Written by:

Mark E Smith, Martin Bramah, Karl Burns, Yvonne Pawlett, Marc Riley

Initial release:

It’s The New Thing, Step Forward Records SF9 7″

Date:

November 1978

Subsequent reissues:

77 – Early Years – 79 – Step Forward SFLP6, September 1981
Psykick Dance Hall – Eagle EEECD010, August 2000
Early Singles – Cog Sinister/Voiceprint COGVP136CD, 2 December 2002
Live at the Witch Trials – Castle/Sanctuary (CMQDD847), 26 January 2004 [Al
an Ford:

The version included on LATWT(2004) as being from the 7″ single is the same as the 7″ but continues lyricless for an extra minute or so, ie 7″ 5:14, LATWT 6:39]
Live at the Witch Trials, Earmark (Italy) EAR40035LP; 5th July 2004
I Wanna Punk Rock, Castle/Sanctuary CMQCD1510 CD, 25 June 2007 (also released as part of a box set of 10 replica 7″ singles: CMXBX1509)
13 Killers, Secret Records SECCDO68; June 2013
It’s The New Thing!, Superior Viaduct, 7″; 16 April 2016
The Fall: Singles 1978 – 2016, Cherry Red CRCDBox 30; 24 November 2017

Officially released live recordings:

Liverpool 78 – Cog Sinister/Voiceprint COGVP118CD, 4 June 2001 (recorded at Mr. Pickwick’s, Liverpool; 22 August 1978
Liverpool 78/In A Hole, Voiceprint VP241019CD; 6 October 2003 (details as above)
Live at the Witch Trials – Castle/Sanctuary (CMQDD847), 26 January 2004 (contains Liverpool 78; details above)
Live From the Vaults – Oldham 1978 – Hip Priest/Voiceprint HIPP006CD, 15 August 2005 (recorded at the Tower Club, Oldham; 21 August 1978)
Live From the Vaults – Los Angeles 1979, Hip Priest/Voiceprint HIPP008CD; 15 August 2005 (recorded at the Anticlub, Los Angeles,14 December 1979)

Group on initial recording:

Mark E Smith – vocals; Martin Bramah – guitar; Marc Riley – bass; Karl Burns – drums; Yvonne Pawlett – keyboards

Commentary:

From an interview with MES

“One of The Fall’s tracks that deals with time (others are Futures And Pasts and Wings). Smith says he tried to be narrative in that song, to tell a story. “I remember being very proud of the lyric. It’s very simple. Just before writing it, I had heard something from the Shangri-La’s, The Future, The Present, The Past or something like that, a horrible song. (laughing) It made me write this.”

The song in question is called Past, Present And Future and it isn’t that bad really. It resembles Various Times in that the singer announces each verse with “past”, “present” and “future”. Smith says. “Right, we’re gonna go back”, “present” and “future”, I think.

I ask him about the chorus, is it “human race”?

“Yes, it is. The structure of verse-chorus-verse was pretty unusual in those days. [for a new wave band, I suppose he means] We wanted the chorus to be a vocal noise, it wasn’t intended to be understood.”

Allan Jones (“Fall.out Menace”, Melody Maker, 26 August 1978) described the first outing of the song as being lyrically composed of “fragmented word patterns, acerbic but fully evocative of a threatening future and a present that is no less turbulent”.

Dave Thompson (“A User’s Guide to The Fall, Helter Skelter, 2003) reviews the song thus: “Coming from a similarly understated place as early Joy Division, rhythm and vocal merging into an almost poetic whole, ‘Various Times’ was an exercise…not in condemning a problem, but in musing upon how (and more importantly, how) it might have arisen. The wry comparison between anti -Semitism in pre-Holocaust Germany and racism in modern Britain is laboured but powerful, a chilling number that reminds us that the Punk-era battle cries of ‘young and broke and on the dole…no future’ weren’t simply the hollow headlines of tabloid tattle.”

The following analysis of the song was published as part of the Gladys Winthorpe series in The Pseud Mag, no.11, August-September 2006:

Smith, M E: vox
Bramah, M: guitar, backing vocals
Riley, M: bass
Burns babe, K K: drums
Pawlett, Y: keyboards

“Various Times”, the flip-side to the “It’s The New Thing” single, was the first song I heard which suggested that The Fall were more than just another punk band. It was here that the I got the initial hint there was something deeper to the band than that – both musically and lyrically.

This is another song with an unusual introduction, the device of fading in the song (via a solo melancholic bass riff, vamped keyboards as per “Underground Medecin” and random noises [1], presumably supplied by MES’s tape recorder) having not been repeated too many times on other occasions [2].

Musically, the song has 2 main sections. The verse has a sinister feel to it, consisting of a repeated phrase on both bass and guitar, with some variation by Bramah (such as the brief strum and feedback between 0:52 – 0:55, adding a welcome bit of texture). Note how the first part of the verse starts with Karl using rim-shots before using his snare later on verse (e.g. 1:10), upping the tension in the song in preparation for chorus. This latter section is faster, catchier and more dense. Whilst the bass is essentially the same, Martin’s guitar line is brighter and adds to the urgency of this section. Yvonne’s keyboard is buried in mix somewhat here but seems to be “doubling up” on what she plays in the verse [3].

There is no contrasting middle-eight section as such, but an empty verse provides for a guitar solo of sorts (starting at 2:45). The third verse and MES’s vocals overlap the solo at 3:07 as the guitar continues. Note the different keyboard line here too, a more “plinky” line (starting at 3:00; the run at 3:35 is very close to being out-of-tune).

After a final chorus, (3:55 – 4:09 [4]) the rest of the song could, as per “Underground Medecin”, be considered to be an outro. Essentially, it’s the verse repeated ad nauseum, but has Karl’s full drums all the way through it. There’s also some – assumedly – improvised guitar parts by Martin, as well a repeat of at least some of the line he played in the earlier solo before calming down for the fade-out to the more conventional riffs, as played in previous verses (4:59). The version of the song which appears on the recent “Live At The Witch Trials” reissue as a bonus track is almost a minute longer than the one which appeared on the original vinyl and appends a protracted fade-out with more guitar histronics and frankly irritating Burns drum-rolls as the band repeat verses ad infinitum.

MES arguably provides his most mature lyrics to date in this song and had this to say in 1989: “I remember being very proud of the lyric”. Split into three sections (past, present and future), his narrative describes three characters who, whilst separated by time, share a similar disenchantment with their current situation. The 1940’s German wants to find a way out of the war. The present’s character has a scathing regard for other people (“Everyone I meet’s the same now / No brains or thought”) and is considering dropping out of society, but the future doesn’t seem to be any brighter; here, the protagonist complains of a head full of lead and weak beer in a bleak environment.

The song’s mix is slightly murkier than “Underground Medecin”, but there’s more muscle there to make up for it. I don’t have any qualms with this as I’ve always preferred lo-fi Fall – it seems to fit the band better, somehow.

Notes:

[1] Rattlesnake hiss, semi-audible voices.
[2] Off the top of my head, “Guest Informant (Excerpt)”, “Just Waiting” and “Bremen Nacht Run Out”. Any others?
[3] Micro-listening ™ students might have spotted the late arrival of the keyboard at 1:18.
[4] Note subtle variations in the bass riff that Marc is playing between 3:58 and 4:17.

From The Big Midweek (Steve Hanley and Olivia Pierkarski, Route, 2014):

“Various Times, three notes. No problem.”