Jim's "The Fall"

Lyrics

(1)

(Not like the old one,
We are new Fall
Not like the old one,
We are the new Fall)

799 or one million pounds (2)
The next fork is endless
Fork out - I can't cover (3)
Accused down port
Endless

The road is rocked up
The next bend might lock up
The next fork is endless

Endless outstretched hands   (4)
Are the result of all you've given
Close it out just for now
There's a byway to the south   (5)

Road is rocked up
The next bend might lock up
7 double 9 or a million pounds for you
Fork out - cough up
We are the new Fall and you better have a look cop (6)

(We are the new Fall)

Close it out, close it out...

 

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Notes

1. "Jim" is then-new bass player Jim Watts, who wrote the music.

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2. From Fit and Working Again:

The 799 I always took to be a comment on Amazon and their ilk, then in their ascendancy, selling new release CDs in the UK at £7.99, a low price meaning large sales for them ("million pounds for you," see 14 lines down) but with the inevitable squeeze on the wholesale price and profits for the artist/producer down the chain, like supermarkets squeezing dairy farmers into loss-making in their quest for low-milk prices.

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3. See "The Last Commands of Xyralothep Via MES": "Cash - the eternal fork out..."

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4. From Lord of the Flies, via Dan:

Simon found for them the fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest from up in the foliage, passed them back down to the endless, outstretched hands. When he had satisfied them he paused and looked round. The littluns watched him inscrutably over double handfuls of ripe fruit.

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5. The Lyrics Parade has "fly way," which is an aerial path habitually used by migrating birds. That's not what I hear, though...

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6. Below, Zack has left a comment which demands to be elevated to a big league spot:

There was an interview with MES sometime in the 1980s - I want to say around the release of Wonderful & Frightening - in which he said he had seriously considered renaming his group "The New Fall" because it had gone through so many changes since the beginning.

It's probably for the best that he didn't follow through on this, or we'd currently be discussing The New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New Fall (no, I didn't really count all the lineup changes since The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall, but don't you think it'd be about like that?). 

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More Information

Jim's "The Fall": Fall Tracks A-Z

The Story of the Fall: 2001

Comments (21)

Zack
  • 1. Zack | 07/10/2013
There was an interview with MES sometime in the 1980s - I want to say around the release of Wonderful & Frightening - in which he said he had seriously considered renaming his group "The New Fall" because it had gone through so many changes since the beginning.
Zack
  • 2. Zack (link) | 01/01/2014
Found it - it was in that book "Tape Delay: Confessions from the Eighties Underground." Page 96.
dannyno
  • 3. dannyno | 06/01/2014
"Fly-way"

Yeah, I'm hearing "by-way"
Martin
  • 4. Martin | 28/01/2014
The use of "fork out" to mean spending also occurs in the song Last Commands of Xyralothep Via MES, released a couple of years later.
Zack
  • 5. Zack | 01/11/2014
"We are the new Fall / not like the old one."

MES or somebody else with a very guttural voice says that line in boldface at the beginning, and a couple times later in the song.

I was able to discern that line while listening to Live at the Knitting Factory LA 2001, so I guess that CD has a purpose after all!
bFgt
  • 6. bFgt | 03/11/2014
Excellent! Yes! I can hear it!! It always just sounded like "Fi fi fo fum" or something.
dannyno
  • 7. dannyno | 01/10/2017
"Endless outstretched hands"

Lord of the Flies:


Simon found for them the fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest from up in the foliage, passed them back down to the endless, outstretched hands. When he had satisfied them he paused and looked round. The littluns watched him inscrutably over double handfuls of ripe fruit.
bzfgt
  • 8. bzfgt (link) | 18/11/2017
That's a major minor find!
Junkman
  • 9. Junkman | 27/02/2018
How's about "Fork out, I cant cough-up/Acute down-pours"

And again near the end, "Fork out, cough up" ("cough up" as in "pay up", obvs)
bzfgt
  • 10. bzfgt (link) | 10/03/2018
OK I'll spin it...
bzfgt
  • 11. bzfgt (link) | 10/03/2018
Maybe but it's one hard 's' if so....the 't' seems more phonetically there, but "down-court" of course is what the hell is that, on the other hand what the hell is downpours?
bzfgt
  • 12. bzfgt (link) | 10/03/2018
"Accused down port" is what it sounds like
bzfgt
  • 13. bzfgt (link) | 10/03/2018
I got "the road is rocked up"
bzfgt
  • 14. bzfgt (link) | 10/03/2018
"Cough up" definitely

"You'd better have a look up" instead of "cop"?
Junkman
  • 15. Junkman | 16/03/2018
A downpour is when it rains heavily - "He got caught in a downpour". Ha, never realised that was a local-ism. He does pronounce a hard s but I'm convinced it's that.

I always thought it was "look up" too
bzfgt
  • 16. bzfgt (link) | 21/03/2018
No, "downpour" is universal, it's just in the context "I can't cover acute downpours" that I can't make sense of it. Like he's a rain insurance agent who'll only insure you against a drizzle?
Junkman
  • 17. Junkman | 22/03/2018
But isn't it "Fork out, I can't cough up"?, per the previous correction?

And I'm working on the assumption "Acute downpours" is a separate line, not the second half of a sentence. It seems to fit the general hard-luck theme of the song.
bzfgt
  • 18. bzfgt (link) | 31/03/2018
I hear "cover" there, and "cough up" toward the end. I'm not sure if that's what I meant when I responded last time, I should stop doing this at 4 in the morning. But I hear "down port," with a very clear 't' at the end...I'm making it that, for now. Maybe we need to seek out some live versions? I'm not above making it something from a live version if the studio version seems like a mispronunciation of it...
Fit and Working Again
  • 19. Fit and Working Again | 01/05/2018
I hear the beginning bit as "We are the new Fall/We are not the old one" - I take that as not so much a celebration of the new line-up but a sneer at up-and-coming bands who proclaim to be influenced by the Fall. Based on remembering MES holding his nose when doing this bit live.

The 7-9-9 I always took to be a comment on Amazon and their ilk, then in their ascendancy, selling new release CDs in the UK at £7.99, a low-price meaning large sales for them ("million pounds for you") but with the inevitable squeeze on the wholesale price and profits for the artist/producer down the chain, like supermarkets squeezing dairy farmers into loss-making in their quest for low-milk prices
bzfgt
  • 20. bzfgt (link) | 09/07/2018
Admittedly it's heavily treated but I can't find an "We are not the old one"
Kiespijn
  • 21. Kiespijn | 21/09/2020
Two pence from me: I always heard "next book is endless" imagining suitably cryptic, lengthy reading material for an arduous tour.
As for the downpour, downcourt, downport question, I hear it as "downput". Admittedly not a word in the English language but it makes sense to me. Inverse of put-down or a play on down & out (put). Maybe also down payment, putting money down.

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