I'm Into C.B.
Lyrics
Well I've never had a car
Never been near a lorry
Got a nasty habit of scratching my nose
My codename's Happy Harry (2)
I'm into C.B.
I've had loads of jobs
For very minute lolly (3)
Creation schemes (4)
So I suppose I was lucky
And the money it took
To buy a CB set
Took lines off my belly
My codename's Cedar Plank
I'm Into CB
I'm Into CB
At 16 I drank cheap sherry
Got plastered in the stations and swing parks (5)
Off my mother I stole some money
Had a treat with a bottle of Martini
So sick I couldn't walk or sit
Since then I've not touched it
I won't bore you with tales of being greedy
I'm just into CB
I'm into CB
My family's a weird lot
My stepsister's got a horrible growth
Listens to all this muzak shit
Reads Smash Hits while she's eating her tea (6)
To me it sounds like bad CB
My father's not bad really
He got me these wires and bits
Apart from that he talks to me hardly
I'm just into CB
This is Happy Harry Plank (7)
from the land of waving palms (8)
calling out to Cedar Plank
477 CC
There's no Code 13
In the home of chocolate city
I'm having trouble with the terminology (9)
But I'm into CB
I've got this letter before me
It's buff with a confidential seal
I'd better open it
It's a fine and a formal threat
I should have listened to "New Face in Hell" (10)
The date expired last week
Up here I forget what time it is
It says you're going to go when you go
Or else you're for it boy
If that's what you get for having a hobby
Next mail you get will be mail in jail
If that's what you get for having a hobby
Next year mail in jail
It that's what you get for having a hobby
Next time I'm out I'll join a riot
That's the last you'll hear for me
I'll keep clear of CB
Keep clear of CB
Notes
1. Citizen's Band radio is a short-distance radio service used for communication between users. It originated in the 1940s in the USA, and became a fad in the 1970s. There is an entire C.B. lexicon of slang or jargon terms, some of which saw widespread usage during the C.B. fad. C.B. is mostly, although not exclusively, used by truck drivers to fight boredom, exchange information about traffic and road conditions, score drugs, and convey information about the location of police officers ("bears").
From Dan:
The press handout for Hex Enduction Hour contains a "next single announcement", which says of B side "I'm Into C.B.":
a comment on the weedy Home Office Sanctioned LIBERACE-ISM of U.K. band transmissions.
On the other hand, from Hide magazine:
A- What's the aspect of C.B. radio you're interested in?
M- It was a very big thing in England when we brought the record out, C.B. It
was really funny, it's cruel really, but after going to America and seeing
C.B. It's a really good thing the way the outlaws and truckers do it. It's a
real standout against authority. You're driving down the road in the south
and truckers will signal you on the radio that there's police round the
corner y'know. But when they brought it into England they had all these
limitations on it so anybody that got these C.B.'s could only go 4 miles.
You got all these bores thinking they're really being American. You get that
alot in England, like " ah yeah, I got a C.B. set like the Americans " you
hear them talking, they'd go " hey, it was bloody great, I got 10 miles away
last night ". What's the use, they might as well pick up the fuckin' phone.
They got into it for the technical aspect of it, forgetting that in England
it's a waste of time.
A- Unusual topic for a song about C.B.'s...
M- It's about more of a character type, like the people who were upset when
they found out what ELVIS was like. People who embrace things that they don't
really understand, you know what I mean?
Early versions of this--including the one from Sept. 30, 1981 released on the 6-CD Fall Box Set 1976-2007 and expanded editions of Hex Enduction Hour as "I'm Into C.B. (Stars on 45 Version)"--were a medley of the music to several Fall songs in Sequence ("Psychic Dancehall," "Fiery Jack," "Rowche Rumble" and "Leave the Capitol") paired with the lyrics to "I'm Into C.B." as they were at the time.
2. One's C.B. name is called one's "handle." It is never called a "codename," but as the narrator admits, "I'm having trouble with the terminology."
A character named "'Happy' Harry Cox" appears on the 1974 Firesign Theater album Everything You Know is Wrong (thanks to William Ham). An American chain of drugstores named "Happy Harry's" was founded in 1962, and was absorbed by Walgreen's in 2006.
