There are 2 bands with this name.

1.

McCarthy were a British … Read Full Bio ↴There are 2 bands with this name.

1.

McCarthy were a British indie pop band, formed in Barking, East London in 1985 by schoolmates Malcolm Eden, Tim Gane, John Williamson and Gary Baker. They mixed a sweetly melodic style, dominated by Gane's 12-string guitar playing, with Eden's overtly political lyrics, often satirical in tone, which reflected the band's far left leanings.

After a string of singles, including 'Red Sleeping Beauty' and 'Frans Hals', and a track on the NME C86 album, their debut album 'I Am A Wallet' was released in 1987 to much critical acclaim. Two further singles appeared in early 1988, then an EP in February 1989 was followed by a second album, 'The Enraged Will Inherit The Earth', which was considerably less well received. A year later, in 1990, they released a third album 'Banking, Violence and the Inner Life Today', on which they were joined by Gane's girlfriend Lætitia Sadier on vocals. The album suggested a new willingness to experiment musically, and was seen by critics as something of a return to form, but it in fact proved to be their swansong and they split soon afterwards.

Gane and Sadier went on to form Stereolab, while Eden formed Herzfeld while studying Literature.

McCarthy were a major early influence on the Manic Street Preachers who covered 'We Are All Bourgeois Now', which appeared as a hidden track on the CD of their 'Know Your Enemy' album, as well as 'Charles Windsor', which appeared as a b-side on their Life Becoming A Landslide EP. Manics frontman James Dean Bradfield has also covered 'Red Sleeping Beauty'.

2.

A Southern Metal band from Barrie Ontario. They have released one EP: "Wanna Get Rough?"

The Fall
McCarthy Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

My mother, the Red Arrow fly
Nosedives towards me

London is falling down
London is falling down

Shining new pylons descend to the earth
As I walk towards them skyscrapers crash down to the ground

London is falling down, down down
London is falling down

Inside and outside what goes up comes down
London is falling down, down down down down
London is falling down

I'll take a plane or a kite I'm flying Northwards
I'm going uptown

London is falling down, down down down down
London is falling down

Inside and outside what goes up comes down
London is falling down
London is falling down

London is falling down
London is falling down

Overall Meaning

The song "The Fall" by McCarthy is a reflection on the state of London in the 1980s. The opening lines, "My mother, the Red Arrow fly/Nosedives towards me," are a reference to the Red Arrows, a British aerobatic display team, and suggest a feeling of impending doom. The next lines, "London is falling down/London is falling down," reinforce this sense of decline.

The following lines, "Shining new pylons descend to the earth/As I walk towards them skyscrapers crash down to the ground," are a commentary on the contrast between the city's attempts at modernization and the reality of its decline. The shiny new pylons represent the city's investment in new infrastructure, while the crashing skyscrapers represent the failure of that investment.

The repetition of the line "London is falling down" serves as a powerful reminder of the city's decline, both inside and outside. The final lines, "I'll take a plane or a kite I'm flying Northwards/I'm going uptown," suggest a desire to escape from the chaos of the city.

Overall, "The Fall" is a powerful reflection on the state of London in the 1980s, and a reminder of the cyclical nature of urban development and decline.

Line by Line Meaning

My mother, the Red Arrow fly
I am a fighter plane pilot and I see my plane, which I refer to as 'my mother' while flying, coming towards me like a Red Arrow fly

Nosedives towards me
My plane suddenly takes a sharp downward turn and starts descending towards me at high speed

London is falling down
The city of London is collapsing and destructing into pieces

Shining new pylons descend to the earth
I observe that newly constructed poles are coming down towards the ground from the sky and they are sparkling bright

As I walk towards them skyscrapers crash down to the ground
While walking towards the collapsing pylons, I see that tall buildings around me are falling apart and hitting the ground with a loud noise

Inside and outside what goes up comes down
Whether it's a physical object or a metaphorical concept, everything that goes up eventually comes down to the ground

I'll take a plane or a kite I'm flying Northwards I'm going uptown
I plan to travel towards the north by taking any mode of transport such as a plane or a kite. I will be arriving in an uptown area of the city.

London is falling down, down down down down
London is rapidly collapsing and disintegrating down to the ground, repeating it multiple times in a decreasing tone

London is falling down
The city of London is still in the process of falling apart and getting destroyed

London is falling down
The destruction of London city continues, repeatedly emphasizing the same line to deliver the message effectively

London is falling down
The city of London keeps on falling and getting destructed even at the end of the song, emphasizing the destructing city's final state

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: SIDNEY GRIFFIN

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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