The Man Whose Head Expanded
The man whose head expanded
The man whose head expanded
Was corrupted by Mr. Sociological Memory
Was corrupted by Mr. Sociological Memory Man
Could not get a carrier bag for love nor money (2)
The man whose head expanded
Sounds like hick wap, huh?
Sounds like hick wap, huh? (3)
Over! Over!
Over! Over!
The man whose head expanded
The soap opera writer would follow him around
and use his jewels for T.V. prime time
The man whose head expanded
Turn that bloody blimey Space Invader off! (4)
The man whose head expanded
Explained:
The scriptwriter would follow him around,
of this he was convinced
It was no coincidence
The lager seemed poisoned
It was no matter of small consequence
No little pub incidence
A red faced post- 'Jolly Grapes' (5)
Would steal his jewels
And put them in the mouths of Vic actor fools (6)
Of this he was convinced
Sounds like hick wap, huh?
Sounds like a lot of mick wap, huh?
Over! Over!
Over! Over!
The man whose head expanded
The man whose head expanded
Does not want to appear illiterate
Crack! Crack!
Does not want to appear illiterate
Crack! Crack!
Crack! Crack!
The man whose head expanded
Come on with the heraldry
Add misinterpretation, prerogative
John Kennedy's half-assed slyness (7)
The man whose head diminished
The man whose head diminished
Sounds like hick wap, huh?
Over! Over!
Sounds like mig 20 crack, huh? (8)
Over! Over!
Sounds like a lot of hick wap, huh?
Over! Over! (8)
Notes
1. From Reformation:
MES quoted in The Biggest Library Yet, no. 8 (February 1997); according to Paintwork: A Portrait of the Fall by Brian Edge, the comments originally appeared in Sounds (thanks Paul G):
"It's about this fellow who's been fucked up by too much misinformation posing as real information. And then it goes into this thing which is an obvious paranoia trip when he thinks the bloke from a soap opera is ripping off his lines and writing them down. But his thoughts are too intense for him to do anything about it. That's why the vocals are doing Burrr! and the song is very untogether. I'm a bit pissed off that people find the song undecipherable. I find it pretty clear.
I enjoy the line about the Sociological Memory Man. Did you ever hear those sports memory men who used to stand up and people would shout at them "Who won the world cup in 1920? How like, you get sociological guys telling you about how many people didn't have houses in 1945."
And, from another interview:
"I mean does reaching a wider audience mean that the audience is wider between the ears? I think The Man Whose Head Expanded is a compromise in a way, but I think that it fits the song--it's a colourful song and its meant to be flash because it's about a guy who's being ripped off because he got too big-headed. It works too, it's even got synths and things on it."
Some variants include: "The next song features Mr. Sociological Memory - he used to tour the Palladiums in the '40s and '50s. He could give you all the housing numbers and percentages from the 1920s. Sorry this is a bit difficult and sorry this is over anybody's head in the audience..." and "...housing figures from the '30s and '50s..."
The lyrics, with their combination of paranoia and humor, are resonant with the work of Philip K. Dick, an author for whom MES has often expressed appreciation (see also "The Aphid"). The title echoes Dick titles like The Man Who Japed, The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike (although the latter, written in 1960, wasn't published until 1984, about a year after the release of "The Man Whose Head Expanded"), The Unteleported Man, and The Man in the High Castle. Other similar title phrases are The Man Who Was Thursday (a novel by G.K. Chesterton) and The Man Who Knew Too Much (the title of a collection of stories by Chesterton, and subsequently of a movie, unrelated to Chesterton's book, that Alfred Hitchcock made twice). Also, Robert Heinlein has The Man Who Sold The Moon, which in turn probably inspired David Bowie's The Man Who Sold The World (and of course Bowie later starred in The Man Who Fell To Earth, which was based on the 1963 novel of the same title by Walter Tevis).
And, Dan mentions a 1901 French silent film called L'homme à la Tête de Caoutchouc (The Man with the Rubber Head), which is in fact about a man (actually, two men) whose head(s) expanded. From Wikipedia:
A chemist in his laboratory places upon a table his own head, alive; then fixing upon his head a rubber tube with a pair of bellows, he begins to blow with all his might. Immediately the head increases in size and continues to enlarge until it becomes truly colossal while making faces. The chemist, fearing to burst it, opens a cock in the tube. The head immediately contracts and resumes its original size. He then calls his assistant and informs him of his discovery. The assistant, wishing to experiment for himself, seizes the bellows and blows into the head with all his might. The head swells until it bursts with a crash, knocking over the two experimenters. The chemist then literally kicks his assistant from the lab in anger.
Wikipedia calls this song "a thinly veiled attack on [Marc] Riley" but this is almost certainly inaccurate or, at the very least, the attack is thickly veiled. I'm aware of no good reason to think this song is directed at Riley, and it adds nothing to our understanding of the character portrayed therein to think that it is. Wikipedia probably appropriated this statement verbatim from another source, but I haven't found it yet. "Jumper Clown," which began as a Fall instrumental and reëmerged in the hands of Marc Riley's post-Fall group The Creepers as a thinly veiled attack on MES, features the same bass line. It seems likely that this indicates that the songs share a common root in Fall jam sessions, rather than indicating that "Jumper Clown" is a response to "The Man Whose Head Expanded" in particular.
Mark doped out the personnel:
The song is musically similar to "What I Say" from the Miles Davis album Live Evil.
"The Man Whose Head Expanded" is credited to "Mark E. Smith, Steve Hanley, Craig Scanlon, Seaberg [sic]." According to Brix Sol Seaburg [sic] was a singer in a band called FC Domestos and a part-time van driver for the Fall, and was the "Jew on a motorbike" immortalized in the lyrics to "Garden."
