"Suddenly It's Tuesday" - Part 9 (81-100)

 

And so we find ourselves in the top 100. As well as the YouTube playlist, I'm also now including a Spotify one, which I'll also build up over the last few posts.

YouTube Playlist (223 - 81)

Spotify Playlist (81 - 100)

100 Once More

(Single, 1985)

TWP's second single isn't exactly subtle, but bubbles with frantic energy. The vocal is urgent, passionate and melodramatic ('does your heart begin to fail when the moment gets closer?'); the 100 mph guitar work is dizzyingly impressive. Gedge wears a very stylish jumper in the video.

99 Gazebo

(Watusi, 1994)

One of those 'you walked back into my life' songs that sees Gedge reflect on an old relationship with mixed feelings. A bit heavy on the obvious rhymes ('amused me / confused me / used me'; 'forget you / upset you / let you') but the opening line is a pleasingly striking one: 'I knew it was you from the minute you strolled into the gazebo like you’d never been gone'. 

Many prefer the Peel session version, which is noisier and in a more 'traditional' TWP style, but there's something rather endearingly fragile and plaintive about the acoustic guitar and hesitant piano of the Watusi take.

98 Santa Ana Winds

(El Rey, 2008)

Infidelity is a regular touchstone in TWP lyrics, and this is a classic example, Gedge and his potential paramour 'exchanging glances all night long', tempting him to pretend that he doesn't have a girlfriend. There's a simmering intensity to the track that suits the subject matter well, although 'face it, tiger, you just hit the jackpot' is not something that anyone has ever actually said in real life.

EDIT: My good friend Ian Grice has pointed out that the 'tiger' line is taken from a Spider-man comic book.

97 So Long, Baby

(Watusi, 1994)

The opening track on Watusi is a curious stitching together of two disparate approaches: one is a loping, Fall-like grind; the other a lithe, pacey piece of indie-pop-punk. Against all odds it works rather well, although it cuts out rather abruptly just as it's building momentum. (I'm not sure about the thinking behind the video below, but I rather like it.)

96 The Trouble With Men

(El Rey, 2008)

The first half is hauntingly understated, Terry and David's vocals intertwining in a beautifully ghostly fashion. It's one of Gedge's many 'romantic underdog' lyrics, à la 'Meet Cute' and 'Mystery Date' ('you’re far too gorgeous for me'), but the pathos of 'you walked right up to me with such a knowing smile / that I’d fallen for you already, by the time you’d kissed the man stood at my side' is captured perfectly.

The song's eruptions into hard-edged but melodic distortion are achingly intense and dramatic. The only downside is the line, 'I will spend all weekend wondering if you could be my girlfriend / instead of loving my wife and getting on with my life', which gives the lyric a jarringly tawdry tone suggestive of a mid-life crisis. Other than that, it's perfectly judged; graceful, tender and poignant.

95 The Queen of Outer Space

(Single, 1992)

The November entry from the Hit Parade series shares its name with a 1950s sci-fi film starring Zsa Zsa Gabor, although Gedge didn't actually see the film until ten years after the song was written. The disparate elements of the song - the angular jangle of the verse, Gedge's impassioned shouting, the grimy fuzz of the guitars - are all fabulous, but somehow it doesn't quite hang together as a coherent song as fully as it might. Confession time: I only very recently realised that it's 'colonel spider' and not 'purple spider'. An, errr... interesting video.

94 Mercury

(Mini, 1996)

Mini is TWP's Slates: a six-track, 20ish minute release where nobody can decide if it's an album or EP (or something else). This has provoked a fair bit of debate on Scopitones over the years (although if you really want to provoke an endless, arcane and fractious argument, hop on to a Fall-related forum/group and assert confidently that Slates is one or the other). For the record, the official website lists Mini as a single. It's also a tidy little release, with not a bad song on it, which is why we're into the top 100 before it makes an appearance on this list.

'Mercury' is an atmospheric track characterised by deftly-handled shifts in tempo that eventually erupts into an intense finale. The stop-start nature of the rhythm reflects the 3am 'will we / won't we?' tone of the lyric, with its hints of tentative intimacy: 'secret touches when nobody sees'; 'just keep running your fingernails across my shoulder'. 'Winsome' and 'drink some' is a bold choice of rhyme; 'your skin is so cold to touch... you’d be a whole lot warmer in my bed' suggests that Gedge really ought to work a little harder on his chat-up lines.