Note that a lyric from "Lodestones" ("Shoes for the dead!") is apparently derived from Firesign Theater.
^
3. The second verse is sung from the perspective of a different narrator than the first, "Cedar Plank." "Lolly" is slang for money in the U.K.
4. This probably means a job creation scheme, i.e. a government program to put people to work (Martin points out that both "creation schemes" and "government schemes" appear in the live version from Leeds, 1981/11/5).
5. A "swing park" is probably a children's playground with swings. "Plastered" usually means drunk, but can refer to drugs also sometimes.
6. Smash Hits was a British popular music magazine that ran from 1978 to 2006, and they used to print lyric to pop songs in their pages. The issue of December 25th 1980-Jan. 7 1981 featured "New Face in Hell" (thanks to Neil Campbell).
7. It's not clear why Happy Harry includes "Plank" in his handle here; is it his surname? Is he related to Cedar Plank? John Kedward points out this may be a sly suggestion that characters are "thick as two short planks."
8. Dan has found that "land of waving palms" used to be a way of referring to a Jewish area or a ghetto. It smacks of anti-semitism; the palm branch is a symbol in Judaism, but the phrase apparently refers to the way Jews would supposedly gesticulate when they spoke. From Dan:
The book, Trials of the Diaspora: a history of antisemitism in England, includes this endnote: "Whitechapel was referred to as 'the land of waving palms'" (p.705).
So from this I conclude that the phrase referred to a predominantly Jewish area or, indeed, a Ghetto. And that although places like Whitechapel or East London more broadly might have specifically picked up the label "land of waving palms", it likely could also be used generically.
And, although I haven't found any written evidence, is it not possible that it might also refer to Prestwich, which had and has one of the largest Jewish populations in Britain.
Thus, "from the land of waving palms" tells us that Happy Harry Plank is either Jewish himself or is from East London or wherever and perhaps even Prestwich itself.
...John Kedward suggests another angle: "I think the land of waving palms might refer to the trend of pubs-- for working class teenagers( some with Hawaiian shirts)-- turning into wine bars around 1979-80 in England. Many owners would revamp their places, installing different, exotic lighting, tropical imagery, and fake plants, including palms. They were a kind of ersatz, exotic place for people who couldn't afford or didn't have the resources to travel."
9. Surprisingly, and perhaps appropriately in light of this line, there is little genuine C.B. slang in this song. "477CC" doesn't figure into Citizen's Band argot, and I have no idea what it refers to here. Apparently there is a humorous list of Code 13s, though; see Mark's comment below.
"Chocolate City" is CB slang for York.
It is also slang for Washington D.C., due to its large African American population, and is also used to refer to the black part of town in many American cities. The Parliament song "Chocolate City," from the album of the same name, brings both of these usages into play.
10. "New Face in Hell" is about a "wireless enthusiast" who comes to grief when he overhears evidence of a government conspiracy. Happy Harry's crime is uncertain; he seems to have received a cease and desist order; it may have been because he didn't have a license. In the U.S., individual licenses were technically required to operate a C.B. up until the early 1980s, and use of power boosting technology is still prohibited; in Britain an individual license was required by law until 2006. C.B. radios were illegal in Britain until 1981, so the narrator may be in Britain, although this doesn't seem to jibe with the references to "the land of waving palms" (although there are some palms in England) and "Chocolate City."
Comments (87)
What he actually sings is "home of chocolate city". While that might just be repetition, it might also mean "the city that is the home of chocolate". In the UK context, that could be York. But that seems totally incongruous since the rest of the lyric seems to have an American frame of reference.
The text of the ad is interesting juxtaposed with these lyrics; it talks about "your call of goodwill" which "transcends blinds of prejudice", but in the lyrics, the speaker(s) merely harp on about their own dull, grubby lives and indulge in mild racism (chocolate city).
But according to the Reformation! site, the song was first aired in its current form in December '81. Do you mean the particular "chocolate city" lyric was first aired in August?
5 November 1981, Leeds: the words "creation" and "government" ("schemes") are used interchangeably, thus verifying note 4.
"This is 47" (not "477"): this phrase is repeated as well.
The words "chocolate city" are present.
