The one permanent fixture amidst the Fall's ever-changing line-up was Mark E. Smith (1957 – 2018). Smith's lyrics are free, unboxed and unpredictable, touching on an extremely wide range of subjects and places, and caring little for being tied down to easily digestible messages.
Smith's singing could put off some people, but others find it a uniquely expressive instrument. Smith was not a conventionally great vocalist, but his keen sense of rhythm, his energy and personality more than made up for this.
The Fall's music changed depending on the line-up at a given time. Always experimental, Mark E. Smith claimed to invent several musical genres, including house music; "we were doing that years ago" and even the internet. "He told me I didn't understand, that we were from the bleak industrial wastes of North England, or something, and that we didn't understand the Internet. I told him Fall fans invented the Internet. They were on there in 1982." One thing that is for sure is that The Fall (and their fans) always pushed the boundaries, and were never afraid to experiment.
The Fall were a favorite group of DJ John Peel, recording 24 sessions for his BBC1 radio program over the years.
The Fall's back catalogue consists of 29 studio albums, and is very fragmented with a seemingly endless number of compilations and semi-official live albums.
In 2006, British music-critic Dave Simpson published an entertaining account of a journalist's attempt to track down all 43 former members of The Fall in the Guardian. Many previous members have been fired, often with little or no notice. Simpson's ongoing effort was subsequently described at greater length in his book "The Fallen" (2008). His effort to track down the final unaccounted stragglers of at least 50 previous members of The Fall - including drummer Karl Burns - continues in his blog. Having decried Simpson's book as a "hatchet job" in the pages of Pseud. Mag., a Fall fan-mag, Mark E. Smith countered in short order with his autobiography "Renegade: The Lives and Tales of Mark E. Smith" (Viking, 2008/Penguin 2009).
Mark E. Smith died on 24 January 2018, aged 60.
Key Albums include:
# Live At the Witch Trials (debut)
# Dragnet
# Totale's Turns (It's Now Or Nevr)
# Grotesque (after the Gramme)
# Perverted By Language
# Hex Enduction Hour
# This Nation's Saving Grace
# Middle Class Revolt
# Bend Sinister
# Extricate
# The Infotainment Scan
# Country on the Click aka The Real New Fall LP
# Fall Heads Roll
# Reformation Post TLC (new)
Compilations/Singles/B-Sides:
# 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong: 39 Golden Greats
# The Complete Peel Sessions 1978-2004
# Totally Wired: The Rough Trade Anthology (disc 1) and Totally Wired: The Rough Trade Anthology (disc 2)
# 458489 A-Sides
# 458489 B-Sides
Backdrop
The Fall Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Emerged from corridor
His state-subsidized cannabis haze
Moved reptilian in its all-levelling routine
I said to him
It's about time you started thinking
About the black dog on your back
Said it's about time you started thinking
Moveable backdrop
The backdrop shifted and changed
The Manchester regiment of the Stuarts
Would not tread on your patch
Got nearly down to Derby you know
Was stopped by stinking Billy
And rode a racing horse which I had liberated
From a Tyneside lord
I said to the men
It's about time you started thinking
About the black dog on your back
It's about time you started thinking
About the void in your life
A military prison or worse
The backdrop shifted and changed
The [semite] man's home is full of sperm
And pulled down
His [masiso] was kicked around
As I did it I said to them
The backdrop shifted and changed
So did not even know what song it was
What it was
Who put the yellow pills in the Gordon's gin?
The backdrop shifted and changed
Until did not even know
When the lot come up
Bomb-hole in our schedule
Who put the yellow pills in the Gordon's gin?
