Put Away

Lyrics

(1)

Dragnet

Ba da ba da ba da ba daaa!
Late 20th Century was late and just said yes or no
And was mistaken for sarcasm, even belligerent
Noun, 'to fight'

They're putting me away but I'll be back someday
Putting me away but I'll be back someday
Prisoner for a year and a day
Putting me away but I'll be back someday

A bust doorbell sound and the door broken down
A doorbell sound and the door broken down
They rang and rang but I never went down
And now they're putting me away but I'll be back someday
Putting me away but I'll be boo ba ba boo ba ba bow..
Verse second

 

[Peel session:
I thought it was a follower, friend,
Rent man, split end
Follower, friend or some local men
I used to drink a bottle of vodka a day]

They rang and rang but I never went down
People ring I never go down
All metal walls now I'm sent down
And they're putting me away but I'll be back someday
Putting me away but I'll be back someday

And my nice side's gone but it won't be long
I si si long now it's gone
Just two girls and a millionaire    (2)
And they're putting me away but I'll be back someday

Putting me away but I'll be boo ba ba.......
Put the heat on

Putting me away

No sex or records for a year and a day
They're putting me away

I've been bunged up, I've been banged up
I've been moved up, I've been banged up
I said ba da ba da ba da badaaaaa

MES: You make it [..]
Leigh: That'll be right then

Notes

1. A typical Fall mixture of defiance and obliqueness, I don't have much to say about the details at this time. The narrator has just been nabbed by the authorities, but he expects a relatively light sentence ("A year and a day") and seems cheerful. The first verse may suggest that this song is in some respects a comment on how Mark E. Smith thinks he is perceived by the press or the public. 

It is instructive to play the Dragnet version of this side by side with the Peel session, which is a good way to get an idea of what a distinct and aesthetically fully-realized sound the Live at the Witch Trials band had.

From (MES's) sleevenotes to the expanded edition: "PUT AWAY (MES) .... In The Rack Under 'F' -a sort of sequel to '[Flat of] Angles' " (Dan).

^

 

2. Aubrey:

"Two Girls and a Millionaire" - there was a play of this title broadcast on ITV on the 16th of October 1978, about 6 weeks before the Peel session of which this song was a part.

BFI Synopsis:

"A comedy, a love story and a fairy tale in one. Two girls share a flat and one falls for a millionaire."

It was written by Keith Dewhurst, who also adapted Lark Rise to Candleford for The Albion Band.

 

^

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More Information

Put Away: Fall Tracks A-Z

The Story of the Fall: 1978

Comments (22)

Bob
  • 1. Bob (link) | 11/06/2016
Based on a chat with the great man a couple of years back It's Michael J Leigh saying "That'll be right then" not Riley. It was Mike's catch phrase at the time.
bzfgt
  • 2. bzfgt | 29/06/2016
I took your word for it and just changed it. I see the "Riley: " is the way the Lyrics Parade had it, and when I started the site I cut and pasted most of my lyrics from there and used it as my raw material. Thus, there are things left over from that source that I have no other warrant for other than that that's the condition the stuff was in when I got it. There is no lyrics book source for this song or anything else. However, if anyone knows of a source for the attribution, or has a strong opinion that it's Riley, I imagine we will hear from them.
dannyno
  • 3. dannyno | 27/01/2017
The lines about doorbells here are reminiscent of similar lines in Flat of Angles.
dannyno
  • 4. dannyno | 16/02/2017
There's a Howlin' Wolf song entitled "I'll be Back Someday". I only mention it because of echoes of Howlin' Wolf in other songs.
dannyno
  • 5. dannyno | 16/04/2017
in the sleevenotes to the expanded edition of Dragnet is what I think were the original MES notes to the album:

Image


PUT AWAY (MES) .... In The Rack Under 'F' - A sort of sequel to "Angles".
dannyno
  • 6. dannyno | 13/08/2017
There are vague echoes here of the story of French gangster Jacques Mesrine, who was infamous through the late 1970s and was machine gunned by French police in November 1979. He kidnapped a millionaire at one point, and escaped from prison. Might be worth reading his autobiographical "The Death Instinct", and the book published after his death, "Mesrine, the life and death of a supercrook" (Penguin, 1980).
dannyno
  • 7. dannyno | 20/09/2020
The rabbit killer in Jawbone and the Air Rifle carried a night sight too.
duane zarakov
  • 8. duane zarakov | 17/11/2020
the "...but i'll be boo ba ba boo ba ba bow" bit is somewhat remniscent of love's "7 &7 is" but if it's an intended reference to that song i can't see any obvious significance
Aubrey
  • 9. Aubrey | 17/11/2020
"Two Girls and a Millionaire" - there was a play of this title broadcast on ITV on the 16th of October 1978, about 6 weeks before the Peel session of which this song was a part.

