Lucifer Over Lancashire

["What I'm saying to you really, is that the training that you must have in discussion at your own level regarding the existence of God is far greater than everybody that's ringing you tonight."
"I have to disagree, I don't have any training at all of that sort..."
"So..."]  (1)

Saw six men
Under a tall tower
Break it to him
Like I'm breakin' it to you gently
The night people (2)
Will remind you of yeah
Kicking, white, cheerleader
Wan, untanned cheerleader(3)

Lucifer over Lancashire
Lucifer over Lancashire
Lucifer over Lancashire
Lucifer over Lancashire (4)

The blackbirds
Shake the hedges
On this, 
The hottest day for ages
Resemblance to
Doctor, doctor hit the needle
Can be discounted
No longer

Lucifer over Lancashire
Lucifer over Lancashire
Lucifer over Lancashire
Lucifer over Lancashire

I tell you no lies
Completely blind
Are the sentinel's eyes
At the back of his mind (5)
This demon's hip (6)
The demon's grip
He took over everywhere
And his blitz
Now over here
And the sky moves on
His cock-eyed moon (7)
A useless priest
Cram out your power

Lucifer over Lancashire
Lucifer over Lancashire
Lucifer over Lancashire
Lucifer over Lancashire

Monstrous kiss
Wet dagger
...
 

Lucifer over Lancashire
Lucifer over Lancashire
Lucifer over Lancashire
Lucifer over Lancashire

Now I'm just flyin'
I'm flyin'
I'm typin'
I'm shinin'
I'm winnin'
I got this on
I'm a runnin shark
I'm winnin'
I'm shinin'...  (8)

1. This is from a radio call-in show, and the first voice is said to be that of Craig Scanlon (but see note 6 below). This segment appears on the single version of the song, which is the B-side of "Mr. Pharmacist," but is not included on the slightly different rendition on the 7" Vinyl Conflict 2.  

From the notes reproduced in the blue lyrics book:

Companion track 'LUCIFER OVER LANCASHIRE' would not fit onto [Handwritten: "Domesday Payoff"] but it is too good to store. The subject of much debate 'LUCIFER OVER LANCASHIRE' could refer to:

A. Recent Commie cloud and complaints of aching bones in the health-conscious Fall camp.  [Dan suggests this may be a reference to the April 1986 nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, which puts me in mind of the obvious pun on Domesday/Doomsday--BZFGT]

B. The Erasure of manners and good groups in that Holy county or:

C. A trailer for forthcoming Pashion Religious Whodunnit due December.

'I tell you no lies.
?Completely blind/are the Sentinels
Eyes/At the back of his mind/?
This demon's hip'.

Dan submits:

From On The Wire radio interview by Steve Barker, transcribed and reprinted in The Pseud Mag, issue 12, Oct/Nov 2006. pp.12-16: Steve Barker: That Lucifer Over Lancashire? - was that a kind of newspaper article thing that originated that? MES: No that newspaper article was a local story about a doctor.. but erm... I was stuck for a cover fro the back and this free newspaper came through the door and it was just perfect. SB: Free papers are wonderful things. MES: Yeah they're an exercise in trash writing... It's like find the news, innit? SB: You needn't actually read anything! 

(The cover of the single is a photo of the front page of a newspaper that reads "Former Mayor In 'Zombie' Casi[...]")

Also from Dan:

The origins of this song seem to go back well before 1986. In a letter to Tony Friel dated 2 August 1977, MES refers to various new songs, including one entitled "Lucifer Over Manchester". So it's possible some of the lyrics date back that far too.

[See the comments below for more.]

The BBC aired a program about witchcraft in Northern England in 1987 called Lucifer Over Lancashire. This title seems to have been inspired by the song. Thanks to Mark for this, and according to Dan: "It was broadcast on BBC on 30 March 1987 7:40PM, as part of the 'Open Space' series. It focused on Rev. Kevin Logan of Accrington, and his fears about witchcraft in his area (close to Pendle)."

David Anderson mentions the road A666 which runs through Lancashire and is sometimes called "The Devil's Highway," both because of the name and because it has a high accident rate...the road sign is shown in the video for the song.

And finally, from Dan, "there is a short story by Lewis Spence entitled "Lucifer Over London" (1950), which can be found in The Magicians; Occult Stories, edited by Peter Haining (Peter Owen, 1972 / Pan Books, 1975)."

^

2. Dan:

The October 1985 edition of Twilight Zone magazine contains a story called "Post Awful" by William Jon Watkins. A cutting from this appears on the inside sleeve of This Nation's Saving Grace.

Just to note that the story that follows "Post Awful" in the October 1985 issue of the magazine is titled "The Night People," by J. Michael Reaves.

^

3. The cheerleader here is probably meant as a sort of stock horror movie victim. It is a typical MES stratagem to pen fragmentary lyrics like this, where we are forced to use our imagination to fill in the details. As usual when MES turns his attention to diabolical matters, the lyrics are somewhat humorous and draw on stereotypes.   

