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The Annotated Lyrics
- (Birtwistle's) Girl in Shop
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- 2 x 4
- 2nd Dark Age
- 4 1/2 Inch
- 50 Year Old Man
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- Afternoon Disco
- Age of Chang
- All Leave Cancelled
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- 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
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- Backdrop
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- Before the Moon Falls
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- Birthday Song
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- Blindness
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- Bombast
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- 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
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- 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
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- 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
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- 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
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- Psykick Dancehall #2
- Pumpkin Head Xscapes
- Pumpkin Soup and Mashed Potato
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- 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
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- Segue
- Senior Twilight Stock Replacer
- Serum
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- Shoulder Pads
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- Sir William Wray
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- Sleep Debt Snatches
- Smile
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- So What About It?
- So-Called Dangerous
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- Spencer Must Die
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- Stepping Out
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- 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 /
- Levitate
Levitate
Lyrics
In conservatory
I looked at him
He was adjacent to me
I thought about my debts
He was talking about his house
In the Lake District (1)
Come levitate
In the greater hospital
My friends said HMO times three (2)
To the nurse that's what you think
The transfer mess that took two hours
Had to levitate from a grey of my pate (3)
The snazzy japes of a Basingstoke shot
Basing in stocks
Under the green frock
Below the granite complex
Needed true grit (4)
To levitate
Levitate with me
Levitate with me
Levitate with me
Notes
1. The Lake District is a large mountainous region in North West England, most of which is a National Park. It is nevertheless continuously inhabited, with some swanky homes; MES also mentions the Lake District in "So What About It?"
The second verse is set in a hospital, and Dan suggests "Levitate" could in part be referring to one of the hospital beds, which are raised and lowered.
2. Probably a hospital in Greater Manchester. I take HMO to be "Health Management Organization." However, according to Dan, "I'm not really buying 'HMO' as an acronym for Health Management Organisation (or Health Maintenance Organisation), although its proximity to 'hospital' might suggest that. I just don't think it's a phrase you hear much in the UK, where HMO is much more likely to mean 'houses in multiple occupation.'"
3. The Lyrics Parade says "From a grey map-PAID." I imagine the theme of the song to be "levitating" out of oneself in a dull and frustrating situation. There is some debate about this, with "grey matte paint" suggested.
4. A granite complex is an assemblage of various strata of granite, one such being the Eskdale and Ennerdale in the Lake District (thanks to dannyno).
True Grit is a Western novel published in 1968 by Charles Portis, and followed a year later by the famous movie rendition starring John Wayne and the girl who played Miri on Star Trek. The Coen brothers made another film version of the book in 2010 (so, this is obviously pre-cog).
More Information
Dan:
Here's my take on the Bristol Fleece and Firkin (14 December 1998) version:
In terminal surgery, he was looking at me
I had to relocate to levitate
In the Northern Manchester General Hospital you looked at me
The nurses were annoyed
They were saying I can't go on
I needed strength to levitate
Just levitate with me
Just levitate
something
something
He was sat adjacent to me
He was talking about his house
I was thinking about my debts
I needed to bite my lip
To levitate
Levitate with me
something
And the Basingstoke granite adjacent to the plinth
Basingstoke in shops
Just levitate with me
Just levitate with me
Just levitate with me
Just levitate
Comments (57)
Dan
" had to levitate from the grey in my pate"
...I am thoroughly convinced that what he says is exactly "Had to levitate from a grey in my pate" or, more likely, "Had to levitate from-uh grey in my pate." So I think the solution is "Had to levitate from grey in my pate."
*cough*
http://www.cmft.nhs.uk/pdfs/maps/map-hospital-key.pdf
My friends said HMO times three
To the mirth that what you think"
Could everyone have had this completely wrong? I've listened to these lines several times now, and I'm hearing this, more or less:
"In the greater hospital
My friends said H and O times three
To the mirth that what you think..."
The third line feels a bit mangled, but the word "mirth" is the clue to unlocking the second line, or at least putting a new twist on our hearing of it.
Because "H and O" is "Ho." and "Ho" times three is "Ho ho ho".
i.e. Laughter.
Hospital gown?
He was adjacent to me
I thought about my debts
He was talking about his house"
This is written quite carefully, isn't it? The narrator is looking across as someone next to him, who is talking. Is this person talking to the narrator, or talking to someone else and the narrator is listening in or overhearing? "He was adjacent to me" quite cleverly emphasises the disconnection. And "he was talking about" not "he was telling me about" or anything like that. And no indication that this has been a two-way conversation.
This matters to our understanding of the situation. If the narrator and the Lake District house bore (landlord? holiday home?) are speaking, then the narrator drifting off and thinking about his financial problems (wryly, perhaps?) is one thing. But if the narrator is only listening to others speaking, and reflecting on their own position, then that's another thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbcVvCet_yY&t=1s
Dan I really, really like that idea.
I listened. You're right, it's a different lyric. But what the lyric is, I cannot make out. I have listened quite a lot, again and again, and now my head hurts and I am giving up. Possibly forever.
https://homeownersinsurancecover.net/ho-3-home-insurance-policy-explained/
They campaigned on the issue of Transcendental Meditation, which entailed 'yogic-flying' , the titular Levitation.
