Mere Pseud Mag. Ed.

Lyrics

Hex Enduction Hour:

His heart organ was where it should be
His brain was in his arse  (1)
His hand was well out of his pocket
His psyche's in the hearth

Had a beard which was weird
Some time ago
Heard Ramones in '81 (2)
Has a Spanish guitar

Real ale, curry as well - sophisticate!
Spanish guitar doesn't get far
In computer teaching job
His dreamgirl sings adverts for the Weetabix (3)
A fancied wit that's imitation of Rumpole of Bailey

Whose causes and rags were phoenix-like
They were dodo like
They were comfort blanket type
Pho-do impact
Pho-do in fact
Pho-do impact
Pho-do in fact (4)

He had a weak pisser (5)
And one night at darts match
Sandwich quaff

He showed he was a big fan of double-entendre
Saw "Not the Nine O'Clock News" "History of the World Part One" (6)
Twice each at least
Twice each at least
Twice each at least

Mere pseud mag editor's father  (7)

 

Hip Priests and Kamerads (Live 1983): 

His heart organ was where it should be?
His brain was in his arse
?His hand was well out of his pocket
?His psyche is in the hearth 

Has a sneer which was weird
?Some time ago
?Heard Kraftwerk in '81 (8)
?Has a WASP synthesizer (9) 

A real male, make-up as well
?Sophisticate?
WASP synthesizer
?Didn't get far? in computer teaching job
?His dream girl sings adverts for Renoir perfume (10)
?A fancied wit that's mere imitation of D. Bowie? in "Man Who Fell to Earth" (11)

Whose causes and rags were phoenix-like?
They were vaudevillian-like
?They were comfort blanket-type
Dodo in fact?
Pho-do in fact?
Photo impact 

He had a weak pisser
?And one night at darts match
?Decadent sandwich quaff
?He showed he was a big fan of double-entendre?
Saw "Man Who Fell to Earth" "History of the World" ?"Man Who Fell to Earth" "History of the World, Part One"
?twice each at least twice each at least twice each 

Mere pseud mag editor's father

PEEL:      (12)

His heart organ was where it should be 
But his brain was in his arse 
His hand was well out of his pocket 
His psyche’s in the hearth 

Had a beard which was weird
Ten years ago
Saw the man [who so-and-so?]
On academy pop
In the computer job
His dream girl sings adverts for shampoo advert
A fancied wit that was wanton reverse of Rumpole of Bailey (13)
Whose Shadrachs were comfort blanket-like  (14)
Beware the sullen smiling fool
And the shallow frowning fool 
Both will be thought wise (15)
And phoenix-like

He had a weak pisser
And one night at sandwich brown bread club
He thought he was a master of double-entendre
Carry on, etc.        (16)
Meanwhile, waiting out in the car:

Mere pseud mag editor’s father
Mere pseud mag editor’s father
Mere pseud mag editor’s father
Mere pseud mag editor’s father (17)

 

SaveSave

Notes

1. From Antoine Procuta:

From a gig on October 23, 1981 at Manchester University: "Look, heckler... look, your heart's in the right place, but your brain is in your arse."
About 4 months before Mere Pseud Mag Ed got its debut, according to the Reformation site.

This is not an entirely uncommon imprecation, of course, although it would be more usual for one's entire head to occupy the cavity in question.

In Paul Hanley's Have a Bleedin Guess, Marc Riley tells us that, although the music is credited solely to him,
 


it was Mark's tune. The riff was ripped off from 'Baby Sitters' [sic] by Stupid Babies, which was Adamski when he was eleven years old. It was a great record, about a minute and half long... Mark showed me the riff on two fingers on his little plastic guitar.


(p.119)

Adamski (born Adam Tinley) is an English musician, who formed The Stupid Babies, reportedly, when he was 11. The riff is a plausible source for this (see More Information below) although if MES or Hanley had never copped to it, no one would have ever figured it out...

Dan submits:

Ad lib prior to this song at Southampton University, 1 May 1982:
 


Good evening. This one is for Mark Ellen and his stinking breed.



At the time, Ellen was features editor of Smash Hits.

Of course, this doesn't mean the song was written about Mark Ellen.