Dan has found this on the Perverted by Language sleeve (note that the song was not on the album);
The Man Whose Head Expanded. KNEW :- a)ALTHOUGH the mind grew on revelation of hidden vistas, daily life became a stuttering chore; b)WHO stole cafes collection box; c)THAT Smith applied cut-up technique literally to brain; d)THIS "press release" was well nigh over d.j.'s heads, irrelevant of status; e)NEW art forms hit recession cities and societies best; f)WHY Val Doonican refuses to sing "Paddy McGinty's Goat" on his show; g)REASON colour pop magazines pertaining to cover English sub-culture crapped pants at mere mention of above group's name; h)JOB DEARTH in England caused The Fall to compete with groups comprised of people who'd normally be Civil Tax Collectors, stockbrokers and hairdressers, but were Wrongfully encouraged by Channel 4; i)BEST SOUNDS hide in studio carpets, Mountain Oaf.
2. In the U.K., plastic grocery bags are called "carrier bags" or "carry bags" (see "Carry Bag Man"). The saying "for love or money," incidentally, dates back to the 1580s.
3. In context these seem to be nonsense syllables, perhaps meant to indicate something like "a load of hooey." Dan has found an instance of MES using it in his daily speech: "MES uses this word in his singles review in Melody Maker, 1 May 1982, p.23: "The only 'American music' in this pile of Wap." And "Mark E. Moan," interview with MES, NME 3 April 1993:
I think Nirvana are a load of wop...
4. Space Invaders is an arcade game that dates from 1978, and was largely responsible for a huge expansion in the popularity of video games. The line here is probably addressed to the repetitive, tinny and distinctly 80s-sounding keyboard riff, which cuts off at this point before returning with a more straightforward piano sound. The keyboards could represent something the "man" is hearing, or this could be MES breaking character and addressing the keyboard player (probably Paul Hanley). However, the line was already present on early live versions of the song, so it is clearly not an ad lib inspired by annoyance at the keyboard sound, even though the way it plays out makes it seem that way (and this may have been what it was originally). On the Peel version the same lyric appears, and it also coincides with the cessation of the space age keyboards.
The keyboard riff that runs through the beginning of the song had appeared in "Da da da ich lieb dich nicht du liebst mich nicht aha aha aha" ("Da Da Da I Don't Love You You Don't Love Me Aha Aha Aha") by the band Trio. They were associated with Neue Deutsche Welle (German New Wave), but reportedly they preferred to call their style Neue Deutsch Frölichkeit, or "New German Cheerfulness." "Da Da Da" was a number 2 hit in the UK in 1982 (thanks to nochmal in the comment section for bringing this to my attention).
However, the original source of the riff is a preset beat on the Casio VL tone keyboard, which was introduced in 1980. The Fall might have gotten the riff from Trio, or they both could have gotten it from the Casio. In the Trio video, an actual Casio seems to be what is used to produce the riff; the keyboard player just pushes a button once, which means he is using the preset. It is not clear whether the Fall are actually using the Casio, or whether the beat is reproduced on another keyboard. It is sped up to what must be about the maximum speed, but it also seems to have been altered slightly.
The Casio preset riff is used, without embellishment, at the very beginning of "Fortress" on Hex Enduction Hour. The "Fortress" introduction also appears at the beginning of "Look, Know" on Hip Priests and Kamerads.
The actual sound of Space Invaders is a low and fuzzy keyboard tone initially playing quarter notes that gradually speed up as the aliens descend, in addition to the sound effects made by shooting. "Space Invader[s]" makes sense as a description of the general aesthetic expressed by the keyboards, however, even if it is not descriptively accurate.
5. "Jolly Grapes" may be the name of a (real or fictional) pub; in any case, MES mentions a place called The Grapes where actors and theater/showbiz people congregate.
See Renegade, chapter 16 (thanks to Oblique and Dan):
People have a go at things like Coronation Street for adopting a similar broad northernness, but if you watch it and listen to it closely its use of language is quite cutting edge. The scriptwriters have a good ear for any new phrases that are circling Manchester.
In the mid 90s I used to drink in a pub called The Grapes near Granada’s studios – Vera Duckworth (Elizabeth Dawn) owns it now. It’s a good pub. You get a few cast members and scriptwriters in there. I’d have a couple of pints with Simon Gregson, who plays Steve McDonald – nice bloke. And there’d be scriptwriters dotted around, scribbling. It doesn’t always work. Sometimes the dialogue’s very clunky, as if the writers have been too keen to use new phrases, but when it does work it’s far superior to a lot of things out there.
6. "Vic actor" probably refers to actors from one of London's Vic theaters. The Old Vic is both a London theater, established in 1818, and the repertory company associated with the theater, established in 1963; the Young Vic, an offshoot of the Old Vic, is a repertory company that was established in 1946 and a theater built to accomodate the company, finished in 1970.
The Peel version has (at the head of the stanza) "The soap opera writer would follow him around..." and "soap opera TV soap opera TV actor fools." Some versions seem to have "bit actor fools..."
7. The Peel version seems to say "John Kennedy's half-assed wryness." Andrew suggests this line refers to the music business lawyer of that name. This may not be likely, as he was odscure at the time, as Dan points out; that leaves the dead President as the most likely reference...
8. A MiG is a Russian fighter plane. However, there are no Mig 20s--they only made odd-numbered MiGs, and it sounds like he says "mick-20," or maybe "Vic-20"--according to Nick D, "The Commodore VIC 20 was a pretty common home computer back then and given MES's reference to wanting to turn that bloody Space Invaders off earlier (plus the computer stuff he references in "Eat Y'Self Fitter"), this hearing doesn't seem a stretch to me. Maybe he'd seen someone playing about with the primitive sounds it could make."
