Spoilt Victorian Child

Past trees the fairies are flying (1)
Past trees with rose bushes in
The child was spoilt Victorian
The child was spoilt Victorian

Spoilt Victorian child
Spoilt Victorian child 
Spoilt Victorian child 

Sugar and cakes appear mean
Sitting at the table
Tigers pop-up from books (2)
Spoilt Victorian child

Spoilt Victorian child
Spoilt Victorian child

Let`s take it ten years on
You`re looking back from then
Under rough grey blankets
Thread loose stained grey blankets

Spoilt Victorian child
Spoilt Victorian child

Spoilt Victorian child
Spoilt Victorian child
Spoilt Victorian child
Spoilt Victorian child 

E.N.C.Y.C.L.O. - pedia
E.N.C.Y.C.L.O. - pedia
C.L.O. - pedia (3)

Musical chairs rouge cheeks he remembers
Through the aqueduct of five years (4)
S.V.C. shall avoid reflection
The child was spoilt Victorian

Child was spoilt Victorian
Child was spoilt Victorian
Spoilt Victorian child
Spoilt Victorian child 

Mirrors can`t hid the toxic of disfigured poxes (5)
Spoilt Victorian child
Spoilt Victorian child
Spoilt Victorian child
Spilt Victorian child

Past trees the fairies are flyin
Past trees with rose bushes in
The butterfly shrugs to fly in
Sugar and iced cakes appear mean

The child was spoilt Victorian
The child was spoilt Victorian
Spoilt Victorian child
Spoilt Victorian child

E.N.Y.C.L.O. 

I know that the servants keep their order knowledge
And as you walk on in the footsteps of steed, babe
Into the encrusted green unwild
You know you are a spoilt Victorian child

1. Fairies were quite popular in the Victorian era (1837-1901), along with all sorts of supernatural or occult themes and phenomena. The genre of "fairy painting" is most closely associated with this period. Although the Victorian era witnessed the ascendence of science and the cult of rationality, Romanticism continued to be influential, and it was the age of seances and Theosophy. MES may also have had the Cottingley fairies in mind when he penned this line, although these post-date the Victorian period. The Cottingley sisters (Elsie and Frances) took photographs of themselves surrounded by cardboard fairies, which they claimed had spontaneously appeared in the pictures. Arthur Conan Doyle famously declared his conviction that the fairies were genuine, and it wasn't until 1983 that the sisters admitted the hoax. Incredibly, however, Frances insisted to her death that one of the photos was not in fact a fake, although if it was indeed a real fairy, it does not look very different from its cardboard fellows.

MES had reportedly written a version of the  lyrics years before the song's appearance on This Nation's Saving Grace (cf. Reformation), when he was 18 years of age. Simon Rogers wrote the riff, which is in 6/4, and MES fit the lyrics to the music. At times he seems to strain to make the cadence work, although this could be an intentional effect, as the rushed diction makes the song feel like it's trotting along a bit too fast for the singer, adding a sense of urgency to the proceedings. 

The Fall revisited this song after an 18 year layoff, on 2004's Interim, where it is called "Spoilt Victorian Childe." It was played live seven times in 2004 before being mothballed again. 

SimonC points out that the riff resembles that of "Earth is not Room Enough" by Groundhogs. The Fall have covered two Groundhogs songs, "Junk Man" (originally titled "Junkman") and "Strangetown" (originally titled--you guessed it-- "Strange Town"). 

 

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2. Pop-up books for children first became widely popular in the Victorian era, particularly in Germany.  

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3. I suppose MES may have gotten the idea for the song when thumbing through an encyclopedia and reading about the Victorian era. Karl B comments:

I think the encyclopedia reference holds water. "Spoilt victorian child" referring to a type of behavior, not neccessarily a child. People who are spoilt invariably have or want everything. And what is an encyclopedia? A big book that attempts to contain and list everything.

Dan reminds us of the proverb, "Spare the rod and spoil the child" (Proverbs 13:24, "He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes").

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4.Dan: "Worth noting that Victorian-made aqueducts were among the great achievements of the age. Hence perhaps why the mention here.

For an example the Victorian era Barton Swing Aqueduct."

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5. Dan suggests the child have had smallpox, hence avoiding the mirror, "disfigured poxes," the "rouge cheeks," etc.

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Spoilt Victorian Child: Fall Tracks A-Z

The Story of the Fall: 1985