And there's a big concert going down in this town People cannot see society broken down I sat upon the green grass but it just brought me down And the wife said "get up" and it just brought me round
Fly ladybird, get right outta town Use your transparent wings Ladybird fly, fly ladybird
Green grass was purple black and speckled all around Round the ring, this Croat town The gas was obnoxious It made me settle down, so I sat down And the guy said "get up" and it just brought me down
Fly ladybird, ladybird flee Get right outta town, use your transparent wings Above the leaping flames, get right outta here Flee ladybird, ladybird fly
Pomerania is burning down Your family is gone, shot dead Get right out of it See the epaulette Death, to let
Small change attached I thought it was there but it just brought me down Ripped the magazine open, it brought me round Green grass was clear in the boundary zone Grass faded into Wimpey brick in the ground
Mother's somewhere in Pomerania, but Pomerania is burning down Eine kleine Meisterwerk, settled in my bones Fly! Fly ladybird Get right off the ground Use your transparent wings Get right outta here
Commentary
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Footnotes
Sources / Links
The Annotated Fall: “Ladybird (Green Grass)” [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]
