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The Annotated Lyrics
- (Birtwistle's) Girl in Shop
- (Jung Nev's) Antidotes
- (We Are) Mod Mock Goth
- (We WIsh You) A Protein Christ
- 15 Ways
- 2 x 4
- 2nd Dark Age
- 4 1/2 Inch
- 50 Year Old Man
- 986 Generator
- A Figure Walks
- A Lot of Wind
- A Past Gone Mad
- Afternoon Disco
- Age of Chang
- All Leave Cancelled
- Alton Towers
- Amorator!
- An Older Lover Etc.
- And Therein...
- And This Day
- Anecdotes+Antidotes in B#
- Arid Al's Dream
- Arms Control Poseur
- Assume
- Athlete Cured
- Australians in Europe
- Auto Chip 2014-2016
- Auto-Tech Pilot
- Backdrop
- Bad News Girl
- Barmy
- Before the Moon Falls
- Behind the Counter
- Bill is Dead
- Bingo-Master
- Birmingham School of Business
- Birthday Song
- Black Roof
- Blindness
- Blood Outta Stone
- Bo Demmick
- Bombast
- Bonkers in Phoenix
- Bound
- Bournemouth Runner
- Breaking the Rules
- Bremen Nacht
- Brillo De Facto
- British People in Hot Weather
- Bug Day
- Bury Pts. 1+3
- Butterflies 4 Brains
- C'n'C-S Mithering
- C.R.E.E.P.
- Cab It Up
- Calendar
- Can Can Summer
- Carry Bag Man
- Cary Grant's Wedding
- Cheetham Hill
- Chicago, Now!
- Chilinism
- Chino
- Choc-Stock
- City Dweller
- City Hobgoblins
- Clasp Hands
- Clear Off!
- Cloud of Black
- Coach and Horses
- Contraflow
- Copped It
- Cosmos 7
- Couldn't Get Ahead
- Couples vs Jobless Mid 30s
- Cowboy George
- Cowboy Gregori
- Crackhouse
- Craigness
- Crap Rap 2/Like to Blow
- Crew Filth
- Crop-Dust
- Cruiser's Creek
- Cyber Insekt
- D.I.Y. Meat
- Das Boat
- Das Katerer
- Das Vulture Ans Ein Nutter-Wai
- Dead Beat Descendant
- Dedication Not Medication
- Deer Park
- Detective Instinct
- Devolute
- Dice Man
- Disney's Dream Debased
- Distilled Mug Art
- Dktr Faustus
- Dog is Life/Jerusalem
- Don't Call Me Darling
- Don't Take the Pizza
- Dr. Bucks' Letter
- Draygo's Guilt
- Dresden Dolls
- Early Days of Channel Führer
- Eat Y'Self Fitter
- Ed's Babe
- Edinburgh Man
- Elf Prefix
- Elves
- English Scheme
- Enigrammatic Dream
- Entitled
- Everybody But Myself
- Everything Hurtz
- Exploding Chimney
- Extricate
- Fall Sound
- Fantastic Life
- Feeling Numb
- Fibre Book Troll
- Fiery Jack
- First One Today
- Fit and Working Again
- Flat of Angles
- Fol de Rol
- Fortress
- Free Range
- Frenz
- Frightened
- Futures and Pasts
- Garden New
- Gentlemen's Agreement
- Get a Hotel
- Get A Summer Song Goin'
- Gibbus Gibson
- Glam-Racket
- God Box
- Gramme Friday
- Green Eyed Loco Man
- Greenway
- Gross Chapel-British Grenadier
- Groundsboy
- Guest Informant
- Guide Me Soft
- Gut of the Quantifier
- H.O.W.
- Haf Found Bormann
- Hands Up Billy
- Happi Song
- Happy Holiday
- Hard Life in Country
- He Pep!
- He Talks
- Hexen Definitive/Strife Knot
- Hey! Fascist
- Hey! Luciani
- Hey! Marc Riley
- Hey! Student
- High Tension Line
- Hilary
- Hip Priest
- Hit the North
- Hittite Man
- Hollow Mind
- Hostile
- Hot Aftershave Bop
- Hot Cake
- Hot Runes
- Hotel Bloedel
- How I Wrote Elastic Man
- Hurricane Edward
- I African Mancunian
- I Am Damo Suzuki
- I Come and Stand At Your Door
- I Feel Voxish
- I Wake Up In The City
- I'm Frank
- I'm Into C.B.
