(Jung Nev's) Antidotes

Lyrics

The Marshall Suite:

(1)

Antidotes
And dozy votes (2)
Antidotes
Antidotes

Antidotes
And those who vote
Where chewing-gum is chewed
The chewer is pursued (3)
Seventies
Every time
So secondary modern (4)

Antidotes and those who vote
Antidotes and those who vote
Antidotes and those who vote

Antidotes

No more inner-city for you
Antidotes and those who vote

Country

Carry on sir
Carry on sir (5)

If liberty is screwed the sports teacher include
If liberty is screwed the sports teacher include
Antidotes

Antidotes and those who vote
Miss you, miss you, miss you...
Antidotes and those who vote
Antidotes
Antidotes and those who vote
Antidotes
Antidotes and those who vote

Antidotes
Miss you, miss you, miss you … 

 

PEEL ("Antidotes"):

 

12345
Antidotes

And those who wrote
And in the hoose hidden
If chewing gum is chewed

Antidotes

The wacky sports teacher and the big fat bullies
In the class he tolerates their dads on teams
It's a carry on sir country

Antidotes

If chewing gum is chewed
The chewer is pursued
And in the back shed he's shot, became a dog’s bone

Had scales on his face before he even reached the Sports Minister
Thanks to a country that’s so secondary modern

Antidote
And dog’s…
 
And the weird Addams family replica, schizophrene, vice film, hooded eyes,
Shoves people off the train and shouted at the show, rants

The driver always wants to go round and round and round the

There's no antidote

The poison is rising his skin is scaly to touch

Alright

Notes

1. "Jung Nev" is apparently a reference to co-writer Neville Wilding, the (at the time) new guitarist for the Fall. The song is reprised later as "Anecdotes+Antidotes in B#," with many of the same lyrics but totally different music (although B# is a fictional key). WIlding does not have a writing credit on the "B#" version, so the title suggests that this is "his" version. Musically, it has often been pointed out that the song sounds a bit like Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir."  

^

2. The refrain resembles the 1943 novelty number "Mairzy Doats", performed by Al Trace and his Silly Symphonists:

Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?

A clue to the lyrics comes later: 
If the words sound queer and funny to your ear, a little bit jumbled and jivey,
Sing "Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy."
 
It's not certain whether he's saying "dozy votes" or "those who vote" (i.e. can advance their puritanical values at the polls) or whatever. Both have been proposed, and the old Lyrics Parade had "those who vote."
 
^
 


3. This line is taken from the Marx Brothers' song "Just Wait til I Get Through With It," from the movie Duck Soup. The lyrics to the latter:

 

Spoken: 
Lady: 
If it's not asking too much,

Sung:
For our information
Just for illustration
Tell us how you intend to run the nation

Rufus T. Firefly:
These are the laws of my administration

No one's allowed to smoke
Or tell a dirty joke
And whistling is forbidden

Chorus:
We're not allowed to tell a dirty joke

Hail, hail Freedonia

Rufus:
If chewing gum is chewed
The chewer is pursued
And in the hoosegow hidden

Chorus:
If we choose to chew we'll be pursued

Rufus:
If any form of pleasure is exibited
Report to me and it will be prohibited
I'll put my foot down, so shall it be
This is the land of the free

The last man nearly ruined this place
He didn't know what to do with it
If you think this country's bad off now,
Just wait 'til I get through with it

The country's taxes must be fixed
And I know what to do with it
If you think you're paying too much now
Just wait till I get throught with it

*whistle*

I will not stand for anything that's crooked or unfair
I'm strictly on the upper knot, so everyone beware
If any man's caught taking graft, and I don't get my share
We stand'im up against the wall and pop! Goes the weasel

Chorus:
So everyone beware, you're stricken or unfair
-------unless he gets his share

Rufus:
If any man should come between a husband and his bride
We'll find out which one she prefers by letting her decide
If she prefers the other man, the husband steps outside
We stand him up against the wall and pop! Goes the weasel
 
Whereas the Marx Brothers song is from the perspective of an aspiring autocrat, the Fall song seems to be almost an "answer" song; the singer seems rather to be the pursued gum-chewer, someone who feels he is persecuted for his vices.
 
4. A "secondary modern" is a public school in Britain. A "public school" in Britain is what is called a "private school" in America. As Harleyr explains, "'public' schools, starting with the first at Winchester (founded 1394), were originally non-feepaying schools for the poor, with a few fee-paying pupils allowed. Over time, the lure of the cash from the latter group proved too much to resist, and they edged out the poor kids. But the 'public' moniker remains, as a hangover from that time."

See "more information" below for more information (appropriately enough).
 
 
5. Dan points out that this line, and the corresponding "It's a 'carry on, sir' country" from the Peel version (see note 5 below for the lyrics), may refer to the Carry On franchise of British comedy films. There are 31 films in the franchise, as well as several television specials, a series, and three plays. The series parodies British customs and institutions, so it is the character of the country that Carry On seeks to capture, perhaps explaining the lyric here and especially on the Peel version.
 
