I Wake Up In The City
Lyrics
Turn the music up...
When I wake up in the city
I look around to see who's with me
And all the thoughts that pollute me
The ship canal and the gallery
How many of you are stable
In the proximity
The Deputy Collector is the Commander Chief (2)
I wake up in the city
I look around to see who's with me
A lonely cloud descended (3)
The bill and bushes have not grown (4)
Don't keep laughing
Can you give a dog a bone?
Heh Ha!
Ugh Heh Heh Ha! (5)
When they give me breakfast
Politburo KGB (6)
Maybe a Flight Commander (7)
Is curled up in a tree
And even Jesus had a tale (8)
And General Custer was the same
That old dollar bill
Came out backwards in the machine
When I wake up in the city
I find I'm not around (9)
I look who's with me
All the thoughts that pollute me
I got glasses under my skin (10)
I don't know how thin I been
I don't want to keep, to keep laughing (11)
I don't need no reason to keep laughing
Even Jesus had a tale
And General Custer was the same
Now I'm the enemy of the city (12)
Every dollar bill came out backwards
And the new note it came out backwards
And the new note it came out backwards
And the new note it came out backwards
And the new note it came out backwards
[Radio recording:]
... at 9 to 11 year olds. So how do we cope with this?
I think it is, practically, I think you'll find across the country that some schools are delivering not just two hours but even more and it's very good quality and other schools are not delivering the amount of time that they should be. So now there should be an entitlement that every youngster must get that two hours of good quality. And I want an advancement in two different areas of not curriculum ... support
A youngster is given the chance... by society ...We'll provide the topic...
Okay, well, let me just say one more thing. We also have to recognize that for many youngsters, especially in their early teens...
[End of radio segment] (13)
When I wake up in the city
I look around and see who's with me
All the thoughts that polluted me as well (14)
The ship canal and gallery
How many of you are stable?
How many of you are stable?
The thief and fox
The commander in chief
And the breaking of the chains
By the ship canal
By the gallery
By the fox stable
By the gallery
By the dark brown stable
No one's stable
Notes
1. This was later adapted, with different lyrics, as "My Ex-Classmates' Kids" on Are You Are Missing WInner. According to Ed Blaney, who is featured on guitar here, Blaney wrote all the lyrics to both the latter song and to this one. Both he and MES have a writing credit on this; it is not clear what Smith contributed, however.
The opening exhortation to "turn the music up" cannot but remind me of "Sweet Home Alabama" with its opening "turn it up," although here MES may be speaking to the producer about his monitor, wheras Ronny Van Zant just seems to be digging things...
2. This line always reminds me of "Highway 61 Revisited":
Well, John the Baptist, after torturing a thief
Looks up at his hero, the Commander-in-Chief
Saying, "Tell me, great hero, but please make it brief
Is there a hole for me to get sick in?"
The Commander-in-Chief answers him while chasing a fly
Saying, "Death to all those who would whimper and cry"
And, dropping a barbell, he points to the sky
Saying, "The sun's not yellow, it's chicken"
In any case, Dan points out that "'Deputy Collector' is, or was, a Customs & Excise rank."
3. This line suggests Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud." Since I don't have many notes for this one, the reader will indulge me:
On balmy seas and pernie schooners
On strivers and warming things
In a peanut coalshed clad
I wandered happy as a jew
To meet good Doris Fing.
Past grisby trees and hulky builds
Past ratters and bradder sheep
In a resus baby stooped
I wandered hairy as a dog
To get a goobites sleep
Down hovey lanes and stoney claves
Down ricketts and sticklys myth
In a fatty hebrew gurth
I wandered humply as a sock
To meet bad Bernie Smith
More Information
Comments (26)

- 1. | 21/12/2013

- 2. | 30/01/2014
Well, maybe, but the first live playing of the song was about three months after its official release, so a bit of a red herring?

- 3. | 15/02/2014
I'm not sure how many of the lyrics MES wrote or if some are Blaney's. Is there a studio Blaney version?
The lyrics remind me of Bob Dylan a little, with all the God, Jesus, Custer, Deputy Collector, Commander in Chief stuff.

- 4. | 15/02/2014
Man, I don't know why this song isn't more widely praised. The chord change at "I got glasses under my skin/I don't know how thin I been..." That is rock and roll right there.

- 5. | 15/02/2014

- 6. | 22/02/2014
Good point, well made.
Dan

- 7. | 23/04/2014
Dan

- 8. | 23/04/2014

- 9. | 23/04/2014

- 10. | 23/04/2014

- 11. | 24/04/2014
"Of the new stuff, the amusingly raucous 'I Wake Up In The
City' features a lengthy Kate Hoey sample."
(I found this information on Fallnet, by the way.)

