"Paint Work" (often written as "Paintwork") is a 1985 song by the English Post-punk band The Fall that first appeared on their album This Nation's Saving Grace. Widely considered the high-point of the album, the track was described in 2019 as "absolutely sublime" by Vulture,[2][3] and as "mildly psychedelic" in 2011 by critic Mick Middles.[4]
| "Paint Work" | |
|---|---|
| Song by The Fall | |
| Released | 23 September 1985 |
| Recorded | June–July 1985[1] |
| Studio | The Music Works, London[1] |
| Genre | Post-punk |
| Length | 6:38 |
| Label | Beggars Banquet |
| Songwriter(s) | Mark E. Smith, Brix Smith, Karl Burns |
| Producer(s) | John Leckie |
Music
editThe semi-acoustic music is blended with tape collages and Smith's stream of consciousness lyrics which reply on the refrain "hey Mark", Karl Burns' cymbal crashes and Craig Scanlon's meandering lead guitar lines.[5] Credited to both Smith and Brix, it blends studio recordings with sections recorded on a four track in Roger's flat, and audio from Smiths dictaphone. During the mixing, Smith took the master tape home and accidentally erased part of the track with a snippet from a documentary he was listening to from an Open University lecture by the astronomer Alan Cooper titled " How do red giants make Carbon?".[6][7] According to Smith, he was "watching telly and singing along to the song after I'd played it, while [his home tape machine] was recording."[8] The sudden jump between studio recordings and sudden inserts of home-taped passages fits the mood of the track, and he and Leckie decided to include on the finished version.[9] Smith said "It fits in really good, you can't contrive something like that."[8]
Lyrics
editAccording to Brix, both "Paint Work" and the TNSG album track "My New House" were both written about the house in Sedgley Park she had just bought with Mark. According to Brix "Hey Mark, you're messing up the paintwork" is something the decorator said."[10] Smith said in a 1986 interview that the song lyrics contains "personal jottings and bits, but there's a lot there about England compared to Europe; how if you're not some flag-waving moron you don't fit in. This wasn't what England was about - it was about individuals. And that's what Paintwork was saying."[11]
Personnel
edit- The Fall[12]
- Mark E. Smith – vocals
- Brix Smith – guitar
- Steve Hanley – bass guitar
- Craig Scanlon – guitar
- Karl Burns – drums
- Simon Rogers – keyboards
- Technical
- John Leckie – production, engineering
- Joe Gillingham – engineering
References
edit- ^ a b Pringle (2003), p. 160
- ^ Berman, Stuart. "Hey, Student! It’s a Beginner’s Guide to the Fall". Vulture, 3 January 2018. Retrieved 1 May 2022
- ^ Dora John. "Messing Up The Paintwork: This Nation’s Saving Grace Revisited". The Quietus, 24 January 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2022
- ^ Middles, Mick. "The Fall: This Nation's Saving Grace Omnibus Edition – review". The Quietus, 26 January 2011. Retrieved 6 May 2022
- ^ Pilley, Max. "The Fangasm: The Fall". Drowned in Sound, 26 January 2018. Retrieved 2 May 2022
- ^ "Module S256: How do red giants make carbon?". Open University Digital Archive. Retrieved 6 May 2022
- ^ Ford (2002), p. 147
- ^ a b Pouncey, Edwin. Sounds, 28 September 1985
- ^ Simpson, Dave. "The Fall: This Nation's Saving Grace Omnibus Edition – review". The Guardian, 15 December 2011. Retrieved 2 May 2022
- ^ Start Smith (2017), 1985−1986
- ^ Haslam, Dave. City Life, 18 July 1986
- ^ Irvin (2017), p. 495
Sources
edit- Edge, Brian. Paintwork: Portrait of The Fall. London: Omnibus Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-7119-1740-8
- Ford, Simon. Hip Priest: The Story of Mark E.Smith and the Fall. London: Quartet Books, 2002. ISBN 978-0-7043-8167-4
- Hanley, Steve. The Big Midweek: Life Inside The Fall. London: Route, 2014. ISBN 978-1-9019-2758-0
- Irvin, Jim (ed). The Mojo Collection: 4th Edition. London: Canongate Books, 2017. ISBN 978-1-8419-5973-3
- Norton, Tessa; Stanley, Bob. Excavate!: The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall . London: Faber & Faber, 2021. ISBN 978-0-5713-5833-5
- Pringle, Steve. You Must Get Them All: The Fall On Record. London: Route Publishing, 2022. ISBN 978-1-9019-2788-7
- Smith, Brix. The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise. London: Faber & Faber, 2017. ISBN 978-0-5713-2506-1