BFI Synopsis:

"A comedy, a love story and a fairy tale in one. Two girls share a flat and one falls for a millionaire."

It was written by Keith Dewhurst, who also adapted Lark Rise to Candleford for The Albion Band.
dannyno
  • 10. dannyno | 18/11/2020
Comment #9. Ooh, that's a good find. So now we need a video (could be tricky) or a script (could be easier).
dannyno
  • 11. dannyno | 18/11/2020
Just checked in the newspapers, Two Girls and a Millionaire was broadcast on the 17th October 1978, not the 16th (at any rate, that's when it was shown in the London and crucially the Granada ITV regions).
dannyno
  • 12. dannyno | 18/11/2020
Although the song was recorded for the Peel Session, its earliest documented performance was at Prestwich Hospital Social Club on 25 November. However, there are no known gig recordings between the date of broadcast of the play and the Prestwich gig, so it could have debuted earlier.
dannyno
  • 13. dannyno | 18/11/2020
I haven't checked yet whether the two girls/millionaire line only appears on the Peel Session or if it also appears live....
dannyno
  • 14. dannyno | 30/03/2021
"Now to fight!"

is

"Noun, 'to fight'

Sort of like a dictionary definition.

It's "My nice side's gone" not "My night sight's gone".

And it's "Si-si long" not "See see long"

Is "si si" French for "so so" = "so so long"?

And we have the Peel session verse wrong.

Currently:

"I thought I would follow a friend
Red banner, split end
Follow a friend or some local men"

But the lyric sheet has this:

"I thought it might be a follower, friend, rent man, split end
Maybe a follower, friend or some local men"

I can hear:

"I thought it was a follower, friend, rent man or split end
Follower, friend or some local men"

(Source: typed lyric sheet in Excavate, 2021 anthology edited by Tessa Norton and Bob Stanley, p.73)
dannyno
  • 15. dannyno | 30/03/2021
"Split end" is curious. Aside from the hair related meaning, it also means something in American football, but that seems incongruous. I've not found anything in dictionaries of slang, but I wouldn't be surprised if it signifies something reductively gendered. Or maybe someone carrying a hammer or a crowbar. I have no idea, as you can tell.
bzfgt
  • 16. bzfgt (link) | 03/04/2021
It could maybe be a way of saying "loose end"?
scratch
  • 17. scratch | 08/08/2021
As for the opening: Ba da ba da ba da ba daaa!

Anyone else reminded of the early Avengers theme?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy9W5uexANA
Ivan
  • 18. Ivan | 22/08/2021
....belligerent (noun): 'to fight'

I'm not sure that's what he really says but if it is that, it's a genius scrambling of parts of speech - an adjective described as a noun and defined like a verb.
dannyno
  • 19. dannyno | 19/04/2022
Someone posted to Twitter (no apparent connection to The Fall) a page from what I guess is the TV Times listings magazine, with the info for Two Girls and a Millionaire:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EkjByZiWMAMVkwT?format=jpg&name=medium
dannyno
  • 20. dannyno | 19/04/2022
Further to my comments 10-13 above, I today consulted the Keith Dewhurst papers in the library of the University of Sheffield, which includes his notes and draft and rehearsal scripts of Two Girls and a Millionaire.

I am therefore able to report that MES's lyric owes nothing to the text of play other than that he likely nicked the title.

https://dannyno.org.uk/fall/pics/twogirls.jpg
John Reardon
  • 21. John Reardon | 16/06/2022
First sighting of hand-claps on a Fall record!
Seamus Duggan
  • 22. Seamus Duggan | 22/03/2023
Put Away Lyrics from sale of Mark's stuff

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