- I've Been Duped
- I've Seen Them Come
- Ibis-Afro Man
- Iceland
- Idiot Joy Showland
- Immortality
- Impression of J. Temperance
- In My Area
- In The Park
- In These Times
- Industrial Estate
- Inevitable
- Insult Song
- Irish
- Is This New
- It's A Curse
- It's The New Thing
- Ivanhoe's Two Pence
- Jam Song
- Janet, Johnny + James
- Jawbone And The Air-Rifle
- Jazzed Up Punk Shit
- Jetplane
- Jim's "The Fall"
- Job Search
- Joker Hysterical Face
- Junger Cloth
- Just Step S'Ways
- Kick The Can
- Kicker Conspiracy
- Kinder of Spine
- Kurious Oranj
- L.A.
- Ladybird (Green Grass)
- Laptop Dog
- Last Commands of Xyralothep Vi
- Last Orders
- Latchkey Kid
- Lay of the Land
- Leave the Capitol
- Levitate
- Lie Dream of a Casino Soul
- Life Just Bounces
- Light/Fireworks
- Live at the Witch Trials
- Living Too Late
- Loadstones
- Look, Know
- Lucifer Over Lancashire
- Ludd Gang
- M5 #1
- Mad.Men-Eng.Dog
- Mark'll Sink Us
- Marquis Cha-Cha
- Married, Two Kids
- Mask Search
- Masquerade
- Medical Acceptance Gate
- Mere Pseud Mag. Ed.
- Mess of My
- Mexico Wax Solvent
- Middle Class Revolt
- Middle Mass
- Midnight in Aspen/Aspen Repris
- Midwatch 1953
- Mike's Love Xexagon
- Mister Rode
- Mollusc in Tyrol
- Monocard
- Mother-Sister
- Mountain Energei
- Music Scene
- Muzorewi's Daughter
- My Condition
- My Door Is Never
- My Ex-Classmates' Kids
- My New House
- Nate Will Not Return
- Neighbourhood of Infinity
- New Big Prinz
- New Face in Hell
- New Facts Emerge
- New Formation Sermon
- New Puritan
- Nine Out Of Ten
- No Bulbs
- No Respects Rev.
- No X-mas for John Quays
- Noel's Chemical Effluence
- Noise
- North West Fashion Show
- O! ZZTRRK Man
- O.F.Y.C. Showcase
- Octo Realm/Ketamine Sun
- Oh! Brother
- Ol' Gang
- Oleano
- On My Own
- One Day
- Open The Boxoctosis
- Oswald Defence Lawyer
- Over! Over!
- Overture From "I Am Curious, O
- Oxymoron
- Pacifying Joint
- Paintwork
- Papal Visit
- Paranoia Man/Cheap Sh*t Room
- Pat-Trip Dispenser
- Pay Your Rates
- Pearl City
- Perverted by Language
- Petty (Thief) Lout
- Pilsner Trail
- Pine Leaves
- Pittsville Direkt
- Pledge
- Plug Myself In
- Ponto
- Pop Stickers
- Portugal
- Powder Keg
- Pre-MDMA Years
- Printhead
- Prole Art Threat
- Proteinprotection
- Psycho Mafia
- Psykick Dancehall
- Psykick Dancehall #2
- Pumpkin Head Xscapes
- Pumpkin Soup and Mashed Potato
- Put Away
- Putta Block
- Quit iPhone
- R.O.D.
- Race Hatred
- Rainmaster
- Rebellious Jukebox
- Recipe for Fascism
- Recovery Kit
- Reece Stick
- Reformation!
- Rememberance R
- Repetition
- Reprise: Jane--Prof Mick--Ey B
- Return
- Riddler
- Ride Away
- Room to Live
- Rose
- Rowche Rumble
- Rude (All The Time)
- Scareball
- Scenario
- Secession Man
- Second House Now
- Segue
- Senior Twilight Stock Replacer
- Serum
- Service
- Session Musician
- Shake-Off
- Shift-Work
- Shoulder Pads
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- Sir William Wray
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- Slates, Slags, Etc.
- Sleep Debt Snatches
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- Smith and Mark
- Snazzy
- So What About It?
