Junkman, lend a hand Help me clear this trash Pile it up, light a match Turn it into ash
Take my bread, as white as snow Paste it on your wall Use my rice to starch your clothes You can have it all You can have it all
Give me back the molasses you took from my sugar Give me back the husk from my rice Give back the germ you took from my bread I want to see it in every slice
Junkman, lend a hand Help me clear this trash Pile it up, light a match Turn it into ash
The Fall
Nah nah nah nah 1 Nah nah nah nah Nah nah nah nah nah
Junk man, lend a hand Help me clear this track 3 Light a match, burn it up Turn it into ash
Junk man, lend a hand Help me clear this crap Light a match, turn it up Turn it into ash
Give me back the molasses you took from my sugar Give me back the white of my bread Give me back the alcohol you took out my bitter I wanna see it in every pint
Junk man, lend a hand Help me clear this stretch Light a match, burn it up Turn it into ash Burn it into ash
Take back the molasses you took from my sugar Take back the white from my bread Take back the honeycombs you took from my honey I wanna see it in every slice You can't have it all You can't have it all
Junk man, lend a hand Help me clear this track Light a match, burn it up Turn it into ash Turn it into ash
And tolerance is not a virtue for hogman's dirty groundhog
Junk man, lend a hand Help me clear this strip Give me back the Vitamin C you took from my orange I wanna see it in every bowl But you can't have it all And you can't have it all
Junk man, lend a hand
Commentary
< Post in progress >
The Groundhogs Facebook page tribute to MES
I met Mark & the line-up he had at the time in Manchester when I’d heard they’d covered ‘ Junk Man’ on their latest album, he apologised that it was credited to McFREE, more of a punk name, I guess!
They gave me an album & they all signed it , been a treasured possession along with my signed 12″ copy of ‘ happy talk ‘ given to me by Captain Sensible. Tony McPhee
The Groundhogs’ original appears on their 1971 album Split. It was written and arranged by Tony McPhee and was titled “Junkman”. The Fall’s cover version can be found on their 1994 album Middle Class Revolt where it is credited, amusingly, to “McFree”. The group at the time of recording consisted of Karl Burns, Dave Bush, Steve Hanley, Craig Scanlon, Mark E. Smith, and Simon Wolstencroft. Karl Burns gets the kazoo credit.
The Fall never performed “Junk Man” live, as far as we know. Nor have any alternate takes emerged. The Middle Class Revolt recording is therefore the only one that currently exists.
Musically, The Fall’s version completely omits the guitar strangeness of the second half of the original song.
McPhee’s lyrics seem to be complaining about junk food, if only figuratively. That, probably to nobody’s surprise, isn’t quite the place that MES’s is coming from. For McPhee wheatgerm-free white bread is no better than wallpaper paste. Whereas MES demands, “give me back the white of my bread.” MES also turns “you can have it all” (a line addressed to the Junkman in McPhee’s lyrics) into “you can’t have it all”, apparently a pessimistic reflection by the song’s narrator.
Wolstencroft describes the album a “botched job with three scrappy cover versions that nobody had ever heard of.” (2014, p.146). The other two cover versions are “War” by Henry Cow/Slapp Happy and “Shut Up!” by Monks. Dave Thompson thinks the cover versions are the album’s “best numbers” (2003, p.138).
“Junk Man” gets mixed reviews from later commentators. “There’s a lurching swagger to it”, says Steve Pringle, “but the constant kazoo and Karl Burns’s caveman backing vocals may be too much for some.” (2022, p.277). On the other hand, Tommy Mackay prefers it the original: “Great cover”, he says, “… Having only just heard the overblown prog rock guitar on display in the first 30 seconds of the original, I can confidently assert that The Fall’s version is an immense improvement.” He also likes the “entertaining grunts and impressive kazoo action.” (2018, p.145).
Dave Thompson, characterising the original as “growling” and “gruelling”, describes The Fall’s cover as a “distorted bluesy plod.”, which may or may not be a good thing. (2003, p.138)
The Fall and The Groundhogs
Curious to note that The Fall’s cover of “Junkman” was titled “Junk Man”, whereas The Fall’s cover of The Groundhogs’ “Strange Town” (which incorporates lyrical fragments from The Groundhogs’ “Garden”) was titled “Strangetown“.
Cherry Red, The Fall’s last record label, are named after a song by The Groundhogs (also from 1971’s Split).
Footnotes
Tricky to transcribe this bit, which is a word-less gutteral approximation of “Junkman”‘s opening power chords by Karl Burns. ↩︎
If MES is referring to the traditional seven Christian virtues, he is correct. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church they consist of the ‘cardinal virtues’: prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance; and the theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity. (Source: The Holy See: Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992. 2nd rev. ed. 1997).
For a somewhat more in-depth discussion of the concept of toleration than Annotating The Fall is currently able to offer our readers, see the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy [link]. ↩︎
Possibly a reference to the process of getting permission for The Fall to release this cover version. ↩︎
More of Burns’ comedy guitar-mimicking vocal noises. ↩︎
Mackay, Tommy (2018). 40 Odd Years of The Fall. Place of publication unknown: Greg Moodie.
Pringle, Steve (2022). You Must Get Them All: The Fall on Record. [paperback edition]. Pontefract: Route Publishing Ltd. [Online store]
Smith, Mark E. with Austin Collings (2009). Renegade: The Lives and Tales of Mark E. Smith. London: Penguin. (Originally published by Viking, 2008). [Available online in the Internet Archive]
Thompson, Dave (2003). A User’s Guide to the Fall. London: Helter-Skelter Publishing.
