As well as Smith, around 23 musicians were part of the Cardiacs over the years, including Smith's brother, Jim, and multi-instrumentalist, Sarah Cutts, who married Tim Smith in 1983.
Their music combined the excitement and energy of punk with the intricacies and technical cleverness of early British progressive rock, a combination sometimes referred to as pronk, although frontman Smith disavowed this classification.
Cardiacs released eight studio albums plus a number of live albums, compilation albums and singles between 1980 and 2007, and are best known for the 1988 minor hit single "Is This the Life?" They are also noted for attracting strongly diverse responses: they have remained one of Britain's leading cult rock bands during their four-decade-spanning career, but have also attracted virulent critical attack (including a lengthy editorial ban from the British music magazine New Musical Express).
On the 30th June 1990, Cardiacs played at Salisbury Arts Centre (a former church). The show was recorded and initially the video of it was released on VHS tape under the name "All That Glitters Is A Mare's Nest". The video helped Cardiacs achieve a cult following, with pirated copies of the video, being highly sought after. The audio from the show was released on CD in 1995.
The band was on hiatus following the 2008 hospitalisation of Tim Smith after a heart attack and series of strokes which affected his speech and movement.
Commenting on his condition, in 2017, Smith wrote: “Imagine if you were wearing a skintight bodysuit made of fishnet all around you, with electrical pulses going all the time. This is what my body feels like unless I fall asleep.”
In 2018, fundraising was set up for Tim Smith, which included the comment “This condition has affected Tim’s movement, his dexterity, his ability to speak, and it has added painful muscle tone and spasms that are a permanent feature of his life these days.”
On Tuesday 21st July 2020, at around 10.30 pm, Tim Smith passed away at his home, as a result of a heart attack.
Cardiacs final album, "LSD" remained unfinished at the time of Tim Smith's death. At the time of his death, Cardiacs still remained a cult following, their recordings were not, for example, available on Spotify. For many years there were few new copies of Cardiacs albums in circulation. Later on, re-releases became available on CD and then vinyl.
Song Of A Dead Pest
Cardiacs Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Away itself go when is told
Head revealed its whereabouts
In a thicket by calling "here... I'm here!"
And in tones of deep solemnity
Pronounced that she is dead
Said she had left her torso
Love gone lost of all faith in
Divine intervention flying birds on a string
Lowest neck down half of she
Scandalously flies her hawks
Outside my house
She'll only go if I address her coffin
As the ship whereon she must launch
Out into eternity
And renounce all dancing
Renounce loose living
And cricket
The song opens up with Mandy training her head to detach itself from her body when ordered to do so. She finds it eagerly waiting in a thicket and calls it back to her, telling everyone in her solemn tone that she is dead. Her naked torso had left her, too excited to listen. She's lost all her faith in love and divine intervention and now flies her hawks outside the singer's house. The only way she'll go is if the singer addresses her coffin as the ship where she must launch into eternity and renounces all dancing, loose living, and cricket.
The lyrics of this song are cryptic and open to interpretation. One of the possible interpretations could be that Mandy is a representation of a person's mind that has completely given up on life. She has lost all hope in love and faith and is now living like a bird outside the singer's house. The use of hawks could signify that she has become ruthless and aggressive in her pursuit of survival.
Another interpretation could be that Mandy is a symbol of death, waiting to take the singer to their final destination. She urges the singer to renounce all earthly pleasures and prepare themselves for the journey.
Despite its lyrics, it is one of the more accessible Cardiacs tracks.
Line by Line Meaning
Mandy trained up her head to
Mandy has a certain control over her own head
Away itself go when is told
She can make her head move and detach from her body when told to do so
Head revealed its whereabouts
Her head has detached and is now in a different location
In a thicket by calling "here... I'm here!"
Her head is in a thicket and is calling for attention
And in tones of deep solemnity
With a serious tone
Pronounced that she is dead
States that she is dead
Said she had left her torso
Claims to have left her body behind
Too excited to listen and naked
She was too excited to listen and was naked at the time of her supposed departure
Love gone lost of all faith in
She's lost all faith in love
Divine intervention flying birds on a string
She no longer believes in divine intervention, and sees the world as a puppet show
Lowest neck down half of she
The lower half of her body is missing
Scandalously flies her hawks
She is doing something scandalous while flying her hawks
Outside my house
This is happening outside the singer's house
She'll only go if I address her coffin
She will only leave if the singer speaks to her coffin as if it's a ship that she has to sail into eternity on
As the ship whereon she must launch
She sees her coffin as a ship that will carry her into the afterlife
Out into eternity
She will be heading to the afterlife
And renounce all dancing
She must give up dancing
Renounce loose living
She must change her ways and no longer live a carefree, wild lifestyle
And cricket
It's unclear what this refers to, but it could be a reference to the sport or an insect. Either way, she must give it up along with her other indulgences
Contributed by Sydney G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.