The Fall online - Discography

Perverted By Language

Original UK release

First released 5 December 1983 on Rough Trade: LP: ROUGH62; and cassette: ROUGH62MC

01. Eat Y'self Fitter (Hanley, S/Smith) 6:35

I'm in the furniture trade
Got a new job today
But stick the cretin
On the number-three lathe

Went down the town
To a HM club
The sign had a cross
Through a couple well-dressed
They looked at my coat
They looked at my hair
An Easy Rider coot
Grabbed the edge of my coat
Said: 'You're too smart for here'
I said: 'I'll see the manager'

He was the manager
Eat y'self fitter
Up the stairs mister
Eat y'self fitter

Analytics have got
My type worked out
Analytics on me
The poison render
I grope about
And when I go out
My mind splits
My eyes doth hurt
The musical chairs
Have been swallowed up
By a cuddly group
Who land and rub off
Hoping that
Whatever it is
Will land and drop off

I met a hero of mine
I shook his hand
Got trapped in the door
Felt a fool, I tell ya

Charmed to meet ya
Eat y'self fitter
Up the stairs mister
Eat y'self fitter

Became a recluse
And bought a computer
Set it up in the home
Elusive big one
On the screen
Saw the Holy Ghost, I swear
On the screen

Where's the cursor?
Where's the eraser?
Where's the cursor?
Where's the eraser?
G-O-H-O-H-O-9-O
G-O-H-O-H-O-9-O
G-O-H-O-H-O-9-O
H-O-9-O-G-O-H-O

What's a computer?
Eat y'self fitter
What's a computer?
Eat y'self fitter

The Kevin Ayers scene
South of France
Plush velvet
Aback! Aback!
Aback! Aback!
Levis Fridays
Greek holidays
Barratt heritance X 3

Mit-Dem! X3 [? Victim]
Don't wanna be a mit-dem! X4 [? victim]

Pick the fleas mister
Eat y'self fitter
Eat y'self fitter?
Eat y'self fitter

Who tells you what
To tape on your vid. chip
How do you know the progs you miss
Are worse than those you single out?
And what'll you do when the rental's up?
And your bottom rack is full of vids
Of programs you will nay look at
The way they act is, oh, sheer delight
Cardboard copyright
Make it right
Panic in Sudan
Panic in Wardour
Panic in Granadaland
Panic all over
By the wretched timesheeters
Of my delight
One starry night
The powers that be will have to meet
And have no choice but to...

Eat each other
Eat y'self fitter
Eat each other?
Eat y'self fitter

(Eat y'self fitter)

Portly and with good grace
The secret straight-back ogre entered
His brain aflame
With all the dreams
It had conjured X4

Mit-dem [?Victim]
Don't wanna be a mit-dem X4 [? victim]

The centimeter square
Eat y'self fitter
Said it purged fear
Eat y'self fitter

(Eat y'self fitter)

02. Neighbourhood Of Infinity (Burns/Scanlon/Riley/Hanley, S/Smith) 2:40

Man whose head:
A - Knew about politburo facade behind 'Kicker'
C - Who stole cafe's collection box
B - Who applied cut-up technique literally to himself
E - Who wore a red scarf to remind him of his fiancee
G - And visitor esoteric Japanese says analyser. Mr Alastair touched off the tragedy.
Taped voice, barely audible: 'You can tell by the way [...]
H - There's a claque that makes use of Lancastrian patronisation of vice.
Their rep Jim Davidson.
The love of Paris infects the Civil Service.
Lichen on the...N
I used to have this thing about Link Wray
I used to play him every Saturday
God bless Saturday
God bless Saturday

We are The Fall

03. Garden (Hanley, P/Hanley, S/Smith/Burns/Scanlon) 8:41

The first god had in his garden
From the back looked like a household pet
When it twirled round was revealed to be
A three-legged black-grey hog

See what flows from his mushy pen
Garden
Garden

That person is films on TV five years back at least
He's the young generation dancing troupe
Try'na perform Country And Western
Do a dance here

Never since birth not eaten in a day
Never since courtship stayed up some nights
He had a "Kingdom Of Evil" book under a German history book
He was contrived like that

See what flows from his slushy pen
Garden
Garden

Small, small location on huge covenance sodomised by presumption
Crooked traitor past revealed at last

Godzone
Godzone (Jacob's Ladder)
Godzone
Godzone

... can be erased. This entails explosive charges left to me by a dead sailor from Bury being wired up under every windowsill in close proximity to my ears. When phones ring and are inconvenient to the ears, I just press table lamp light button next to my bed and they blow up. I got the idea from a book. Yours sincerely, Mr Reg Varney[1]

The same thing [?] could have been taken for a spoilt slate with largesse resource. His ferry stopped at the 'Pool port. Wild Bill Hick shaves and charts at last. The second god's sad - he's coming up - he's waiting number four with a [?]. Less stylish porch, we have the second god's influence. Wild Bill Hick shaves and charts at last.

