseud Mag. Ed.
- Mess of My
- Mexico Wax Solvent
- Middle Class Revolt
- Middle Mass
- Midnight in Aspen/Aspen Repris
- Midwatch 1953
- Mike's Love Xexagon
- Mister Rode
- Mollusc in Tyrol
- Monocard
- Mother-Sister
- Mountain Energei
- Music Scene
- Muzorewi's Daughter
- My Condition
- My Door Is Never
- My Ex-Classmates' Kids
- My New House
- Nate Will Not Return
- Neighbourhood of Infinity
- New Big Prinz
- New Face in Hell
- New Facts Emerge
- New Formation Sermon
- New Puritan
- Nine Out Of Ten
- No Bulbs
- No Respects Rev.
- No X-mas for John Quays
- Noel's Chemical Effluence
- Noise
- North West Fashion Show
- O! ZZTRRK Man
- O.F.Y.C. Showcase
- Octo Realm/Ketamine Sun
- Oh! Brother
- Ol' Gang
- Oleano
- On My Own
- One Day
- Open The Boxoctosis
- Oswald Defence Lawyer
- Over! Over!
- Overture From "I Am Curious, O
- Oxymoron
- Pacifying Joint
- Paintwork
- Papal Visit
- Paranoia Man/Cheap Sh*t Room
- Pat-Trip Dispenser
- Pay Your Rates
- Pearl City
- Perverted by Language
- Petty (Thief) Lout
- Pilsner Trail
- Pine Leaves
- Pittsville Direkt
- Pledge
- Plug Myself In
- Ponto
- Pop Stickers
- Portugal
- Powder Keg
- Pre-MDMA Years
- Printhead
- Prole Art Threat
- Proteinprotection
- Psycho Mafia
- Psykick Dancehall
- Psykick Dancehall #2
- Pumpkin Head Xscapes
- Pumpkin Soup and Mashed Potato
- Put Away
- Putta Block
- Quit iPhone
- R.O.D.
- Race Hatred
- Rainmaster
- Rebellious Jukebox
- Recipe for Fascism
- Recovery Kit
- Reece Stick
- Reformation!
- Rememberance R
- Repetition
- Reprise: Jane--Prof Mick--Ey B
- Return
- Riddler
- Ride Away
- Room to Live
- Rose
- Rowche Rumble
- Rude (All The Time)
- Scareball
- Scenario
- Secession Man
- Second House Now
- Segue
- Senior Twilight Stock Replacer
- Serum
- Service
- Session Musician
- Shake-Off
- Shift-Work
- Shoulder Pads
- Sing! Harpy
- Sinister Waltz
- Sir William Wray
- Slang King
- Slates, Slags, Etc.
- Sleep Debt Snatches
- Smile
- Smith and Mark
- Snazzy
- So What About It?
- So-Called Dangerous
- Solicitor in Studio
- Sons of Temperance
- Spectre vs. Rector
- Spencer Must Die
- Spinetrak
- Spoilt Victorian Child
- Squid Lord/ Squid Law
- Stephen Song
- Stepping Out
- Stout Man
- Surmount All Obstacles
- Surrogate Mirage
- Susan vs. Youthclub
- Symbol of Mordgan
- Systematic Abuse
- Taking Off
- Telephone Thing
- Tempo House
- Ten Houses of Eve
- Terry Waite Sez
- That Man
- The 500 Dollar Bottle of Wine
- The Acute
- The Aphid
- The Ballard of J. Drummer
- The Book of Lies
- The Boss
- The Classical
- The Coliseum
- The Container Drivers
- The Crying Marshal
- The Joke
- The Knight, the Devil and Deat
- The League of Bald-Headed Men
- The Littlest Rebel
- The Man Whose Head Expanded
- The Mixer
- The N.W.R.A.
- The Past #2
- The Quartet of Doc Shanley
- The REAL Life of the Crying Ma
- The Reckoning
- The Remainderer
- The Steak Place
- The Usher
- The War Against Intelligence
- The Wright Stuff
- Theme From Error-Orrori
- Theme From Sparta F.C.
- Time Enough At Last
- To Nk Roachment: Yarbles
- Tom Raggazzi
- Tommy Shooter
- Totally Wired
- Touch Sensitive
- Touchy Pad
- Town Called Crappy
- Trust in Me
- Tuff Life Booogie
- Twister
- Two Face!
- Two Librans
- Two Steps Back
- U.S. 80s-90s
- Underground Medecin
- Unutterable
- Van Plague?
- Various Times
- Venice With The Girls
- Victoria Train Station Massacr
- Victrola Time
- Vixen
- W.B.
- W.M.C.--Blob 59
- Way Round
- Weather Report 2
- What About Us?
- What You Need
- Where's the F***in Taxi? C**t
- Whizz Bang
- Who Makes the Nazis?
