My Condition

(1) 

(Spoken):
My condition
Take it easy
Make it snappy! 

When home want out
When out want in
What is this condition?
What is this condition? 

I'm in a ring of fire (2)
It's what I've wanted all my life
Guitars ring din higher
But now I want a fire extinguisher 

What is this condition?
What is this condition? 

I'm an astral clockwatcher
A waste of the universal taxpayer
What is this condition? 

Tell me the position
I'm up the junction
What is this condition?
What is this condition?

(They're eating out the can) 

(They're eating out the can)
(...)

What is this condition? 

I'm up the junction (3)
What is this position?
What is this condition? 

(...)

What is this condition?
There was...
My song is gritty
And people are shitty
What is this condition?

(...)

Go round it up now
We'll finish it up now
What is this condition?

1. This song, which musically prefigures "A Figure Walks," was played twice in 1978. The lyrics are reproduced courtesy of Reformation, with a couple of very small alterations. The folks at Reformation point out the musical similarity to "A Figure Walks," but add that the songs are "lyrically miles apart." I'm not sure about that; both songs describe unease while walking, so there are at least superficial similarities.

^

2. Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" is also alluded to in "Fiery Jack."

^

3. "Up the junction" is a British slang phrase meaning one is out of luck or in a bad situation, sort of like "up the creek without a paddle." There is a 1963 novel of that title by Neil Dunn, which descibes life in the slums of Battersea, near Clapham Junction in South London. There was both a television and a film adaptation of the book (in, respectively, 1965 and 1968). Squeeze put out a single called "Up the Junction" in 1979 (the year after the two known Fall performances of this song).

^

My Condition: Fall Tracks A-Z

My Condition: Perverted by Language

The Story of the Fall: 1978