^

 

2. This was around the time of Pleasant Dreams, an album which some considered disappointing at the time (but which is nevertheless an excellent album). Perhaps the implication is that the pseud mag. ed. (or his father) was a bit late in getting hip to the Ramones. The Spanish guitar in the next line, pace Mark Prindle, doesn't seem to be attributed to the Ramones here, but is a new thought.  

See note 9 below.

^

3. Weetabix is a British breakfast cereal which takes the form of largish oblong biscuits. In the 1980s they aired ads in which the biscuits dressed up as streetwise youths (often as skinheads complete with suspenders and boots) and sang the virtues of the cereal.

^

4. "Pho-do" is most likely a portmanteau of "phoenix" and "dodo." A phoenix is a bird in Greek mythology that is periodically reborn, and a dodo is an extinct African flightless bird (unlike the phoenix, the dodo has not managed to regenerate itself). We can make of this what we will--the "causes and rags" keep coming back but, in a sense, they are dead. The gentleman who is the subject of the song is perennial in one sense, but always out of date, so, in fact, perennially out of date. I suppose something like that is what is going on. "Dodo" is also sometimes used to connote stupidity.  

^

5. Apparently you can say this in Greater Manchester to mean "bladder."

^

6. Not the Nine O'Clock News was a British television program (1979-1982) which lampooned the news; History of the World, Part I is a movie written, directed, and featuring Mel Brooks that lampoons history. The title character's taste isn't particularly highbrow or recondite, for a pseud...

^

7. "Pseud" (which is most often short for "pseudo-intellectual") is a term which, like "poseur," identifies someone who is very concerned with projecting an image but not particularly authentic: thus, an artificial and pretentious person. I take "pseud" to modify "mag. ed." rather than just "mag.," but it probably works for both. The exact role of the father, in relation to the son, isn't entirely clear here, but in some versions the line "Waiting in the car..." preceded this refrain (for instance, see the Peel version below), which would put this in context nicely; perhaps the pseud mag. ed. lives with his father (thanks to dalyzach from the Fall online forum).  

^

8. The electronic/Krautrock outfit released the generally well-regarded Computerwelt in 1981. Again (see notes 2 and 9), the implication may be that our pseud is behind the curve.   

Thop:

Just a bit of speculative detail to add - it's possible MES chose Kraftwerk for this line due to the fact that Capitol records released "Computer World" as a single in 1981 (with "The Model" from the previous album for the B-side). Somewhat infamously, the 3 year old B-side received more radio play in 1981, as by then the mainstream had caught up with the synth-pop trend that had by then taken hold and brought an even larger following to Kraftwerk. So I think MES's point may be that the mere pseud mag. editor's father is out of the loop, and also given to following mainstream trends of the day.

^

9. The Wasp was one of the first commercially available synthesizers to adopt digital technology. There may be a pun intended with "White Anglo-Saxon Protestant."   

Thop:

WASP synthesizers were like budget versions of better known synths of the time and were, I think, known for being fairly cheap and sounding that way. I think this and "has a spanish guitar" of the album version relate to the parsimoniousness of the character first announced by "His hand was well out of his pocket..." Also, they seem to relate to the previous line in each case, ie. heard Ramones and tried to relate with a spanish guitar; heard Kraftwerk and tried to relate with a WASP synth.

^

10. As far as I can tell, Renoir perfumes were made from the 1930s until the 1950s. I have not found any television or radio ads, or references to such ads, for Renoir.  

^

11. The Man Who Fell to Earth is a 1976 movie in which David Bowie plays a humanoid alien who has come to our planet seeking water to bring back to his drought-ridden home planet. He is thwarted by the government and winds up a broken man, or anyway a broken alien. Buck Henry plays a role in the movie, and he also collaborated with History of the World, Part I director Mel Brooks on the television program Get Smart, a fact which may not be relevant at all.  

Bowie crops up in a few other Fall songs: "Hard Life In Country," "Get A Summer Song Goin'," and "He Pep!"

^

12. Thanks to Joseph Mullaney for transcribing these. I have made corrections where it seems appropriate...

^

13. Rumpole of the Bailey is an English television drama about a London barrister, which were subsequently adapted into short stories by the screenwriter, John Mortimer.

^

14. It does sound like "Shadrachs," but I don't know of this being used as, for instance, slang for articles of clothing anywhere, so it may be "[something] rags" (the other versions have "causes and rags"). Shadrach was of course one of Daniel's companions who survived being thrown in a furnace by Nebuchadnezzar, but if the lyric is correct there must be something else going on here. 

