Counter-Currents
2,235
Mark E Smith
Renegade: The Lives and Tales of Marc E Smith
Viking, 2008
I hope this book turns out like Mein Kampf for the Hollyoaks generation.
–Mark E. Smith, Renegade
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I’ve written about a number of English bands for Counter-Currents: Joy Division, Killing Joke, Morrissey, Ultravox (the original, good Ultravox).
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7 comments
Decades ago I remember hearing The Fall’s ‘Repetition’ on John Peel. I thought it was rather funny. They should have left it there.
“This Nation’s Saving Grace” was my introduction to the man/myth/legend. From the minute I heard it I was a fan. “Renegade” is apt; he was a true original. And he put his money where his mouth is apropos of lyrics; a gifted poet.
The Fall Lyrics, by Mark E. Smith
Thanks for that, I didn’t know there was a lyric book. Perverted by Language, although not my fave album, sums him up.
Couldn’t agree more. One of my favorite Fall songs is from that album, and is a great example of his fantastical poetic lyrics, worth posting:
“Wings”
Day by day the moon gains on me.
Day by day the moon gains on me.
Purchased a pair of flabby wings.
I took to doing some hovering.
Here is a list of incorrect things.
Hovered mid-air outside a study.
An academic kneeded his chin,
Sat in the dust of some cheap magazines.
His academic rust could not burn them up.
I recruited some gremlins
To get me clear of the airline routes.
I paid them off with stuffing from my wings.
They had some fun with those cheapo airline snobs.
The stuffing loss made me hit a time lock.
I ended up in the eighteen-sixties.
I’d been there for one hundred and twenty-five years.
A small alteration of the past can turn time into space.
Ended up under Ardwick Bridge
With some veterans from the U.S. Civil War.
They were under Irish patronage.
We shot dead a stupid sergeant,
but I got hit in the crossfire.
The lucky hit made me hit a time lock.
But when I got back
The place I made the purchase no longer exists.
I’d erased it under the bridge.
Day by day the moon gains on me.
By such things the moon gains on me.
So now I sleep in ditches
And hide away from nosey kids.
The wings rot and feather under me.
The wings rot and curl right under me.
A small alteration of the past can turn time into space.
Small touches can alter more than a mere decade.
Wings, wings . . .
I don’t know this band. I’ll check it out. I like a lot of different outsider art. I prefer it myself. But if it sounds like The Doors, it’s shit for me.
Approach with caution. but like I said, if The Fall don’t grab you at hello, forget it. Start with my favorite, a song called Frightened, their first album release.
Thank you. I’ll give it a try.
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