At first, they enjoyed some success on the dance charts on their original Y Records label, releasing material such as 1983's 'Care', but the guys left for the big time on Arista Records for 1984's 'Jam Science'. Finding little success there, they switched to Island Records for the next year's breakout, 'Oil & Gold'. This album signaled a shift for the band, with Carl Marsh leaving the group and rockers Martyn Barker and Lu Edmonds joining what was now Andrews' vehicle. Indeed, Allen left the band after the followup, 'Big Night Music', came about, and Shriekback remained a collaborative around Andrews.
Dave Allen would go on to play in King Swamp, The Elastic Purejoy, and most recently in the reformed Gang of Four. Carl Marsh went on to serve in the band Happyhead. Both Allen and Marsh did return to the studio to contribute to the recording of Shriekback's 2003 release, titled 'Having a Moment'. Shriekback's material has essentially been an outlet for Andrews' personal work for many years now, also including collaborations with alternative music artists such as Wendy & Sarah Partridge (formerly of Electric Guitars) and Finn Andrews (Barry's son who is also of The Veils).
The band's best-known song is "Nemesis", which has received wide airplay on the indie/college circuit. The new wave song was notable among the rock tracks of its day for its use of unusual imagery and lyrics, including the use of the word "parthenogenesis" in the chorus. Shriekback is also known for having their dark, dramatic songs used in the Hannibal Lecter film 'Manhunter', their work being influenced by previous horror soundtrack music.
Némesis
Shriekback Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Tinkerbell and Jack the ripper
Love has no meaning, not where they come from
But we know pleasure is not that simple
Very little fruit is forbidden
Sometimes we wobble, sometimes we're strong
But you know evil is an exact science
Being carefully correctly wrong
Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
Everybody happy as the dead come home
Big black nemesis, parthenogenesis
No one move a muscle as the dead come home
We feel like Greeks, we feel like Romans
Centaurs and monkeys just cluster round us
We drink elixirs that we refine
From the juices of the dying
We are no monsters, we're moral people
And yet we have the strength to do this
This is the splendor of our achievement
Call in the air strike with a poison kiss
Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
Everybody happy as the dead come home
Big black nemesis, parthenogenesis
No one move a muscle as the dead come home
Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
Everybody happy as the dead come home
Big black nemesis, parthenogenesis
No one move a muscle as the dead come home
How bad it gets, you can't imagine
The burning wax, the breath of reptiles
God is not mocked, he owns our business
Karma could take us at any moment
Cover him up, I think we're finished
You know it's never been so exotic
But I don't know, my dreams are visions
We could still end up with the great big fishes
Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
Everybody happy as the dead come home
Big black nemesis, parthenogenesis
No one move a muscle as the dead come home
The song “Nemesis” by Shriekback speaks to the complex and often paradoxical nature of human desire, power, and morality. The opening lines describe a world in which love has lost all meaning, where pleasure is not always simple, and where evil can be an exact science. The use of Tinkerbell and Jack the Ripper as symbolic figures in this jungle of the senses highlights the juxtaposition of childlike innocence and the horrific violence that can coexist within human nature.
The lines “We feel like Greeks, we feel like Romans / Centaurs and monkeys just cluster round us” suggest that the human experience is not unique to any one particular culture or era. Instead, it is a timeless, universal constant that transcends location and history. The reference to drinking elixirs that have been refined from the juices of the dying speaks to the idea that humans have a unique ability to extract pleasure and power from even the most terrible of circumstances.
The song’s chorus, with its repeated references to priests, cannibals, prehistoric animals, and the big black nemesis, presents a surreal and ultimately haunting image of a world in which the dead are coming home and no one moves a muscle. The final lines of the song, with their references to burning wax, the breath of reptiles, and the great big fishes, suggest that despite all of our power and achievement, we are ultimately small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
Line by Line Meaning
In a jungle of the senses
We are surrounded by overwhelming sensations - sights, sounds, smells, tastes.
Tinkerbell and Jack the ripper
We are caught between the childish wonder of Tinkerbell and the horrific violence of Jack the Ripper.
Love has no meaning, not where they come from
In this world, there is no true love, only fleeting pleasures.
But we know pleasure is not that simple
Despite this, we understand that pleasure is not straightforward, and can come with complications and contradictions.
Very little fruit is forbidden
Few things are truly off-limits.
Sometimes we wobble, sometimes we're strong
We are sometimes uncertain, sometimes empowered.
But you know evil is an exact science
We believe that evil is a precise, calculated force.
Being carefully correctly wrong
We strive to be wrong in precise, calculated ways.
Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals
We are surrounded by examples of religious authority, savagery, and ancient history.
Everybody happy as the dead come home
We find joy in death and decay.
Big black nemesis, parthenogenesis
Our looming, unyielding enemy is something that can reproduce asexually.
No one move a muscle as the dead come home
We remain perfectly still, reverent as the dead return.
