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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
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- Birmingham School of Business
- Birthday Song
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- 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
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- Dog is Life/Jerusalem
- Don't Call Me Darling
- Don't Take the Pizza
- Dr. Bucks' Letter
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- 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
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- 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
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- 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
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- 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
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- Immortality
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- In These Times
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- 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
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- Just Step S'Ways
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- Kicker Conspiracy
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- Kurious Oranj
- L.A.
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- Laptop Dog
- Last Commands of Xyralothep Vi
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- 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
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- 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
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- Middle Mass
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- Mister Rode
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- Monocard
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- Mountain Energei
- Music Scene
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- 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
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- Pilsner Trail
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- Pledge
- Plug Myself In
- Ponto
- Pop Stickers
- Portugal
- Powder Keg
- Pre-MDMA Years
- Printhead
- Prole Art Threat
- Proteinprotection
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- Psykick Dancehall #2
- Pumpkin Head Xscapes
- Pumpkin Soup and Mashed Potato
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- Putta Block
- Quit iPhone
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- Rainmaster
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- 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)
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- Senior Twilight Stock Replacer
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- Spencer Must Die
- Spinetrak
- Spoilt Victorian Child
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- Stepping Out
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- Surrogate Mirage
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- Systematic Abuse
- Taking Off
- Telephone Thing
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- Ten Houses of Eve
- Terry Waite Sez
- That Man
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- 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 /
- Spinetrak
Spinetrak
Lyrics
May the sideshow begin (1)
Young lad from Escom (2)
Is a schizophrenic
He also thinks he's a man
His other half is his side-kick. (3)
The man from Escom
Is a schizophrene
Other half is called Chip, his sidekick
You are my spinetrak, my spinetrak, my spinetrak (4)
You are my spinetrak, my spinetrak, my spinetrak
You are my spinetrak, my spinetrak, my spinetrak
Spinetrak
Spine clicked and came out of its box
May the sideshow begin
One: endless pursuit of women
And desire to impress them
You are my spinetrak, my spinetrak, my spinetrak
You are my spinetrak, my spinetrak, my spinetrak (On news programs)
You are my spinetrak, my spinetrak, my spinetrak
On news programs
Spinetrak
And application pages for women's jobs
Whose other side too
Looked rather big
Sideshow begin
You are my spinetrak, my spinetrak, my spinetrak
You are my spinetrak, my spinetrak, my spinetrak
You are my spinetrak, my spinetrak, my spinetrak
Notes
1. "Let the sideshow begin" is a line from "Sideshow," which, as Huckleberry reports, was a hit in the US for Blue Magic, although the reggae version by Barry Biggs is better known in the UK.
2. Escom refers to a German computer company, which had a UK division which had massively expanded its operations not long before this song was recorded. According to Mark:
"The Man From Escom" was a character from promotional materials for the German computer manufacturer. A noir-themed series of adverts had the private-dick seeking out deals on computers. Towards the end of the company's run the character was dumped in favour of a more generic mascot, a wide-eyed geeky young lad called Chip, as mentioned in the song.
And Dan found a report that fills in more details:
Escom has killed off the 1940s detective character known as ‘The Man from Escom’ who fronted the ads for last year’s launch as a national computer retailing chain.
In his place comes ‘90s man’ who replaces the trench coat and trilby
with caring credentials.
Joining him is ‘Chip’, a computer-literate teenage tearaway and Escom’s latest marketing weapon to hit the family market.
In the end Brix speaks for us all (The Rise, The Fall and The Rise, via Dan): "'Spinetrak' is a great song. I have no clue what it is about."
3. It was very common, years ago, to see "schizophrenia" incorrectly used to refer to a multiple perconality disorder, as MES seems to do here. Such an error is presumably due to the etymology of the word, the Greek roots of which give us something like "split mind." A famous example of this misuse comes in the liner notes from the Who album "Quadrophenia":
"So that's why I'm here, the bleeding boat drifted off and I'm stuck here in the pissing rain with my life flashing before me. Only it isn't flashing, it's crawling. Slowly. Now it's just the bare bones of what I am.
A tough guy, a helpless dancer.
A romantic, is it me for a moment?
A bloody lunatic, I'll even carry your bags.
A beggar, a hypocrite, love reign over me.
Schizophrenic? I'm Bleeding Quadrophenic."
"Quadrophenic" is quite an odd coinage: even if "schizophrenic" were taken to denote, in English, a split personality, the etymology suggests no quantification, and thus could conceivably cover tough guy, romantic, lunatic, and beggar; furthermore, it's not clear why Townshend didn't opt for "quadrophrenic," which would seem to make a little bit more sense.
4. There is a mountain trail in the Quantocks, in Southern England, that seems to be sometimes referred to as the Spine Track, although the paucity of references for this (I only found one) suggests that this is probably a descriptive term rather than a proper name. More promisingly, the word could refer to Kundalini, which, in yoga, is considered to be a reservoir of energy or force located at the base of the spine. Certain yogic practices aim to "awaken" the Kundalini, at which point it travels up the spine to the head. Kundalini is sometimes thought of as a kind of sexual energy (although the concept is broader than that) which is in keeping with the suggestion in the second verse that the character who is the subject of the song is on the make.
Comments (20)
Towards the end of the company's run the character was dumped in favour of a more generic mascot, a wide-eyed geeky young lad called Chip, as mentioned in the song.
Here's a source: http://www.brandrepublic.com/news/61406/ (22 Feb 1996)
So the detective character was actually replaced by two new characters, not one. So perhaps those two are the two halves referred to.
A couple of times in Fall lyrics, "spine" means "spider", because the German for spider is "die spinne":
Kinder of Spine
"Spine-Fuhrer" in Pat-Trip Dispenser
So I wonder if there's a similar meaning intended here. If so, it's very obscure.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sideshow_(song)