12 March 1982, Bristol: the first use of the words "Happy Harry" in a live performance.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/51106326@N00/4850716752/in/album-72157624630974436/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09s5Xmy1txk
http://thefall.org/gigography/88jul30.html
I like that "Sea Dock Flak." The thing is, that's kind of how MES thinks of lyrics sometimes I think, too. I don't think it's that he thinks the sound is more important than the sense--I think he sees the sound as a ticket to travel around from sense to sense, if that makes any (sense, that is).
He goes on to discuss the CB radio fad on p.142, and in particular a neighbour's "ridiculous and often hilarious combination of witless Wythenshavian and wildly misplaced truck-driver patois" ["Wythenshavian" = of Wythenshawe, Manchester - possibly dialect or slang in this context, if not "inhabitant".], which he says "directly fed into Mark's lyric".
Although apparently members of the Cadbury and Fry families were apprenticed to the Rowntrees, so there was a connection.
See: https://www.yorkschocolatestory.com/the-story/york-the-chocolate-city/, where "Chocolate city" is used.
https://mediafiles.thedms.co.uk/Publication/YK/Downloads/pdfs/media/media-chocolate/Factsheet2HistoricalBackgroundYorkChocolateCity.pdf
https://www.discogs.com/label/12913-Chocolate-City
Does feel, though, that we need to be looking closer to home.
A Dandy in Aspic was shown on TV a couple of times that I've found: 28 December 1973 and 7 April 1978, both BBC1. MES might have noted the line. Except that on the evening of 7 April 1978, The Fall had a gig at Eric's in Liverpool.
I have, by the way, also checked ancestry.com, and haven't found anyone suitable of the name "Harold Plank", just to rule out that line of thought (not that this is definitive, it should be said). Albeit that was probably only my line of thought...
"A- What's the aspect of C.B. radio you're interested in?
M- It was a very big thing in England when we brought the record out, C.B. It
was really funny, it's cruel really, but after going to America and seeing
C.B. It's a really good thing the way the outlaws and truckers do it. It's a
real standout against authority. You're driving down the road in the south
and truckers will signal you on the radio that there's police round the
corner y'know. But when they brought it into England they had all these
limitations on it so anybody that got these C.B.'s could only go 4 miles.
You got all these bores thinking they're really being American. You get that
alot in England, like " ah yeah, I got a C.B. set like the Americans " you
hear them talking, they'd go " hey, it was bloody great, I got 10 miles away
last night ". What's the use, they might as well pick up the fuckin' phone.
They got into it for the technical aspect of it, forgetting that in England
it's a waste of time.
A- Unusual topic for a song about C.B.'s...
M- It's about more of a character type, like the people who were upset when
they found out what ELVIS was like. People who embrace things that they don't
really understand, you know what I mean?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh8JVYBJlbU&ab_channel=DrHfuhruhhurr
Psykick Dancehall
Fiery Jack
Rowche Rumble
Leave the Capitol
Psykick Dancehall
Dan
I came across something intriguing the origins of which appear to modern eyes obscure.
I read a joke in a newspaper in the 1920s that described Houndsditch as "a land of waving palms". Trying to understand this, I saw that the wikipedia entry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houndsditch described it both as a slum and as a Jewish area. See also https://hidden-london.com/gazetteer/houndsditch/
And then I found a crossword clue in the Manchester Evening News of 31 January 1946, which read "Land of waving palms!"
Checking the answers in the MEN of 1 February 1946, it turned out the answer was "Ghetto."
Palm branches are a Jewish symbol: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_branch
The book, Trials of the Diaspora: a history of antisemitism in England, includes this endnote: "Whitechapel was referred to as 'the land of waving palms'" (p.705).
So from this I conclude that the phrase referred to a predominantly Jewish area or, indeed, a Ghetto. And that although places like Whitechapel or East London more broadly might have specifically picked up the label "land of waving palms", it likely could also be used generically.
And, although I haven't found any written evidence, is it not possible that it might also refer to Prestwich, which had and has one of the largest Jewish populations in Britain.
Thus, "from the land of waving palms" tells us that Happy Harry Plank is either Jewish himself or is from East London or wherever and perhaps even Prestwich itself.
Which is why it has "He's God with his wires and bits" instead of "He got me these wires and bits". And "I took lines on my belly" rather than "took lines off my belly".