The sleeve for the single, however, says "mig 20." So, it could be "mig (MiG) 20 crack," which might be meant to sugest a sound effect when the man's head expands very rapidly, and in fact explodes. This is interpretation is reinforced by the following line, which the Lyrics Parade puts at the end of the song: "Sounds like my head, trying to unravel this lot/ I can tell you Sparky!" However, the provenance of this line is currently unknown; it doesn't appear on the single or the Peel session, or in any lyrics book. It may be from a live version, or, as Danny points out, it may be a transcriber's note.
More Information
Comments (83)
- 1. | 27/04/2013
- 2. | 27/04/2013
"pulmanesque"/"pullmanesque"
Something to do with railway sleeping cars?
Or the British trains, linked to the same company? There was the Manchester Pullman: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Pullman
Something to do with railway sleeping cars?
Or the British trains, linked to the same company? There was the Manchester Pullman: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Pullman
- 3. | 02/05/2013
"Turn that bloody blimey space invader off!" is of course the point where the initial synth riff -- getting more and more out of synch -- appears to be removed of from the mix. As far as I've been able to ascertain, the riff does not really have anything to do with Space Invaders the game. Its plinkyness does of course suggest old arcade games, but its obvious antecedent (by which I mean The Fall have clearly nicked it wholesale with only minor modification) is the German trio Trio's major 1982 hit "Da da da ich lieb dich nicht du liebst mich nicht aha aha aha".
- 4. | 20/10/2013
14 July 1983 Tiffany's, Derby:
- "The next song features Mr. Sociological Memory - he used to tour the Palladiums in the '40s and '50s. He could give you all the housing numbers and percentages from the 1920s. Sorry this is a bit difficult and sorry this is over anybody's head in the audience..."
- "The next song features Mr. Sociological Memory - he used to tour the Palladiums in the '40s and '50s. He could give you all the housing numbers and percentages from the 1920s. Sorry this is a bit difficult and sorry this is over anybody's head in the audience..."
- 5. | 11/03/2014
Slightly different account here:
http://www.visi.com/fall/news/pics/83may_imrw.html
"it's about a guy who's being ripped off because he got too big-headed."
Dan
http://www.visi.com/fall/news/pics/83may_imrw.html
"it's about a guy who's being ripped off because he got too big-headed."
Dan
- 6. | 02/07/2014
Keyboard player on this track was Craig, doubling on guitar in the middle and end. Paul plays drums, Karl 2nd (almost inaudible) bass. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8fS9_Cpuow
- 7. | 06/07/2014
"Sounds like my head, trying to unravel this lot/ I can tell you Sparky!"
To me that reads like whoever originally attempted to transcribe the song, commenting on it. Presumably it was someone calling themselves Sparky, and that was them signing off an email or message?
To me that reads like whoever originally attempted to transcribe the song, commenting on it. Presumably it was someone calling themselves Sparky, and that was them signing off an email or message?
- 8. | 16/07/2014
That comment came from the "Sinister Times" newspaper. I always assumed that it was directed at MES, if only because I've been called "Sparky" before too due to sharing the same forename (predominantly when I was younger).
- 9. | 21/07/2014
Just dug out my copy, and can confirm what you say.
Sinister Times is probably the original source of many of the Lyrics Parade transcriptions.
Sinister Times is probably the original source of many of the Lyrics Parade transcriptions.
- 10. | 21/07/2014
Sinister Times also has "John Kennedy's pulmanesque explained".
- 11. | 13/08/2014
There's a little hint in Steve Hanley's "The Big Midweek" (p281). Steve receives a Marvel comic anthology called "Strange Tales of Startling Suspense" as a gift. It includes a story titled "The man with the incredible expanding head".
I'm currently trying to track it down
I'm currently trying to track it down
- 12. | 21/09/2014
According to Hanley's book, Paul Hanley plays the Space Invader keys.
- 13. | 25/11/2014
re "hick wap" and "mick wap":
If we assume that "wap" is a made-up word meaning "nonsense" or even "crap"... then we have "hick", meaning a backward person from the countryside, and "mick", derogatory slang for an Irishman.
ie, "this sounds like a ridiculous story that a country bumpkin or a Irish drunk would tell in a pub" (whereas, as we know, the story is "no little pub incident")
If we assume that "wap" is a made-up word meaning "nonsense" or even "crap"... then we have "hick", meaning a backward person from the countryside, and "mick", derogatory slang for an Irishman.
ie, "this sounds like a ridiculous story that a country bumpkin or a Irish drunk would tell in a pub" (whereas, as we know, the story is "no little pub incident")
- 14. | 08/08/2015
Re Point 1 - MES comments were originally from Sounds, according to Paintwork a Portrait of The Fall by Brian Edge (Omnibus Press 1989)
- 15. | 01/10/2015
I'm now not entirely convinced of this, having read the annotation for "Vic actor fools" but I've always heard the line "into the mouths of bit actor fools," as in measly bit parts (a Google search for "bit actor" seems to mostly turn up results for "bit part" instead, either that or "bit players"). To me, this has a rather unglamourous ring to it and fits in with the hammy soap opera context (although the lines do also mention prime-time...) as opposed to the Old/Young Vic theatres, which appears to be more prestigious, having worked with folks like Peter O'Toole, Ben Kingsley, Hellen Mirren, John Malkovitch, etc, all of whom wouldn't really be the first people in mind when thinking about soap operas. It's also possible MES would shy away from referring to that crowd as fools, but that's my most tenuous argument, since the M.W.H.E is a character and considering the author's marked lack of vitriolic boundaries. Just a (very long-winded) thought, I wasn't aware of either Vic Theatre before today, so of course I'm now completely unsure. I've listened to the Peel and single versions on the web but my laptop speakers are horrendous and I could be fooling myself into hearing a T at the end of the word. I'm away from my records at the moment but will listen closer when I get a chance...
(I'm continually reminded to be chuffed as hell to have this Fall resource at my disposal! Thanks again!)
(I'm continually reminded to be chuffed as hell to have this Fall resource at my disposal! Thanks again!)
