The Words of Mark E. Smith

[martin]

I was once on a train with, among others, Mark E Smith. Tired of playing Pictionary, I announced that I could sense simply by looking, whether oranges contained pips. 'I can tell people's religion just by looking at their faces,' countered Smith. A VIP had just entered the carriage and eager to muck in, said to Smith, 'What am I then?' The whole carriage hushed. Smith looked him up and down. 'You're a cunt, pal,' he said.

Andy Darling, FHM May 1993

 

[craner]

Dunno how I came to hate the quietus so much, I think it was their 'mr agreeable' column

That's a hangover from the Melody Maker 'humour' page, I think David Stubbs writes it.

 

[IdleRich]

Yeah it is him... I never found that funny. He still wheels it out every now and then on fb and a load of people seem to think it's hilarious so maybe it's me.

 

[Benny Bunter]

Tight faded male arse

 

[linebaugh]

Engineers save up for cars
I try to let down their tyres with matches to make them molten
Ouch! Ouch!
They say I rip off Johnny Rotten
They always strike for more pay
They say "See yer mate..Yeh...see yer mate"
"See yer mate..Yeh...see yer mate"
"See yer mate..Yeh...see yer mate"
"See yer mate..Yeh...see yer mate"
To their mothers they sing
Stop mithering

 

[version]

See what flows from his slushy pen

 

[linebaugh]

a friend once thought 'my new house' went 'my new hands,' which seems more appropriate actually

 

[linebaugh]

'I was as clean as a packet of chocolate chips.'

 

[linebaugh]

have we all seen this site?

The Annotated Fall

 

[linebaugh]

The Quietus | Features | Fall Sound | The Fall and Mark E Smith As A Narrative Lyric Writer

A new rock music and pop culture website. Editorial independent music website offering news, reviews, features, interviews, videos and pictures

thequietus.com

In Smith's delivery (that flat shove, all those reptilian tics) every word is onomatopoeiac, every sound is a signal. This approach gives his stories a gleaming immediacy, but also a kind of distance. It's why they seem to be happening inches from your face, in some other dimension you can only perceive with your guts. It's why, when you reach out to take them between thumb and forefinger, to spin them around in the light, you can find yourself clawing at air.

 

[Leo]

I'd suggest a mark e smith versus Wiley lyrics poll, but maybe Wiley is canceled.

 

[poetix]

And you are sleeping with some hippy halfwit / who thinks he is Mister Mark Smith

 

[subvert47]

Despite being dead, he had a new LP out a few months ago...

 

[luka]

i drank a jar of coffee and i took some of these. im totally wired

 

[luka]

makes me want to be wired that one. might make some more coffee. one of the things i love about Ellroy's novels is the way characters are always making themselves feel terrible by chomping benzedrine, swilling bad coffee, wolfing down doughnuts

 

[Benny Bunter]

The crap in the air will fuck up your face

 

[Leo]

 

[Benny Bunter]

With print you substitute an ear
For an extra useless eye

 

[IdleRich]

makes me want to be wired that one. might make some more coffee. one of the things i love about Ellroy's novels is the way characters are always making themselves feel terrible by chomping benzedrine, swilling bad coffee, wolfing down doughnuts

There is one where he has like a pet doctor that he meets up with every other day to get a massive forty-eight hour shot of medicinal meth. Sounds fucking ace, this electrifying charge of super powers that has him crackling and glowing with energy, rushing through the seamy underworld of LA trying to solve the mystery or whatever before his battery runs out and he has to go back and get cranked up again.
But I love how he describes those first moments; feeling superhuman, hyper aware, the rest of the world moving in heavy-footed slow-mo as he effortlessly runs rings around them. There's probably some kind of minor downside to it too ultimately but I forget the details to be honest.

 

[Benny Bunter]

So many great lines in this I'm gonna post the full thing:

It's a curse
Well, thy forsooth
Who is that interesting hack over there?
By Gad, verily
Cracked curse
Disliked,
Disliked.
Burdened
It's a curse
And I am not unguilty of using it

You, your tone is...
You, your tone is...
Tone of everybody.

Trying to bolt out of
Trying to get over (2)
Operation mindfuck (3)

I do not like your tone.
It has ephemeral whinging aspects. (4)

It's a curse. I am not unguilty of using it

Waiting for you to fff... (5)
Trying to get out of
Trying to get out of
Waiting
They are waiting bitterly
For you to fall over
It's a curse

Down their long egg breath
Cheap shaving lotion days
Their sandwiches stashed under their side seats
Their froglike chins ready to burst
I tell you, it's a curse
It's a burden
It's a curse
Trying to get over
bargain vampires
In shops
I tell you, it's a curse

You, your tone is...
You, your tone is...
Trying to get out of...
Trying to get out of...
It's a curse
Shafted over
It's a curse
I tell you, it's a curse
It's a curse
It's a burden
It's a burden
Operation Mindfuck

Look back bores
It's a curse
Bach and Wagner
All you really need is a good Spaß (6)
It's a curse
Balti and Vimto and Spangles were always crap, (7)
Regardless of the look back bores (8)

It's a curse
Shafted over
Trying to bolt out of
Waiting for you
It's a curse