To Nk Roachment: Yarbles

Lyrics

(1)

[Full credit for the room next door
Found the party assembled on the landing]

Everyday you have to die some
Everyday you have to cry some (2)
For the rumour
All the good times are past and gone (3)
Wipe the tears from your eyes some

[They found full credit in the bathroom
The presence was voluminous]

Everyday you have to die some
Everyday you have to cry some
All the good times are past and gone....

 

Notes

1. This song bookends This Nation's Saving Grace, which opens with "Mansion," an instrumental version of the same song, and closes with this one. "NK Roachment" suggests "encroachment," and "yarbles" is taken from A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. In the invented language of the book ("Nadsat"), yarbles are testicles.  

Dan reminds us that the name of Brix's first band, Banda Dratsing, was Nadsat; from The RIse, The Fall, and The RIse:

"‘Banda’ and ‘Dratsing’ were two separate words in the made-up language Nadsat, taken from the book A Clockwork Orange, which we both loved. ‘Banda’ meant band, and ‘Dratsing’ meant fighting. Fighting Band."

Russell points out:

"A situation in real estate where a property owner violates the property rights of his neighbor by building something on the neighbor's land or by allowing something to hang over onto the neighbor's property. Encroachment can be a problem along property lines when a property owner is not aware of his property boundaries or intentionally chooses to violate his neighbor's boundaries. This is also known as structural encroachment. Encroachment problems are sometimes resolved with a simple conversation, but other times these problems must be taken to court. Because of this, potential homebuyers are advised to avoid properties with encroachment issues."

From Zack:
 

"Mansion" was the set opener for nearly every Fall gig in 2002. It's listed as "To Nk Roachment: Yarbles" on the Touch Sensitive DVD but was always written as "Mansion" on setlists, and they definitely played it more in the peppy "Mansion" style rather than the downbeat "Yarbles" style. MES would sing a few "Yarbles" lyrics, then shout "Mansion!"

^

2. The lyrics and melody here are taken from "Every Day I Have To Cry Some," written by Arthur Alexander and recorded by Steve Alaimo, who had a minor hit with it in 1962, and covered by a whole bevy of artists, including Dusty Springfield, Johnny Rivers, and the Bee Gees. Alexander himself finally recorded the song in 1975. The chorus: "Everyday I have to cry some/ Everyday I have to cry some/ Dry the water from my eyes some/ Everyday I have to cry."

Another source with which MES would have likely been familiar is "Home of the Brave" on Lou Reed's Legendary Hearts album, which includes the lyric "And everyday you have to die some/Cry some and die some."

The riff had appeared on "Billy the Monster" by The Deviants (1969, thanks to Petula Macabre) and .earlier on "The Light Hurts My Eyes" by The Great Scots (1966, thanks to John Coan). 

Brix, in her book, says this is her version of Disney's "Haunted Mansion Ride" theme (note that this song first appears as the instrumental "Mansion"), and it is easy to hear how the riff could have been adapted from the latter, although it would still be a somewhat sizable coincidence if she had done so without hearing at least one of the songs mentioned above.

 

^

3. "All the Good Times are Past and Gone" is an American folk standard, and appears in various iterations, complete with "floating" verses (verses shared by other songs). The song was recorded by Fred and Gertude Gossett in 1930, although it surely predates this version, and the Monroe Brothers recorded it in 1936. It has become a bluegrass staple, and has seemingly been recorded by nearly all the chief purveyors of the genre, including Bill Monroe (with the Blue Grass Boys, after the bluegrass era began), Jimmy Martin, Flatt and Scruggs, Ralph Stanley, and Del McCoury.