Shotgun shotgun
Shotgun shotgun
Shotgun shotgun

The best firms advertise the least

The second god lived by mountains that flowed
By the blue shiny lit roads
Had forgot what others still tried to grasp
He knew the evil of the phone
He knew the evil of the phone
The bells stopped on Sunday when he rose
The bells stopped on Sunday when he rose

He's here
He's here at last
I saw him
I swear
He's on the second floor
Up the brown baize lift shaft
He's here
He's here at last
I saw him
I swear

Jew on a motorbike
Jew on a motorbike
Jew on a motorbike
Jew on a motorbike
Jew on a motorbike
Jew on a motorbike
Jew on a motorbike
Jew on a motorbike
He's here
I saw him
I swear
Up the brown baize lift shaft
Jew on a motorbike
Jew on a motorbike
Jew on a motorbike
Jew on a motorbike

Note: [1] This section is present on the Castle 1993 CD but not the later 1998 reissue.

04. Hotel Bloedel (Smith/Hanley, S) 3:47

And it's painless
Sitting in subterranea
Ancient reference
To Mesopotamia

And it's quiet again
Hidden fragments, surface now
Repetitious history
One more time for the record

2013 Philippsburg Confederate graves
Are uncovered, throwing new light on
This 19th century conflict, sparking a repeat
These southern spectres were disease ridden, dusty, organic
And psychic

Rebellious mistakes
Occur again
Everything moving
In a circular fashion

Our words return in patterns
Our minds, encapsulating time

Gregoror, satiated walking thru' capitol
Stumbles on two thousand dead Thai monks in SS uniforms
Then fled to Hotel Bloedel, outside Nuremberg
A long way south, to a reasonable smell of death

And it's quiet again
Hidden figments, surface now
Repetitious history
One more time for the record

05. Smile (Hanley, P/Hanley, S/Scanlon/Smith/Burns) 5:06

Tight faded male arse
Decadence and Anarchy
He said, he smiled
Something to dance to
A certain style
SMILE
SMILE
SMILE
SMILE
Meat Animals
SMILED
SMILED
Patchwork jacket from the top of his ears
Shaved
Relation with fellow age group, and opposite birds
SMILES
Wants anarchy
SMILED
The club nerve and poses
Physical awareness
Smiles
Take the chicken run, take the chicken run
To the toilet
In the above, designed from above club
Makes ginger
"Go on, you can do it!"
SMILE
SMILES
Wants anarchy
SMILED
Is the fungus damp in the cellar?
Positive G.B.H.
SMILES
With his friends, ask for cigarettes
SMILES
Sparks off
Repeal gun laws in my brain
Sparks off
Give us a gun if I got one
DAMN!
Grin
Damn
Grin
UP UP UP UP UP UP UP UP UP UP
SMILE!
SMILED!
Would ask for a fag in Texas
Smiles
Desires travel
Well fed in a welfare way
SMILES
SMILED
SMILES
Lousy celebrity makes joke record
Lick-spittle southerner
Waiting for next holiday by gas miser
SMILES
SMILES
Positive G.B.H.!
Roar, encore, special vexation process
Tight faded male arse, decadence and anarchy he said
He smiles, SMILE? SMILED
Well fed in roman nero way like the way you imagined
In the roman and nero kodak films ..........

06. I Feel Voxish (Riley/Hanley, S/Smith) 4:19

A pillbox crisp
Offer, offer, it was not an unreasonable offer
A pillbox crisp, that French git
The spikes he left in the bathroom
And I never heard from him again
Offer, offer, it was not an unreasonable offer
But it made me hungry
For victuals could not raise nor buy
I feel voxish, stack-heeled Hari Krish
Those disgusting [vegan new/youth punks]
Caught my life mould, give me silenced lectures
Offer, offer, it was not an unreasonable offer
But it made me hungry
For victuals could not raise nor buy
I've been sharpening a knife in the bathroom
On a brick I got from the garden
No one will fuck with me again
Offer, offer, it was not an unreasonable offer
But it made me hungry
For victuals could not raise nor buy
Feel vox crisp
And voxish

07. Tempo House (Hanley, S/Smith) 8:51

A serious man
In need of a definitive job
He had drunk too much
Mandrake anthrax
Pro-rae, pro-rae
Oloron
Tormented tots
With Burton weeping
His idiot contacts
Pro-rae, pro-rae

Put your claim into Tempo House
Go round there to Tempo House
Go round and have a grouse
Put your claim into Tempo House

Roll the chubby round jowls
Roll the chubby round jowls
And Burton's weeping
His chairs are weeping
God damn the pedantic Welsh
Pro-rae, pro-rae

Put your claim into Tempo House
Go round there to Tempo House
Go there and have a grouse
Put your claim into Tempo House

I'd sing "Solitaire" for the B.E.F.
But who wants to be with them, anyway?
Snow on Easter Sunday
Jesus Christ in reverse
I tell ya, the Dutch are weeping
In four languages at least
Oloron
Pro-rae

And Burton is weeping

Put your claim into Tempo House
Put your claim into Tempo House
Go round and have a grouse
Put your claim into Tempo House

Illness, pollution, should be encouraged and let loose
Then maybe some would have a genuine grouse
Spring right out of the fetters
Right away from 63 Market Place
Tempo House address
Pro-rae, pro-rae
Oloron

Winston Churchill had a speech imp-p-p-pediment [1]
And look what he did
He razed half of London
And the Dutch are weeping
Lusted after French paintings
Pro-rae, pro-rae

Put your claim into Tempo House
Go round there and have a grouse
Go round, have a grouse
Put your claim into Tempo House

Pro-rae

Note: [1] In UK dole offices around the time, there were posters saying "Winston Churchill had a speech impediment" as part of a campaign to encourage people with disabilities.

08. Hexen Definitive/Strife Knot (Burns/Scanlon/Smith) 6:58

Tied up to posts
Blindfold so can't feel maintainance
Kickback art thou that thick?
Death of the dimwits
Businessman hits train
Businessman hits train
His veiled sex seeps through his management sloth
The journey takes one hour
And its a hexen hour
Hexen school
Hexen cursed
Hexen bowl boils
Hexen rule
Explain the mood harm

The DDR scene
Alpine pullovers
Alpine give over
You can clutch at my toes
You will drive me insane
You know nothing about it
It's not your domain
Don't confuse yourself with someone who has something to say
Cause its a hexen rain
Hexen fodder
Hexen cursed
Hexen bowl boils
Hexen rule explain the mood harm

While greenpeace looked like saffron on the realm
Brown, shrivelled
A Kellog's peace
The opposition was down
Red church on a hill
Red church on a hill
Styrofoam insides
Aluminium tiers
Louis Armstrong tapes waft down the aisles
And its a hexen hour
Hexen file
Hexen rule
Hexen bowl boils
Hexen rule in the hour of the fall

It takes grace to play the second fiddle well
His cap emblazoned a crusty knife
Scab-ridden physog was these you ate
Goes with you down, and pats your head

That's strife knot
Strife ker-not
Strife is life and don't forget it
Strife is life, you don't wanna hear it
Could be thirteen or thirty one of this mob
Could be thirteen or thirty one of this mob
Strife knot
Strife ker-not

Life is strife but you don't wanna hear it
Strife is life and that's it
And that's it, and that's it
And that's it

(Side 1: tracks 1-4; Side 2: tracks 5-8)

Credits

Mark E Smith - vocals, piano, violin
Craig Scanlon - guitar, vocals
Steve Hanley - bass
Paul Hanley - drums, keyboards
Karl Burns - drums, bass
Brix Smith - guitar, vocals (tracks 1 & 4)

Produced by: Steve Parker
Live recording (track 7): Heather Hanley and Oz McCormick
Cover artwork: Claus Castenskiold

Recording info & notes

Recorded at Pluto Studio, Manchester and mixed at Silo, London mid 1983 (tracks 1-6 & 8). Track 7 recorded live at the Hacienda, Manchester on 27 July 1983.

