Y.F.O.C./Slippy Floor

    (1)

Tales from the Castleford crypt 

Your future is our clutter (2)
Is there ever a necessity
That doesn't involve a problem?
This new approach is on the borders of necessity
I say to you, I say to you
Keep your own clutter
The encyclopedia of building of plumbing
Is on the CIDV, underneath you (3)
The Masque of Red is coming around (4)
We're gonna get married
On the floor of behest
Don't book down
Just keep a steady helm

S.H. is a chance I get (5)
In the land of finance retail
Slippy floor (6)
In hospital
Tock ticking
On land
I'm 95% more inside
Of A Drake
I'm 95% in inside of B Drake (7)
Walking down a little road
A beautiful lake, I see and behold
Going closer
It's gorgeous
Then all I see
Is a slippy floor
And then I see
The slippy floor in apartment hall
You might like to scoff and guffaw
The slippy floor in view, apartment hall
Revere, wanted, two times, side gate
And as you try the needle and pull the one side gate
Your non-existence
Slippy floor
It's a chance I take
In the land of finance retail
And all I get is a slippy floor in a hospital
Walking down the little road
A beautiful lake I see and behold
Going closer to inhale
Its gorgeous aroma and allure
But then I see
It's a slippy floor all over me
And all I get is a slippy floor
And all I take is a slippy floor
In apartment hall
The edgy chance I took, taken
In the land of finance retail

A slippy floor all over me
I'm 95% inside of B Drake
Point taken in the land of finance retail
But all I see is a slippy floor
All I get is a slippy floor - hup! - all over me

One last cigarette's gonna do it
One 9-8-6 generator
And that's all he wrote
One 9-8-6 generat... (8)

["Received: Tuesday, May..."

"And I'm wondering if you happen to know his number or can get it for me? I would like to speak to him, if it's not too much trouble. If you could let me know on 0161 795 5113 and I hope you're both well. All the best to you, goodbye" (9)

"So apart from mixing that, there's not really much more to do with it, is there?"] 

1. Dan submits:

From the "What I See in the Mirror" interview with the Guardian, 14 December 2013:

"A few years ago, I broke my right hip: it took months to recover. Then I was in hospital in Germany for something else and I broke my other hip going for a fag. I had to perform in a wheelchair. I have a steel plate in each now and I've stopped jumping on stage."

So I reckon the "slippy floor" of the lyric would be the cause of his broken hip this second time, c.2009. He was in hospital in Germany, we have since learned from Eleni, for his first treatment for cancer - he had a kidney removed around this time. So. If this is about an experience in Germany, then the "In the land of finance retail" could be a reference to Frankfurt, which is one of the main European financial centres and home to the biggest stock exchange in Germany.

^

2. Much of the album was recorded in Castleford.  See "O.F.Y.C. Showcase" for MES's comments on the phrase "your future, our clutter."

^

3. There doesn't seem to be anything called exactly (The) Encyclopedia of Building and Plumbing, although it might not be meant to be heard as a proper name; thus, it is not capitalized above. CIDV could stand for "Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology," in keeping with the hospital theme on Your Future Your Clutter and the Masque of Red in the next line (see note 3 below). On the other hand, this is located at Arizona State University in Tempe, which is an unlikely place for MES to reference. Joseph Mullaney (in the comments below) speculates that it's a conglomeration of CD and DVD, but there's no 'I' in either of those...

^

4. "The Masque of the Red Death" is a story by Edgar Allen Poe, in which a prince hides from a plague in his abbey, until a mysterious guest garbed as a victim of the Red Death (the fictional plague in the story) comes in and people begin to die.

^

5. My best guess is "State Hospital," but "S.H." is by no means certain.

And four years later, Dan points out what should have been obvious...if the lyric is correct, it could mean the "steady helm" in the previous line.

^

6. A "slippy floor" is also mentioned in "Hot Cake."

^

7. This I haven't been able to figure out. Harley points out that Drake Software provides professional tax software in the USA, which however is, as Harley acknowledges, a long shot. Another probable (99% chance) American non sequitur: Drake University in Iowa, which offers finance and business degrees.

^

8. This is an interpolation of "986 Generator," a bonus track on the vinyl version of Your Future Our Clutter. 

^

9. The preceding lines seem to be a recording from Smith and Polou's answering machine. According to Danny, the number belongs to an osteopath in Salford named Dr. Kalman. I'm not completely sure how relevant, or ethical, including the name is, but assuming he already changed his number if he had to (the Fall isn't exactly Lady Gaga in terms of popularity or probably, if only becuase of the numbers, fan idiocy or immaturity), I don't see how there could be harm in it. Contact me if you want it removed, Dr. Kalman. 

^

Slippy Floor: Fall Tracks A-Z