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The Annotated Lyrics
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- What You Need
- Where's the F***in Taxi? C**t
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- Win Fall CD 2088 AD
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- Winter (Hostel-Maxi)
- Wise Ol' Man
- Wolf Kidult Man
- Words of Expectation
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- 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 /
- Life Just Bounces
Life Just Bounces
Lyrics
White Lightning/The Dredger EP:
Dr Boring had a relationship with the drug company too
And I'm half-associated with the Softness Group PLC (2)
On TV today somebody claimed their dog
Had been molested by a textile chemist
But life just bounces so don't you get worried at all
Sometimes life just bounces so don't you get worried at all
The prescription's filled but I'm surprised at their standards
I watch with a tight lip, retina amazed
But life just bounces....
Come a light-brown varnish morn
London is full of people leaving their homes
They got lack of length in their beds and in their rooms
And the cops say don't dare leave your home
I tell yer, Life just bounces....
Dr John sez you are very ill
And your top-knot is in the region of your soul (3)
I was vortexed I was going for a Fall
But all music bounces, so....
I tell yer music bounces, so...
I tell yer all life just bounces, so...
All life just bounces
Cerebral Caustic:
Doctor Boring had a relationship with the drug company too
And I am half related to the Softness Group PLC
On TV today
Someone claimed their dog
had been molested by a textile chemist
But life just bounces so don't you get worried at all
And life just bounces so don't you get worried at all
The perscription's filled but I'm unsure of its contents
I sit back with a tight lip
Retina amazed
But life just bounces so don't you get worried at all
And life just bounces so don't you get worried at all
And green grow the hedgerows along the walls (4)
And I see that my problems are really small
[We're no rock group!]
Camera life, brown varnish, mauve
London is full of people leaving their homes
They got lack of length in their beds and in their rooms
And the cops say don't you dare leave your home
I'll tellya
Life just bounces so don't you get worried at all
And life just bounces so don't you get worried at all
And Doctor Boring says you are very ill
And your top-knot is in the region of your soul
I was in a vortex I was heading for a Fall
I'll tellya
Life just bounces so don't you get worried at all
And all music bounces so don't you get worried at all
Notes
1. The Fall liked this enough to release it twice, or maybe disliked the first version enough to try it again. Each version has their adherents; here I have placed them in chronological order. The Cerebral Caustic version is more energetic, and I do like that one a bit better, if you were wondering. As for the lyrics, the chorus could be sarcastic or they could be more or less sincere; I think it is one of those songs that can be taken both ways, and so we don't need to decide. In other words, depending on your mood, I think you could take either message you wanted to from this song.
MES has apparently confirmed that the music for this song was partially inspired by Elton John and Kiki Dee's "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" ("A fact confirmed by Smith", according to Paul Lester's feature-interview with Smith in Melody Maker, 1 September 1990, p43--Dan).
2. There is, and was at the time of writing this song, an actual company called Softness Group, a public relations firm which apparently got its name from its founder, John Softness, and at one time represented Barbra Streisand.
3. Dr. John is probably the same as Dr. Boring, but we can't say for sure. A famous Dr. John who probably has nothing to do with this song is New Orleans musician Mac Rebennack, the "Night Tripper." The topknot is a symbol of social status in some cultures, but I don't think there's much point in going into it, the line doesn't seem to have a very deep or wide range of resonance.
4. Martin points us to a hymn: "Green grow’th the holly/So doth the ivy/Though winter blasts blow na’er so high/Green grow’th the holly/Gay are the flowers/Hedgerows and ploughlands".
And Harley notes that the "hedgerows" line was already present in live performances around the time of the Dredger EP.
Comments (16)
"Someone claimed their dog"
It's "Somebody"
Dan
"A fact confirmed by Smith", according to Paul Lester's feature-interview with Smith in Melody Maker, 1 September 1990, p43.
And by the way: Elton JOHN, Kiki DEE--fucking Illuminati shit!
FoF member SteveHamilton, 2007:
http://z1.invisionfree.com/thefall/index.php?showtopic=16348&view=findpost&p=10559751
FoF member stranger, 2013:
http://z1.invisionfree.com/thefall/index.php?showtopic=36006&view=findpost&p=22253651
FoF member twinz2z,2008, amid confusion with Blood Outta Stone
http://z1.invisionfree.com/thefall/index.php?showtopic=21439&view=findpost&p=11306374
http://thefall.org/news/pics/90sep01_mm/90sep01_mm.html
The relevant bit is on the second page.
Someone claimed their dog
had been molested by a textile chemist "
I feel like this has a real-word source that we might be able to trace.
Here's a possibility:
From The Independent, 17 May 1990, p2:
But only a possibility.
This line has echoes of the following: http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/green_growth_the_holly.htm
"Green grow’th the holly
So doth the ivy
Though winter blasts blow na’er so high
Green grow’th the holly
Gay are the flowers
Hedgerows and ploughlands"
“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.“
More Camus influence ?
Is this taken from a documentary discussing surrealist Rene Magritte? Fits in with the overall theme in this track of : life is absurd, sit back and enjoy the hallucinations...