Mere Pseud Mag. Ed.

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

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..."

^

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.