^

15. From William Blake's "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell," one of the "Proverbs of Hell":

The selfish smiling fool, and the sullen frowning fool, shall be both thought wise, that they may be a rod.

MES changes it a little and, I must admit, it is hard to imagine a fool, or anyone else, both smiling and being sullen; likewise, "shallow" seems to go more naturally with "smiling" than with "frowning," so the adjectives may be reversed here (such liberties would not be unprecedented). It is amusing to see Blake's lines merged with MES's as we get back to phoenix; sadly, this version lacks both the dodo and the portmanteau "phodo."

^

16. The "etc." is MES's, not mine.

This probably refers to the Carry On franchise of British comedy films (see also "(Jung Nev's) Antidotes"). There are 31 films in the franchise, as well as several television specials, a series, and three plays. The series parodies British customs and institutions.

^

17. There follows a lot of stuff from backing vocalists, much of which I cannot make out, plus a few ad libs from MES and a recording of someone talking...Zack points out that here is repeated the "Land of bounty...land of dope cakes" stuff from "Open the Boxoctosis."

 

Kevin reports (and Dan confirms):

The backwards tape at the end of the Peel Session is a recording of Winston Churchill
from his Xmas message of 24 December 1941 from Washington, D.C.

"Here, in the midst of war, raging and roaring over all the lands and seas, creeping nearer to our hearts and homes, here, amid all the tumult, we have tonight the peace of the spirit..."

^

More Information

Mere Pseud Mag. Ed.: Fall Tracks A-Z

Babysitters by The Stupid Babies:

 

 

Dan points out that MES has quoted, or alluded to, the "Proverbs of Hell" from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell numerous times:
 

"The selfish smiling fool and the sullen frowning fool shall both be thought wise" (quoted in "So-Called Dangerous," also on Code: Selfish; also, in "Mere Pseud Mag. Ed.": "Beware the sullen smiling fool/And the shallow frowning fool/Both will be thought wise")

"He thinks at dawn / He acts at noon / He stays alone / And in the evening.." (paraphrased version of "Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night.", "Two Face!," from Code: Selfish)

"Folly is the cloak of knavery", ("Ed's Babe," 1992, the Code: Selfish era)

"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom" (adapted for "Lost in Music," which is on the next album, The Infotainment Scan)

Also there are a bunch of references to Blake, including a reference to "Heaven and Hell" in "W.B.."

See also "That Man" and "A Figure Walks" for lines that appear to be nods at this source.

Anyway, it is interesting that so many lines emerged c1992.

Comments (62)

dannyno
  • 1. dannyno | 02/03/2014
HP&K version: I'm not sure it sounds like a "darts match" or a "sandwich quaff". Might even be "dance class" or dance catch. I'm certain it's not "sandwich".

The Interim version definitely has "darts match" and "sandwich crap", and also Muller Ice Cream instead of Renoir perfume.

Dan
dannyno
  • 2. dannyno | 02/03/2014
In the Hex version, it's definitely not "decadent" sandwich etc. It might just be "Sandwich crap". Still not hearing "darts match", though it does sound more like "darts" something or other.

Dan
acousmetre
  • 3. acousmetre (link) | 15/05/2014
One of the things that I think is neglected about MES's influences is how much he likes Frank Zappa's music. The references to Zappa are particularly strong in this song.

The list of seemingly mundane, nearly-nonsense details about the subject (the weird beard, the Spanish guitar) is mirrored in a Zappa song called "Honey Don't You Want a Man Like Me." Like "Mere Psued..." Zappa's song describes an elitist, snobby, pseudo-hipster with the lyrics "He was the Playboy type (he smoked a pipe), His fav'rite phrase was 'outta site!' He had an Irish Setter."

On the same album, there's a similarly themed song called "For the Young Sophisticate." I'd say that Sophisticate is an idiosyncratic enough word that MES could easily have heard it from Zappa.