Their 1997 election broadcast is here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mentmore_Towers
[clipped from full page advert launching the party, Guardian, 20 March 1992, p14.]
http://uk.tm.org/web/ambleside
and he sings it with such contempt.
In the conservatory
I looked at him
He was adjacent to me
I thought about my dad
He was talking about his house
In the Lake District
Come levitate
In the greater hospital
My friend said HMO times three
To the nurse that's what you think
The transfer mess backed up two hours
Had to levitate from a grey matte paint
The snazzy japes of a Basingstoke shop
Basing in stocks
Under the green frog
Below the granite complex
Needed true grit
To levitate
Levitate with me
Levitate with me
Levitate with me
HNO3
-To the Nurse that's what you think
-GREY MATTE PAINT!
-The snazzy gepsof a Basingstoke shot
Basing in stock
I believe Geps was slang for specs in the north of England.
I suppose it must be from the north east and the 1990s.
Some other sources in Google Books have it meaning "gawp" or "gape" or "lie in wait".
You can see how that might end up meaning "spectacles".
It's not in the [i]New Partridge[/i or Jonathan Greene's dictionaries of slang.
Whether it's the word we have here I'm not sure. It would sort of fit if it was, I suppose.
Also nurse, also "transfer mess that took two hours"
I want to go with HNO3 since I don't like HMO...but I'm not sure about it, need more ears to see if that's happening
its...from the grey...my pate
Had to levitate
from the grey o' my pate
He has no teeth and it's really badly recorded.
With the miracles of audio enhancement you can clearly see (listen to the file):
https://sndup.net/4tvr
It is - 'The Greater Manchester Northern Hospital'
Something about transferring hospital?
The granite complex seems to be the 'Lizard Bay Building in Basingstoke'
Modern stocks?
Also mentioned in the song Rainmaster it seems to have occupied a peculiar place in Mark's mind as a hated symbol of middle-class British mediocrity.
On 31 May 1994 The Fall played a show at The Anvil, Basingstoke (doesn't exactly look like a granite complex).
(All right, all right, let's get off. Go on. Right, sorry about that kids, we've just come from Lithuania and we got treated better there than we did here. It's a fucking shit-hole!")
Adlib from "Levitate" at Ashton:
'At the greater roundabout in Basingstoke
After Worthing, sort of
They said, You don't get paid tonight
ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER
PUT THE PIANO ON THE RACK'
Basing is a village adjacent to Basingstoke containing Basing House - a major Tudor palace and castle.
'In the greater garden hospital my friend said GN7...
And the hospital transfer took 2 hours.'
'Under the green frog and pocket'
In the conservatory he something sandwiches something
He was talking about his house in the Lake District
I was thinking about my debts
I had to levitate
In the Greater Garden Hospital my friend said GN7
Went to the something something debt equals stress
And the hospital transfer took 2 hours
Come levitate with me
Under the green frog and pocket
Under the Granite stock complex in Basingstoke
In (the) stocks
Needed true grit something something something something something grey something
He said:
'Had to levitate from the surrounding paint'
And 'Had to levitate from the grey paint'
But one time he seemed to say clearly
'From the grey of my pate'
And also
'Under the green frog and apple.'
So this is a pub? (variously, Frog and Apple, Frog and Pocket, Green Frog, Lizard)
The drug seems to differ sometimes (GN7, Q2N2E, HNHNH, HNO3)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a6nQEXx7qI
whoever filmed this was helpful in zooming in on the old fella for this bit at 10:15, definitely "grey o' my pate"
Also on this version - "in the Greater Manchester hospital my friend said H and H and H plus 0 that equals P, the hospital discharge that took true grit" which probably confounds more than it helps.
Are these live versions available anywhere? The Unnuterable era line-up did a great take on this song (and Past Gone Mad) would love to hear again.
There's a bunch on soulseek - I have New York, Stoke, Bristol, Astoria...I am sure there are more.
It does seem like "grey o'my pate" in the video, in any case definitely not "grey matte paint"
Fuck
The first two verses are describing encounters with with bores talking about their financial problems (a house in the lake district, 3 Houses of Multiple Occupation, i.e. houses the person owns and lets out) and MES is having to sitting there thinking about his debts.
He wants to escape this society of people obsessed about themselves and their wealth. He reflects that the transfer from hospital took 2 hours - the civil infrastructure is chronically underfunded whilst these people live like this.
The existence of Basingstoke sums this up.
But this is different world.
Everybody but myself
There are slightly different accounts of this.
The way Steve Hanley writes about it in The Big Midweek, Levitate seems have been already recorded when the "voluntary arrangement" was put in place to deal with the £32,000 VAT bill.
Whereas according to Simon Wolstonecroft's chronology in You Can Drum But You Can't Hide, the group were told about the VAT problem in 1996 upon returning home from the Roskilde festival in June that year.
They are at least in agreement on the total.
In any case it's evident that there had been financial problems for some time, regardless of the exact chronology.