Neighbourhood of Infinity

(1)

Perverted by Language

Man whose head: (2)

A - Knew about politburo facade behind "Kicker" (3)

C - Who stole cafe's collection box   (4)

B - Who applied cut-up technique literally to himself (5)

E - Who wore a red scarf to remind him of his fiancee

G - And visitor esoteric Jackanapes says analyser. Mr Alastair touched off the tragedy. (6)

Taped voice, barely audible: 'You can tell by the way [...]

H - There's a claque that makes use of Lancastrian patronisation of blacks.  (7)
Their rep Jim Davidson. (8)
The love of Paris infects the Civil Service.
Lichen on the...N       (9)

I used to have this thing about Link Wray (10)
I used to play him every Saturday
God bless Saturday
God bless Saturday

We are The Fall      (11)

Palace of Swords Reversed (4/4/1984, Munich)  (12)

The man whose head expanded knew:
?a) Who stole cafe collection box
?b) Stupid facade behind Jurgen   (13)
?d) Who wore a red scarf to remind him of his fiancee
?e) The love of Paris, infects the civil service lichen on the North

??It was the time of the giant moths
In the neighborhood of infinity

??I used to have this thing about Link Wray
?I used to play him every Saturday?
God Bless Saturday
God Bless Saturday

We are the Fall
?In the neighborhood of infinity

??It was the time of the Giant Moths

?It happens... It happens... Instincts lost... It happens...
Lost through purple blossoms... It happens...
The desire will turn rotten??
We are the Fall
?In the neighbourhood of infinity (14)

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1. Although Balance's comment nearly balances itself out of existence at the end, it is a useful one, on balance:

"Neighbourhood of infinity" is a maths term that describes an area close to the limit of a function, given the limit of this function as infinite (the limit of a function could also be definite). As simple (and as difficult) as that. Methinks "Neighbourhood of Infinity" means either nothing less than a) they (or MES) consider themselves to be of nearly infinite greatness, as the whole song appears to me like one big statement of superiority (the man whose head sees through all of them conspirators) or b) if you take MES by his words‚ "'It's [Perverted By Language] a suburban album. You just have to look at some of the titles - "Neighbourhood of Infinity..."' (Renegade, page 147)" about living in a boring and uninspiring neighbourhood, close to the end of civilisation, surrounded by inferior competitors, or c) a mixture of both, or d) something completely different.

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2. A reference to "The Man Whose Head Expanded," as the full title is sung at this point on some live versions.  

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3. This makes reference to the contemporaneous Fall song "Kicker Conspiracy." A "facade behind" something is an odd choice of words, as a facade is by definition front facing.  

'B' is omitted here, but in the blue lyrics book it is given as "Stupid facade behind Jurgen," and this is sung on the Palace of Swords Reversed version (see below).

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4.Joseph Holt submits:

Early 80s I went to school in Prestwich at St Peter's on Bury Old Road, about half a mile from MES's house. Down the road from the school, next to Heaton Park train station, was a greasy-spoon cafe that we would hang out in after school and play Space Invaders and Asteroids. One day, a kid nicked the charity collection box from off the counter there. It was one of those white, flimsy cardboard ones that you assembled yourself and was usually related to a temporary charity-drive or event, like the Spastics Society (as was). I clearly remember this being front-page news in the Prestwich & Whitefield Guide and it would've been '82 or '83. The lad who stole the box by the way, was one of the Ryan brothers (forget which one) from Radcliffe. Well-known hooligans at the school.

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5. The cut-up technique involves cutting up and rearranging a text, in order to arrive at a new text by chance. The technique was pioneered by some of the Dadaists, and became closely associated with WIlliam S. Burroughs in the late 1950s. Burroughs was introduced to the technique by the former Surrealist artist and author Brion Gysin (from WIkipedia): 

INTERVIEWER: How did you become interested in the cut-up technique? BURROUGHS: A friend, Brion Gysin, an American poet and painter, who has lived in Europe for thirty years, was, as far as I know, the first to create cut-ups. His cut-up poem, Minutes to Go, was broadcast by the BBC and later published in a pamphlet. I was in Paris in the summer of 1960; this was after the publication there of Naked Lunch. I became interested in the possibilities of this technique, and I began experimenting myself. Of course, when you think of it, The Waste Land was the first great cut-up collage, and Tristan Tzara had done a bit along the same lines. Dos Passos used the same idea in 'The Camera Eye' sequences in USA. I felt I had been working toward the same goal; thus it was a major revelation to me when I actually saw it being done.

The cut-up technique seems particularly suited to MES's approach to writing lyrics; he likes to rearrange words and phrases, and to unmoor them from their original context. One senses in Smith a strong faith in the power of language as a fount of insight; rather than simply seeing language as a medium for expressing meaning, MES often seems to regard it as a rich source of meaning. 