The Collins Radio Company advert printed alongside the lyrics in the blue book, by the way, are actually a 1960s advert by the company.
Instances are dated December 1960 and December 1964.
While MES could conceivably have encountered the adverts somewhere, it's more likely that the book compiler (Dave Luff) found them online. The page on which they appear, note, was created in 1999, nearly a decade before the book came out.
Source: http://www.ussintrepid.com/crads.html
Source: Competition in the Daily Mirror, 16 March 1982, p.17.
Source: https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-CB-Radio/CB-Radio/CBRadio_15_September1981.pdf, p.29
"BC" being breakers' club.
Slough was where Mars were based from 1932 (https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/reading-berkshire-news/mars-bar-history-slough-usa-19534226)
A York group in the list have a different name.
So we should note that. But I think York seems to be commoner one (and is northern, as per the piece in comment #70, which doesn't name the place, presumably taking the "Chocolate City" name to be sufficient).
Mark's link in comment #6 is dead.
Here's an alternative: http://cmccord.co.uk/Radio/13-Codes.htm
They're basically insults, and different lists have different items in them, which obviously would limit their real world usefulness. They're intended to be a joke, presumably.
I've got a little book entitled CB in GB: a glossary of British and American CB slang, compiled by Steve Braithwaite (Oxford, Cherwell Press, 1980. ISBN 0907556000).
It has a list of 13- codes pp.114-117. There is no explanation. One or two are the same as items in 13-lists on the internet.
For example, this one is the same in the book and in the list on the site above:
The song is - according to MES - about how something that is outlaw culture in an American context is entirely pointless in an English context.
The narrator of this song doesn't drive a lorry or even have a car.
So perhaps the "are they related?" question in note 7 is exactly the right one. Perhaps he's not really managing to get much further than contact with a relative - maybe a brother or sister in another city or even a son or daughter or his own wife in the same house!
We learn quite a lot about Happy Harry's family in the song. He mentions stealing money of his mother and getting CB equipment of his taciturn father. But he also has a stepsister - so either that's a child of one of his parents from a previous relationship, or his mother and father have split up.
Which family-focus does make me think that Cedar Plank (if that's what it is) could well be a family member.
According to Lanie Dills' The "Official" CB Slanguage Language Dictionary (revised expanded 1976 edition, ISBN 0916744000), the CB slang term for Washington DC was "Watergate Town".
Anyway, I noticed the September 1981 edition includes someone going by the handle "Happy Harry", based in Bedworth (Warwckshire) (p.38).
https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-CB-Radio/CB-World/CBWorld_07_September1981.pdf
It is,however, vanishingly unlikely that this has anything to do with this song.
"My family's a weird lot / My stepsister's got a horrible growth / Listens to all this muzak shit / Reads Smash Hits while she's eating her tea / To me it sounds like bad CB"
with
"My family's a weird lot / My stepsister's got a horrible growth / Reads the New York Rocker when she's eating her tea / Well it's, uh, defunct, that's fine by me"
New York Rocker had indeed closed in November 1982. (It would be revived briefly in 1984).
I'm probably way overreaching with this.
The 'land' is the road infrastructure. And the waving palms is the fleeting passing traffic.
He's Happy Harry's son
To buy a C.B. set
Took lines off my belly
The lines taken off his belly are referring to tics on a measuring tape (“Took inches off my waistline”). This is Plank’s way of saying he had to go hungry in order to save up for his C.B. set, and is consistent with the preceding 4 lines’ description of his poverty (very minute lolly) and failed attempts to make money through pyramid (creation) schemes.
The note Hanley keeps playing that’s a half step up is C. The root pitch is B. Very much by design.
Somewhere on youtube is a video of the band playing "Garden", and in the "B" section (not to say the key of B, but the second part of the composition where the groove changes before returning to the main groove), Hanley is a half-step below or above the rest of the band. Not a great sound. Sometimes on stage, it's hard to hear exactly what pitches you're playing, especially in low registers. You put your hand one fret up or down from the right spot, and you can't quite hear that everything you play is in the wrong key. Since he did it there almost certainly by mistake, I feel like he could be making the same mistake on this track (and nobody noticed or cared, even on hearing the playback, which admittedly is odd, but not impossible).
That is, unless there is some documentation of this being "by design".