Xmas With Simon

Lyrics

(1)

Do not fret, rest your head, Jesus had no fear
Do not fret, rest your head, Xmas time is here

Castle in the snow, Southern white sign
No explanation for the lights
Empires were tumbling, pity the people in the desert
Jesus did
Pity the people who had too much dessert

Jesus
Big old nice old house
It's Christmas
In old English village
Jesus
It's that time again
It's Christmas
And those films again

Born in a barn
Surrounded by animals
No set amount to the number of diseases
Died at the age of 33
Which is as good a time as any  (2)
White outside
Bowl of light glows
Slow march of the humble
Wrong shall fail and the right prevail  (3)

Jesus
Big old nice old house
It's Christmas
In old English village
Jesus
It's that time again
It's Christmas
And those films again

Do not fret, rest your head, Jesus had no fear
Do not fret, save your breath, Xmas time is here

Jesus
Big old nice old house
In old English village
With candles in it
It's Christmas
It's that time again
And those films again
Jesus
It's Christmas
House of gold
Castle in the snow
Jesus
It's Christmas
Jesus
It's Christmas

 

Notes

1. "Simon" is Fall drummer Simon Wolstencroft, who plays keyboards here as the following remarks (thanks to Reformation) make clear:

Andy Peart in an interview with MES ("Badmouth Strikes Again", Sounds; 8 December 1990):
 
"...the hilarious 'Xmas With Simon' again dispels images of Smith as the archetypal dour Mancunian, showcasing a deeply sarcastic view of the festive season laced with some cheeky cheap keyboards. But The Fall writing a Christmas song? Surely not.
 
[MES] 'Most people record their Christmas singles in January and I thought, If we're going to force the record company to bring out a single before Christmas, we might as well write a festive song. It features Simon on keyboards, which is quite shocking in itself but I like things like that. It is a cynical song. Atrocious lyrics!
 
'The outside opinion of The Fall is that we have no sense of humour but someone who's into The Fall understands the humour within the songs. That's the secret of our accessibility. I find extreme sarcasm very funny indeed.
 
'I must admit I don't like Christmas in England because everywhere closes down for three weeks. It's disgusting. You can't get any bread or milk and that's what the song's about. Christmas is more of a family time... where families can beat each other up.'"
 

I find it extremely hard to believe that anyone who listens to the Fall for more than 30 seconds can be of the opinion that the band has no sense of humor, much less this being some sort of consensus among those "outside" the band, and I doubt it's actually true, but it is certainly possible that a critic or two has said this about the band. Whoever did clearly disqualified anything else they have to say about the Fall from serious consideration. 
A reworked version of this called "Christmastide" appeared with bonus material on one of the releases of Levitate.

^

2. MES Sage points out that Smith was 33 at the time of recording (December 1990). This is of course the age tradition ascribes to Jesus Christ at the time of his crucifixion...

^
 
3. Zack informs me this is "a line from the poem 'Christmas Bells' by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, which was later adapted into the Christmas carol 'I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.' MES fave Johnny Cash recorded a version in 1963.

^

More Information

Xmas WIth Simon: Fall Tracks A-Z

The Story of the Fall: 1990

Comments (10)

dannyno
  • 1. dannyno | 24/07/2014
The second "Do not fret" goes like this:

"Do not fret, rest your head, Jesus had no fear
Do not fret, save your breath, Christmas time is here"

And the last "big old nice old house" is "With candles in it", rather than just "With candles"
Zack
  • 2. Zack | 26/01/2017
"The wrong shall fail, the right prevail" is a line from the poem "Christmas Bells" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, which was later adapted into the Christmas carol "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." MES fave Johnny Cash recorded a version in 1963.
La Ecuación Pre Industrial
  • 3. La Ecuación Pre Industrial (link) | 30/12/2018
love to all my brothers in fall around the world. Thanks for everything.
bzfgt
  • 4. bzfgt (link) | 20/01/2019
Thanks, LEPI, and same to you!
MES Sage
  • 5. MES Sage | 22/02/2019
Died at the age of 33
Which is good as age as any
= Joke!

Smith was 33 at time of recording
dannyno
  • 6. dannyno | 16/04/2019
How the bloody hell did we get this far without noting that however old MES was, Jesus is not uncommonly estimated to have been about 33 when he was crucified.

I'm sure MES would have enjoyed the parallel.
bzfgt
  • 7. bzfgt (link) | 21/06/2019
Crap, believe it or not that was so obvious to me I didn't notice it needed to be pointed out. But now that you've mentioned it it seems ridiculous not to do so.
Matt Finish
  • 8. Matt Finish | 24/12/2020
The main melodic hook - the nursery-rhyme like "do not fret" part - bears a suspicious resemblance to "Heilige Tod" which introduces Death In June's album Brown Book.
Rob
  • 9. Rob | 25/07/2022
"No set amount to the number of diseases" seems likely to be taken from George Coleman's ("Bongo Joe") 1968 track, Innocent Little Doggie, where he describes the louse and flea-eaten inhabitants of skid-row, with "no set number as to how many diseases". Bongo Joe seems like the kind of outsider artist that MES would have enjoyed.
Rob
  • 10. Rob | 25/07/2022
Should have linked the track (at 3.34):
https://youtu.be/pFYLNxKktFo?t=334

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