You Haven't Found It Yet

I reckon it's also a dig at U2's I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For: Bono writes pretentiously about spiritual yearning, the yearning in Smith's song is more practical. There's a hint to this effect in his Jan 1990 Snub TV interview, which mentions that the band's next song was going to be about the difficulty of finding a parking space. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8snXmUw-j3Y

I'm no expert on London, but it's worth pointing out that Camden Town has, in some people's opinion, become increasingly trendy and touristic in recent years, thereby the use of the adjective "flashy" in the lyrics of the song.

As for the grist/tryst (?) that curtails the mill...see also the Cheetham Hill (CD/LP) version of US 80s 90s. Is this line somehow sampled across You Haven't Found if Yet, US 80s 90s and Feeling Numb? Need to listen.

Sorry for these mostly trivial interjections, by the way, but it's the kind of thing which interests me!

"The grist that curtails the mill"

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gristmill, for a little enlightenment.

... as in the well known phrase "all grist to the mill", I guess.

See also: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/grist-to-the-mill.html

Thanks, Danny. Is "grist" a recondite enough term that it needs a note? In general I don't use the notes as a dictionary, since there are plenty of those online. Or is there something more specifically relevant from that stuff that I missed?

I'm not sure that people know what "grist" is, no. But maybe it doesn't need a note.

By the way, you have quoted the Q Magazine interview twice in your notes.

The version on Shift-Work begins with MES intoning:

"Where are you going?
This work has not yet reached cessation"

There's lots of chorus mssing from the lyrics transcribed here.

Also, it's clearly "encombed" not "entombed".

Here's what I hear:

"Where are you going?
This work has not yet reached cessation
You haven't found it yet
Haven't found it yet
You just haven't found it yet
Found it yet
Found it yet
Found it yet
Look at the glass, turn your head
You haven't found it yet
Moving down the lane inside
It's flashy Camden Town
It's that London lyric again
You haven't found it yet
You haven't it yet
Just haven't found it yet
Impulses crowd your head
Too much to be absorbed
You're into the top shackle
Mental saw-down of your head
Which bemoans a simple fact
You haven't found it yet
You just haven't found it yet
You haven't found it yet
Found it yet
It seemed so clear in bed
It's dark but your legs, they are dead
Your pen is encombed in mattress
You're not going to get it yet
Cos you haven't found it yet
You just haven't found it yet
You haven't found it yet
Haven't found it yet
You're dying but still warm
Put this writing on your tomb
Spit out with dying breath
You haven't found it yet
You haven't found it yet
Haven't found it yet
I dictate
Haven't found it yet
You haven't found it yet
Transcribe
Haven't found it yet
Relations
You haven't found it yet
Dear cousin
Haven't found it yet
You haven't found it yet
[ ]
It's destiny
The grist that curtails the mill shall make us strong"

The way the song seems to me, the yearning starts off as being practical/ trivial (ie driving around London ) but by the final verses the narrator sees this as a metaphor for his whole life, that we will go to our graves still looking for the undefined 'something'. This resonates deeply for me. See also "just waiting".

Good thoughts, I added them above...

Struck me that "your pen is encombed in mattress" could be "your penis encombed in mattress", with "penis" being deliberately mispronounced. cf. "living leg-ends", "co-in slot" etc.

Very much, although I can't tell whether this is the case from listening and it sounds kind of gross...

My first favourite of the album was 'You Haven't Found It Yet'.

"It's good, innit? I'm pleased with that, yeah. It's about being lost
on your own. And nobody ever finds anything, really, do they, in the
end? People are always looking for something they never get. It's good
to keep telling yourself that. It's like what
the Fall policy is about. No, really, you know. That's why we keep
going. There hasn't been a perfect Fall LP yet. The last one was quite
good. It's a challenge, the challenge is to try and get it. I mean, if
you could get it straight away it would be a waste of time, wouldn't
it?"

comment #13 Yes! That's what we always thought. His knob caught in the mattress! That's why he chuckles when he sings it, surely. Another example of the juvenile toilet wall graffiti humour that Mark sometimes indulges in. (Just like the Beatles suppressing giggles while singing 'tit, tit, tit, tit, tit' in Girl - and add a hundred other examples).

If the context is a song about driving then presumably…

Look at the glass

Refers to a car’s windscreen or mirrors.