"Honey..." and "Sophisticate..." come from an album called Lather that Zappa on the radio in 1978, after the record company refused to released it. it was heavily bootlegged from that broadcast. The timing is just right that MES would have gotten a bootleg LP of Lather before writing "Mere Psued..."
Mark
  • 4. Mark | 21/05/2014
Re: "pisser" - during gigs in the late 70s, MES used to refer to "Rebellious Jukebox" as "Jukebox Pissers" (that may or may not be related).
Mark
  • 5. Mark | 21/05/2014
"Rumpole Of The Bailey": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumpole_of_the_Bailey
Joseph Mullaney
  • 6. Joseph Mullaney | 13/07/2014
On the Hex version it sounds like `darts match sandwich quaff' to me.
Mark
  • 7. Mark | 16/07/2014
At the start of the "Hip Priest And Kamerads" version can be heard the following comment, presumably from one of the attendees of the gig: "I don't understand the words!"
dannyno
  • 8. dannyno | 16/07/2014
The Weetabix Gang: Image
Joseph Mullaney
  • 9. Joseph Mullaney | 18/07/2014
On the HP&K version it sounds like `decadent matchup quaff', whatever that might mean.
Zack
  • 10. Zack | 11/01/2015
For any non-native English speakers who might not be aware, the first line of the song is a play on the expression "his heart was in the right place."
bzfgt
  • 11. bzfgt | 31/01/2015
Good point, sometimes something gets by me because it seems too obvious but as you point out it may not be. Nevertheless, I'm not renaming all those notes and anchors tonight so the foreigners will have to read it in the comment section...
Joseph Mullaney
  • 12. Joseph Mullaney | 09/02/2015
Lyrics to the Peel version from 2004. Feel free to challenge some of these. In particular I can't make out the backing vocals towards the end at all.

His heart organ was where it should be
But his brain was in his arse
His hand was well out of his pocket
His psyche’s in the hearth

Had a beard which was weird
Ten years ago

Saw the man [who so-and-so?]
On academy pop
In the computer job

His dream girl sings adverts for shampoo advert
A fancied wit that was wanton reverse of Rumpole of Bailey
Whose Shadrachs were comfort blanket-like
Beware the southern smiling fool
And the shallow [brownie fool?]
Both will be thought wise
And phoenix-like

He had a weak pisser
And one night at sandwich brown bread club
He thought he was a master of double-entendre
Carry on, etc.

Meanwhile, waiting out in the car
Mere pseud mag editor’s father
Zack
  • 13. Zack | 09/06/2015
Legendary Fall Online Forumite fallchase and I once debated the meaning of the word "pisser" in the context of this song. Chase thought it meant penis but I thought it meant a drunken night on the town.

UrbanDictionary.com lists several colorful definitions of "pisser"; listed at #21 out of 27 we learn that a pisser might be "A night on the town getting drunk with your friends. Used frequently by NE English types. So named for the obscene amount of urine created by drinking 18-24 pints of Stella over the span of an evening." Works for me.
dannyno
  • 14. dannyno | 21/06/2015
You can't rely on the urbandictionary.com.

"Pisser"=penis is not particularly regional slang.

Chambers Dictionary:


1. One who urinates
2.An annoying person or thing
3.A toilet
4.The penis


Shorter Oxford English Dictionary:


1. A person who urinates.
‣b The (male or female) genitals.
‣c A lavatory.

2. An extraordinary person or thing; a difficult or distasteful event, an annoying or disappointing thing; an unpleasant person; (in weakened sense) a fellow, a chap.


Eric Partridge's "A Dictionary of Historical Slang" has the same meanings.

Earliest quote given for pisser=penis in the online version of the multivolume OED is 1896:


1896 J. S. Farmer & W. E. Henley Slang IV. 214/2 Pisser = (1) the penis, and (2) the female pudendum.
a1935 T. E. Lawrence Mint (1963) i. xxiii. 99 You're pulling my pisser: our mob's on fatigue for the duration.
1963 C. Bukowski in Burning in Water drowning in Flame (1997) Girls kicking high, showing everything but the pisser.
1971 B. W. Aldiss Soldier Erect 37 He was pulling your pisser, Wal. Malaria's no worse than a cold to the Wogs, is it, Bamber?
1997 C. Shields Larry's Party (1998) vii. 125 His penis jumped in his pants. His pisser, his pony, his jack-in-the-box.


Dan
dannyno
  • 15. dannyno | 06/01/2016
"His dreamgirl sings adverts for the Weetabix "

Melody Maker, 8 August 1981, p4 has a short news item about Captain Sensible's girlfriend, Cursty (Christiane Kistner). It seems she was setting up an all-girl band called Short Commercial Break, whose set would consist of jingles for products including Weetabix (https://youtu.be/XwL7eAWWSIM for their take on "Unbeatabix").