- Win Fall CD 2088 AD
- Wings
- Winter (Hostel-Maxi)
- Wise Ol' Man
- Wolf Kidult Man
- Words of Expectation
- Wrong Place, Right Time
- Xmas With Simon
- Y.F.O.C./Slippy Floor
- Yes O Yes
- You Don't Turn Me On
- You Haven't Found It Yet
- You're Not Up To Much
- Your Heart Out
- Youwanner
- Zagreb
- Zandra
-
Arranged By Album
- Live at the Witch Trials
- Dragnet
- Grotesque (After the Gramme)
- Slates
- Hex Enduction Hour
- Room to Live
- Perverted by Language
- The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall
- 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 /
- Hilary
Hilary
Lyrics
Hilary (1)
Where's the sixty quid you borrowed off me for the gas?
I won't give you a kiss
Hilary
Hey Hilary
'New Faces' on Saturday at six (2)
Brought you back to me
Hilary
I'm sure it was you in the new Audi
Outside Sainsbury's (3)
Hilary
Remember when you needed three caps of speed (4)
To get out of bed
And now you're on ecstasy
Hilary
With your daft African pop
And that wine you call bull's blood (5)
Hilary
I thank the lord that you still don't live next to me
Hilary
Notes
1. Reformation has the following:
As for the identity of Hilary, general opinion seems to be that the lyrics refer to one of Tony Wilson's previous wives, Hilary Lorraine Moss, who directed the Shiftwork and Holidays video and is also namechecked on The Post Nearly Man and Pander Panda Panzer.
However, Hilary Moss seems not to have been married to Tony Wilson. Here's what we have:
From Julia in the comments: "I went to college with Hilary Moss and she was indeed the subject of the song. She was a mature student (certainly in her forties) at Salford College of Technology doing Media Studies 1989-1991. It was on this course that she did the video for 'Shiftwork' as one of her projects. Hilary directed, other students did all the camera work, lighting, editing, etc. And The Fall got a free video. As I recall she was all cowboy boots, skinny black jeans and leopard print jackets. A heavy smoker with a wicked tongue/temper. She was also a gigging DJ under the name 'DJ Lorraine.' Didn't know she was Tony Wilsons ex-wife, though?"
Toni Goodwin says she used to look after Hilary Moss's dogs, and Moss had the handwritten lyrics of this song.
Dan: "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography names Wilson's second wife as 'Hilary J. Sherlock,' born 1955. It says the relationship began in 'early 1984,' and that they married in 'a New York courtroom rather than a British register office.'"
So Hilary Sherlock and Hilary Moss are different people, and the song is almost certainly about Moss., who was not married to Wilson
As for the music, Martin Bramah must be quoted at length; make of it what you will:
As unhip as it was, the first piece of vinyl I remember was my dad’s copy of America’s attempt to write a Neil Young song, ‘A Horse With No Name.’ It was played a lot around the house.
Interestingly, it was a massive influence on Mark E Smith, the lead singer of my first real band, The Fall. You can hear its impact in the sprechstimme style of Mark’s voice. He doesn’t really sing or hold a melody. A lot of what he does comes out like that one long line—’in the desert you can remember your name, ‘cause they’re ain’t no one for to give you no pain,’ which barely has any melody. It’s perfect for the tone-deaf, I think that’s why it was a hit. I still hear America’s nearly tuneless ‘la la la la la la…’ in nearly every Fall song.
One day, Mark came to me with the lyrics for ‘Hilary’…’Hilary, where’s the sixty quid you borrowed off me?’ He asked me to turn what he was singing into music, so I gave it a bit more melody, but not too much.
I didn’t get writing credit for the tune, but that’s fair, because the whole thing is basically ripped off America!
2. New Faces was a talent show on British television.
3. Sainsbury's is a British supermarket chain.
4. The blue lyrics book replaces this with "three cups of tea."
5. Egri Bikavér, which means "Bull's Blood of Eger," is a Hungarian wine. Wikipedia gives an interesting, but uncredited, account of the origin of the name:
According to legend, the name originates from the invasion of Suleiman the Magnificent around 1552.
"To motivate and support the small group of soldiers during the Siege of Eger castle they were served delicious food and a lot of red wine. Among the Turkish soldiers it was rumored that bull's blood was mixed into the red wine, as otherwise the strength and firm resistance of the town and castle of Eger could not be explained. Finally the enemy gave up."
There is also a Spanish wine called Sangre de Toro ("Bull's Blood"). The "bull" in the name is meant to refer to Bacchus, the god of wine, who was often depicted with bull's horns.
