Written by:
Mark E Smith, Craig Scanlon, Steve Hanley
Initial release:
Ed’s Babe, Fontana/Cog Sinister SINCD912 12″ SINCD9 CD (track entitled Xscapes)
Date:
22 June 1992
Subsequent releases:
Sinister Waltz, Receiver Records RRCD209, RRLP209 CD; 22 January 1996 (alternate version; see commentary below; track entitled Pumpkin Head Escapes)
The Other Side Of… Receiver Records RRCD506; 14 October 1996 (box set; contains Sinister Waltz; details above)
Archive Series, Rialto Records RMCD214 CD; May 1997 (box set; contains Sinister Waltz; details above)
Listening In, Cog Sinister/Voiceprint COGVP132 CD; 11 November 2002
The Fontana Years CD574267; August 2017; box set contains Code: Selfish extended CD)
The Fall: Singles 1978 – 2016, Cherry Red CRCDBox 30; 24 November 2017
Group on initial release:
Mark E Smith – vocals; Craig Scanlon – guitar; Steve Hanley – bass; Dave Bush – keyboards, machines Simon Wolstencroft – drums
Commentary:
This track was released as one of the B-sides on the Ed’s Babe single.
Pumpkin Head Xscapes on Sinister Waltz was described in The Pseud Mag (issue no. 15; April/may 2007) as: “a dubby non-vocal version which appears to be a band run-through and is slightly longer than the Ed’s Babe version. Features a strange repeated vocal sample. Some nice bass playing from Steve [Hanley] here.”
The following analysis appeared in the series Gladys Winthorpe’s Emporium Of Particularly Underacknowledged Fall Compositions and was originally published in The Pseud Mag no. 3 (April/May 2005)
“Smith, M E: vox
Wolstencroft, S: drums
Hanley, S: bass
Scanlon, C: guitar
Bush, D: machines
This song is another example of a long line of Fall songs where the traditional roles of bass and guitar are transposed [1] – Craig mainly moves between a few straight chords in a rhythmic style and the main melody of the song is carried in Steve’s bass.
The song consists of 2 main parts – verse and chorus, if you like. The former is itself in 2 parts. The 1st contains the more free-form MES vocal whilst the 2nd has the “Happy now?” vocal hook [2, 3]. Note how Doc Shanley very subtly changes his bass melody for the 2nd part of the verse (e.g. compare the lines played between 0:58 – 1:02 and 1:02 – 1:05). In the final repetition of the verse (3:25 – 3:41), he plays yet another line. Whilst all he’s doing is alternating between 2 chords [4], it’s sufficiently different to previous repetitions of the verse that you’re alerted to the fact that something significant is approaching – in this case, it’s the end of the song.
The chorus flows slightly more freely due to a less restrained/technical bass line and contains the song’s 2nd hook (“We’re coming, we’re coming Leo”) [5]. MES’s vocal hooks are something which don’t get much attention, I feel, but this song is a great example that they do exist and can be effective – I’ve found myself singing “Happy now?” and “We’re coming Leo” in my head on many different occasions since I first heard the song in 1992.
Aside from Craig and Steve, the other band members at the time also have important roles. Simon provides the rhythmic backbone. He’s not doing anything particularly complicated or flashy in this song, but it’s just solid and holds everything else together. Dave Bush’s machines are somewhat low in the mix but you can hear several different parts – there’s a clucking chicken-like sound panned just left of centre that runs throughout the whole song (most audible in the 1st part of the verse). The synthetic drumroll (e.g. 3:01) paves the way to the rapidly approaching chorus and the artificial handclaps add a bit of “funk” to the same section. There’s also a few other noises for the more discerning listener; for example, the high single note sounded at 0:27 and 2:11 [6].
Vocally, MES sounds like he’s speaking the words of the verse through his often-used megaphone [7]. Ditto for “Happy now?” and “We’re coming Leo”. The rest is recorded megaphone-less, I think. There’s some double-tracking at times (e.g. “Happy now?” 1:57) and a few other distinct vocal lines (e.g. the utterance at 1:47, so massively reverbed that you can’t actually hear what is being said).
Lyric-wise, MES pulls no punches. The tone of his attack isn’t particularly malevolent, but is more pitying, I’d say. I’m not entirely sure who his target is, but the Lyrics Parade transposition mentions “KLF”, so perhaps Mr Drummond and cohorts were foremost in MES’s mind sat the time. He is more than a little scathing: note references to “senile morons”, “do-nowts” and crusties as well as the addressing of the subject as “Dear gormless”.
What the blinking flip is the speech at the end of the song about[8]?
Notes:
[1] See “Lay Of The Land”, “Copped It”, Lucifer Over Lancashire”, etc…
[2] The 1st repetition of the verse actually transposes this sequence of verse and vocal hook (0:01 – 0:24), so the “Happy now?” vocal is the 1st thing you hear when the song starts [2a]. This is an excellent device for dragging you further into the song and is the kind of attention to detail that, for me, make listening to The Fall so rewarding. Damned effective!
[2a] Note overlap of verse words into start of chorus at 0:24.
[3] “Happy now?” is somewhat oddly replaced by “Searching now / You’re happy now” between 1:02 and 1:16.
[4] Possibly a playing “fumble” meant he improvised this bit. He doesn’t sound very sure, does he?
[5] Note the additional utterances of the song’s title as the chorus starts at 0:24 and 2:09.
[6] There might also be a keyboard line which mirrors the bass line in the chorus – it’s a bit difficult to discern whether this is the case or not. On the version of this song on the “Sinister Waltz” compilation, there is one and it’s a lot higher in the mix.
[7] Note MES’s semi-chuckle at 0:52.
[8] Taking the line “I, as the producer” as gospel truth, this must either be Simon Rogers or Craig Leon”
The Track Record 