Stephen Song

Lyrics

(1)

It was a thing with a head like a spud ball (2)
It was a song, the song we were looking for

I always have to state to myself
It has nothing to do with me
He has nothing
He is not me
(Gavin Friday): His vendetta in parchment

(MES):Floating grey abundance
Against my palace of conscience
(GF): Our hero deeply loved (3)
Moonlit walks past privet and wide-leaved foliage (4)


(MES): I'll tell you of the rats in this world
Fawning in place with The Face
Men coming between each other
For the sake of a two-minute urge
(GF): It is headless
(MES): Worth 5 dollars London
And cursed anon

Our hero, still deeply loved
Moonlit walks past privet and wide leaved
It was no more a net of mesh
It was class
He did not blink a lid
(This will come to you in good time, in good time)
(GF): He embraced his self-imposed gorgeous adult net (5)
(MES): And breathed
And it was class
And it was class
And no no-man's land
Ever had this

And no no-man's land
Ever had this
No no-man's land
Ever had this
Ever had this 


Blokes blow kisses
Their follies are strong liberation

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Notes

1. Reformation drops some science on our proverbial domes:

"I like it 'cos it was right off the wall... The tune was there and I just made it up as I went along, It's about competitiveness, people getting at you, imitating you and your habits. Plagiarism really obsesses me, that's why I don't like giving away secrets about how I write. And this... no, I can't remember, 'Clothed in grey abundance' is wrong, but I don't know what it should be." ([MES quoted in] Phil Sutcliffe: Lyricists: Mark E Smith: Q no. 68, May 1992) 
 
We have "floating grey abundance."

Despite his avowed "obsession" with plagiarists and his consequent secretiveness, Mark E. Smith has made a career out of liberally borrowing from other lyricists, authors, and composers (as amply, if at times debatably, documented here). In my opinion such practice is perfectly legitimate, but this is a curious obsession for such a man to have. I can only conclude that "plagiarism" is a rather complex concept for Smith (he could simply be hypocritical, of course, but I think there is more to it than that). I have to think, then, that repurposing words and tunes is not sufficient to constitute plagiarism proper for Smith, but that originality is a more complex matter than creation, as it were, ex nihilo. As hard as this would be to define, I don't think it is a particularly difficult position to understand; I'm sure that most of us could think of examples of songs that are strongly reminiscent of other songs and that nevertheless strike us as perfectly unique, and others that may as well have come out of nowhere as far as their formal structure or lyrical content goes, but that seem utterly trite and bland for all that. Of course, at the same time such judgments cannot be argumentatively justified; we can only point to originality, if we categorize it this way, but we cannot fully explain it. Thus, hypocrisy in this matter must be at times hard to avoid, and to this extent I am willing to admit that Smith does seem a bit churlish at times when criticizing others for their lack of originality.
 
From Dan: The booklet to The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall has an annotation for this song that reads "Vatican distort into operatic nightmare. "
 
This is one of two songs (the other is "Copped It", speaking of plagiarism) that feature Virgin Prunes singer Gavin Friday on vocals. The title indicates that Stephen Hanley was involved in writing the music (his brother Paul also gets a credit).  
 
Reformation has Paul Hanley on drums and keyboards, but on Twitter he mentions that he played guitar on it, or perhaps just composed a guitar line, it's not clear:
 

This really is Stephen's song, he showed it me and I put some guitar to it. But like C.R.E.E.P, which was also nominally a co-write between me and Steve, the bass line's pretty much the whole song.
 
 
 
2. Maybe a dig at the (already in 1984) balding Hanley? In 1995 we find him "modelling the bald look" on "North West Fashion Show" from Cerebral Caustic.  
 
 
3. This parenthetical statement comes after Smith sings "my conscience," so maybe "our hero" refers to himself, the way one would say "yours truly." The diegetical thread is hard to unravel in this one, as it is shaped like a story, but the lyrics are rather impressionistic.  
 
 
4. Friday actually says "foilage" here.  
 
 
5. Brix Smith formed a band the next year called The Adult Net as a side project. Their only album, The Honey Tangle, was released around the time Brix was, in 1989.  
 
