The Fall In Fives

  C is for... Cock(ed) 'Cock' or 'cocker' was a friendly term used frequently by MES. Karl Burns directed it at Smith in a far less friendly fashion during the 1998 Brownies meltdown (see B  part 2 ).  ' Stout Man ' from Sub-Lingual Tablet  was based on The Stooges' ' Cock In My Pocket '. 'Cocked' was the working title for what became  Interim , a 2004 collection of live and rehearsal recordings. The word also appears in the lyric of the Interim  version of 'What About Us?' Cog Sinister In 1987, the rights to some of The Fall's early songs reverted to Smith. This inspired him to set up his own label, Cog Sinister . The idea was to support releases by obscure and interesting artists, financed by profits from re-releasing The Fall’s old material. The name came from Smith’s belief that his ‘pre-cog’ abilities would enable him to spot new talent and neglected geniuses. Brix claimed that she came up with the name: 'I remember sugge...

  (See also 1977-82 and 1983-88 ) 1989 Left to right: John Peel's 50th, 29 August ( ticket ) - they played Mere Pseud Mag Ed, I'm Frank, Arms Control Poseur, Fiery Jack, Race with the Devil ('we learnt this especially for John's birthday'), Carry Bag Man, Mr. Pharmacist. Manchester Free Trade Hall, 13 July (photo from Melody Maker) - ticket . B-Side magazine , Aug/Sept Bradford, 1 October NME, 25 February ( interview with MES, Shane MacGowan and Nick Cave) 1990 Clockwise from top left: Brisbane, 22 June (photo: Peter Chirico ) - ticket Melody Maker, 1 September NME, 17 February ( Extricate   review ) Poster for St. David's Hall, Cardiff gig, 10 December     Central Park NY, May (photo: Ebet Roberts) - from an Alex Petridis article in The Guardian NME, 20 January NME, 25 August 1991 Clockwise from top left: Lime Lizard , July Select, June (photo by Chris Clunn) Reading Festival, 24 August (photo by Brian Rasic) MTV, performing ' A Lot Of Wind ' Sele...

C is for... John Cale Cale, founder member of the Velvet Underground, get's a mention in 'Eat Y'self Fitter': 'I met a hero of mine...' Smith met Cale after watching him play at the Haçienda in March 1983. According to Peter Hook, only about 40 people turned up for the gig: 'Most of them talked all the way through the show... all of the chatter drove me insane. Marc Riley from The Fall was as incensed as I was and we walked through the crowd, poking them telling them to shut up'. Caretaker An increasingly disillusioned and impecunious Steve Hanley took a job as a school caretaker in 1998, shortly before his departure from the group. It has been suggested that ' Groundsboy ' from New Facts Emerge  alludes to this fact, although the lyrics don't really support the interpretation. Cargo The Rochdale studio where Dragnet , ‘Rowche Rumble’, Room To Live and The Infotainment Scan were recorded. It was opened in 1978 by John Brierley, who gets a me...

  B is for... William Blake ‘Blake, like Smith, was single-minded and eclectic, an autodidact with idiosyncratic spelling and a keen interest in occult and esoteric systems of knowledge. Both found it difficult to establish long-term relationships because of their erratic behaviour and short tempers and both were resolutely anti-commercial.’ (Simon Ford) The best-known Smith/Blake link is ' Jerusalem '. The hymn, with music written by Sir Hubert Parry, was based on Blake's poem ' And Did Those Feet in Ancient Time '. ' W.B. ' from The Unutterable  is also about Blake (‘you've heard about mad Blake’), specifically his poem ‘ A Song Of Liberty ’. In addition, the closing monologue of the ballet version of ‘ Yes O Yes ’ closely follows a passage from Blake’s 'The Book of Urizen'. Ed Blaney A long-standing friend of Smith’s, Blaney played guitar on Are You Are Missing Winner , contributed backing vocals at several gigs and was for some time the grou...

  B is for... Baghdad Brix has given various explanations of her memorable chant in ' Guest Informant ', including ‘Baghdad, space-cog, analyst’, ‘Baghdad, stay-cog, analyst’ and ‘Baghdad state cog analyst’. If she really is saying 'Baghdad' then it's a most peculiar pronunciation of the Iraqi capital. After a typically detailed discussion , The Annotated Fall  settles on 'Bahzhdad State Cog-Analyst'. Bananas The cause of Smith's mishap in ' Jerusalem ' ('I tripped up on a discarded banana skin'), bananas also get a mention ('banana rep') in ' Happy Holiday ', one of the b-sides of the ' Behind The Counter ' single. However, their best-known appearance in a Fall song was in 'Dktr Faustus', alongside apples, plums, strawberries and cherries. Brix was not a fan: ‘I cringe when I hear it. I hated having to say those stupid lyrics.’ The song was originally called 'Faust Banana', and appeared under that ...

  A is for... Abattoir In June 1983, when touring Germany, the group's van broke down just outside Dachau and they ended up staying in the Hotel Bloëdel . The hotel had a rancid odour (‘a reasonable smell of death’) and was disturbing enough to give Smith nightmares. In the morning, he and Brix witnessed what appeared to be a member of staff carrying ‘a large, clear plastic bag of blood’ – it transpired that the hotel was next door to an abattoir. Coincidentally, 'Rebellious Jukebox' contains a reference to 'drinkers from the slaughterhouse'. Abdominizer The abdominizer (sometimes spelled 'abdomenizer') was a piece of exercise equipment invented in 1984 by Canadian chiropractor Dennis Colonello. Oddly, it made two appearances in Fall lyrics: ' Noel's Chemical Effluence ' ('the abdominizer, in excellence') and ' The Past #2 ' ('like the abdominizers and private investigators'). Ace In The Hole Kirk Douglas starred in this 1...