They later did a BBC radio session for John Walters which was repeated on Peel's show. This would have been after the lyrics here were recorded though.

More here: http://peel.wikia.com/wiki/Short_Commercial_Break
dannyno
  • 16. dannyno | 06/01/2016
Captain Sensible went on to "star" in Weetabix adverts.

https://youtu.be/HF4wP2Oaa5c

This is all probably a red herring.
Martin
  • 17. Martin | 06/04/2016
Small typo: "Who's causes and rags were phoenix-like"

"Whose",surely?
dannyno
  • 18. dannyno | 09/05/2016
"His psyche's in the hearth"

So, like ashes?
bzfgt
  • 19. bzfgt | 19/05/2016
Thanks, Martin. I bet that came right over from the Lyrics Parade and I never noticed.
bzfgt
  • 20. bzfgt | 19/05/2016
Dan: yeah, why not? Alternatively, I suppose it could imply he is a homebody, or someone who has to go out a lot to keep up appearances or do his job but who at heart is a bourgeois homelover....something like that, but when I speculate like that I'm often shown quite wrong, whenever evidence arises.
Zack
  • 21. Zack | 25/06/2016
The group chant in the Peel version:

Land of bounty
Land of ___
Land of ___
Land of dope cake
Land of schizo
In my ___
Land of ___
Sixteen nineteen ninety six

"Land of bounty" and "land of dope cake" are, of course, lyrics from "Open The Boxoctosis".

Earlier in the Peel version I hear "Saw Samantha So-and-So".
bzfgt
  • 22. bzfgt | 29/06/2016
Thanks, Zack; if anyone figures that out and transcribes it, that would be very helpful.
Antoine Procuta
  • 23. Antoine Procuta | 23/03/2017
From a gig on October 23, 1981 at Manchester University: "Look, heckler... look, your heart's in the right place, but your brain is in your arse." You can hear it 10min18sec into this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9rKexs87RA

About 4 months before Mere Pseud Mag Ed got its debut, according to the Reformation site.
Ex worker man
  • 24. Ex worker man | 31/03/2018
His hand was well out of his pocket = never gets his round in.

I've always taken "causes and rags" to refer to student rag weeks - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rag_(student_society)
the mere pseud probably is or had recently been a student, a cynical view being that students get involved in this stuff to assuage middle class guilt (comfort blanket) or get laid.

The "Mere pseud mag editor's father" line doesn't reallly work without the "meanwhile outside in the car" before it but is a brilliant put down, the mere pseud too embarrased to let his dad come in the pub, he has to wait outside to drive his boy home (presumably to a comfortable family home).
Ian F
  • 25. Ian F (link) | 15/04/2018
Pre-cog! "There are 31 albums in the franchise, as well as television interviews, singles, and three plays. They parody British customs and institutions.'
bzfgt
  • 26. bzfgt (link) | 05/07/2018
Ha!
dannyno
  • 27. dannyno | 08/11/2018
Note 1, re: 23 October 1981 gig at Manchester University.

The brain/arse comment is also recorded at 19 October 1981, North London Polytechnic:

And there's a boy down here... his heart is in the right place but his brain is in his arse.


Which might mean he used it whenever appropriate, or that the same person was the target both times, or that it wasn't actually a put down of an actual heckler and was just a part of Middle Mass Explanation. I guess you'd have to listen to the 23 October gig to hear if there is actually any heckling. I don't think I have it, but I will look.

Either the insult is specific to one or two individuals, one of whom might be the titular editor, or its not but MES liked it (he used it twice at least, after all) and incorporated it into his lyrics opportunistically.

Perhaps we need to track down everyone who was at both gigs and interview them.
nutterwain
  • 28. nutterwain | 08/01/2019
Peely's favourite Fall song apparently
dannyno
  • 29. dannyno | 19/01/2019
Comment #28: what makes you think that?
bzfgt
  • 30. bzfgt (link) | 26/01/2019
Got a reference for that?
bzfgt
  • 31. bzfgt (link) | 26/01/2019
The internet seemingly knows it not...
Ed Glinert
  • 32. Ed Glinert (link) | 03/02/2019
Hi,

Shadrach from the Bible, yes, from the highly mysterious Book of Daniel, which many Jews, especially the religious ones in Prestwich, believe is a key to the secrets of the universe. Shadrach was also the name of the funeral director played by Leonard Rossiter in the 1963 film Billy Liar, Morrissey's second favourite (after A Taste of Honey).
jensotto
  • 33. jensotto | 16/02/2019
Pseud sends my mind to Private Eye, Pseud's corner. Do we know who wrote and edited that column?
Radio Times editor (and Guardian writer) Geoffrey Cannon was a regular name in the column - BBC Genome is a Radio Times scan ...
Onr can also search BBC Genome for Eye ed Richard Ingrams or his father.