- So-Called Dangerous
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- Sons of Temperance
- Spectre vs. Rector
- Spencer Must Die
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- Spoilt Victorian Child
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- Stepping Out
- Stout Man
- Surmount All Obstacles
- Surrogate Mirage
- Susan vs. Youthclub
- Symbol of Mordgan
- Systematic Abuse
- Taking Off
- Telephone Thing
- Tempo House
- Ten Houses of Eve
- Terry Waite Sez
- That Man
- The 500 Dollar Bottle of Wine
- The Acute
- The Aphid
- The Ballard of J. Drummer
- The Book of Lies
- The Boss
- The Classical
- The Coliseum
- The Container Drivers
- The Crying Marshal
- The Joke
- The Knight, the Devil and Deat
- The League of Bald-Headed Men
- The Littlest Rebel
- The Man Whose Head Expanded
- The Mixer
- The N.W.R.A.
- The Past #2
- The Quartet of Doc Shanley
- The REAL Life of the Crying Ma
- The Reckoning
- The Remainderer
- The Steak Place
- The Usher
- The War Against Intelligence
- The Wright Stuff
- Theme From Error-Orrori
- Theme From Sparta F.C.
- Time Enough At Last
- To Nk Roachment: Yarbles
- Tom Raggazzi
- Tommy Shooter
- Totally Wired
- Touch Sensitive
- Touchy Pad
- Town Called Crappy
- Trust in Me
- Tuff Life Booogie
- Twister
- Two Face!
- Two Librans
- Two Steps Back
- U.S. 80s-90s
- Underground Medecin
- Unutterable
- Van Plague?
- Various Times
- Venice With The Girls
- Victoria Train Station Massacr
- Victrola Time
- Vixen
- W.B.
- W.M.C.--Blob 59
- Way Round
- Weather Report 2
- What About Us?
- What You Need
- Where's the F***in Taxi? C**t
- Whizz Bang
- Who Makes the Nazis?
- Win Fall CD 2088 AD
- Wings
- Winter (Hostel-Maxi)
- Wise Ol' Man
- Wolf Kidult Man
- Words of Expectation
- Wrong Place, Right Time
- Xmas With Simon
- Y.F.O.C./Slippy Floor
- Yes O Yes
- You Don't Turn Me On
- You Haven't Found It Yet
- You're Not Up To Much
- Your Heart Out
- Youwanner
- Zagreb
- Zandra
-
Arranged By Album
- Live at the Witch Trials
- Dragnet
- Grotesque (After the Gramme)
- Slates
- Hex Enduction Hour
- Room to Live
- Perverted by Language
- The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall
- This Nation's Saving Grace
- Bend Sinister
- The Frenz Experiment
- I Am Kurious, Oranj
- Extricate
- Shift-Work
- Code:Selfish
- The Infotainment Scan
- Middle Class Revolt
- Cerebral Caustic
- Light User Syndrome
- Levitate
- The Marshall Suite
- The Unutterable
- Are You Are Missing Winner
- The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country on the Click)
- Fall Heads Roll
- Reformation Post TLC
- Imperial Wax Solvent
- Your Future Our Clutter
- Ersatz G.B.
- Re-Mit
- The Remainderer
- Sub-Lingual Tablet
- Wise Ol' Man
- New Facts Emerge
- 2014
- O! ZZTRRK Man
- New Facts Emerge
- Segue
- Ponto
- Smith and Mark
- Afternoon Disco
- Reece Stick
- Home /
- The Annotated Lyrics /
- Reformation!
Reformation!
Lyrics
Black River
Fall Motel
Cheese State (2)
TLC (3)
Back '81 (4)
Repeat
Underneath
Black River
Black River
Fall Motel
Cheese State
Reformation
06-7 hours
06-7 hours
Black River
Fall Motel
Tiles
Goldfish bowl
Blimp (5)
TF (6)
Traitor
Post
Arse
Reformation post TLC
Love
Deafen mit uns
Arbeit mit uns (7)
Arbeit mit uns
Reformation
Ex '81
Reformation
Ex 2007
Reformation post TLC
Reformation
Black River
Fall Motel
Drum roll
Look right
Go
Reformation
Arbeit mit uns
Arbeit mit uns
This is what it'll sound like
This is what it sound like
For a reformation
Salutation (8)
Goldfish bowl
Goldfish bowl
Back '89
Back '89
Floorboards
Typhoon Follies (9)
Reformation
2 or 3 weeks
3 or 2 weeks
Who did.. what the...
What the
Reformation
Fall Motel
Post
TLC
Notes
1. "Reformation" refers to the Fall, which had just lost all of its members save MES and Eleni (see note 3 below). Note the echo of the Protestant Reformation of the 16th Century...although I don't have much to add, there.