We feel like Greeks, we feel like Romans
We see ourselves as clever, classical figures.
Centaurs and monkeys just cluster round us
In our minds, we are surrounded by wild creatures.
We drink elixirs that we refine
We imbibe carefully crafted, delicious concoctions.
From the juices of the dying
These elixirs are made from the essence of death.
We are no monsters, we're moral people
Despite our actions, we believe ourselves to be righteous.
And yet we have the strength to do this
Even so, we have the power to commit atrocities.
This is the splendor of our achievement
We revel in what we have accomplished.
Call in the air strike with a poison kiss
We are deadly, able to call in destruction with a single kiss.
How bad it gets, you can't imagine
Things can and will get unimaginably worse.
The burning wax, the breath of reptiles
We experience painful, frightening sensations.
God is not mocked, he owns our business
We acknowledge that divine retribution may be coming.
Karma could take us at any moment
We recognize that our actions could bring bad consequences at any time.
Cover him up, I think we're finished
We may be done for, and feel the need to hide.
You know it's never been so exotic
We accept that we are in an unusual, fantastical situation.
But I don't know, my dreams are visions
Nonetheless, we are uncertain about what may come.
We could still end up with the great big fishes
We fear that we may end up in over our heads.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: David Allen, Barry William Andrews, Martyn Barker, Carl Marsh
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@phallusbravo
They used to play this at clubs when I first went out to such, in the DFW area, in Texas, Around 1990 or so. I was just old enough to drive, and there were few places to go. I'd drive a carload of punkish kids in shades of black to a place called "Level 5," in Dallas at the top of the West End, then out where Monopoly's Park Place used to be, off of NW HWY, and a couple of other places, like "Club Alternative," in Arlington, which didn't last but a couple of months, it seems. They had a tire swing, and cans of spray paint on pedestals, where you could paint the walls. The front door had a broken pane of glass on the bottom that you would duck through to be admitted. It was the first place I was physically patted down to enter, and this was in 1991. NO ONE had a metal detector, or patted you down at that time, except the airport. Heck, the airport didn't even pat you down- they wouldn't physically touch anyone back then!
Anyway, there was a dance that those who knew would all break into, to this song. I didn't have cable, so I had never seen this video- there was no internet, no youtube, no VH1, no way to look up a video- but it was obviously based on this video, seeing it since those days.
The dance started out with the dancers doing whatever (arms waving, hips gyrating, feet dipping and shuffling), then they would all raise their right arms (just as in the video, at only those moments when they do in the video), facing one way, then (I suppose when the camera would move to the next person in the video) drop that arm and turn 90 degrees to their left and repeat... if I recall correctly.
It would make a "clap" sound as they would drop their arms and turn etc. It was something quite random seeming, because otherwise, they would all dance normally (random new wave/alternative dancing) except for these sections in the song where they would all stick out their arms to the side.
Quite disarming for someone who had not seen the video, and impossible to pick up from hearing the song, at most, one time per visit to the club. It was just another part of how more compartmentalized secret knowledge used to be, before the internet.
Now, everyone can look everything up, and watch it all over and over again.
It used to be different.
@MatthewBaileyBeAfraid
the Song, as I have said MANY, MANY times throughout the comments, is based upon a Comic-Book character from the British Sci-Fi Magazine "2000 A.D."(from whence we get "Judge Dredd").
The song is about "Nemesis the Warlock" who was born of Parthenogensis by his Mother, a Goddess, and Nemesis combats the Human Empire of Torquemada the God, who enforces laws of Racial Purity (Pure HUMAN) against Aliens and Mutants, which Nemesis is the defender of.
The Comic was created by a member of the Goth Scene in England, and was a commentary on how we were treated at the time by the rest of society.
If you were around in the early 1980s, and you looked like a vampire with spikes black, white, or strange-colored hair, you often had police follow you everywhere, or Yobbos beat on you at every opportunity they got (it was even worse in the states).
It has been a LONG, LONG time since I read 2000 A.D. (because they were all stolen by my late-wife just before she died in 1999)
@maxshea1829
God isn't mocked. He's knows our business.
@krasblak
One of the greatest overlooked songs of the 1980's. Period
@mitchellbaker9434
And bands.
@christopherleveck6835
You mean the 1980's period?
@christopherleveck6835
@@mitchellbaker9434 what about the Leather Nuns or The Beat Farmers?
@robdyson4990
Was massive airplay where I live in 85 was it?
@sub-jec-tiv
Their lyrics are surrealist & came out of punk, it’s not surprising everyone knows “Always something there to remind me” and not a song called “Nemesis.”
@jasonpace4891
I've been obsessed with this song for almost 40 years. Never, ever gets old. <3
@graf666orlok
Same. This and sexbeat were always guaranteed at every 80's goth/deathrock club in Los Angeles
:)
@pryingeyes1551
@@graf666orlok
Recent '80s goth nights or goth nights during the actual '80s?