But it could be any mag the pseuds chatted about. My theory is that many Pseuds talk about the contents of Radio Times cut-outs ....
bzfgt
  • 34. bzfgt (link) | 16/03/2019
I do not know Private Eye but I'm willing to consider any connections one could make in this regard...
bzfgt
  • 35. bzfgt (link) | 06/04/2019
Jensotto, it is high time we had something more concrete! Even though I agree it could be any mag...any Britishers know more about all this Private Eye stuff?
dannyno
  • 36. dannyno | 16/04/2019
I've been a Private Eye reader for a long time, and am familiar with Pseud's Corner.

MES does cite Private Eye in his well known contribution to the Portrait of the Artist as a Consumer series in NME, 15 August, 1981.

And I have identified a couple of points where I think lyrical inspiration can plausibly be traced to Private Eye ("swastika's in swimming pools" from Hey! Fascist, for example).

There's nothing in this song that suggests Private Eye or Private Eye's then-editor, or anything that might have appeared in Pseud's Corner as a referent to me.
dannyno
  • 37. dannyno | 16/04/2019
"Had a beard which was weird
Some time ago heard Ramones in '81"

Is it the weird beard that he had some time ago? Or was it some time ago that he heard the Ramones? I think the former fits better.
Thop
  • 38. Thop | 29/04/2019
Regarding point 8 in the HPaK version: "Heard Kraftwerk in '81"...
Just a bit of speculative detail to add - it's possible MES chose Kraftwerk for this line due to the fact that Capitol records released Computer World as a single in 1981 with 'The Model' from the previous album in 1978 for the b-side. Somewhat infamously, the 3 year old B-side received more radio-play in 1981, as by then the mainstream had caught up with the synth-pop trend that had by then taken hold and brought and even larger following to Kraftwerk. So I think MES's point may be that the mere pseud mag editor's father is out of the loop and also given to following mainstream trends of the day.
Thop
  • 39. Thop | 03/06/2019
Re: point 9 - WASP synthesizers were like budget versions of better known synths of the time and were, I think, known for being fairly cheap and sounding that way. I think this and 'has a spanish guitar' of the album version relate to the parsimoniousness of the character first announced by "His hand was well out of his pocket...".
Also they seem to relate to the previous line in each case, ie. heard Ramones and tried to relate with a spanish guitar; heard Kraftwerk and tried to relate with a WASP synth.
bzfgt
  • 40. bzfgt (link) | 21/06/2019
37 I was hoping it was ambiguous, I think the new enjambment is best given the circumstances
bzfgt
  • 41. bzfgt (link) | 21/06/2019
38--"Out of the loop"--pun
duncan goddard
  • 42. duncan goddard | 05/11/2019
the 'hex' version has, to my ears-
"pho-do in fact
photo impact
pho-do in fact
photo impact"
bzfgt
  • 43. bzfgt (link) | 09/11/2019
I hear that too except "impact" first
Condevitto
  • 44. Condevitto | 27/11/2019
5. This isn't a use of "pisser" I'm familiar with; taken literally it would probably indicate someone's penis, or perhaps bladder.

Definitely bladder, North Manchester/Salford use the slang for the toilet and the bladder.
bzfgt
  • 45. bzfgt (link) | 21/12/2019
Yeah for some reason I never heard that (or I guess maybe it's not said that way where I've been. I have heard it to mean "toilet," and in New England (as opposed to the old one) it means "cool" (kind of like I'd say "killer").
dannyno
  • 46. dannyno | 27/12/2019
In Paul Hanley's Have a Bleedin Guess, Marc Riley tells us that, although the music is credited solely to him,


it was Mark's tune. The riff was ripped off from 'Baby Sitters' by Stupid Babies, which was Adamski when he was eleven years old. It was a great record, about a minute and half long... Mark showed me the riff on two fingers on his little plastic guitar.

