Lyrics
Hate wide for dog breeder in the town of the port
A never seen dog breeder
This is the tale of his replica
Name was J Temperance
Only two did not hate him
Because peasants fear local indifference
Pet shop and the vet, Cameron
One night, vet is called out from his overpaid leisure
To Temperance household
Delivered, ran out, and phoned his wife in terror
The next bit is hard to relate
(There are no read-outs for this part of the track)
The new-born thing hard to describe
Like a rat that's been trapped inside
A warehouse base, near a city tide
Brown sockets, purple eyes
And fed with rubbish from disposal barges
Brown and covered
Brown and covered
No changeling, as the birth was witnessed
Only one person could do this
Only one person could do this
"Yes", said Cameron
"And the thing was in the impression of J Temperance"
His hideous replica
His hideous replica
His hideous replica
His hideous replica
His hideous replica
His hideous replica
His hideous replica
His hideous replica
Scrutinised the little monster
Disappeared through the door 1
His hideous replica
His hideous replica
His hideous replica
His hideous replica
Commentary
< Post in progress >
Footnotes
- “Oh! Brother” contains the line, “He scrutinized a little monster / And disappeared through red door” (which I discovered was borrowed from Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame). Although “Oh! Brother” did not appear on record until 1984, it was one of MES’ earliest songs and was performed by the first incarnation of the group in 1977. The lines are inspired by – and specific wording borrowed from – Book 4, Chapter 1 of Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame (specifically the 1888 translation by Isabel F. Hapgood).
Graham Duff (Smith and Duff, 2021) notes that the end of the song is “a classic example of unresolved horror: the creature simply slips out the door: the nightmare will continue.” ↩︎
Sources / Links
- The Annotated Fall: “Impression of J. Temperance” [Archived]
- 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. (1985). The Fall Lyrik & Texte Von Mark E. Smith. In Deutsch & Englisch. With Drawings by Brix. Berlin: The Lough Press. [AKA The Orange Book. Available online in The Internet Archive]
- Smith, Mark E. (2008). vII. The Lough Press & AMarquisManipulationProductions. [AKA the Blue Lyrics Book]
- Smith, Mark E. & Duff, Graham (2021). ‘Impression of J. Temperance’ in The Otherwise: an original feature film. London: Strange Attractor Press. p.221.
- Smith Start, Brix (2016). The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise. London: Faber & Faber. [Text available online in archive.org]
- The Track Record: “Impression of J. Temperance”
- Wolstencroft, Simon (2014). You Can Drum But You Can’t Hide: a memoir. Trowbridge: Strata Books. (2nd edition published by Route Publishing, 2017).
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