Life Just Bounces

Lyrics

(1)

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)

dannyno
  • 1. dannyno | 21/02/2014
I'm hearing "heading for a Fall", rather than "headed for a Fall"
dannyno
  • 2. dannyno | 21/02/2014
- Cerebral Caustic version, that was. Am ignoring the other one.
dannyno
  • 3. dannyno | 25/02/2014
Cerebral Caustic:

"Someone claimed their dog"

It's "Somebody"

Dan
dannyno
  • 4. dannyno | 30/01/2016
The intro music to this song borrows from the 1976 Elton John/Kiki Dee hit, "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.
bzfgt
  • 5. bzfgt | 27/02/2016
Is the "Don't go Breakin'"info online? I remember a recent thread on the FOF but not the details or location of it.
And by the way: Elton JOHN, Kiki DEE--fucking Illuminati shit!
dannyno
  • 6. dannyno | 27/02/2016
Yes, it's in a couple of threads on the FOF:

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
dannyno
  • 7. dannyno | 27/02/2016
A scan of the interview can be read here:
http://thefall.org/news/pics/90sep01_mm/90sep01_mm.html

The relevant bit is on the second page.
dannyno
  • 8. dannyno | 14/08/2016
"On TV today
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:


David Thomas, a petroleum chemist of Ely, Cardiff, was fined pounds 1,000 and ordered to pay pounds 200 prosecution costs after being found guilty of cruelly ill-treating four puppies by flushing them down a lavatory. Cardiff magistrates heard the dogs were saved by RSPCA workers and neighbours.


But only a possibility.
bzfgt
  • 9. bzfgt | 25/08/2016
Yeah, "molested" almost always has sexual implications even though literally it needn't.
Martin
  • 10. Martin | 22/09/2016
"And green grow the hedgerows along the walls"

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"
harleyr
  • 11. harleyr | 06/02/2018
It may be of mild or no interest to note that the 'Green grow the hedgerows' line used in the Cerebral Caustic version dates back to Dredger-era performances, for example Reading festival 90: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yszd1YjuP5c (42mins in)
bzfgt
  • 12. bzfgt (link) | 17/02/2018
Yes, Harley, certainly of interest.
Martin Clark
  • 13. Martin Clark | 31/07/2018
Stay just exactly as you are Rhi...........and you'll find that life just bounces, but don't you worry at all.
Martin Clark
  • 14. Martin Clark | 31/07/2018
Stay just exactly as you are Rhi...........and you'll find that life just bounces, but don't you get worried at all.
DJAsh
  • 15. DJAsh (link) | 02/01/2021
Life just bounces, so don’t you get worried at all...

“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 ?
DJAsh
  • 16. DJAsh (link) | 02/01/2021
On the live version from In the City recorded at Manchester Roadhouse, there is a spoken word sample of a “ pipe floats in mid-air, really strange behaviour for a pipe”.
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...

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