2. Black River is in WIsconsin, which produces about a quarter of the cheese consumed in the US. The Lyrics Parade says the line was "Inspired by the Black River Falls motel in Wisonsin, USA" which makes sense given the lyrics; Smith changes it to "Fall motel" for obvious reasons.
Zack confirms:
Looked it up - there is a "Falls Motel" in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, right off of Interstate 94. MES & Co likely saw a sign from the freeway while driving from their gig in Minneapolis (29 May 2006) to Chicago (where I last saw them on 30 May 2006). Maybe they even stayed there! I would be surprised if "Black river / Fall motel / cheese state" appears on any live recordings before the Chicago gig.
The song seems to be, among other things, a swipe at bands that reform and try to cash in; The Fall, MES would have us remember, never disbanded, since Smith always was ready to continue the band under all circumstances.
3. TLC refers to the members of the previous band who had quit en masse: Stev Trafford, Ben Pritchard, and Spencer Birtwistle. The initialism TLC is alternately identified as "Traitors, Liars, Cunts" and "Treacherous Lying Cunts" (Smith has said it was the former, but he may have also suggested the latter some other time).
Harleyr has dropped some science on us:
"Before all the jokes about 'Treacherous Lying Cunts,' etc., I took this phrase to be a swipe at bands who can't cope with the rock and roll life, split up, spend several years out of the limelight getting actual TLC (Tender Loving Care, in whatever form), then once they've recovered, reform. And more specifically at Ben et al. for wanting 'TLC' rather than the Mark E. Smith approach to employees."
4. According to Reformation, an early live version had the line "Manchester, 1981. Stone Roses hotel." Apparently Ian Brown of the Stone Roses used to hang out at the Salutation Hotel (see note 7 below). As far as the date, MES could be looking back at an earlier incarnation of the band and comparing it to his current situation in some way, or this could refer to when Brown drank there...
5. Blimp was Spencer Birtwistle's next band after the Fall (thanks to the Lyrics Parade).
6. The Lyrics Parade, which is unusually helpful on this one, points out that this is probably "Tycoons Follies," Steve Trafford's band.
7. This means "work with us" in German.
8.Manchester has a Salutation hotel/pub, and Zack reports that this iteration of the band stayed there (referenced in Dave Simpson's The Fallen) and it is featured in the video for this song.
9. This is a corruption, perhaps intentional, of "Tycoons Follies," Trafford's band (see note 5 above).
Comments (23)
I would be surprised if "Black river / Fall motel / cheese state" appears on any live recordings before the Chicago gig.
Unfortunately, I don't think we have any recordings of the gig on 29 May in Minneapolis to check for certain.
23 May 2006 - Knitting Factory, Los Angeles (largely instrumental apart from MES's introduction) (the debut for the song).
Source:
Set in Stone (2013) by Ian Tilton and Claire Caldwell:
Need to have listen, but a few suggestions.
"Ford Motel" : car maker, 'any color as long as...'.. Why 'Fall' ... the band's name, clever.
"Two states" : like a road or binary system. Why the hell you people think it's 'cheese state'? .. It'd be such a poor lyric, completely unworthy. 'Cheese steaks" would at least be amusing. I'll admit, at the time, I remember thinking he'd recently got new false teeth and 'chew steaks' came to mind.
"Tires" : as found on fucking cars, why 'Tiles'? because they exist?
"Lamp" : 'Blimp'? Do you choose these by pulling them out of a hat?
As 1. The road metaphor is so blatant, 2. it is the title track of the album, 3. the title is so enigmatic, yet the lyrics filled with simple statements of fact: I'd go further and say the road metaphor is merely a metaphor for something else again. Remember kids, always: Stop; Think; MES is always better than you realise.
If you take his inspiration as the end goal, fine. I'd sooner go with a coherent song, a very nice Idea about tarmac flowing fast, an entire life lived in the fast moving metaphor of a super fast modern autobahn, while calling out the primitive parts of a car that haven't changed in a 100 years. It's a good old boy road song meets new world order song.
Reformation, and it sound like... shit. not the music obviously.
and I don't think you're accounting for the new false teeth settling in
The guy is a mystic, same ilk as Blake.
Up to you, seems hearing only meaningless rambling is all Fall fans want.
There is a line on a version of Is this new that goes - 'take away the carpets and what have you got left.'
Dan