- 12. | 25/12/2014

- 13. | 24/06/2016
Well, John the Baptist, after torturing a thief
Looks up at his hero, the Commander-in-Chief
Saying, "Tell me, great hero, but please make it brief
Is there a hole for me to get sick in?"
The Commander-in-Chief answers him while chasing a fly
Saying, "Death to all those who would whimper and cry"
And, dropping a barbell, he points to the sky
Saying, "The sun's not yellow, it's chicken"

- 14. | 24/09/2016
'Deputy Collector' is, or was, a Customs & Excise rank:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HM_Customs_and_Excise#Customs_and_excise_ranks

- 15. | 02/12/2017

- 16. | 09/12/2017

- 17. | 09/12/2017
Speaking of which, I must not have noticed it was in the book before, this has led me to make several corrections where the vocal seems to follow the book.

- 18. | 09/12/2017
This follows the blue lyrics book except the 'e' in Heh! seems to have a 'k' superimposed.
It may just be 'k' as in "HKH." My eyes are going bad...

- 19. | 09/12/2017

- 20. | 09/12/2017

- 21. | 09/12/2017

- 22. | 09/12/2017

- 23. | 09/12/2017

- 24. | 22/08/2018
<i>And the rest of us, well, the rest of us are watching 'Brookside', where permed dickhead Terry has just told Barry Grant that he's going to join creepy Simon's Moonies-style religious cult, and Barry has inexplicably replied, 'Think hard, Terry lad. <b>Even Jesus had a trade</b> behind him.'
"<b>Jesus had a trade</b> behind him?", explodes an incredulous Smith, reliable as rain. 'Fucking hell, mon! They're fucking thick, aren't they, Scousers? Fucking mad bastards! I've just finished a residency in Liverpool. I've never seen so many fucking ugly people.</i>

- 25. | 25/08/2018

- 26. | 16/05/2020
This is the interview: Melody Maker, 26 February 1994
Seems like we can date the interview exactly, as we're told it was a Saturday and there's a reference to Graham (Lambert of the Inspirals being absent at an Oldham vs Southampton game in order to report for Peel (as Scanlon does on Symbol of Mordgan. That game took place on 5 February 1994: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993%E2%80%9394_Southampton_F.C._season. That was indeed a Saturday.
Confirmatory information at the Peel Wiki: https://peel.fandom.com/wiki/05_February_1994
The problem then is that according to http://www.brooksidesoapbox.co.uk/guide_34.htm and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brookside#Scheduling, it seems that Brookside was broadcast on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, but not on Saturdays.
However, I checked newspaper TV listings for 5th February, and confirmed that an omnibus edition was indeed broadcast on Saturdays, at 5:05pm. And indeed the wiki site mentioned above does refer to the omnibus edition here and there, as does the Brookside site.
So the omnibus on Saturday 5th February would have combined episodes 1365 (Monday 31 January 1994), 1366 (Wednesday 2 February 1994) and 1367 (Friday 4 February 1994).
The line in question originally occurred in episode 1366. It's on YouTube here (starting at 08:45): [url=https://youtu.be/Ahc9eJdjFWU?t=525[/url]
Transcript:
Barry: Well, er, we're not open yet. Anyway, thought your lot were teetotal?
Terry: Yeah, well, it's, er, my lot I've come to talk about.
Barry: Oh, aye.
Terry: Yeah. I er, I got baptised yesterday.
Barry: You what?
Terry: You heard.
Barry: Look, is it the fumes of the ales that're getting you bevvied?
Terry: Mock if you like, but I got baptised.
Barry: Where?
Terry: In Katie Rogers' house.
Barry: Look, I've heard of Tupperware parties, but baptisms... I mean that's for church and priests and all that er...
Terry: As long as you believe, it doesn't matter where it's done or who does it.
Barry: Believe? Oh, I get it, Simon did it.
Terry: Yeah, I'm baptised now, I'm part of something.
Barry: Terry, he works in a petrol station.
Terry: Yeah, and Jesus was a carpenter.
Barry: Well at least Jesus had a good trade behind him.
But, that was 1994 and this is 7 years later. And I don't think he says "trade". But still, I've done the due diligence.
Are they all even MES lyrics? Because when Ed Blaney did it live he missed out the stuff about dollar bills: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32HjEf56Pok. Is that significant?
By the way, I don't think it's "euro came out backwards" but "new note" or "you know"