93 Loveslave

(Single, 1992)

September's Hit Parade offering sees TWP take a slightly predictable quiet-loud-quiet-loud approach. Even so, the quiet bits are interestingly sparse and brittle, and the noisy sections are admirably aggressive and abrasive. In my experience, the song's dynamic is much more powerful in a live setting.

The lyric hints only obliquely at kinky perversity ('you want to do something scary today... no one ever asked me to do that before') but the video is a bizarre full-on freakshow. It may be some time before you fancy tinned spaghetti for your tea again...

92 Swimming Pools, Movie Stars

(Watusi, 1994)

Not the most inspiring lyric ('I feel like I’m awakening / and I’ll do anything / please just say when'), but nevertheless it's a little gem of a melodic pop song with two contrasting, equally lovely guitar sounds and a stirring chorus. 

Somewhat improbably, TWP performed the song on Esther Rantzen's daytime TV chat show.

91 Go, Man, Go

(Mini, 1996)

Another typically solid Mini track. As the title implies, the narrator is abandoning a relationship; regretfully, but with no intention of returning. It's not the most insightful lyric (and 'I'm still in love with you / but please don’t ask me when / because I’m never coming back again' doesn't make a whole heap of sense) but Gedge delivers it with real feeling. Producer Cenzo Townshend captures a particularly agreeable guitar sound on this one: full-bodied and scuzzy, reminiscent of the first side of Seamonsters. There's recording of the song being played at London's Virgin Megastore that's well worth a watch here (featuring David sporting an impressive Elvis coiffure).

90 Snake Eyes

(Saturnalia, 1996)

The phrase 'snake eyes' is usually associated with throwing a double one with dice and by extension an undesirable outcome. Here, Gedge seems to use it more in the sense of 'snake in the grass' - his faithless, 'underhand' lover ('I know who you’re screwing') being accused of having 'big snake eyes'. Musically, the song starts in a nimble, choppy (almost semi-funky) fashion before settling into a frenetic thrash. The most notable feature is Gedge's rather startling falsetto, which he just about gets away with here (although he didn't always pull it off live). It's good while it lasts, although at just over two minutes it feels ever so slight.

89 Fleshworld

(B-side of Lovenest, 1991)

A hard-edged and aggressive track, underpinned by clattering drums and and a thick, menacing bass line that's cut through occasionally by a caustic lead guitar. It's an unusually abstract lyric by Gedge's standards (I will not drink your drink / go find some place to hide / I don’t care what you think'); whatever it is that's 'deep down in Fleshworld' - 'those things should not be done' - it feels like it might be something murky and disturbing.

EDIT: Ian Grice to the rescue again: 'Fleshworld' is apparently a magazine that featured in Twin Peaks.

88 Bells

(Going, Going..., 2016)

The Going, Going... journey arrives in Crockett County, Tennessee (home of the West Tennessee Okra Festival, apparently) for a regretful one night stand story. The standout track from the slightly samey mid-section of the album, it boasts both a memorable melody and a well-crafted lyric. The one night stand regret is captured tellingly by 'I’ve already run out of things to say to you / last night that really was a stupid thing to do' and, in particular, 'I called you darling because I’d already forgotten your name'. 

87 Always The Quiet One

(Take Fountain, 2005)

Nestled between Take Fountain's epic opener and the catchy single 'Further North', it's easy to forget about 'Always The Quiet One'. It's unassuming and far from spectacular, but a neat little tune nonetheless. Framed around a crisp guitar arpeggio, the instrumentation is tight and sprightly; the vocal, in contrast, is calmly downtempo. As a result, the lyric is pretty concise. 

It's not an especially novel scenario - shy boy meets beguiling girl, chickens out of asking for her number, spends the rest of the day wondering what might have been - but the melancholy fantasy is captured with precise economy: 'I watch you walk away / and then waste my whole day / imagining the things you do / like how you're bound to love quiet men'. There is a bit of a continuity error, however: 'if we meet again... I’d actually still not speak to you', the protagonist muses, despite the fact that earlier his 'voice sounded unsteady' as they 'talked inanely about the weather'.

In this live version, from the An Evening With The Wedding Present DVD (filmed at Shepherd's Bush Empire in November 2005) it's nice to hear Terry's backing vocals clearly - I've been to far too many TWP gigs where they were virtually inaudible. However, replacing the arpeggio with jangly chords renders the song a little one-dimensional.