^

 

Comments (24)

nochmal
  • 1. nochmal | 02/05/2013
This helps absolutely nothing at all in unveiling the semantic meaning of the title, but the way I have always thought of the syntactic sense of it is that the singer/character is basically saying "bollocks!" to encroachment. Yeah, I know, then we are exactly as far.
dusty
  • 2. dusty | 09/05/2013
Hi, I was wondering if anyone could explain to me what they reckon this song's about? I'm a bit lost in trying to connect the meanings of the 'rumous', 'full credit', 'the landing' and the 'illuminous' 'presence' in 'the bathroom'? Cheers!
bzfgt
  • 3. bzfgt | 10/05/2013
Hey, Dusty, this is one of those times when my site falls short. Some of the lyrics are cryptic, to say the least. Anyway I return to these and rework them as I get the chance, so perhaps some progress will be made on that front. anna
dannyno
  • 4. dannyno | 15/07/2014
Doesn't the song end on "past and gone"? I'm not hearing the final die/cry some that appears here.
Zack
  • 5. Zack | 10/05/2015
The lead vocal track, if we can call it that, is mixed louder on "Wonderful And Frightened Part 2 (Rough Mix)", and here's what I hear:

Full credit for the room next door
Found the party assembled on the landing
They found full credit in the bathroom
The presence was voluminous
russell richardson
  • 6. russell richardson | 10/05/2015
This very boring but.... if we take 'mansion' (my new house) and 'encroachment' (with Paintwork) as on one level at least being about moving from a rented flat to an earned/owned house... then these are some of the utterly trivial details you need to work out (boundaries, garden limits, who's responsible for the slugs etc, which might well drive a person of 'bohemian' sensibility around the twist. Legal letters about whose hedge it is? which pink half of the drainpipe? Yarbles, indeed.
russell richardson
  • 7. russell richardson | 10/05/2015
Videlicet:

How to drive MES round the twist:

A situation in real estate where a property owner violates the property rights of his neighbor by building something on the neighbor's land or by allowing something to hang over onto the neighbor's property. Encroachment can be a problem along property lines when a property owner is not aware of his property boundaries or intentionally chooses to violate his neighbor's boundaries.
This is also known as structural encroachment.

Encroachment problems are sometimes resolved with a simple conversation, but other times these problems must be taken to court. Because of this, potential homebuyers are advised to avoid properties with encroachment issues. Property owners wishing to make changes near their property lines may want to talk to their neighbors and/or have a land survey done to make sure the work falls within their own property's boundaries.

Surely someone from the Halifax could have pointed this out?

Read more: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/encroachment.asp#ixzz3Zkxbe6Oc
Follow us: @Investopedia on Twitter
dannyno
  • 8. dannyno | 30/03/2016
It probably ought to be noted that the track "Home of the Brave" on Lou Reed's "Legendary Hearts" album, includes the lyric:


And everyday you have to die some
Cry some and die some
Luciani
  • 9. Luciani | 08/10/2016
I always thought it was
"Wipe the tears from your eyes son"
bzfgt
  • 10. bzfgt | 15/10/2016
Yeah that's what I thought too and I can't remember why it says the other above. But I haven't listened in a while and I'm not sure what it sounds like now, I'll check it again at some point since we both think it may be wrong.
bzfgt
  • 11. bzfgt | 15/10/2016
OK I am listening and it sounds to me slightly more like "some" but not definitive by any means. So inertia dictates it stays for now.
bzfgt
  • 12. bzfgt (link) | 11/08/2017
Never mind, got it.
bzfgt
  • 13. bzfgt (link) | 11/08/2017
Oops, wrong planet...
bzfgt
  • 14. bzfgt (link) | 11/08/2017
Martin, did I hear you say this was performed in 2002 with different lyrics? Anyone have a copy of that and want to transcribe?
Zack
  • 15. Zack | 11/08/2017
"Mansion" was the set opener for nearly every Fall gig in 2002. It's listed as "To Nk Roachment: Yarbles" on the Touch Sensitive DVD but was always written as "Mansion" on setlists, and they definitely played it more in the peppy "Mansion" style rather than the downbeat "Yarbles" style. MES would sing a few "Yarbles" lyrics, then shout "Mansion!"
dannyno
  • 16. dannyno | 13/08/2017
There's a relevant letter in Fall fanzine The Biggest Library Yet, issue 14, published January 1999. It's from Gary Long of Harrogate.