Comments (46)
Brought you back to me"
The thing is, in the revived series, which ran 1986-1988 (I take the revived series as being the one referred to, since the song was first performed in 1989), "New Faces" wasn't - strictly speaking - on at Saturday at 6pm. Well, alright, in 1988 it was on Saturdays but it began at 5:45pm, not 6pm. You could argue MES should be allowed to get away with that in a song lyric. The show was broadcast as follows:
1986: Fridays 7:30pm, September-December; Grand Final, Saturday 13 December 7:45pm
1987: Fridays 7:30pm, Sept-Nov; Grand Final, Saturday, 28 November 7:30pm
1988: Saturdays 5:45pm (normally, I found at least one beginning 10 minutes earlier), Sept-Nov; Grand Final, Saturday 3 December 7:50pm.
http://bobcast.podomatic.com/entry/2016-04-14T14_40_57-07_00
(Around 1' 36" in..."made a right mess of the town...")
She was also a gigging DJ under the name 'DJ Lorraine'
Didn't know she was Tony Wilsons ex-wife though?
Hilary Lorraine Moss is a different person.
https://bandonthewall.org/artist/dj-lorraine/
So in official records, Hilary J Sherlock was born in 1955 in Manchester, married Stewart M Parker in Manchester in 1974, and married Tony Wilson in New York in 1984. She was then known as Hilary Wilson.
Hilary L Moss has her own official records trail - different person. I'll try and nail this even more definitely, but I'm quite certain of my facts here.
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2019/sep/17/muscadet-lambrusco-great-1970s-wine-revival
http://www.the-buyer.net/people/producer/elizabeth-gabay-egri-bikaver-bulls-blood/
The idea of Mark E Smith of all people being down on someone for taking speed has always tickled me.
Hillary showed me the hand written song lyrics and on the adjacent page was a picture of Hillary in a bowler hat. I don't know if when she passed her records, lyrics or artwork were saved. I hope so.
After she passed I looked after chicco for a further 7 years. She was in contact with Mark until the end. Infact I think he paid her dog boarding fees on occasion.
Hillary was a mad cow demanding annoying brilliant loving. I told her off and loved her to bits. RIP Hillary you mad cow!
yes, absolutely - pop, or fizzy pop. "Panda Pop" was a brand of dark green chemical liquid for kids. Back in the days of public ownership of utilities (pay your water rates!) tap water was known (in South Yorkshire anyway) as "corporation pop". Um bongo was flat though not fizzy
https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/6115284.alsatian-max-hero/
[Archive]
Yes some people in England use the word "pop" for carbonated drinks, particularly in parts of the north. However, as subsequently mentioned, Um Bongo is not such a drink (it's a "juice drink" in a carton) and no-one would call it pop.
Could someone please tell me when, how ? And if she was buried or cremated
.
Sad to hear Hil passed away.
Why is there this need to delve into the minutea of private lives.
John Lennon said roughly I write the songs and other people find their own meanings.
It makes me wonder if we knew the identity of the Mona Lisa would it change the picture.
There is in fact a plausible identification of the sitter for the Mona Lisa.
Gary, you raise an issue which would take more space than I realistically have here to unpack.
First of all, it's not obvious to me that discovering biographical information about the apparent subject of the song need be intended to "change" anything. It may be something we are curious about for its own sake, or something that is amusing as unimportant trivia. But equally, perhaps it could change our interpretation of the song, or contribute to the promotion or dismissal of particular theories about the song. Without having the information, I don't think it's necessarily possible to know in advance whether or not it is "important" in that sense.
There may also be challenge and value in the research itself. The activity of trying to find things out can be enjoyable and interesting, either because you learn by doing it (including improving research skills or learning about particular sources, but also about what information is available and where and how it can best be retrieved), or because you find out other things along the way that are interesting. So in this case for example, I'm learning a bit about the Les Moss jazz orchestra which I didn't otherwise know.
I mentioned that there is a plausible identification for the sitter of the Mona Lisa: someone called Lisa del Giocondo.
https://web.archive.org/web/20110508121954/http://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/Englisch/news/monalisa.html
Does that change the picture? Perhaps not. But it does change what we know about the picture. It supports other evidence about the dating of the picture, thereby enabling us to place and understand it more precisely in the chronological context of da Vinci's work. And it arguably undermines certain theories as to the meaning of the portrait - it has been suggested that it was not based on anyone in particular, but was a fictionalised depiction of an ideal woman, as the link notes.
Newfallfan. Bulls Blood was/is a Hungarian red wine. Simple as that.
https://images.app.goo.gl/2utmExVAeb8YNn9a9
"And that wine you call bull's blood"
There are at least two wines that are called "bull's blood". It's entirely fine for this site to point that out. Must the line be referring to a particular brand? No. But the existence of brands with that name should be noted. It's an entirely plausible reading of the line to suggest that "you call" should be read as "you call", i.e. "the wine that you personally like to call..."
In fact, I think it probably should be read like that. If it was a brand, MES might have said "that wine they call..." But he didn't. On the other hand, maybe "you" and "they" just got altered.
Since we can't at this point adjudicate, and either reading makes sense, all we can do is note the possibilities and their implications. I can't see any grounds to object to being thorough in that way.