Lyrics

The bath clique 
Out of reach 
The bath clique 
Thank God 
Out of reach 
The women have skins of peach 
Old 
They're making my bad dreams over 
The bath clique is out of reach 
Making my bad dreams over 
Stretches outside 
Stretches outside 
Extension magnifique 
On a beach 
On a beach 
And a street 
James Murphy is their chief 
They show their bollocks when they eat 
Commercial rate awaits 
For all those who join clique 
And make their pledge 
And put their material 
In the [   ] 
Awaits for you, awaits for all 
Join clique 
Join clique 
Make the pledge 
Within reach 
Within reach 
Within reach 
Within reach
Within reach
Bath clique in our reach 
Stretching outside 
Bath clique out of reach 
Stretches outside 
On a beach 
In a street 
J Murphy is their chief 
A founder awaits 
For me, for all 
Who make a pledge 
To join 
Who join clique 
Bath clique awaits 

And make their pledge 
And make their pledge 
Bath clique 
And make their pledge 
Bath clique 

Footnotes

1. As noted in the Commentary, it’s not clear what “bath clique” refers to, or whether and how it is connected to the song title, “Irish”. Bath is a city in Somerset, England, best known – and named after – it’s Roman-era bath-houses. “Bath” might also refer more specifically, to such bath-houses, public steam baths or ‘Turkish’ baths (correctly named ‘hammams’, see Wikipedia). It could, at a stretch, refer to the ruling party elite in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq or in Syria – “Ba’ath clique”. bzfgt, in the entry for “Irish” at his original version of The Annotated Fall, speculates – I think very wildly – that there might be a connection between the giants of Irish mythology and the name “Bath”. The steam baths angle is given some plausibility by the lyrical references to women with “skins of peach” (if that is indeed the lyric) and “stretching” (i.e. yoga exercises).
   
   “Bath clique” as a specific phrase has been used historically. For the anti-Disraeli group centred around the then Lord Bath (John Thynne, 4th Marquess of Bath, 1831 – 1896 – note that the Thynne family owned the Bath Estate in County Monaghan, Ireland) see Smith (1966):
   
   “Disraeli had to prop the old aristocrat in the leadership because only Derby could shield him from the group in the party who wished to break him. They were headed by the Marquis of Bath and included Lord Cadogan, Sir Rainald Knightly, Baillie Cochrane, ‘Big Ben’ Bentinck, the Lowthers and Beresford Hope – veterans of the attempt to remove Disraeli in 1860… The Bath clique emboldened by the three notable resignations from the Government in 1867, became a continual hazard to Disraeli’s ambitions throughout 1867 and 1868.” (p.124).
   
   See also Ramsden (1999, pp.94-95):
   
   “There was, though, a faction among the Conservatives, known as ‘the Bath clique’ after their leader Lord Bath, which had tried to remove Disraeli in 1860 and were soon to try again, so suspicious were they of his adventurous brand of Conservatism and his flamboyant manner (criticism of which was often in coded language that scarcely concealed the critics’ anti-semitism).” (p.94)
   
   and
   
   “Early in the 1867 session Derby’s Cabinet therefore decided to test the water in the Commons by proposing a series of reform resolutions, and when those went well it committed itself to a bill of its own, and to an ambitious one at that. Having consulted backbenchers, Disraeli reported to Derby his view ‘that the bold line is the safer one, & moreover, that it will be successful’. This in itself was an awkward business which led to the resignation of three ‘Bath clique’ ministers, Cranborne, Peel and Carnarvon, who argued strongly that the bill now being proposed was too radical…” (p.95). ↩︎
2. This might be wrong. At the original Annotated Fall, bzfgt struggles with this line, noting that it might also be “stills of peach”, “steals a peach”, “stills of each”, “skills of peach” or “skills of each”. He says: “I just went with my ears, as the context really doesn’t make any of these options more likely than any other.” But “skins of peach” does seem more plausible to me. ↩︎
3. This may be James Murphy, who is an American musician, admittedly influenced by The Fall. He is best known as the leader of LCD Soundsystem, whose song “Movement” quotes from The Fall’s “Telephone Thing” (“I’m tapped”). When asked about “Irish” by William Van Meyer for Vulture, M.E.S. did not quite admit that he was referring to this James Murphy, but nor did he deny it:
   
   In the song “Irish,” you say “James Murphy is their chief, they show their bollocks when they eat.” Is this the Murphy from LCD Soundsystem or an Irish everyman James Murphy?
   
   Ha-ha. What do you think? Are you a big fan of his? I had to make up some lyrics quick for that one.
   
   Source: Van Meter, 2013. ↩︎
4. “… ranks amongst his most entertaining lines”, in Steve Pringle’s opinion (2022, p.485). It has been suggested that the line is a reference to a woodcut illustration (specifically, plate 3) from John Derricke’s anti-Irish The Image of Irelande, with a Discoverie of Woodkarne (1581) which depicts “the chief of the Mac Sweynes seated at dinner and being entertained by a bard and a harper” (/ Irish people displaying their buttocks at a feast. See Wikipedia and University of Edinburgh Library. ↩︎
5. Potentially a reference to crowdfunding, for example sites like Indiegogo, Kickstarter and, in particular, PledgeMusic. Mark E. Smith had contributed vocals to the tracks “Mutation” and “Relentless Confliction” on Error 500, the 2013 album from Ginger Wildheart‘s ‘Mutation’ project, which was funded via PledgeMusic (see Discogs). See also the song “Pledge!” from 2015’s Sub-Lingual Tablet.
   
   However, there is also the abstentionist pledge of the temperance movement, and the Irish Catholic Confirmation pledge, in which (typically) eleven-twelve year-olds promise to God that they will abstain from alcohol until they are eighteen. ↩︎

Sources / Links

• The Annotated Fall: “Irish” [Archived]
• 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]
• Ramsden, John (1999). An Appetite for Power: A History of the Conservative Party since 1830. London: HarperCollins. [Available online via The Internet Archive]
• Smith, F.B. (1966). The Making of the Second Reform Bill. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Available online via The Internet Archive]
• The Track Record: “Irish“
• Van Meter, William (2013). “The Fall’s Mark E. Smith on Re-Mit, Playing for German Lawyers, and H.P. Lovecraft.” Vulture, 13 May. [Online] [Archived]