 

 

 

More Information

(Jung Nev's) Antidotes: Fall Tracks A-Z

Anecdotes and Antidotes in B#: Fall Tracks A-Z

Dan explains the British school system:

 

"Public" schools are fee paying private schools, referred to quite often as "independent schools". State-funded (tax funded, known as maintained) schools are of various kinds - the situation is complex due to the evolution of national education policy - and there are marked local differences because for a long time tax-funded schools were controlled by local authorities (1870 Education Act gave local councils the ability to create schools to fill gaps in private/church provision).

Compulsory Education is in two stages: primary schools, aged 5 to 11 (children may be in nursery before school age); secondary schools, aged 11-16. Children may go on to study at college or sixth form until aged 18, at which point they may go on to tertiary or further education at University or college.

The 1944 Education Act established the comprehensive education at secondary level, allowing local authorities to establish the tripartite system of secondary modern, secondary technical and grammar schools. The idea was that pupils would follow the stream best suited to their aptitude, but it was clearly a system designed to perpetuate class divisions and caused political difficulties over time. Grammar Schools did exist before this.

How this was done did vary locally, but most followed what became the standard model. Technical schools didn't take off everywhere, so mainly it was a choice (well, not a choice) of either secondary modern or grammar school, and the 11+ exam was used to determine which schools pupils would go to. Supposedly more academic children would be sent to grammar schools and everyone else would go to secondary modern.

In the 1960s, a Labour Government established the "comprehensive school" model nationally - these had been tried in some areas from the 1940s. The idea was that all children would go to the same schools, rather than divided between grammar and secondary modern. You had comprehensive secondary schools instead, with streaming by ability (probably subject by subject) within them. Labour's policy was that all local authorities should convert from the secondary/modern grammar system, and this led to the 11+ system disappearing in many areas, but not all. The next Conservative government abolished compulsion, but the momentum was such that the vast majority of grammar and secondary modern schools had been merged or closed and replaced by the mid-1970s, and most new schools were comprehensive.

However, in those few places where local authorities had resisted implementing the Labour directive long enough, the 11+ and grammar schools survived to see the Tories abolish compulsion, and in those places the 11+ has existed ever since, and so therefore have secondary modern and grammar schools.

So when people refer to grammar schools and secondary modern schools, they are referring to a class-divided education system, in which the supposedly more academically able (read: mainly middle class, but not exclusively because it was a test that got you there) went to grammar schools. 

Note that some Grammar Schools are fee-paying private (i.e. "public") schools with that name. This may be because they chose to go independent rather than convert or close in the 1960s under Labour. Manchester Grammar School is an example. 

Some Gramm

Mark E Smith, let it be noted, went to Stand Grammar School. Stand Grammar School was founded in 1688 but got into financial trouble and was taken over the local authority in 1908. There were separate schools for girls and boys (a common feature in many areas). But in 1979 Bury went comprehensive and the two grammar schools merged into Philips High School. "High Schools" is a name used for non-grammar secondary schools in some areas in Britain, but not all, often in places with a grammar tradition, as far as I can tell.

Comments (15)

dannyno
  • 1. dannyno | 26/04/2013
"It's a carry on sir country" is presumably a reference to the Carry On series of British comedy films. There was never a "Carry On Sir", but there was a "Carry On Teacher".
bzfgt
  • 2. bzfgt | 22/02/2014
Thanks, Danny. I'm not sure about all the lyrics here, either, so if you ever decide to train your eagle ears on it let me know what you discover.
Bazhdaddy
  • 3. Bazhdaddy | 09/01/2019
As in "Anecdotes" I think the "dozy doats" from the ditty in note 2 is appropriated throughout as "dozy votes". Far be it from me to second-guess MES's creative processes but I'm guessing "dozy votes" came first and then "antidotes" as a rhyming hook on which to hang it, one which sounds good and hints at a meaning that is far from comprehensible.

At 00:56 "some secondary modern..." i.e. Comprehensive Schools, Public Schools as they'd be in the states. I guess this relates to the sports teacher below. A hint of working class snobbery from MES the Grammar School boy here.

The sports teacher bit is garbled but I think the gist of it is
"If liberty is screwed
The sports teacher include"
Bazhdaddy
  • 4. Bazhdaddy | 09/01/2019
For the Peel version;

01:25 "big fat bullies"
02:25 "in the back shed he's shot-ah, became a dog's bone"
02:51 "Thanks to a country that’s so secondary-modern" (see previous note)
03:25 "And the weird Addams family replica, schizophrene, vice film, hooded eyes, shows [or shoves] people off the train and shouted at the show, rants"
04:06 "There's no antidote"
4:29 "the poison is rising, his skin is [scaly to touch??]
bzfgt
  • 5. bzfgt (link) | 26/01/2019
Ha, I just zapped a "Danny"! Late date.
bzfgt
  • 6. bzfgt (link) | 26/01/2019
Definitely "secondary modern"