- 16. | 24/10/2015
Definitely "bit actor fools"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8fS9_Cpuow
The line comes up right at the three-minute mark. My obnoxious tirade up there was pretty much useless (I had had a few)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8fS9_Cpuow
The line comes up right at the three-minute mark. My obnoxious tirade up there was pretty much useless (I had had a few)
- 17. | 08/11/2015
"The Peel version seems to say "John Kennedy's half-assed wryness." - Sounds like "slyness" to me?
I assumed "jolly grapes" was a metaphor for wine, though the only prior reference I can find using my Google-ninja-skills is a prohibition-era article in Business Week. (referred to in a book about the subject, that page not available in the preview, typically)
Also, I'm stumped by the writing credit for "Seaberg" on this one. Riley?
I assumed "jolly grapes" was a metaphor for wine, though the only prior reference I can find using my Google-ninja-skills is a prohibition-era article in Business Week. (referred to in a book about the subject, that page not available in the preview, typically)
Also, I'm stumped by the writing credit for "Seaberg" on this one. Riley?
- 18. | 15/11/2015
Thank you, Antoine. My inclination is to agree that this is an entirely empirical question since either makes adequate sense. I'm listening to your link now and will check some other versions, and if anyone wants to lend their ears to this task it will be appreciated.
- 19. | 15/11/2015
Convincing but not conclusive, it looks like I have to check some other ones...
- 20. | 15/11/2015
OK I'm still convinced the studio version has "vic actor" so I have dealt with the situation in the note, where I have Peel variants and mention that some versions seem to have "bit."
- 21. | 23/11/2015
Not sure about "slyness/wryness." If "Jolly Grapes" is a pub, I have no doubt the reference is to wine...however, you may be right and maybe it is just a straight reference to wine, minus the pub.
- 22. | 08/06/2016
"Wap".
MES uses this word in his singles review in Melody Maker, 1 May 1982, p.23:
Dan
MES uses this word in his singles review in Melody Maker, 1 May 1982, p.23:
"The only "American music" in this pile of Wap.
Dan
- 23. | 19/06/2016
Could the memory man referred to be Leslie Welch? He was a memory man who was on TV and Radio and also played the London Palladium - could this be who MES has in mind in the interview above? His expertise was sport, though.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Welch
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Welch
- 24. | 29/06/2016
Dan, what the public now wants to know is, what track/artist is the "only American music"?
- 25. | 02/07/2016
The comment is the introductory sentence to a paragraph which reviews two singles together and appears to refer to both as a collective: The Blasters (B-side), "No Other Girl" and Gary Panter, "Italian Sun Glass Movie".
- 26. | 16/11/2016
comment #17, re the identity of "Seaberg", who gets a writing credit on this song.
This will be Sol Seaberg, who according to Brix is also the "Jew on a Motorbike" of the song "Garden": http://forward.com/culture/348928/the-surprising-jewish-story-behind-indie-rock-legend-brix-smith-start/
This will be Sol Seaberg, who according to Brix is also the "Jew on a Motorbike" of the song "Garden": http://forward.com/culture/348928/the-surprising-jewish-story-behind-indie-rock-legend-brix-smith-start/
- 27. | 24/11/2016
Note 1 initially continued as follows, but it was too much:
"It's not clear whether the interview wirh Brix was conducted verbally or via email--the author says he spoke with her "from her home in Shoreditch" which could possibly imply email, but it is much more likely to be via the telephone, as with an email interview he most likely would not have determined where she was located at all. An in person seems like it would be "at her home in Shoreditch," so we can safely rule that out (pending any contradictory evidence, of course). So it may be the case that the interviewer did not ask Brix how to spell the name, in which case "Seaberg" is slightly more likely to be the correct spelling. In any case, FC Domestos is mentioned in the book Shadowplayers: the inside story of the start of Britain's most revered and infamous record label in the following two passages: "The last two Factory Fridays fell on 2 and 9 June. The first of these again showcased The Durutti Column, this time matched with FC Domestos and Cabaret Voltaire," and "The second band, FC Domestos, were obliterated by the PA." And the only record of Seaberg/Sol Seaburg is the former name on the credits for "The Man Whose Head Expanded" and the latter in Brix's interview."
And there is an information page about a band called Doctor Cyclops which contains the following information:
Dave.M.
Cosmic guitar and mad determination to gather other weird members. Was in a band called Crystal Ridge years ago who's fame spread right across Bury as far as Deeply Vale. Before that Dave was in FC Domestos with Steve B.
Steve.B.
Now Bass also was and occasionally still does rhythm classical and other stuff Steve was in a band called FC Domestos years ago with Dave. Steve also did some work with the Manchester Musicians Collective on an album called (what's its name Steve?).
Note "A year ago," the page seems to be from October, 2000, so Domestos may have been a long-running concern...or this is another band entirely.
Dan, I know you will read this comment, I'm not sure that anyone else will though...
"It's not clear whether the interview wirh Brix was conducted verbally or via email--the author says he spoke with her "from her home in Shoreditch" which could possibly imply email, but it is much more likely to be via the telephone, as with an email interview he most likely would not have determined where she was located at all. An in person seems like it would be "at her home in Shoreditch," so we can safely rule that out (pending any contradictory evidence, of course). So it may be the case that the interviewer did not ask Brix how to spell the name, in which case "Seaberg" is slightly more likely to be the correct spelling. In any case, FC Domestos is mentioned in the book Shadowplayers: the inside story of the start of Britain's most revered and infamous record label in the following two passages: "The last two Factory Fridays fell on 2 and 9 June. The first of these again showcased The Durutti Column, this time matched with FC Domestos and Cabaret Voltaire," and "The second band, FC Domestos, were obliterated by the PA." And the only record of Seaberg/Sol Seaburg is the former name on the credits for "The Man Whose Head Expanded" and the latter in Brix's interview."