(p.119)
Joseph Mullaney
  • 47. Joseph Mullaney | 04/02/2020
The problem is, the riff doesn't sound anything like Baby Sitters...
bzfgt
  • 48. bzfgt (link) | 14/03/2020
it depends what you mean "sounds like." It has a different overall sound, of course, and different notes, but the same cadence, more or less, and I can see how one could be written from the other.
dannyno
  • 49. dannyno | 28/04/2020
Ad lib prior to this song at Southampton University, 1 May 1982:


Good evening. This one is for Mark Ellen and his stinking breed.


At the time, Ellen was features editor of Smash Hits.

Of course, this doesn't mean the song was written about Mark Ellen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Ellen
dannyno
  • 50. dannyno | 03/06/2020
Just to record that Billy Liar features a character called Shadrach. I can make nothing further of this, however.
dannyno
  • 51. dannyno | 29/09/2020

Had a beard which was weird


echoes of


Like Faust with beards
Hydrochloric shaved weirds
dannyno
  • 52. dannyno | 26/04/2021
Mark Ellen.

As well as his position with Smash Hits, he was - as his wikipedia entry says - also a presenter of The Old Grey Whistle Test from 1982-1987, alongside David Hepworth (the two of them started The Word magazine in 2003, by the way, which was pretty good).

I only bring that out in case we forget that Ellen may have been targeted as one of a "stinking breed" for his TV activities rather than his Smash Hits activities.

The two of them do a podcast currently, which recently featured Tessa Norton and Bob Stanley talking about their book Excavate!. They didn't talk about this song.

http://wordpodcast.co.uk/2021/04/17/podcast-381-tessa-norton-and-bob-stanley-on-the-folklore-of-the-fall/
bzfgt
  • 53. bzfgt (link) | 01/05/2021
Do we know what date he started on the OGWT? Everything I can find is rather vague in that regard.
Kevin
  • 54. Kevin | 24/05/2021
The backwards tape at the end of the Peel Session is a recording of Winston Churchill
from his Xmas message of 24 December 1941 from Washington, D.C.

"Here, in the midst of war, raging and roaring over all the lands and seas, creeping nearer to our hearts and homes, here, amid all the tumult, we have tonight the peace of the spirit..."

Just toss that in to the mix!
bzfgt
  • 55. bzfgt (link) | 05/06/2021
Great info, Kevin! You are sure of this? I don't know how to play it backward to check!
dannyno
  • 56. dannyno | 05/06/2021
I've listened in reverse using Audacity and Kevin in correct. It's the Churchill speech alright.
dannyno
  • 57. dannyno | 05/06/2021
Here's an mp3 clip of the end of the song:

http://dannyno.org.uk/magpie/merepseud2003reversed.mp3

Churchill's speech is here (after Roosevelt):

Hexen Blumenthal
  • 58. Hexen Blumenthal | 12/02/2022
Shadrach is in "The Blimp" off Beefheart' s Trout Mask.
As with the Zappa cited above, there are abundant allusions to the Good Captain in the works of MES so I wouldn't put it past him
dannyno
  • 59. dannyno | 18/02/2022
Comment #58. Indeed so.

There's another "Shadrach" in Glam Racket, and the entry for that song does note the Beefheart echo http://annotatedfall.doomby.com/pages/the-annotated-lyrics/glam-racket.html, see note 14.

Beefheart is mentioned by name in Deer Park and Insult Song, and either quoted (or probably quoted) or paraphrased in Totally Wired, Greenway and Oleano. Beefheart's Veteran's Day Poppy was borrowed for the lyrics of Scenario. Bill is Dead could have adapted its title from Beefheart's Bill's Corpse.
Alex Dennis
  • 60. Alex Dennis | 24/01/2023
Pho-do sounds to me like an alternation between 'phono' and 'photo' which would fit with the theme. Does anyone else get that or is it just me?
Alex
  • 61. Alex | 18/05/2023
He says "mere pseud mag editor's father" several times on the studio version, definitely not just once.
Mark Oliver
  • 62. Mark Oliver | 27/08/2023
Couple of things:- (1) The Weetabix 'Skinheads' wore suspenders?!? (yeah, I know, Yanks call braces this).
(2) 'Pisser' can also mean something that's hilarious, as in pissing yourself, though almost certainly not in this case.

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