Dan: In The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise, Brix says that Steve Hanley wrote the music for this song. "Gavin sings a throwaway lyric underneath the mix: 'Adult Net. Net of mesh.' I said to Mark, 'What the fuck is an adult net?' This was years before the internet, but something about the phrase really resonated with me. 'How cool.'"
 
Yes, that's right--pre-cog! We finally have hard evidence.
 
Raging Ostler remarks "I reckon that verse is a still-happy reflection on his recent marriage, for what it's worth."
 

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Comments (18)

dannyno
  • 1. dannyno | 21/06/2014
"Worth 5 dollars in London".

I'm not hearing "in". It's "Worth 5 dollars London"
bzfgt
  • 2. bzfgt | 24/06/2014
Yes, I moved "in" up..."his vendetta in parchment" I think.
dannyno
  • 3. dannyno | 07/05/2016
In The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise, Brix says that Steve Hanley wrote the music for this song.


Gavin sings a throwaway lyric underneath the mix: 'Adult Net. Net of mesh.' I said to Mark, "What the fuck is an adult net?' This was years before the internet, but something about the phrase really resonated with me. 'How cool.'
dannyno
  • 4. dannyno | 15/04/2017
The booklet to The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall has an annotation for this song that reads,


Vatican distort into operative nightmare.
dannyno
  • 5. dannyno | 15/04/2017
Sigh. Typo in comment #4, which should read:

The booklet to The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall has an annotation for this song that reads,


Vatican distort into operatic nightmare.
bzfgt
  • 6. bzfgt (link) | 13/05/2017
That makes a lot more sense! Which isn't to say it makes sense.
Mike Watts
  • 7. Mike Watts | 08/12/2017
I know lyrics can be very slippery and with MES's words we all know it can feel like bumping around in a heavy fog - but has no-one else sensed the gay 'tilt' this appears to have?
dannyno
  • 8. dannyno | 08/12/2017
The verse mentioning The Face, yes, definitely
Raging Ostler
  • 9. Raging Ostler | 12/04/2018
"He braced his self-imposed gorgeous adult net" - it's actually "He embraced his self-imposed gorgeous adult net" (the soft "m" sound gets lost in the babble but you can just about hear it, and if you listen to the Janice Long version, it's totally clear). So that line suddenly makes sense.

I'm also fairly certain that the next line is "and breathed". If that's the case, that whole verse suddenly makes sense (and is brilliant).
Raging Ostler
  • 10. Raging Ostler | 12/04/2018
(I reckon that verse is a still-happy reflection on his recent marriage, for what it's worth.)
dannyno
  • 11. dannyno | 07/05/2018
I'll buy both changes in comment #9.
bzfgt
  • 12. bzfgt (link) | 04/07/2018
Yeah definitely makes sense all of a sudden! I dig it. Yep, maybe marriage.
Fit and Working Again
  • 13. Fit and Working Again | 07/07/2018
Two small additions;
Over the "it was class" bit there's an added MES vocal track "this will come to you in good time, in good time"
and just before "Their follies are strong, liberation" is "blokes blow kisses"
bzfgt
  • 14. bzfgt (link) | 22/07/2018
I couldn't pick those up but I'm taking your word for it as something is going on, did I put "good time" in the right place?
Chris
  • 15. Chris | 19/02/2020
I always heard line 8 as "cloned in grey abundance" until I saw this website.
dannyno
  • 16. dannyno | 02/04/2020
Brix Smith Start, during the @Tim_Burgess curated TWAFWOTF ##timstwitterlisteningparty on 2nd April 2020, said:


In a backing vocal Mark says “Adult Net, Net of Mesh” this is where the name of my solo band came from


https://twitter.com/Brixsmithstart/status/1245825956637323269
dannyno
  • 17. dannyno | 02/04/2020
Paul Hanley, during the @Tim_Burgess curated TWAFWOTF ##timstwitterlisteningparty on 2nd April 2020, said


This really is Stephen's song, he showed it me and I put some guitar to it. But like C.R.E.E.P, which was also nominally a co-write between me and Steve, the bass line's pretty much the whole song.


https://twitter.com/hanleyPa/status/1245826533035565056
bzfgt
  • 18. bzfgt (link) | 10/04/2020
It does sound more like "cloning grey abundance" to me than anything, what do the rest of you think? I want to change it to that, I hear it

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