Here is a link to an online "cut-up machine" where readers can try the technique themselves. The following text is this note run through the machine:

to regard it as a rich source of meaning. Here is a link to an online "cut-up machine" where readers can try the technique themselves. The following text is this note run through the machine: likes to rearrange words and phrases, and to unmoor them from their original context. One senses in Smith a strong faith in the power of language as a fount of insight; rather than simply seeing language as a medium for expressing meaning, MES often seems idea in 'The Camera Eye' sequences in USA. I felt I had been working toward the same goal; thus it was a major revelation to me when I actually saw it being done. The cut-up technique seems particularly suited to MES's approach to writing lyrics; he became interested in the possibilities of this technique, and I began experimenting myself. Of course, when you think of it, The Waste Land was the first great cut-up collage, and Tristan Tzara had done a bit along the same lines. Dos Passos used the same far as I know, the first to create cut-ups. His cut-up poem, Minutes to Go, was broadcast by the BBC and later published in a pamphlet. I was in Paris in the summer of 1960; this was after the publication there of Naked Lunch. I introduced to the technique by the former Surrealist artist and author Brion Gysin (from WIkipedia): INTERVIEWER: How did you become interested in the cut-up technique? BURROUGHS: A friend, Brion Gysin, an American poet and painter, who has lived in Europe for thirty years, was, as 3. The cut-up technique involves cutting up and rearranging a text, in order to arrive at a new text by chance. The technique was pioneered by some of the Dadaists, and became closely associated with WIlliam S. Burroughs in the late 1950s. Burroughs was 

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6. "Jackanapes" means a rude, impudent, buffoonish or smart-alecky person. It can also mean a monkey or sometimes an ape, but the name probably doesn't derive from "ape" but from "Jack of Naples," although this isn't certain. It seems to have been originally applied to the Duke of Suffolk, William de la Pole, who was blamed for losing territory in France...see jensotto's comments 48 and 49 below for more about "Jackanapes" and other references in the lyrics.

Maybe "Alastair" refers to Alistair Cooke, who hosted the BBC's Masterpiece Theatre from 1971 to 1992. Like Mark Smith, Cooke was from Salford. 

And, Marc Balance refers us to the martime tragedy of January 1983 that was "touched off" when an Alistair Anthony tried to save his Jack Russell terrier; he drowned along with three police officers who were trying to save him.

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7. Note what "English Scheme" says of the "commune crap," who seem to have proclivities that would perhaps today mark them, among a certain element, as "Social Justice Warriors," among whom is the "psychotic brother" who "Condescends to black men/Very nice to them/They talk of Chile while driving through Haslingden." Haslingden is in Lancashire, which may suggest that the patronization is of a kind with the condescension.

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8. This probably refers to the controversial British comedian of that name, although he is from London rather than Lancaster.  Marc Balance again:

"The 'claque that makes use of Lancastrian patronisation of vice' does not necessarily have to be Lancastrian itself. It is more likely that this claque is southerners or working-class tories from the home counties, whose Rep. Jim Davidson definitely is...."

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9. "North"; see, for instance, the Palace of Swords version transcribed below the Perverted by Language lyrics. In both cases MES mispronounces "lichen," saying "litch-en" rather than "like-en."

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10. Link Wray (1929-2005) was a rock and roll guitar player who was perhaps best known for his instrumentals, particularly 1958's "Rumble," often credited as the first hit song to employ power chords (a "chord" that consists only of the root and the fifth, and thus arguably not a true chord), a technique developed by blues guitar players. "Rumble" has been enormously influential, and the power chord became a staple of rock guitar. "Neighborhood of Infinity" sounds a bit like "Rumble" in the way its simple riff carries the song, although it is played faster than Wray's song was. "Rumble" is slow and menacing and very simple; it was actually banned from the airwaves in several markets, for a time, which is unusual for an instrumental number (in fact, this may be the only case). This was because the title refers to a gang fight, a phenomenon the menacing music seems to be evoking, if not endorsing. Smith and Wray met at least once, as documented here.  

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11. Dan contributes the following:

From "Looking at the Fall Guise," interview with MES by Don Watson, NME, 1 October 1983, p.7:
 

"On the new LP we've got the words 'We are The Fall' he continues "precisely because we've seen so much dross in the last couple of years and we've appeared to stay in the same place while all these morons have risen above us. Now I'm trying to instill some pride in the lads; just state that we are The Fall and be aware of what that means."

This line originally, at least in the studio, appears in "Crap Rap2/Like to Blow."

Note also "Jim's 'The Fall,'" "We are the new Fall," and "Before the Moon Falls," "We work under the name of 'The Fall.'" 

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12. The lyrics of this version match the ones in the blue lyrics book.

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13. Chris Cohen:

"Jurgen" might well be a reference to the novel Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice, by James Branch Cabell. 

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14. The title line is probably taken from "Gunslinger" by Ed Dorn. From Book I:

and as the disputational 44
occurred in his hand and spun there
in that warp of relativity one sees
in the backward turning spokes
of a buckboard, then came suddenly
to rest, the barrel utterly justified
with a line pointing
to the neighborhood of infinity.
The room froze harder.

Thanks to Rich B from the Fall online forum.

Dan points out that the phrase also means something in math. What it means is probably expressed in the following statement:

"The exterior E of any (arbitrarily large) circle centered at the origin is called a neighborhood of infinity if E is a set in the extended plane (containing ∞) E and a deleted neighborhood of infinity if E is regarded as a set in the finite plane (not containing ∞)" (Complex Analysis with Applications by RIchard A. Silverman).

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Neighborhood of Infinity: Fall Tracks A-Z

The Story of the Fall: 1983