Lyrics
Do you know what you look like before you go out?
Do you know what you look like before you go out?
But I say happy memories leave a bitter taste
I say happy memories leave a bitter taste
I need a good brain wash agent
To cut out this present shout of
Do you know what you look like before you go out?
Do you know what you look like before you go out?
That's why you eat crap food
That's why nobody talks to you
That's why you messed up everything you do
Do you know what you look like before you go out?
Do you know what you look like before you go out?
Look, know, look
He was the first one to wear a flying jacket and go to a club
And she has the general policy of not being seen dead in a pub
Straight leg jeans when she goes out
There's a microbe attached to their brains that itches
And gives a morning shout
Do you know what you look like before you go out?
Do you know what you look like before you go out?
But I say happy memories leave a bitter taste
I got a prison in me 1
Our bodies weren't made for times like these
I always have a wash, and that's enough
Do you know what you look like before you go out?
You gotta know what you look like nowadays, before you go out
Or some existential crap will write about you
They say don't drink alcohol
You gotta know what you look like, oh!, before you go out
Know, look, look
But I say get it down yer neck
Ein beer
And I will you and you attack attack
Pure Sartre food
Catchment club
Do you know what you look like before you go out?
Do you know what you look like before you go out?
Do you know what you look like before you go out?
Before you go out?
Before you go out?
With all the fashions you filched off faggots
With all the fashions you filched off faggots
Do you know what you look like before you go out?
Before you go out?
Before you go out?
Here's health
Here's health
Commentary
< Post in progress >
According to Paul Hanley (2020, p.38), this song was originally titled “Know Look”.
Although ‘Look, Know’ was the only song committed to tape at both of the sessions that made up Hex Enduction Hour‘s recording, it wasn’t included on the final album. Instead it was released as a stand-alone single a month after Hex.
Hanley, Paul (2020), p.142.
The lyric shows Mark as his most schizophrenic – he takes the part of both the person being criticised and the one dishing out the disparagement, so the song ends up as an argument with himself. Though the first break is more generally directed at fashion obsessives, the bulk of the lyric takes the form of an imaginary conversation between Mark and the rest of the group, which explains Marc’s prominent role. Semi-serious critiques of what we ate and and what we chose to wear were fairly commonplace at the time, and the answer to the question ‘Do you know what you look like?’ is printed on the back of the sleeve – ‘These boys obviously do not’. Mark was fully aware that such criticisms were easy enough to direct back at him, which is why in the lyric you’re never sure which voice is his. As the lyric evolved there were some changes to disguise this – The Peel version’s ‘That’s why you messed up the interview’ is changed to ‘everything you do’ on the single.
Hanley, Paul (2020), pp.143-144.
Footnotes
- c.f. “The interior is a prison unconscious” from “My New House”. ↩︎
Sources / Links
- The Annotated Fall: “Look, Know” [Archived]
- Ford, Simon (2003). Hip Priest: the story of Mark E Smith and The Fall. London: Quartet Books.
- Hanley, Paul (2020). Have a Bleedin Guess: the story of Hex Enduction Hour. Pontefract: Route Publishing.
- 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 Start, Brix (2016). The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise. London: Faber & Faber. [Text available online in archive.org]
- The Track Record: “Look, Know”
- Wolstencroft, Simon (2014). You Can Drum But You Can’t Hide: a memoir. Trowbridge: Strata Books. (2nd edition published by Route Publishing, 2017).