86 It's For You

(Take Fountain, 2005)

Telephone calls make regular appearances in Gedge's songs ('No', 'Nobody’s Twisting Your Arm', 'Dare'); here, the whole story revolves around the jealousy aroused by a partner's frequent phone conversations with her ex: 'do you think you and he will ever run out / of things that you have to talk about?' Driven by a glorious, glutinously fuzzy bass line, the song simmers with unspoken resentment and envy.

There's a live version from Holmfirth Picturedrome (a great venue) here - it's too dark to pick it out, but my head is one of those bobbing up and down at the front.

85 Two Bridges

(Going, Going..., 2016)

First appeared as a 7" single in 2013 before being re-recorded for Going, Going... The original version is not as full-blooded as the album take, but there's a Peel session-like vibrancy and freshness about it that's very appealing. 

The 'bridges' clearly represent some sort of transition from one place or state of mind to another, and the narrator obviously feels that he has to make a major change ('where am I going? I don’t care / it’s better than not going anywhere'). It's all a bit enigmatic and difficult to unravel though: 'it’s not easy to explain / without sounding a little bit insane'.

There's a muscular, forceful confidence about the first half of the track, which is made up of the 'traditional' song element. The hand claps are an interesting little diversion, and were apparently Patrick Alexander's idea. The second half revisits the post-rock influences I've referred to previously; an  instrumental passage that builds to an impressive crescendo.

Two Bridges is a neighbourhood in Manhattan.

84 Palisades

(El Rey, 2008)

Certainly not one of El Rey's several light-hearted moments, 'Palisades' is an intense, impassioned howl of anguish about rejection. Although the verse melody is a perhaps just a little predictable, in the chorus Gedge squeezes as much angst as is humanly possible out of the simple line, 'you don't love me any more'. A really powerful song live (example here).

83 Snapshots

(B-side of Interstate 5, 2004)

An overlooked little gem, drenched in dramatic romanticism. Addressed to a friend who died young ('how strange to think you’ll never / have to worry about growing old / about counting wrinkles and the winter cold, again') it finds Gedge tugging on the heartstrings for all he's worth, supported by Terry's dreamy backing vocals. 

82 Jump In, The Water's Fine

(Single, 2019)

In part 5, I commented that it was remarkable that TWP were, over thirty years into their career, still releasing b-sides as decent as 'Panama'. The same holds true for 'Jump In'. With the Cinerama material included, this sees Gedge come close to having released 300 songs, but there's no sign of any tiredness or lack of inspiration here.

Admittedly, it is a little guilty of the rather trite and obvious rhymes that David slips into sometimes - 'I’m going to mend you / I will defend you'; 'I know how to heal you / I won’t let anyone steal you' - but there's still an intoxicating, swirling romanticism about the song. As the title suggests, it's an exhortation to take a leap of faith into a potential relationship. A variety of guitar tones are subtly balanced, there's a crafty, athletic bass line lurking in the background, and the harmonies on the chorus are frankly gorgeous. 

81 Nobody's Twisting Your Arm 

(Single, 1988)

The very definition of an indie-disco favourite from the days when I was a student. (I am, in general, highly averse to the whole concept of dancing, but I have vague memories of shuffling ineptly around the dancefloor to NTYA when I had sufficient beers in me. Sufficient was quite a lot though.)

There's quite a bit of teenage melodrama involved ('her' sister pretending on the phone that 'she' isn't in; 'what about those secret smiles that you were giving to him?'), but for once the narrator seems to have the upper hand, shrugging his shoulders and casually remarking 'I don’t care anymore... here’s the key;  there's the door'. But overall, the atmosphere is one of youthful exuberance and light-heartedness, captured in Gedge's apparently impromptu 'take it away Grapper!' as well as the closing studio chat - 'never played that in my life before!'

Thirty years down the line, it does sound a little fluffy and insubstantial. It also suffers from that 'boomy' drum sound that bedevils much of the George Best-era material (and, to be fair, a lot of 80s music). However, to me (and, I imagine, to much of the demographic that is reading this) it captures perfectly a period of time when, despite the looming problems of the Poll Tax, student loans and a third bloody term for Margaret Thatcher, you could lose yourself in a whirlwind of guitars and sad lyrics about girlfriends.

Don't forget that the main page below contains links to all the other posts and a host of other links.

Thanks for reading - I'll see you next week.

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