And there is an information page about a band called Doctor Cyclops which contains the following information:
Dave.M.
Cosmic guitar and mad determination to gather other weird members. Was in a band called Crystal Ridge years ago who's fame spread right across Bury as far as Deeply Vale. Before that Dave was in FC Domestos with Steve B.
Steve.B.
Now Bass also was and occasionally still does rhythm classical and other stuff Steve was in a band called FC Domestos years ago with Dave. Steve also did some work with the Manchester Musicians Collective on an album called (what's its name Steve?).
Note "A year ago," the page seems to be from October, 2000, so Domestos may have been a long-running concern...or this is another band entirely.
Dan, I know you will read this comment, I'm not sure that anyone else will though...
- 28. | 24/11/2016
Fuck, there's also a "Punk Catalog" with FC Domestos listed under Manchester 1978 under the heading "More Information Required."
- 29. | 24/11/2016
"A year ago"? But bzfgt, they actually say "years ago". You can chronologically relax.
- 30. | 24/11/2016
Michael Kaminer has had two pieces published, apparently from the same interview. One as above, and one in the Jewish Chronicle: http://www.thejc.com/arts/music/162113/the-fall-and-rise-a-california-girl,where he says:
It is written up like a phone interview, isn't it? But Kaminer lives in Manhattan: http://observer.com/author/michael-kamine, so does that make phone any less likely than email? Maybe not.
In this country, a lot of people know who I am, but have no idea who I am," says Start-Smith from the Shoreditch loft she shares with her husband and pugs Gladys and Pixie.
It is written up like a phone interview, isn't it? But Kaminer lives in Manhattan: http://observer.com/author/michael-kamine, so does that make phone any less likely than email? Maybe not.
- 31. | 24/11/2016
This could be the guy: http://www.solseabergphotography.co.uk/contact-us
Worth emailing him maybe.
Worth emailing him maybe.
- 32. | 21/12/2016
Not important, we know with near-certainty that "Seaburg" is wrong, we don't have to litigate whose fault it is!
- 33. | 21/12/2016
Oh, I see the link is Seaberg, for some reason I thought you wanted to track down Kaminer! Sorry about that. It could be good to track him down...
- 34. | 15/04/2017
"Come on with the heraldry
Add misinterpretation, prerogative
John Kennedy's half-assed slyness
The man whose head diminished,,,"
Following this,there seem to me to be some extra lines spoken (maybe one of them goes something along the lines of "...take it easy man"?)
Add misinterpretation, prerogative
John Kennedy's half-assed slyness
The man whose head diminished,,,"
Following this,there seem to me to be some extra lines spoken (maybe one of them goes something along the lines of "...take it easy man"?)
- 35. | 25/06/2017
'The Man Whose Head Expanded' does not appear on "Perverted by Language", but this note does appear on the sleeve:
The Man Whose Head Expanded. KNEW :-
a)ALTHOUGH the mind grew on revelation of hidden vistas, daily life became a stuttering chore;
b)WHO stole cafes collection box;
c)THAT Smith applied cut-up technique literally to brain;
d)THIS 'press release' was well nigh over d.j.'s heads, irrelevant of status;
e)NEW art forms hit recession cities and societies best;
f)WHY Val Doonican refuses to sing "Paddy McGinty's Goat" on his show;
g)REASON colour pop magazines pertaining to cover English sub-culture crapped pants at mere mention of above group's name;
h)JOB DEARTH in England caused The Fall to compete with groups comprised of people who'd normally be Civil Tax Collectors, stockbrokers and hairdressers, but were Wrongfully encouraged by Channel 4;
i)BEST SOUNDS hide in studio carpets, Mountain Oaf.
- 36. | 14/07/2017
Worth noting the existence of a 1901 short film by George Méliès, entitled "L’homme à la tête de caoutchouc" ("The Man with the Rubber Head").
Youtube: https://youtu.be/czKep7Z1-w8
Youtube: https://youtu.be/czKep7Z1-w8
- 37. | 14/07/2017
.... in it, in case you don't go and watch it, a head is inflated with bellows.
- 38. | 14/07/2017
Wikipedia article on the film: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_with_the_Rubber_Head
- 39. | 15/07/2017
Hmmph, that reminds me of "The Man With the Lightbulb Head" (Robyn Hitchcock)
- 40. | 15/07/2017
I have:
Wikipedia calls this song "a thinly veiled attack on [Marc] Riley"
"Wikipedia" links to the entry for Riley which doesn't mention this song, at least not anymore. I wonder if they changed it, or if I fucked up the link? There's no dedicated link to the song...
Wikipedia calls this song "a thinly veiled attack on [Marc] Riley"
"Wikipedia" links to the entry for Riley which doesn't mention this song, at least not anymore. I wonder if they changed it, or if I fucked up the link? There's no dedicated link to the song...
- 41. | 22/07/2017
I mean "dedicated entry" of course. ^^
- 42. | 22/07/2017
Yeah, I think that's just made up. Or an example of retrofitting negative references, a bit like people decide that any reference to women in Fall songs must be a reference to Brix, as though MES never met any other women.
The specific line in wikipedia was this, in a revision timed at 20:20 on 3 February 2009 by wikipedia user Michig:
It was removed by wikipedia user Franburke2 at 20:59 on 18 September 2014 with the (correct) explanation
(insertion and deletion established using the wikiblame tool http://wikipedia.ramselehof.de/wikiblame.php
The specific line in wikipedia was this, in a revision timed at 20:20 on 3 February 2009 by wikipedia user Michig:
The Fall's 1983 single 'The man Whose Head Expanded' was a thinly veiled attack on Riley's alleged climbing above his station, followed in 1984 by the even less veiled single C.R.E.E.P....