^

4. Lancashire is a county in northwest England. Pendle Hill in Lancashire was the site of the famous 17th century Pendle witch trials, which resulted in 11 people being hanged for witchcraft, some of whom had freely confessed to selling their souls to the devil. In this period, Lancashire had a large number of witch trials relative to the rest of England. Today, Pendle's tourist industry is largely based around a witch motif. In the 1980s a local vicar attempted to have a large cross erected on Pendle Hill to stave off what he saw as an epidemic of devil worshipers there; he was denied a permit, but the episode was the basis of a 1987 BBC documentary called Lucifer Over Lancashire, names after the Fall song. The vicar, one Reverend Kevin Logan, claimed that there were around 30 covens of witches in the vicinity of Pendle Hill, and to this day many local Christians see the area as a hotbed of devil worship, perhaps influenced in part by an image that is embraced by local business as a source of tourist revenue.  

^

5. Dan and Carl have both suggested that this is probably an allusion to The Sentinel, a 1977 film directed by Michael Winner. The titular character is a blind priest who keeps look-out from the top floor of a block of flats. The (quite plausible) plot is worth considering, as this could happen to anyone:

Alison learns that the building is owned by a secret society of excommunicated Catholic priests and is a gateway to Hell. The blind priest is the guardian who ensures that the demons do not escape. The priest is nearing the end of his life, and a new guardian is needed. The society has chosen Alison because her two suicide attempts qualify her as the perfect candidate. She is told that she must pay for her sins by becoming the next Sentinel, and only by doing so she will be allowed into Heaven.

^

6. As befits a tourist attraction, Lucifer has an attractive veneer of modernity, which is perhaps calculated to influence his victims to let their guard down...  

^

7. Under the Cock-Eyed Moon is a movie from 1930, although I don't know anything else about it. Dan points out that the deviation of the moon's orbit from the line of the equator has caused it to sometimes be called "the cock-eyed moon." And he finds a use of the term in fiction, but the reference he gives is from 2008, and I haven't found evidence that it's a common phrase.

^

8. Captain's Log, Supplemental:

A pesky gentleman named supposedly named "Andy Yates" (clearly a pseudonym!) has helpfully pointed out that we don't really know that the interviewed voice is that of Scanlon (see note 1 above), and made some interesting speculative remarks in the process:

Some doubt has been cast on The Mighty Fall Facebook page as to whether the first voice is indeed that of Craig Scanlon. In the same thread, poster Andy Yates has this to say:

"So... why does no one know what the 'excerpt' is taken from? I am presuming it's not Mark, either? I was digging for a slant on the 'meanings' in the song itself. The lyrics are interesting, but unusually cryptic, in not necessarily relating to any specific 'theme.' Was it to do with...Lancashire council using the 'witches' theme as a marketing campaign in every possible scenario? - rail, bus routes, road names and glossy tourist shpeel[sic]? Was it to do with the bloke who failed in getting planning permission to erect a dobber great cross on the top of Pendle Hill? Was it to do with the programme made for BBC of same name ? - which explored the supposed 'highest volume of satanists in Europe' in East Lancashire ?'"

Others have pointed out the similarity of the voice, however, to that in "Symbol of Mordgan" which is known to be Scanlon.

^

Lucifer Over Lancashire: Fall Tracks A-Z

VEJ compares the single version with a section of the 2002 MES solo album Pander! Panda! Panzer! (which consists of one long track of the same name as the album) that repeats many of the lyrics, with variations. Note that in places VEJ's transcript of the single is discrepant with ours. Listeners will have to judge for themselves which transcript is more accurate (I don't have great ears, but I generally don't change something when I feel sure I hear something else). However, I have revised some of the lyrics above to bring them into line with what VEJ has here, in places where his transcription seemed clearly more accurate than ours.

PPP: Saw six men under a tall tower/Break it to him and I’ll break it you gently/The night people will remind you of shaking white cheers, shaking white cheerleader/Wan, untanned cheerleader
Single: Saw six men under a tall tower/Break it to him like I’m breaking it to you, gently/The night people will remind you of, yeah, shaking white cheerleader/Wan, untanned cheerleader

PPP: The blackbirds shake the hedges on this the hottest day for ages/resemblance to doctor on the needle, discounted no longer
Single: The blackbirds shake the hedges/On this the hottest day for ages/Resemblance to doctor in the needle, can be discounted no longer

PPP: I tell you no lies/I’m completely blind are the sentinel's eyes at back of his mind/ The demon's grip, this demon is hip/It took over everywhere/His blitz now over here/in sky of Bootle/In a cock-eyed moon/In Liverpool, useless priest/Cram out your power
Single: I tell you no lies/completely blind are the sentinel's eyes at the back of his mind/This demon’s hip/The demon's grip/He took over everywhere/And his blitz now over here/in sky of Bootle/His cock-eyed moon/A useless priest/Cram out your power

PPP: I’m shut in and there’s dust on the venetians/Monstrous, kiss, bait bringer, angled, bejesus, bait bringer
Single: Monstrous, kiss, bait bringer, angled, bejesus, bait bringer/I’m flying, I’m tapping, I’m shut in, I'm winning and there’s dust on the venetians