Medical Acceptance Gate
Lyrics
I worked for future salary the nightshift
In Spalding Street. The respect is worth it.
1 AM at the front gate it had just been
Sunday night stood this man, tall and twisted back.
He spoke loud and said
Come out of there that
Grill on the wall contains a crowl, and
That twisted shape you call the
Laundry post reminds me of my origin
Your criss-crossed fences are avenues
Paid for by the NHS, you need it more than (2)
The patients for mortgage fees and medical pranks
But you wont fix my quartz chip
Or repair my broken kind
Kindness born of mousy brain
Truth hit with kin of bitter world
Vicious dreams of EC1 (3)
And Lapland girls and green birds
Which crawl and chase through dug basements (4)
The porter went to move the man
And we got back to practice time
But his hands went through the man
He was made up of liquid pitch
His legs two smoke pillar sticks
Crisscrossed fence posts were his eyes
His mouth red like a twisted knife
His mouth like a twisted life
He reeked of bleach and hospitals
He reeked of bleach and hospitals
The porter swears this is true
He reeked of bleach and hospitals
The porter swears this is true
And drinks too much in his brown and white hut
But the thing clings to the acceptance gate
The thing clings to the acceptance gate
The thing clings to the acceptance gate
The thing clings to the med. acceptance gate
And nobody sane he's seen it
It only bugs us young MDs
We are dedicated to fight disease
To fight disease
Disease
Disease
Notes
1. Here is what Reformation has to say:
Musically and lyrically this song seems in many ways to be a cousin of a ghost story like "Spectre vs. Rector," or a horror story like "Impression of J. Temperance". The "thing" thay clings to the gate is clearly a ghost or some kind of supernatural being, perhaps a demon; it is never made clear what it wants, or why it haunts a medical establishment,
More Information
Comments (13)

- 1. | 24/03/2016

- 2. | 04/03/2018
Grill on the wall contains a Krell
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krell

- 3. | 11/03/2018
Pitch in this context most likely means a form of tar or bitumen - as in "pitch black". I like the association with pine tar, though, because of the medical angle But the image is more straightforward than that and would be understood easily enough as that.
"MD" is a bit of an Americanism, but not opaque to British English speakers.
I wonder if "acceptance gate" is a term MES picked up from working on the docks. An "acceptance gate" is a specialist reception for large deliveries, perhaps by lorry. You'd have them at transport terminals, at industrial premises etc..
See for example: http://www.aircargopedia.com/pdf/AlhaHandlingandTruckingServices2014.pdf
Our MXP terminal is equipped with 40 docks for loose cargo, 12 docks for BUPs and a dedicated acceptance gate for oversized shipments where crane services can be arranged at all times, guarantee smooth and non-congested acceptance operations all year round.
The phrase has other meanings too, none in widespread non-technical use. But it seems tolerably clear in the lyric what the "acceptance gate" is.

- 4. | 17/03/2018

- 5. | 17/03/2018

- 6. | 22/03/2018

- 7. | 31/03/2018

- 8. | 13/05/2018

- 9. | 30/03/2019
The grille on the wall contains a crowl https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/crowl
01:16
Truth hit with kin of bitter world
01:22
Which crawl and chase through dug basements
02:12
His legs two smoke pillar sticks+ +i.e. pillar candle sticks
Crisscrossed fence run square each eyes
His mouth red like a grist to grind
His mouth like a twisted rite
02:43
And no-one who’s sane has seen it
It only bugs us young MDs

- 10. | 21/06/2019

- 11. | 21/06/2019
It's close between "dug" and "the" with weird emphasis, but I'm going with yours
You've got me hearing "smoke pillar" too though I'm not convinced it means "candles," I never heard that nor can find a reference, but his legs were like pillars of smoke.
I'd like a 3rd opinion on that too.
It does sound more like "run square each eyes" but I hate to change it from something that makes sense to something that does not without being sure...
"Twisted reich" definitely has to go one way or another, it doesn't seem like something he'd come up with...damn it I don't hear "grist to grind" though, but it doesn't make it worse, I need more ears on it but I'll do it for now...
I think the "mouth" stuff is wrong
"bugs" not quite either but closer

- 12. | 09/10/2021

- 13. | 22/06/2022
"substance obtained by the destructive distillation of the wood of Pinus palustris and other species of Pinus; used internally as an expectorant and externally in the treatment of skin diseases"
The use of the term "MD" to mean doctor seems to me an American usage. Brix, maybe?
I'm aware that what I'm about to post has little import, but I like this song a lot and would like to know more about its lyrics, so something is something, I suppose.