An A-Z of The Fall - XYZ
X is for...
Xmas
The Fall showed a bit of festive spirit on several occasions. 'Xmas With Simon' (b-side to 'High Tension Line') found MES suggesting that the messiah’s birth surrounded by animals led to ‘no set amount to the number of diseases’ and his death coming at 33 was ‘as good a time as any’. It was remixed and retitled 'Christmastide' on the bonus CD that accompanied Levitate.
Another b-side, 'Ludd Gang', contained the line: 'I hate the guts of Shakin' Stevens for what he has done - the massacre of "Blue Christmas"'. A bit rich, given Smith's own tuneless mangling of the Elvis standard.
Peel Session 18, broadcast in December 1994, featured two festive favourites: 'Jingle Bell Rock' and 'Hark The Herald Angels Sing' - the latter featuring some rather startling vocals from Lucy Rimmer.
There was also a seasonal version of 'Proteinprotection' called '(We Wish You) A Protein Christmas'. As well as 'No Xmas For John Quays', three other Fall songs contained the word 'Christmas': 'Kicker Conspiracy' ('Treads on the balls of his feet, in the Christmas rush'), 'Calendar' ('October gives way to Christmas, January') and 'Ibis-Afro Man' ('I got Christmas Island').
I did one of my Fall Monday playlists on this theme back in 2020.
Xyralothep
'Last Commands Of Xyralothep Via M.E.S.' from 2003's The Real New Fall LP Formerly ‘Country On The Click’ was (presumably) a reference to Nyarlathotep, one of Lovecraft’s ‘outer gods’
Y is for...
David Yallop
Author of In God's Name, an investigation into the suspicious death of Albino Luciani, who was pope John Paul I for just 33 days. The book inspired MES to write the play Hey! Luciani: The Life and Codex of John Paul I, which ran for two weeks in December 1986 at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith.
Although Roy Wilkinson in Sounds described it as 'very watchable', the Melody Maker review criticised the ‘dismally poor acting’ and called for ‘an immediate and bloody end to Arts Council funding’. The NME's Len Brown described it as ‘a heap of shite’.
Paula Yates
I managed to get through my interview for the Hanley brother's podcast without too many catastrophic errors, but I did make one howler, suggesting that TV presenter Paula Yates was mentioned in 'Alton Towers' (I was, of course, mixing her up with Lauren Laverne).
The line 'I read Paula Yates on Vision mopeds' - as I remembered with embarrassment on my drive home from Manchester - is actually from 'Paintwork'.
The article pictured above is from the Daily Express, 27 May 1985.
Doug Yule
Member of the Velvet Underground from 1968 to 1973. As mentioned in the entry for David Bowie in B (part 2), the line 'couldn't tell Lou Reed from Doug Yule' in 'Shoulder Pads 1#' likely refers to this famous anecdote about Bowie's trip to America in 1971.
Yog Sothoth
Like Nyarlathotep above, one of Lovecraft’s ‘outer gods’. Referenced in 'Spectre vs. Rector'.
Z is for...
Zagreb
The Fall played in Croatia's capital twice, in April 1990 and July 2008. A recording from the earlier of these two dates was released in 2001 as Live In Zagreb - probably (it may well have actually come from a performance in Berlin).
The song 'Zagreb' (originally entitled ‘Zagreb Daylight’) appeared on 1990's The Dredger EP. Speaking to Frieze Magazine in September 1992, MES said:
I wrote a song called Zagreb Daylight two years ago. We were playing in Zagreb and l could feel this horrible, murderous shit in the air. l had a feeling that yobs were going to rule the earth. I’m half one myself you see. Anyway, I wrote this thing about a man in a shop with a dwarf behind the counter. It didn’t go down well at all. If it came out a month from now, people would say it’s topical.
Frank Zappa
One of Smith's favourite artists. According to Steve Hanley, MES extolled Zappa's virtues when discussing the music that ought to played on the tour bus when The Fall were in America in 1981: ‘Frank Zappa, that’s what you lot should be listening to. You might learn something’.
As well as covering 'I’m Not Satisfied' on Cerebral Caustic, and performing ‘Hungry Freaks, Daddy’ 37 times 2006-2014 (it features on the CD/DVD Last Night At The Palais), the group paid tribute to Zappa on 'I'm Frank' from Extricate. Smith’s sped-up dialogue right at the end says, ‘that was Craig's tribute to Frank Zappa. Now we can all laugh about this, but that was his attempt to be Frank therefore I've entitled it "I'm Frank"’ - you can hear him say something similar on this recording from the BBC's Late Show in 1990.
ZTT
A record label - also known as Zang Tumb Tuum or Zang Tuum Tumb - founded by in 1983 by Trevor Horn (above), Jill Sinclair and Paul Morley. Its most high-profile acts were Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Propaganda and Art of Noise.
MES mentioned them in 'Cruiser's Creek': 'No more Red Wedge in the pub or ZTT stuff'.
Zulu
Cy Endfield's 1964 epic depicting the Battle of Rorke's Drift (Michael Caine's first major role) was - along with This Is Spinal Tap - one of the few films that MES approved of for tour-bus viewing.
MES claimed that one of his ancestors fought at Rorke’s Drift (a fact that indefatigable Fall detective dannyno has spent some time investigating, although the prevalence of the name 'Smith' is a significant obstacle). The theme from Zulu appeared on the 1995 album The "Twenty Seven Points" as 'Intro - Roadhouse'.
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