It was removed by wikipedia user Franburke2 at 20:59 on 18 September 2014 with the (correct) explanation
unsubstantiated facts about 2 songs
(insertion and deletion established using the wikiblame tool http://wikipedia.ramselehof.de/wikiblame.php
- 43. | 29/07/2017
Wow I can't believe you found that. In any case since C.R.E.E.P. is most likely not about Riley, this one is veiled enough for me...
- 44. | 19/10/2017
Another interview quote, this time from The Prestwich Horror and Other Strange Stories, by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 31 January 1981:
The way people said 'Elastic Man' was about the music business, it wasn't anything to do with it, it was about a writer freaking out it was almost Lovecraftian like somebody I imagine Stephen King to be, everyone saying to him "How did you write The Shining?"
- 45. | 20/10/2017
Oops, wrong page!
- 46. | 18/11/2017
Sometimes I'm not sure if I need to get every relevant interview quote in or just enough to clarify what needs to be clarified. I generally go with the latter, although with more repetition than would be if I were strict. But in any case this is new enough as it indicates he is a writer.
EDIT: I didn't notice and put it in, I may be time to stop for the night...
EDIT: I didn't notice and put it in, I may be time to stop for the night...
- 47. | 27/11/2017
Note #4.
Wikipedia suggests that Trio's Da Da Da and The Fall's Fortress use the Rock-1 preset (in "piano voice" in Trio's case). Whereas The Man Whose Head Expanded uses the Rock-2 preset.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_VL-1#Notable_uses_and_appearances
Wikipedia suggests that Trio's Da Da Da and The Fall's Fortress use the Rock-1 preset (in "piano voice" in Trio's case). Whereas The Man Whose Head Expanded uses the Rock-2 preset.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_VL-1#Notable_uses_and_appearances
- 48. | 02/12/2017
Fuck, I just put in a "preset" note about all of these in "Crew Filth" tonight, I'll have to check it now.
- 49. | 05/12/2017
Very minor addition to note 4... I remember "Space Invader" being used as a catch-all name for any handheld electronic game back in the early 80s. As in "Turn that bloody blimey Space Invader off" being something a parent might say to their kids.
- 50. | 27/01/2018
"Sounds like mig 20 crack, huh?"
Sounds like "Sounds like VIC 20 crap" to me! The Commodore VIC 20 was a pretty common home computer back then and given MES's reference to wanting to turn that bloody Space Invaders off earlier (plus the computer stuff he references in Eat Y'Self Fitter), this hearing doesn't seem a stretch to me. Maybe he'd seen someone playing about with the primitive sounds it could make.
Sounds like "Sounds like VIC 20 crap" to me! The Commodore VIC 20 was a pretty common home computer back then and given MES's reference to wanting to turn that bloody Space Invaders off earlier (plus the computer stuff he references in Eat Y'Self Fitter), this hearing doesn't seem a stretch to me. Maybe he'd seen someone playing about with the primitive sounds it could make.
- 51. | 29/01/2018
Interesting suggestion in comment #50. Of course, there are other "Vic"s in the lyric. And there is the wording on the sleeve of the single. Of course we know that in Fall world texts get corrupted and lyrics can change from page to stage to record and back again.
- 52. | 12/02/2018
OK Nick, we've got that theory logged in my note, which seems what we have to do given what we currently have...
- 53. | 22/02/2018
Regarding “sounds like hick wap, huh?”: I’ve always assumed this to be MES responding to criticism about how his voice sounds on record, e.g. perhaps he read a review where someone compares his voice to a “hick Wop” (i.e. an uncultured Italian) - not too much of a stretch when you consider a stereotypical comic Italian accent portrayed as adding an “-ah” after most syllables, which also applies to stereotypical MES impressions.
Anecdotally, I remember one of the first times I heard The Fall/MES on the radio, I thought he sounded like a raving Frenchman due to the way he enunciates certain vowel sounds (e.g. the way he pronounces “Disinformation” in Oh! Brother).
We also know that MES has quoted “reviews” of The Fall in previous tracks, such as in Printhead.
Furthermore, the scornful tone with which the line is delivered backs up my theory (in my own biased mind, anyway) that he’s basically saying “So! I sound like an idiot, do I?”.
Anecdotally, I remember one of the first times I heard The Fall/MES on the radio, I thought he sounded like a raving Frenchman due to the way he enunciates certain vowel sounds (e.g. the way he pronounces “Disinformation” in Oh! Brother).
We also know that MES has quoted “reviews” of The Fall in previous tracks, such as in Printhead.
Furthermore, the scornful tone with which the line is delivered backs up my theory (in my own biased mind, anyway) that he’s basically saying “So! I sound like an idiot, do I?”.
- 54. | 24/02/2018
Yeah, that is entirely plausible. No way to know, of course, but it makes sense.
- 55. | 27/04/2018
'Vic actors' - could refer to Eastenders a popular UK prime-time TV soap opera (in the 80s as now) - the Queen Victoria is the pub at the centre of the this fictionalised east-end community - seems more relevant to the rest of the song than the 'lovies' of the Old Vic?
- 56. | 28/04/2018
Comment #55.
No, it couldn't refer to Eastenders.
Because this song debuted live in May 1982 and first appeared on record on 27 June 1983.
Eastenders, on the other hand, was first broadcast at 7pm on 19 February 1985.
No, it couldn't refer to Eastenders.
Because this song debuted live in May 1982 and first appeared on record on 27 June 1983.
Eastenders, on the other hand, was first broadcast at 7pm on 19 February 1985.
- 57. | 01/05/2018
well, that seems to put the kibosh on that theory pretty comprehensively - unless MES was somehow spookily presentient?
- 58. | 27/06/2018
re: Wap/Wop.
"Mark E. Moan", interview with MES, NME 3 April 1993:
http://thefall.org/news/pics/93apr03_nme/93apr03_nme.html
"Mark E. Moan", interview with MES, NME 3 April 1993:
I think Nirvana are a load of wop...
http://thefall.org/news/pics/93apr03_nme/93apr03_nme.html
- 59. | 22/03/2019
I remember reading an interview with Mark where he talked about Coronation Street writers sitting in pubs and noting down the slang of the day.
