Perverted by Language

Lyrics

(1)

A final curly box
You have no drums to relate 
Union gray vase
You are gray vase 
Look up
Detracted
What with
Attracted
Language
The mandrake runners
A final pearléd vase 
Union great vase

Notes

1. This is a drum-heavy song featuring the duo of Karl Burns and Paul Hanley which was played only four times, all in 1983. Craig, on the Fall online forum, points out that the drums sound similar to those on "Hurricane Edward." The song appears, for some reason, three times on my ipod, but they are all the same version (the Electric Ballroom, London, 12/8/83--they are all slightly different in duration, but otherwise I don't detect any difference). The audio quality is pretty good, but I still cannot make out many of the lyrics with any confidence.

The gentleman behind The Story of the Fall transcribes the lyrics quite differently:

What an incredible buzz
You have no terms to relate
Numan cray bars
You are Craig Flow
What odds retracted
What mirth retracted
Language
And C'mon Craig Flowers
Incredible portable powers


Between us, the only thing our ears agree on is "Language," it seems.  

A poster calling his/herself "ezra pound" posted the following to the Fall online Forum:

 

Pound was second in command to Wyndham Lewis in the Vorticism movement...In an early poem in Pound's 'The Cantos' is this: "those who had lied for hire;/ the perverts, the perverters of language,/ the perverts, who have set money lust/ Before the pleasures of the senses. . . ." Through being a fan of Lewis, MES certainly knows about Ezra Pound...

^

Comments (2)

Zack
  • 1. Zack | 15/09/2017
If "Perverted by Language" is indeed a reference to Ezra Pound, that's a delightful pun since the song consists of little more than, well, pounding.
Xyralothep's Cat
  • 2. Xyralothep's Cat | 17/04/2023
A suggestion;

Flight importable box
You have no germs to relate
Medium grey fuzz
You are grey fuzz
One heart retracted
Wap lid retracted language
Come on grey fuzz
A flight importable box
Medium grey fuzz

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