The backdrop shifted and changed
Till the reptillian TEP instructor merged
With stinking Billy's morass of flesh
And the Yorkies drifted
1902 Metropole
The Yorkies [ripley yorks] shifted and drifted
I said to them
The backdrop shifted and changed
And this was The Fall
Goodnight
The lyrics of "Backdrop" by The Fall present a collage of disjointed and surreal images, free associations, and nonsensical references woven around a spine of social commentary and existential musing. The singer of the song addresses a Leicester instructor from the Youth Opportunities Program (YOP) and the Training and Enterprise Program (TEP), who appears in a drug-induced haze that reduces him to a reptilian, all-leveling routine. The singer urges the instructor to confront the "black dog" and the "rerun" that plague his life and to start thinking about his choices and his purpose. The backdrop of the scene symbolizes the ephemeral, unstable, and manipulative nature of reality, and the power struggles that shape it. The mention of the Manchester regiment of the Stuarts and the military prison hint at the history of Leicester and its martial past, while the reference to sperm and masiso, a type of sugar cane juice, echoes the sexual and cultural tensions of the city. The chorus, "The backdrop shifted and changed," recurs throughout the song, emphasizing the fleeting and fickle quality of human existence.
The song "Backdrop" is one of the standouts from The Fall's 1983 album "Perverted by Language," which marked a transition from the band's earlier punk and post-punk sound to a more experimental and abstract approach. The album was recorded in Iceland and produced by John Leckie, who had worked with Pink Floyd and Magazine. "Backdrop" showcases the band's trademark repetition, staccato rhythms, and Mark E. Smith's idiosyncratic sprechgesang and cryptic lyrics. The song also features a prominent bassline by Steve Hanley, who was a driving force of The Fall's sound throughout the 80s and 90s.
Line by Line Meaning
The Leicester YOP, TEP, instructor
The instructor from the Youth Opportunities Programme in Leicester known as TEP appeared
Emerged from corridor
He walked out from the corridor
His state-subsidized cannabis haze
He seemed high due to the subsidized cannabis provided by the government
Moved reptilian in its all-levelling routine
His movements were cold and calculated, like a reptile, and he followed a monotonous routine
I said to him
The artist spoke to him
It's about time you started thinking
The singer told him that it was time to start thinking
About the black dog on your back
He needed to think about the depression that was weighing him down
Said it's about time you started thinking
The artist repeated that it was time to start thinking
About the rerun which is your life
He needed to think about how mundane and repetitive his life was
Moveable backdrop
The environment around them was constantly changing
The backdrop shifted and changed
The surroundings kept changing
The Manchester regiment of the Stuarts
Military group from Manchester known as the Stuarts
Would not tread on your patch
The Stuarts would not dare to enter his area
Got nearly down to Derby you know
The Stuarts almost reached Derby
Was stopped by stinking Billy
The Stuarts were stopped by Billy who smelled bad
And rode a racing horse which I had liberated
The artist stole a racing horse, which the Stuarts rode
From a Tyneside lord
The racing horse belonged to a wealthy lord from Tyneside
I said to the men
The singer spoke to the Stuarts
A military prison or worse
The Stuarts could end up in a military prison or suffer something even worse
The [semite] man's home is full of sperm
The home of a Semitic man is full of semen
And pulled down
Something was pulled down, possibly the man's home
His [masiso] was kicked around
Something called Masiso was kicked around, likely a person or object
As I did it I said to them
The singer spoke to his companions as he kicked Masiso around
So did not even know what song it was
The artist did not recognize the song that was playing
What it was
The singer was unaware of what was happening
Who put the yellow pills in the Gordon's gin?
The singer questioned who put the unknown pills in their Gordon's gin
Until did not even know
The surroundings changed so much that the singer lost track of what was happening
When the lot come up
When the group comes together
Bomb-hole in our schedule
An unexpected interruption in their plan
Till the reptillian TEP instructor merged
The TEP instructor merged with his surroundings
With stinking Billy's morass of flesh
The instructor merged with the foul-smelling Billy
And the Yorkies drifted
The Yorkies started drifting away
1902 Metropole
A reference to a venue named the Metropole in 1902
The Yorkies [ripley yorks] shifted and drifted
The Yorkies from Ripley, Yorks drifted away
And this was The Fall
This was a typical experience with The Fall band
Goodnight
End of the song
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: MARK E. SMITH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind