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Interview: Mark E. Smith Lyrics

Mark: I shout for The Fall and I'm about to interview myself for my fee... I mean er, friend Grant in his bid to clean up the market interested in what emperors and latterday art heroes like myself have to say. Hang on, I'll just get my line, I mean er, lines [sniffs suggestively].
Yeah I can go on about what a load of s*** the music biz is and all that. And how Melody Maker is becoming a threat to the proletariat. I sincerely believe that. My mother just told me that the person of the group that recorded Turning Japanese, [sings] Turning Japanese you know I'm turning Japanese, was a f****** lawyer. Can you believe that? Can you believe it!

So I'll stick to my band and just say The Fall have got a single coming out about June on a record label I'm not prepared to disclose [interrupted] How I Wrote Elastic Man which is about how the public kill off their heroes' creativity and City Hobgoblins which was originally entitled Case for the Jews, not that that's got anything to do with the song. Presently about to be released. Go into and ask why your local record dealer he's such a d***. City Hobgoblins is ... it's good. It's a paean to paranoia number 1097. We've got a new drummer on it called Paul Hanley who's Steve's brother, can't be here at the moment because he's got school. The rest can't be here at the moment because I wouldn't let them come here at the moment. Paul took over from Mike who left the band a while back for various reasons. In fact, there's a fanzine interview with him. [inaudible] They asked him about The Fall's relationships with drugs and he says: 'Let's get this straight. Drugs have killed and maimed thousand of people. And it's about time so-called working class heroes stood up and said something about it.' Well, Mike was always a good contrast to the band. I won't bring up the 18 million teddy-boy deaths caused by the landing craft invasion in 1983.
Let's just say The Fall are okay, a change is as good as a rest, we intend to do sporadic gigs around everywhere. Let's go back to Elastic Man about the public killing off their heroes' creativity. [Mark sounds like Jimmy Saville]

I was talking more about Jimmy Greaves, George Best. If you don't believe me, just ask them. [interrupted]

Biographical! Auto-biographical.
Yeah, The Fall are okay, we eat well. We're doing an LP soon, which will consist of some songs with good stories, and some melodies, voices instrument exercises. This LP will not end up in the rubbish bin or clog up the coffee table like those with their '73 revival LPs masquerading under various new wave trademarks. It will put a bit of intelligence back into the scene as usual. All the groups imitate us, but they always underrate us.

I don't think I should shut up about bands presently making a mint out of Fall rip-offs but they've got to live with them so... and I wouldn't like to be them.

I've just met this lad in here who's been made redundant. He was on Kid Jensen or something - they can't stand the kid - but this lad wasn't very impressed. I've been thinking about this a lot actually.

I mean, no way is he going to figure it out from the morass of stuff he's got to listen to. Very common nowadays, people are told, somehow, what bands are good. If a band that likes stars up a tree, like stars you know, that's common sense, but The Fall... the main idea of The Fall is to leave a mark, and we have done and we'll carry on doing.

Instead of asking why are The Fall in it, people should ask why are the other bands in it.
If you put it on a world situation basis it's like the Russians are persecuted, well the Russians aren't persecuted, but the Russians are sort of rightfully castigated for publicising what they do while the Argentinians and the idea men get away with things and we play football against them and go into their country because they are not honest about... You know this because it is well-documented. It's the very same thing in music. If a band gets treated like stars they act like stars. The fact that nobody turns up to their gigs doesn't seem to really matter. But it works, it works on the public.

[Adopts peculiar voice] I'm changing into R Totale XVII. I have two theories. The first - the northern white c*** theory, how can you listen to idiots like him, let's just get on. My second theory is underground medicine, here is the fool who's just been talking, singing about it. [s***** of Underground Medecin live]
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