Over the last fortnight, while on holiday, I’ve been reading an oral history of Rough Trade Records, who boasted acts like The Smiths, The Fall, The Strokes, and The Libertines. While on holiday, I also heard of the passing of Mark E Smith, the leader and only constant member of The Fall. While The Fall are perhaps too abrasive to be a personal favourite, they have a lot of great songs, and ‘The Classical’ from 1982’s Hex Enduction Hour is a favourite Fall track of mine.
Bassist Steve Hanley is credited with writing most of the music on Hex Enduction Hour and ‘The Classical’ certainly sounds like a song written by a bass player. It rides a huge beat that shows the evidence of groove-oriented bands like Can on The Fall. Mark E Smith pronounces some of his most memorable and crass lyrics – it’s difficult to forget the opening salvo which dismisses The Fall’s contemporaries, while “Made with the highest British attention to the wrong detail” is one of Smith’s best lines. The Fall had 66 different members in one fascinating band.
There is no culture is my brag,
Your taste for bullshit reveals a lust for a home of office
This is the home of the vain!
This is the home of the vain!Where are the obligatory niggers?
Hey there fuckface!
Hey there fuckface!
There are twelve people in the worldThe rest are paste
This is the home of the vain!
This is the home of the vain!
I just left the hotel amnesia, I had to go thereWhere it is I can’t remember,
But now I can remember, now I can remember
Hafta! hafta!
Message for yer! message for yer!Too much reliance on girl here
On girls here, behind every shell-actor
Snobbier snobbier
Too much romantic hereI destroy romantics, actors,
Kill it!
Kill it!
Kill it a!
Kill it!
Kill it a!
You won’t find anything more ridiculous, than this new profile
Razor unit, made with the highest british attention to theWrong detail, become obsolete units surrounded by hail.
The classical!
The classical!
The classical!Hotel aggro!
Message for yer! message for yer!
The classical!
Poleaxe a!One of the millennium of conspiracy,
Forever,
I know it means a lot of stomach gas,
I know it means a lot of stomach gas,I’ve never felt better in my life
I’ve never felt better in my life
Poleaxe a!
The classical!Stomach gas
I’ve never felt better in my life
I’ve never felt better in my life
Poleaxe a!Millennium of conspiracy
Play out classical
I’ve never felt better in my life
Better in my life
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Read about the discographies of musical acts from the 1960s to the present day. Browse this site's review archives or enjoy these random selections:
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66 different members? That would be quite the wikipedia timeline to put together!
“If it’s me and your granny on bongos, it’s The Fall.” – Mark E Smith