Lyrics
Note that Brix sings the "da da da"s in brackets, but sometimes the vocal lines overlap and I therefore haven't tried to transcribe all of the "da da da"s, because it's too difficult. There are also some lines that M.E.S. sings in a indistinct high-pitched voice, which are also not transcribed here.
(Da da da da da da da da)
(Da da da da da da da da)
Da da da da da da da da
Da da da da da da da da
Da da da da da da da da
Da da da da da da da da
My friends
(Da da da da da da da da)
Gonna tell you about my friends
(Da da da da da da da da)
My friends ain't enough for one hand
My friends ain't enough for one hand
My friends don't amount to one hand
One hand
[ ]
My friends don't add up to one hand
My friends don't amount to one hand
One hand
Tell you about my friends
(Why do you count them?)
My friends don't count up to one hand
My friends cannot count on one hand 1
My friends don't amount to one hand
Tell you about my friends
My friends don't add up to one hand
My friends don't count up to hand
One hand
Tell ya 'bout my friends
My friends don't amount to one hand
My friends ain't enough for one hand
One hand
Tell ya 'bout my friends
Da da da da da da da da
Da da da da da da da da
Da da da da da da da da
Da da da da da da da da
Da da da da da da da da
Da da da da da da da da
Da da da da da da da da
Da da da da da da da da
Da da da da da da da da
(Do you count them?)
(How many are there?)
Commentary
< Post in progress >
“I went through a thing about six months ago when I thought ‘F–ing hell, I’ve been nice to a lot of people and they’re not my friends anymore.’ and I started to crave company again. There’s a song on the LP, which we do live called ‘My Friends You Can Count On One Hand’, and you can. It’s funny who you regard as your friends.”
Mark E. Smith, interviewed for New Musical Express by James Brown (1987, p.45).
Credited solely to Mark E. Smith on The Frenz Experiment (1988), which is disputed by Brix Smith Start; she has said that it was a collaboration.
It’s a strange downbeat choice for opening song on the album. The song is unusual on two other counts: it is thematically straightforward, and it appears to be sincerely personal to M.E.S.
“I don’t have many friends” turns out to be a bit of a rock and pop trope.
Brian and Michael, the Manchester-based one-hit-wonder duo who reached number one for three weeks with “Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs” (1978, see Official Charts), also had a song with the title We Can Count Our Friends On One Hand (from the album We Can Count Our Figures On One Hand, 1979. See Discogs). The chorus goes, “I can count my friends up on one hand and still have fingers spare.”
Footnotes
- Whether this is deliberate or a mistake deliberately left in, the twist of meaning in this line adds some humour to the lyric. ↩︎
Sources / Links
- The Annotated Fall: “Frenz” [Archived]
- Brown, James (1987). “Drunken driver causes chaos – In a JCB!” New Musical Express, 31 October. pp.44-45, 51. [Article available online via The Fall Online Bibliography]
- Ford, Simon (2003). Hip Priest: the story of Mark E Smith and The Fall. London: Quartet Books.
- 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. (2008). vII. The Lough Press & AMarquisManipulationProductions. [AKA the Blue Lyrics Book]
- Smith Start, Brix (2016). The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise. London: Faber & Faber. [Text available online in archive.org]
- The Track Record: “Frenz”
- Wolstencroft, Simon (2014). You Can Drum But You Can’t Hide: a memoir. Trowbridge: Strata Books. (2nd edition published by Route Publishing, 2017).