He reports listening to a friend's Northern Soul compilation, and being taken aback to hear the words to this song.

He writes:


I'd heard it said that this Fall number had ransacked a Dusty Springfield version of a song called EVERY DAY I HAVE TO CRY, but it transpires the version on my mates care stereo pre-dates this.

The original was by Steve Alaimo, and was released on the Checker lable (thru' Chess)...


He goes on:


Prior to a recent Fall gig, I was fortunate enough to engage Mark E Smith in conversation and related the above story of discovery to him. "You bloody trainspotter!" he retorted. He's right of course, but I know I'm not alone when it comes to matters appertaining to the Fall.


Indeed not.
dannyno
  • 17. dannyno | 14/08/2017
"care stereo" should be "car stereo", obviously.
dannyno
  • 18. dannyno | 14/08/2017
... in my comment #16, I mean, obviously.
dannyno
  • 19. dannyno | 14/11/2017
Re: the Clockwork Orange Nadsat slang thing. I'd like to point out that Brix's pre-Fall band Banda Dratsing took their name from the same source. It means "fighting gang/band". So perhaps not only is it Brix's music, it's also her title. I mean, I expect MES has read the book.

See The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise:


‘Banda’ and ‘Dratsing’ were two separate words in the made-up language Nadsat, taken from the book A Clockwork Orange, which we both loved. ‘Banda’ meant band, and ‘Dratsing’ meant fighting. Fighting Band.


See also: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:A_Clockwork_Orange

and

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadsat

and

https://web.archive.org/web/20170618031341/https://soomka.com/nadsat.html
dannyno
  • 20. dannyno | 02/01/2018
Note #2, and my comment #8. It seems likely that Reed was explicitly quoting from the Arthur Alexander/Steve Alaimo composition.

From Lou Reed: A Life by Anthony DeCurtis (2017), discussing Legendary Hearts:

Reed ends the song quoting lyrics from the 1965 country-soul hit "Every Day I Have To Cry Some."


Lou Reed: The Defining Years by Peter Dogget (1992/2012, originally published as Growing Up In Public), says the same:

Lou even threw in a gloomy chorus of the Sixties soul standard by Arthur Alexander, 'Every Day I Have To Cry', to ram the message home.


We don't know whether MES is quoting Reed quoting Alexander/Alaimo, or quoting Alexander/Alaimo directly, but it seems clear that the lines are a quote, even without a clear acknowledgement by Reed.
dannyno
  • 21. dannyno | 02/01/2018
And I just wonder whether "encroachment" is an echo of the Lou Reed lyric, Growing Up In Public?


Some people are into the power of power
The absolute corrupting power, that makes great men insane
While some people find their refreshment in action
The manipulation, encroachment and destruction of their inferiors


I mean, it's just the same word, and I wouldn't usually bother. But it's an unusual word, and there's already a Reed connection, if only by deduction.
Kevin the Verbal
  • 22. Kevin the Verbal | 16/08/2018
Sounds like a party next door was pissing him off...
jensotto
  • 23. jensotto | 19/04/2019
I remember single-Yarble was a point sometime 79-81. Looking up Monorchism: Franco, Mao, and Church were in the news 1975-77. One point to remember is that the change in US policy vs Franco ca 1950 was controversial ...

Encroachment - I have to go for this date https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbchomeservice/basic/1967-09-14#at-15.00
Mark Oliver
  • 24. Mark Oliver | 31/08/2023
Re. Nadsat; in 1973, I had a Lambretta LI 150 painted Le Mans green, with the words 'Zammechat Veshch' emblazoned on the side in home-made, black vinyl, 'space'-style letters. (translates as 'Remarkable Thing').

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