This would appear to be the starting point of the song.
This would appear to be the starting point of the song.
- 60. | 12/04/2019
The quote attributed to Sounds and reprinted in TBLY in note 1 comes from Sounds of 13 August 1983.
http://thefall.org/gigography/image/83aug13_sounds.jpg
http://thefall.org/gigography/image/83aug13_sounds.jpg
- 61. | 04/05/2019
Oblique--that would indeed be completely relevant to the lyrics, but now we need to find it...
- 62. | 09/05/2019
Oblique, comment #59:
See Renegade, chapter 16:
See Renegade, chapter 16:
People have a go at things like Coronation Street for adopting a similar broad northernness, but if you watch it and listen to it closely its use of language is quite cutting edge. The scriptwriters have a good ear for any new phrases that are circling Manchester.
In the mid 90s I used to drink in a pub called The Grapes near Granada’s studios – Vera Duckworth (Elizabeth Dawn) owns it now. It’s a good pub. You get a few cast members and scriptwriters in there. I’d have a couple of pints with Simon Gregson, who plays Steve McDonald – nice bloke. And there’d be scriptwriters dotted around, scribbling. It doesn’t always work. Sometimes the dialogue’s very clunky, as if the writers have been too keen to use new phrases, but when it does work it’s far superior to a lot of things out there.
- 63. | 10/10/2019
The sleeve is either wrong or a piss-take. He's very clearly calling the "space invader" keyboard "VIC-20 crap".
- 64. | 21/11/2020
Re note 11: this is difficult. I've been sent an incomplete ("the early Atlas comics didn't always list the titles of every story featured in each issue. I imagine someone must have a database with full story titles and credits, but the only one that I've managed to find doesn't list the story name that you provided") database of stories published in Marvel comics:
http://www.maelmill-insi.de/UHBMCC/strtales.htm#S685
There's a website with Strange Tales covers:
http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/strange-tales
I'll keep plugging away.
http://www.maelmill-insi.de/UHBMCC/strtales.htm#S685
There's a website with Strange Tales covers:
http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/strange-tales
I'll keep plugging away.
- 65. | 28/11/2020
Re note 11: there are no promising-looking stories in this incomplete database:
http://www.maelmill-insi.de/UHBMCC/strtales.htm#S685
Here is a website of Strange Tales covers:
http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/strange-tales
The search continues.
http://www.maelmill-insi.de/UHBMCC/strtales.htm#S685
Here is a website of Strange Tales covers:
http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/strange-tales
The search continues.
- 66. | 21/05/2021
In the limited edition book The Future's Here to Stay by Graham Duff (2021), Duff quotes Paul Hanley (p.31):
The 'turn that bloody blimey space invader off' was scripted, it wasn't real.
- 67. | 22/05/2021
Oh, that's good, although I think it appears on more than one version so we already knew it...
- 68. | 22/05/2021
Yeah, right, that's already reflected in the note...
- 69. | 04/06/2021
John Kennedy refers to the clever lawyer very active in legal advice for musicians and record labels at the time.
- 70. | 05/06/2021
Plausible!
- 71. | 05/06/2021
Not so plausible, though I wish it were.
Because unfortunately Kennedy was not in fact actually giving legal advice to musicians and record labels at the time at all.
The Kennedy reference was in the lyric from 1982.
In 1982, John Kennedy was Director of Business Development at Phonogram, having been their in-house lawyer since the late 1970s. He moved to CBS in 1983.
He didn't got off on his own and starting dishing out advice to all and sundry until 1984.
See; https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/John_Kennedy_(Music)
and
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-RMEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA73&dq=%22john%20kennedy%22%20phonogram&pg=PA73#v=onepage&q=%22john%20kennedy%22%20phonogram&f=false
I've had a look at some of the industry press and the Financial Times of 1982 - he wasn't mentioned that I could find, so I wonder how likely he would have been to come to MES' notice at that point anyway.
Anyway, the point is that in 1982 he was a corporate man and a couple of years from starting the legal firm that Andrew has in mind.
So that takes us back to President Kennedy, John Kennedy Jnr, John Kennedy of the Residents organisation, or whatever other Kennedys.
Lou Reed's The Blue Mask was released early in 1982. It includes the peculiarly deadpan and sentimental "The Day John Kennedy Died", including such deathless couplets as:
Because unfortunately Kennedy was not in fact actually giving legal advice to musicians and record labels at the time at all.
The Kennedy reference was in the lyric from 1982.
In 1982, John Kennedy was Director of Business Development at Phonogram, having been their in-house lawyer since the late 1970s. He moved to CBS in 1983.
He didn't got off on his own and starting dishing out advice to all and sundry until 1984.
See; https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/John_Kennedy_(Music)
and
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-RMEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA73&dq=%22john%20kennedy%22%20phonogram&pg=PA73#v=onepage&q=%22john%20kennedy%22%20phonogram&f=false
I've had a look at some of the industry press and the Financial Times of 1982 - he wasn't mentioned that I could find, so I wonder how likely he would have been to come to MES' notice at that point anyway.
Anyway, the point is that in 1982 he was a corporate man and a couple of years from starting the legal firm that Andrew has in mind.
So that takes us back to President Kennedy, John Kennedy Jnr, John Kennedy of the Residents organisation, or whatever other Kennedys.
Lou Reed's The Blue Mask was released early in 1982. It includes the peculiarly deadpan and sentimental "The Day John Kennedy Died", including such deathless couplets as:
I dreamed that there was a point to life and to the human race
I dreamed that I could somehow comprehend that someone shot him in the face
- 72. | 12/06/2021
Fuck
- 73. | 09/08/2021
Mark says I enjoy the line about the Sociological Memory Man. Did you ever hear those sports memory men who used to stand up and people would shout at them "Who won the world cup in 1920? How like, you get sociological guys telling you about how many people didn't have houses in 1945.
