Session Musician

(1)

The singer thinks
"One day I'll be recognized
For the great prophet
That I am"

The band think
One day they'll be seen
As the geniuses they am

One day they'll get complacent
And forget something else

Leave the press and stick to equipment
Become a session musician

The band are all wino sperm (2)
And live well while they can
One day they'll turn around
And say they've been screwed by publishing

And go back to the family
And be their own man
And leave the press and stick to equipment
Become a session musician
A session musician
A session musician
A session musician
A session musician
Uhhhh ahhhhh

The people want what they know
The people want what they know
He'll vent his anger on the wolverines (3)
Say they never gave him a chance
And get a fee every night
Get a fee every night
And he'll blame his anger on the wolverines
Say he was ripped off by publishing
And he'll wish he did his own songs
And not cover versions of the Velvet Underground
And he'll [?] for the future
A session musician
A session musician
A session musician
A session musician

A good hope would be for him
A trip to Abu Dhabi
Pop music for arab geeks
Pop music for arab geeks
The people want what they know
The people want what they know

But it's not that much different
It's just ten years out of synch
All new bands just pretend to think
They're still into equipment

And session musician
They'll be session musicians
A session musician
A session musician
A session musician
A session musician
A session...

The people want what they know
The people want what they know

The people want what they know
The people want what they know

They want a kilt-ah
They want some old tartan
They want a video each
They want

I know it's pretty maudlin
I know it's pretty maudlin
I know it's miserable and maudlin
But if you want a session musician
You better hand your money over soon

A session musician
A session musician
A session musician
A session musician

Jingles, cabaret, mersey beat
Jingles, cabaret, mersey beat
Jingles, cabaret, mersey beat and doobie (4)

Jingles, cabaret, mersey beat and doobie
Jingles, cabaret, mersey beat
Jingles, cabaret, mersey beat

One day some try to play for anybody
But all they want to talk about
But all they want to talk about
All they'll talk about is equipment

Jingles, cabaret, mersey beat, do me
Synthesizer
Do me
Jingles, cabaret
Synthesizer
Cabaret
Do me
Mersey beat

1993 cabaret
1993 cabaret
Jingles

One day they'll play for anybody

1. This is very straightforward; MES has often expressed his contempt for professional musicians, saying he won't allow "musicians" in his band and the like. This is, consciously or not, a thematic cousin of to the Kinks' "Session Man."

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2. "Wino sperm" also shows up in "Who Makes the Nazis?"

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3. This is the beginning of a sparse but persistent 30-year series of references to wolverines; here it seems to mean greedy music business types. See "Service" and "Bury 1+3," "Clasp Hands," "Cary Grant's Wedding," and check "Arid Al's Dream" for a note on wolverines. 

^

4. "Doobie" is a bit cryptic here. It could refer to the Doobie Brothers, but that would be kind of odd as the rest of the items are genres, and "music in the style of the Doobie Brothers" is presumably not a very important genre, if it even is one. Kurious speculates that the reference is to weed, to wit:

"To a session musician its just a job. They ask, "What do you want me to play? Jingles, Cabaret, Merseybeat? OK, I can do that, but get me some weed to smoke, cuz I'll need to get my prima-donna ass stoned for having to play that muck." 

This seems as likely as anything. It's also possible that he means doo-wop, or something that employs scatting...

^

Session Musician: Fall Tracks A-Z

The Story of the Fall: 1982