Trust in Me

 (1)

(KC = Kenny Cummings, PS = Phil Schuster, Ding = Simon Archer, Billy = Billy Pavone)

KC:
Verdant is your superlative
The story
You can talk to me in all confidentiality
Trust In Me, I am Dr. Me

PS:
After you left the surgery, don't you worry
I will come around to your house for tea

Ding:
Trust In Me
I'm Dr. Me

Billy:
Messengers enjoy being given gifts
Every three months

KC:
If you need an x-ray (Ding: Trust in me)
I will come to your house and do it for free

Billy:
After you left surgery
Don't you worry
I will come around to your home
For a cup of tea, trust in me

Ding:
Trust In Me

KC
Messengers enjoy being given gifts, every three weeks

PS
If you need an x-ray

Ding:
I'll come around to your house

PS:
And do them for free

Billy:
Billy, Ding, Kenny and Phil
Billy, Ding, Kenny and Phil

 1.  Studio hands Simon "Ding" Archer, Billy Pavone, Kenny Cummings and Phil Schuster (the latter two from a New York band called Shelby) supply the vocals on this track, and although I'm not sure who the main lead vocalist is, one of them seems to hit it a bit more than the others. The vocals do make one miss MES, but at the same time they fit the song, which is a lot of fun, albeit an odd way to end an album which also opens oddly.

The song came together spontaneously in the studio. According to Ben Pritchard:

That album was recorded live.  Y’know, there was very, very few over-dubs.  The band went in and recorded, Mark went in.  We did that in New York, that was three weeks work, that was a good session.  But as far as the writing’s concerned, sometimes we’d go in the studio and Protein Protection’s a good example.  That was on the day, just started out as a bit of a jam.  We needed a new song and that’s what came out of it.  Trust In Me off FHR was done the same, but most of the songs are done individually.  I mean, we hand ‘em in, Mark has a listen to them, either he says, “Yeah, I’ll have it,” or “No, go back and give me another one”.

And Reformation reproduces the following information about the song:

Thanks to Kenny Cummings for clarification on the lyrics, and his account of the recording of this track (see More Information below). 

^

Trust in Me: Fall Tracks A-Z

A Conversation Between Martin Peters and Guest Vocalist Kenny Cummings About The Recording of "Trust In Me":

Was the song – words and music – already pretty much complete and ready to record when you went into the studio, or did you work together on its composition, etc?
KC: The story goes – we (Phil Schuster and I = Shelby) were up in Gigantic Music’s loft to officially sign our recording contract. The loft is comprised of some office space, a lounge, and a huge, beautiful studio (once belonging to Philip Glass). The Fall were in recording the “Heads Will Roll” (sic : Kenny must have had the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on his mind..Editor) record. We were excited to be in their company while they worked. In fact Phil and I crossed paths with Mark several times during those weeks in our travels to and from Gigantic. On this particular night Mark was enjoying his favorite malt beverage in the lounge and he and Eleni were actually witnesses to our signing the deal. Mark was in great spirits and quite jovial, jumping up and giving hugs to all once the papers were signed. Mark and Eleni spent a lot of time those weeks in the lounge whilst the producers worked on sounds, and this night was no different. At sometime during our festivities Mark foisted a piece of notebook paper into my hands and sputtered out “Have a go!”. I looked at the paper and and there was handwritten scrawl across the page. I looked up at Mark completely unsure of what he was asking, while Eleni sat in the corner chuckling. He proceeded to wave his hands as if to shoo me off, and Eleni looked at me and said in no uncertain terms, “He wants you to go sing it.” Wow. What could I say? I was absolutely floored! I was not worthy! But I would’ve offended had I even questioned his motives, so off to the studio I went. As I entered, engineer Billy Pavone was there working with Fall bassist/producer Ding, noodling on a synthesizer looking for a melody line for this song. Billy and I were friends, but when I explained what was going on, he bellowed “Who authorized this?!!!?” I’m sure this caught him off guard. So, sure enough, Mark poked his head in the room and blurted something out indecipherable while vigorously waving his arms then abruptly left the room, not to return for the rest of the session. Ding looked at Billy and me, shrugged, and away we went. The music was already recorded but there were no vocals on the track. In fact, when I went into the vocal room to begin recording. They ran the playback and I just started winging it, trying to phrase his writings. I had to tone down the melodies I was coming up with as it was getting “too pretty” for a Fall song. I did about 4 complete takes from top to bottom, reading from Mark’s handwritten page of lyrics. Then Phil Schuster came in to have a go. Then Billy and Ding got on the game. If you listen to the song it has 4 different vocalists on it in different sections of the song. “Billy & Ding, Kenny and Phil”. What melody exists was pretty-much verbatim what I came up with. It was great fun and a complete honor. To this day I still can’t believe how it all happened, and it happened so fast!

Did you have any creative input in the track or did you just do as you were told, as it were!!
KC: Complete creative input, at least as far as melody and phrasing. Mark wanted someone else’s input and was laisser-faire about it all.

How much rehearsal time did you need?
KC: None! It was done in very few takes. The whole thing couldn’t have taken more than an hour.

Was it an enjoyable experience, what was it like working with The Fall, and were you happy with the finished result?
KC: It was incredible to meet and hang out with Mark and Eleni over those few weeks. Good folks, they are. They came to our record release party and were quite animated, to say the least. It was an honor to become as close to them as we were. Regarding “Trust In Me”, it was completely surreal…right time/right place. I suppose the song title is apropo – he trusted, and the song was there as the final track as he promised. It could be one of the most low-key recording sessions Shelby has ever done, yet had such significance. I will never forget it!