I don't know we'll ever know "dozy votes" etc. for sure...
bzfgt
  • 7. bzfgt (link) | 26/01/2019
Wait is a Grammar School different? So a Grammar School is more or less prestigious? Isn't it kind of the reverse in England, where public schools are actually more "posh" than private? Someone is going to have to explain this to me for the notes. To explain where I am coming from and what I understand, in the US a public school is funded by property taxes. The comparatively wealthy sometimes send their children to private schools which are richer and more prestigious.
bzfgt
  • 8. bzfgt (link) | 26/01/2019
"At liberty is the sports teaching kook" has to be wrong! It's kind of funny though, sports teachers running around free while good citizens rot in jail...
bzfgt
  • 9. bzfgt (link) | 26/01/2019
I will say "vote" doesn't always sound like "votes"
bzfgt
  • 10. bzfgt (link) | 26/01/2019
I put your sports teacher line for now but I don't know...
bzfgt
  • 11. bzfgt (link) | 26/01/2019
"bullies" not clear, kind of like "body-os"

"poison rising" part very uncertain but what I had was wrong
dannyno
  • 12. dannyno | 26/01/2019
"Public" schools are fee paying private schools, referred to quite often as "independent schools". State-funded (tax funded, known as maintained) schools are of various kinds - the situation is complex due to the evolution of national education policy - and there are marked local differences because for a long time tax-funded schools were controlled by local authorities (1870 Education Act gave local councils the ability to create schools to fill gaps in private/church provision).

Compulsory Education is in two stages: primary schools, aged 5 to 11 (children may be in nursery before school age); secondary schools, aged 11-16. Children may go on to study at college or sixth form until aged 18, at which point they may go on to tertiary or further education at University or college.

The 1944 Education Act established the comprehensive education at secondary level, allowing local authorities to establish the tripartite system of secondary modern, secondary technical and grammar schools. The idea was that pupils would follow the stream best suited to their aptitude, but it was clearly a system designed to perpetuate class divisions and caused political difficulties over time. Grammar Schools did exist before this.

How this was done did vary locally, but most followed what became the standard model. Technical schools didn't take off everywhere, so mainly it was a choice (well, not a choice) of either secondary modern or grammar school, and the 11+ exam was used to determine which schools pupils would go to. Supposedly more academic children would be sent to grammar schools and everyone else would go to secondary modern.

In the 1960s, a Labour Government established the "comprehensive school" model nationally - these had been tried in some areas from the 1940s. The idea was that all children would go to the same schools, rather than divided between grammar and secondary modern. You had comprehensive secondary schools instead, with streaming by ability (probably subject by subject) within them. Labour's policy was that all local authorities should convert from the secondary/modern grammar system, and this led to the 11+ system disappearing in many areas, but not all. The next Conservative government abolished compulsion, but the momentum was such that the vast majority of grammar and secondary modern schools had been merged or closed and replaced by the mid-1970s, and most new schools were comprehensive.

However, in those few places where local authorities had resisted implementing the Labour directive long enough, the 11+ and grammar schools survived to see the Tories abolish compulsion, and in those places the 11+ has existed ever since, and so therefore have secondary modern and grammar schools.

So when people refer to grammar schools and secondary modern schools, they are referring to a class-divided education system, in which the supposedly more academically able (read: mainly middle class, but not exclusively because it was a test that got you there) went to grammar schools.

Note that some Grammar Schools are fee-paying private (i.e. "public") schools with that name. This may be because they chose to go independent rather than convert or close in the 1960s under Labour. Manchester Grammar School is an example.

Some Gramm

Mark E Smith, let it be noted, went to Stand Grammar School. Stand Grammar School was founded in 1688 but got into financial trouble and was taken over the local authority in 1908. There were separate schools for girls and boys (a common feature in many areas). But in 1979 Bury went comprehensive and the two grammar schools merged into Philips High School. "High Schools" is a name used for non-grammar secondary schools in some areas in Britain, but not all, often in places with a grammar tradition, as far as I can tell.
harleyr
  • 13. harleyr | 28/01/2019
To add one detail to Dannyno's excellent explanation above - 'public' schools, starting with the first at Winchester (founded 1394), were originally non-feepaying schools for the poor, with a few fee-paying pupils allowed. Over time, the lure of the cash from the latter group proved too much to resist, and they edged out the poor kids. But the 'public' moniker remains, as a hangover from that time.
bzfgt
  • 14. bzfgt (link) | 16/02/2019
Thanks, Harley, I never understood what all that "public school" talk was about.

And thank you Dan for the information.
Rob
  • 15. Rob | 04/12/2022
People can obviously hear it how they like, but 'those who vote' is almost certainly incorrect, and it is 'dozy votes' throughout. This is consistent across many live versions, including where the vocals are very clear in the mix.

Also, he varies live between 'the sports teacher rules' and 'the sports teacher does rule', or occasionally 'the schoolteacher rules'. Anyway, 'rules' is the sense of it, which conjures for me the archetype of the tyrannical sports teacher. The line is buried on the record, and it does sound like something different, but I've no idea what 'sports teacher include' could even mean.

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