Pilsner Trail
Lyrics
(backing vox: the pilsner trail, pilsner trail)
Plaster on the hands
Plaster on the hands
Plaster on the hands (2)
Republic grim truth
Hot blood erupts
Republic grim truth
Hot blood erupts through the...
Plaster on the hands
Plaster on the hands
And the yellow seeps through (3)
Plaster on the hands
Plaster on the hands
Not on the elbow
Plaster on the hands
Not not not not not not
Not not not not not not
Not not not not not not
Not on the elbow
Plaster on the hands
Plaster on the hands
Plaster on the hands
Travel five stations to
The plaster on the hands
Blood came between four and two
The plaster on the hands
Plaster on the hands
Of the stupid profane
Of the stupid profane
From plaster on the hands
Plaster on the hands
And the yellow seeps through
The plaster on the hands
Plaster on the hands
The talent judges are corrupt
The talent judges are corrupt
(backing vox: the pilsner trail, pilsner trail)
They can't even stand
The cut of his pants
Choo choo pilsner trail test
Hit me in the diaphragm
And I'll still eat me breakfast
Plaster on the hands
Woow woow woow
Plaster on the hands
And the yellow seeps through
The plaster on the hands
Not on the elbow
Plaster on the hands
Not not not not not not
Not not not not not not
Not not not not not not
Not on the elbow
Plaster on the hands
Plaster on the hands
Woow woow woow
Plaster on the hands
Woow woow woow
Plaster on the hands
Notes
1. Pilsner is a kind of pale lager named after Pilsen in Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic). There is also a Pilsner Trail in Mont Sainte-Marie, Quebec.
2. We've had some speculation about this. It could refer to a "sticking plaster," or basically what the Yanks call a "Band-Aid." "The yellow seeps through" suggests a suppurating (look it up!) wound, and is a pretty strong corroboration of this reading. However, some of us also thought of a laborer or manual worker with cement or wall plaster on his hands...
3. And this, Dear Reader, seems to be a reference to pus.
I notice a few extra lines on the version from the Levitate 'special' extra cd, now included on the recent expanded reissue.
He says, reasonably clearly:
"Give it to me King Ludwig, hit me in the diaphragm"
(There have been a few Kings Ludwig of Bavaria, it seems, but see below)
The guitar solo is heralded by a declamation of "Craig S!"
(Obviously Scanlon, who was still in the band when this version was recorded)
And later on:
"Re-worked old soul hits
Re-worked old soul shit"
From Bob:
"King Ludwig is more likely the name of a beer...Konig Ludwig Weissbier (Pilsner is pale lager so the same). I remember an Australian TV interview where Mark said he was off to the German beer festival (just after Hex, just before the song was written). So he was on the Pilsner Trail in Germany and this is a song about that."
MES and Riley did apparently state that they were headed to Germany in a Sounds television interview on July 24, 1982, but it seems they didn't arrive there until July 1983 (when Riley was no longer in the band).
More Information
Comments (19)

- 1. | 30/05/2016

- 2. | 28/06/2016
This is a strange lyric, I always thought of it as more impressionistic than narrative, but one can never assume such things...
Since you're the only comment here (so far, besides mine) I'll leave it as is for now, I'll work the plaster in up top if I come up with any more to say about the lyric, though.

- 3. | 11/09/2016

- 4. | 15/10/2016

- 5. | 23/06/2017

- 6. | 23/06/2017
And there's this bit which doesn't seem to have had much attention:
Travel five stations to
The plaster on the hands
Blood came between four and two
And then later: "Choo choo Pilsner trail test"
So there's a train theme. Is the "trail" a railway journey?
Or, maybe there's something reminscent here of the stations of the cross?
The phrase "stupid and profane" occurs in works of theology, of course.

- 7. | 04/06/2018
This song is the whole "It's grim up north" thing to a T.

- 8. | 04/06/2018

- 9. | 09/06/2018
Like bzfgt, 'plaster on the hands' makes me think of builders/labourers -- as well as injuries ...

- 10. | 15/07/2018

- 11. | 15/07/2018

- 12. | 01/11/2018
He says, reasonably clearly:
"Give it to me King Ludwig, hit me in the diaphragm"
(There have been a few Kings Ludwig of Bavaria, it seems)
The guitar solo is heralded by a declamation of "Craig S!"
(Obviously Scanlon, who was still in the band when this version was recorded)
And later on:
"Re-worked old soul hits
Re-worked old soul shit"
All the other lyrics above are present & correct, I think.

- 13. | 21/11/2018

- 14. | 27/01/2020
I remember an Australian TV interview where Mark said he was off to the German beer festival (just after Hex, just before the song was written).
So he was on the Pilsner Trail in Germany and this is a song about that.
Maybe there was a talent show at the beer festival who knows?

- 15. | 02/02/2020
But no German gigs are recorded at the Fall Online Gigography or Reformation! sites during the rest of 1982. The Fall didn't play Germany until June 1983, so far as we know.
That doesn't mean they might not have gone as a group (though it seems unlikely), or that MES might not have gone without the group.

- 16. | 02/02/2020
Could he have meant the (Munich) Oktoberfest? That took place from 18th September to 3rd October in 1982.
The Fall played a gig (or a couple of gigs) in Greece on 18th September. But a gig in the Netherlands on 8th October appears to have been cancelled. If The Fall played any other gigs they are undocumented (which is possible). We wouldn't know, of course, if MES just took himself off to Munich.
Other German beer festivals are available, of course.

- 17. | 12/02/2020

- 18. | 29/02/2020
Dan

- 19. | 05/05/2022
"Plaster on the hands
And the yellow seeps through"
no doubt (sorry if this is obvious) comes from the idea of the discoloration of the skin as a healing bruising takes place while the plaster cast is in place.
Did anyone in The Fall or any of their friends or relatives have to wear a plaster cast back in 1982? Or maybe MES simply met or knew someone else whose wound went yellow.
Secondly, these lines:
"The talent judges are corrupt
[...]
They can't even stand
The cut of his pants"
The only talent show I can find which was on British TV at the time (and we know that TV was and is a great source of ideas for MES) is Search For A Star, an ITV networked show which ran from 1980 to 1982. But this is all I could find, so not much help at presen