He also says the Memory Man toured the Palladiums in the 40s and 50s.
(Both from note 1).
He may well have seen this in The 39 Steps, the famous Hitchcock film from 1935. Here's some dialogue from near the start of the film, in which Memory Man is indeed appearing at The Palladium:
Audience member: Who won the Derby in 1921?
Memory Man: Mr. Jack Joel's Humorist, with Jack Donoghue up.
Audience member: Who won the Cup in 1926?
Memory Man: Cup? Waterloo, football or tea?
Audience member: Football, silly.
He also says the Memory Man toured the Palladiums in the 40s and 50s.
(Both from note 1).
He may well have seen this in The 39 Steps, the famous Hitchcock film from 1935. Here's some dialogue from near the start of the film, in which Memory Man is indeed appearing at The Palladium:
Audience member: Who won the Derby in 1921?
Memory Man: Mr. Jack Joel's Humorist, with Jack Donoghue up.
Audience member: Who won the Cup in 1926?
Memory Man: Cup? Waterloo, football or tea?
Audience member: Football, silly.
- 74. | 12/12/2021
John Kennedy's head "expanded" at Dealey Plaza and then was "diminished". Just sayin'.
- 75. | 21/08/2022
"An enlarged conscience is pathologic,"
from The Bishop's Fool in Rotting Hill by Wyndham Lewis
- 76. | 25/08/2022
i don't think this has been mentioned above but i'm SURE i can't be the first to note , there was a band / duo called TONTO'S EXPANDING HEAD band , featuring Robert Margouleff part responsible for a lot of the synth stuff on Stevie Wonder's best albums .. how likely is it MES knew this lot ? i'd say he probably did , esp as it is known he liked Stevie Wonder .. i'm not au fait with the TONTO'S music ( yet ! ) so i dunno how much they might have inspired any of the lyrics to this song but , well for one thing i did wonder about the TURN THAT SPACE INVADER off line , electronic bleeps // moog +modular synth burbles
- 77. | 25/08/2022
also , "jolly" grapes , as opposed to "sour grapes" , surely ?
- 78. | 05/09/2023
'Wap' is also a colloquial verb meaning to trounce, e.g. 'Burton Albion wapped Port Vale 4-0'
The 'Vic actor fool' could be from The Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on Trent. (not everything's about London)
'Sparky' was the nickname of footballer Mark Hughes, who in 1982-83 was in the middle of his first stint at Manure Utd.
The 'Vic actor fool' could be from The Victoria Theatre, Stoke-on Trent. (not everything's about London)
'Sparky' was the nickname of footballer Mark Hughes, who in 1982-83 was in the middle of his first stint at Manure Utd.
- 79. | 06/09/2023
comment #78, Mark Oliver.
Re: "wap", agreed. But this is not the sense MES appears to be using, see examples.
"Vic Actor". True. It's also worth noting that several Coronation Street actors came out of the Bristol Old Vic, or were connected to it, or went to its theatre school. Notably long-standing cast members Thelma Barlow (Mavis Wilton, 1971-1997), Peter Baldwin (Derek Wilton, 1976-1997), and Amanda Barrie (Alma Sedgewick/Barlow, 1981-2/1988-2001) for example. Could be any number of things.
"Sparky". I think this is a transcriber's comment from the original FallNet transcription or something. No evidence MES ever said or sang it or that it appears on anything he wrote.
Re: "wap", agreed. But this is not the sense MES appears to be using, see examples.
"Vic Actor". True. It's also worth noting that several Coronation Street actors came out of the Bristol Old Vic, or were connected to it, or went to its theatre school. Notably long-standing cast members Thelma Barlow (Mavis Wilton, 1971-1997), Peter Baldwin (Derek Wilton, 1976-1997), and Amanda Barrie (Alma Sedgewick/Barlow, 1981-2/1988-2001) for example. Could be any number of things.
"Sparky". I think this is a transcriber's comment from the original FallNet transcription or something. No evidence MES ever said or sang it or that it appears on anything he wrote.
- 80. | 06/09/2023
Sorry, it appears in "Sinister Times", but provenance unknown, still likely to be the transcriber.
- 81. | 06/09/2023
Sorry, again, when "Sinister Times" came out, in April 1988, Mark Hughes was a month away from returning to Man United, having played in Europe for a couple of years.
- 82. | 23/11/2023
It appears that the Perverted liner notes, along with Man whose Head Expanded, also contain lyrics close to those on Neighbourhood of Infinity, such as applying cut-up technique literally and stealing the cafe’s collection box. Given that Neighbourhood already starts with “Man whose head,” it isn’t a far stretch to say that these two songs are related, but exactly how would take more time to analyze that I don’t want to do while typing on a tiny phone keyboard.
- 83. | 16/01/2024
RE: Mig-20.
Here is MES interviewed in Pilot fanzine, date uncertain but no earlier than 1983:
Here is MES interviewed in Pilot fanzine, date uncertain but no earlier than 1983:
A song like "The Man Whose Head Expanded" has suggestive drug overtones, but it concerns a person who is very sensitive to everything going on around him. A bit of the song was written on a home computer. I tried to transcribe sentences and they got mixed up. Things like "Mig-20", a Russian plane, are the computer's own invention. I think the song has a germ from those classic old films like "The Man With X-Ray Eyes" where he sees through everything. That's what I was aiming for. The song's written from observation but I don't write like that any more.
them in the mouths of Vic. actor fools."
So obviously there's plagiarism afoot, or paranoia about plagiarism. The narrator's best lines are being stolen and put into plays. "Vic. actor" I take to refer to the Old Vic, the famous theatre (or the breakaway known as the Young Vic).