Overseas releases

Released in Germany in December 1983 on LP on Line Records (LRLP 5346 AP); also on white vinyl LP (LILP 4.00116) and CD (LICD 9.00116). Released in Italy in December 1983 on LP on Base Records/Go International (GI LP 62). Released in Belgium and The Netherlands in December 1983 on LP on Megadisc/Rough Trade (ROUGH 62). Released in France on LP on Virgin (206073). Released in Greece on LP on Virgin (?). Released in Australia and New Zealand on LP on Rough Trade (RTRANZ001). In Japan, a promo LP was issued in 1983 on Rough Trade Japan (25RTL-9). Tracklistings and cover the same as the original UK release.

1993 Castle reissue

Reissued on 8 November 1993 on Castle CD: CLACD392 with the original tracklisting and cover.

1998 Voiceprint reissue

Reissued on 9 February 1998 on Cog Sinister via Voiceprint, CD: COGVP104CD with the original tracklisting and cover.

1998 Castle reissue

Reissued on 27 June 1998 on Castle/Essential CD: ESMCD639 with the original tracklisting plus bonus tracks:

01. The Man Whose Head Expanded (Smith/Hanley, S/Scanlon/Seaberg) 4:21
02. Ludd Gang (The Fall) 2:35
03. Kicker Conspiracy (Smith) 4:21
04. Wings (Smith/Hanley, S/Hanley, P) 4:33
13. Pilsner Trail (The Fall) 4:48

Bonus tracks 1-4 were placed prior to the album tracks, on the logic that the singles from which the bonus tracks were taken were released prior to the album, so people should hear the songs in the order they became publicly available. Track 13 was a previously unreleased studio outtake, so it was placed after the album tracks. Tracks 1-2 are from the single The Man Whose Head Expanded; tracks 3-4 are from the single Kicker Conspiracy. This version has been remixed (apparently because MES was unhappy with the original mix) & a vocal part has been removed from Garden. The sleeve lists Hexen Definitive/Strife Knot as Hexen Definitive/Strife and Pilsner Trail as Pilsner Trai.

2005 Sanctuary reissue

Reissued on 20 June 2005 on Castle, a label of Sanctuary Records Group, CD: CMQDD1134 (2 CDs) with the original tracklisting plus bonus tracks:

09. The Man Whose Head Expanded (Smith/Hanley, S/Scanlon/Seaberg) 4:21
10. Ludd Gang (The Fall) 2:35
11. Kicker Conspiracy (Smith) 4:21
12. Wings (Smith/Hanley, S/Hanley, P) 4:33
13. Pilsner Trail (The Fall) 4:48

CD2:
01. Smile (Hanley, P/Hanley, S/Scanlon/Smith/Burns) 5:17
02. Garden (Hanley, P/Hanley, S/Smith/Burns/Scanlon) 10:02
03. Hexen Definitive/Strife Knot (Burns/Scanlon/Smith) 9:08
04. Eat Y'self Fitter (Hanley, S/Smith) 7:02
05. Garden (Hanley, P/Hanley, S/Smith/Burns/Scanlon) 8:45
06. Neighborhood Of Infinity (Alabamahalle, Munich, Germany 4 April 1984) (Burns/Scanlon/Riley/Hanley, S/Smith) 3:10
07. Smile (White Columns, New York 4 May 1983) (Hanley, P/Hanley, S/Scanlon/Smith/Burns) 5:41
08. Tempo House (White Columns, New York 4 May 1983) (Hanley, S/Smith) 7:18
09. Perverted By Language (Electric Ballroom, London 8 December 1983) (Smith) 1:36
10. Wings (Hammersmith Palais, London 25 March 1982) (Smith/Hanley, S/Hanley, P) 3:37
11. Backdrop (Concorde, Brighton 27 October 1983) (The Fall) 11:11

CD1 tracks 9-10 are from the single The Man Whose Head Expanded; tracks 11-12 are from the single Kicker Conspiracy; track 13 is a studio outtake from the album sessions. CD2 tracks 1-4 are from John Peel radio session #5; track 5 is the remixed version of Garden from the 1998 Castle reissue of the album; tracks 6-11 are live recordings at venues and dates as listed above. CD2 track 6 was previously released on the Palace Of Swords Reversed compilation. CD2 tracks 7-8 were previously released on the Speed Trials Various Artists compilation.