Terry Waite Sez
Lyrics
Terry Waite Sez (1)
Give us a ring,
He gave us a ring, he did
Mister Big (2)
Sounded sour and frustrated
With the pressure of his own life
Terry Waite Sez
Terry Waite Sez
What are trees,
Painted white jobs,
Silver something,
Silver something? (3)
Terry Waite, 50 plus
Out to heal provincial pus
Let the real reverend walk
He says and does
He plans but they won't let him in
Terry Waite Sez
Terry Waite!
Notes
1. Terry Waite is an English author and charity organizer who was Assistant for Anglican Communion Affairs to the Archbishop of Canterbury in the 1980s. He negotioated the release of hostages in Iran, Libya and Lebanon in the 80s, and was himself taken hostage in Beirut and held from 1987 (a few months after the Fall song was released) until 1991. From Reformation:
Here's Brix flogging her autobiography in Louder Than War:
See comment #7 below for more.
2. This can be taken literally, as apparently Terry Waite is 6'6" (thanks to Shawn Swagerty).
What - if any - connection these lines: "What are those trees /Painted white jobs" have with Terry Waite I do not know, but it should be pointed out that painting the bottom part of tree trunks is a long-established technique for protecting trees, including the prevention of cracking and splitting of new bark. Googling will take anyone to a lot of information and debate on the subject.
I'm intrigued and baffled, while looking at the lyrics of this song, of the words "Silvered something". What could Mark E Smith mean by this?
I think Dan answers this well--it's a continuation of the dialogue, an answer to the previous question, "What are those trees?" I.e., the speaker may be thinking of silver birches or something like that...
More Information
Comments (26)

- 1. | 12/02/2016

- 2. | 13/02/2016

- 3. | 23/02/2016
http://pitchandputtproductions.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/mark-e-smith-interview-from-1986.html
Terry Waite Sez isn't about the Terry Waite, although I do dislike him intensely; we were in this pub in Stockport and there was this drunk there called Terry Waite and I noted down all the things he was saying and used them for the song.
So it's not just the Steve Barker interview where he says this.

- 4. | 19/03/2016

- 5. | 19/03/2016
I always heard this in relation to "what are those trees? Painted white jobs." In which case.. Silver birch? We're listening in to a bit of dialogue.

- 6. | 04/05/2016

- 7. | 04/05/2016
I actually came up with the title and wrote it. I was obsessed with Terry Waite... who was on the news every day. He was in Lebanon at the time trying to secure the release of hostages. I was very caught up in his story, which had echoes of the American hostage crisis during the Iranian Revolution - an incident my stepfather Marvin, an expert on the Middle East, had been heavily involved in. it was only after we released the song that Terry Waite himself got kidnapped. I remember hearing a rumour that a member of Terry Waite's family had contacted Beggars Banquet for the lyrics to the song, in case there were some psychic clues to his whereabouts hidden in the words.

- 8. | 02/06/2016
http://louderthanwar.com/brix-smith-just-released-acclaimed-autobiography-depth-interview
I believe that Mark is a psychic. He’s written songs about things that came to pass later. I quite a spiritual person. I also believe that I’m a psychic. I believe that he and I connect on multi levels. I believe that everything is vibrational based. We could talk about that all day. I hear things in my head. I’m not nuts. Maybe I am nuts. (Laughs). Where does inspiration come from? You tell me. I hear in my head this song is called ‘Terry Waite Sez’. I hand the song to Mark. I tell him it HAS to be called ‘Terry Waite Sez’. At this point Terry Waite was the envoy to the Archbishop of Canterbury. We record the song. He ends up getting kidnapped. The song is released. Then his family call Beggars Banquet record company. They believe there might be clues in the lyrics as to where he’s being held. That was one instance but there were many more.
So here even the title is Brix's. So if we believe Brix, Mark's claim about the drunk in a Stockport pub looks implausible - as it always did, really. However, that doesn't mean the dialogue in the song weren't taken from such a characer.

- 9. | 02/06/2016

- 10. | 24/06/2016

- 11. | 24/06/2016

- 12. | 24/06/2016

- 13. | 06/03/2018

- 14. | 17/03/2018

- 15. | 28/03/2019
1st verse
Terry Waite sez
”Give us a ring”
Gave us a ring he did
Sounded sour
2nd verse;
One of trees
3rd verse
Terry Waite, 50 plus
Out to help provincial pus
Not the real reverend one
Who says and does
He’s flying but they won't let him in
The last verse "50 plus"/"real reverend" (was 40 something at time) suggests the other TW may be actual.
Alternative last verse from the BBC live in concert CD;
One of those trees flaccid white jobs
Silver or something
Silver or something
Terry Waite, 50 plus
Out to help provincial
The Home Office says and does
I once saw The Rev TW walking round the Castlerigg stone circle in Cumbria (as seen in the Shiftwork & Holidays vid) but alas I hadn't the nerve to start singing this to him

- 16. | 04/05/2019

- 17. | 04/05/2019

- 18. | 04/05/2019

- 19. | 04/05/2019

- 20. | 04/05/2019

- 21. | 04/05/2019

- 22. | 04/05/2019

- 23. | 09/06/2019

- 24. | 03/07/2019
Terry Waite says that stories in the media are interfering with his efforts to get hostages released in Beirut. He also says the stories are putting his own life in danger.
Nobody was aware of Mr. Waite's recent visit to Beirut until he himself rang a news agency to alert them. He denies he is a self-publicist.
However, should he wish for anonymity, isn't one of the tongues that should be stilled the one which belongs to him?
Ouch.

- 25. | 10/11/2021
https://twitter.com/LlSTENlNG_PARTY/status/1458515536497856515?s=20

- 26. | 14/11/2021
Terry Waite was sent by the Church of England in the 1980s to various countries as a special envoy, but he wasn't always welcome. On 13 June 1986, just before The Fall recorded the track, Waite was due to travel to South Africa to investigate the arrest of church leaders. He was refused entry to South Africa less than eight hours before he was due to fly to Johannesburg airport, however, as this article explains.
I'm intrigued and baffled, while looking at the lyrics of this song, of the words "Silvered something". What could Mark E Smith mean by this?