Ich hasse, die masse, die kleine, gemeine, die lahme, die zahme, mein hertzblut, raubt
Oh, little brother, we are in a mess Don't look at me that way Don't put me to the test When I first saw you People said, "He scrutinised a little monster" And disappeared through red door Now everyone is disinformation Disinformation Disinformation He says, "won't you give me one more chance? Won't you give me one more chance? I'm not a communist, won't you give me one more chance?"
Disinformation Disinformation Disinformation
Ich hasse, die masse, die kleine, gemeine, die lahme, die zahme, mein hertzblut, raubt
Oh, little brother, we are in a mess Don't look at me that way Your d-jacket's a mess There's always someone beside you And there's always someone in your arms Oh, little brother, if only I had known Then I might not be alone Be alone Be alone Be alone Be alone
Commentary
< Post in progress >
“Die Masse”, by Bogislav von Selchow, from Völkischer Beobachter (newspaper of the NSDAP – Nazi Party), 11/12 February 1923. See dannyno (2020) for research details.
dannyno (2020). “The Nazi Poem Behind a Fall Lyric: Uncovering Oh! Brother’s Selchovian Refrain”. The Wonderful and Frightening World of… Data. Blog post dated 27 February. [Available online here]
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]
Should O! Brother get a link under Instrumentals? The vocals amount to a bit of whispered German and a few la-la’s!
On a general point, cassette/CD bonus tracks have been linked under the album title from Frenz onwards but I believe these were a feature from the start of the Beggars Banquet era (which kind of makes this the right place to raise it!): cassettes for TWAFWoTF and TNSG and cassette and CD for BS so you may want to link them in too. The bonuses were just miscellaneous singles tracks I think but I’m sure you’ll know the details better than me.
No, not going to list O! Brother as an instrumental.
I’ve been a bit inconsistent on how I’ve treated albums, bonus tracks, re-releases etc. I kind of started including them properly halfway through. I will come back and fix it at some point, but now I want to get more actual entries into a “finished” state. It’s all about priorities!
Should O! Brother get a link under Instrumentals? The vocals amount to a bit of whispered German and a few la-la’s!
On a general point, cassette/CD bonus tracks have been linked under the album title from Frenz onwards but I believe these were a feature from the start of the Beggars Banquet era (which kind of makes this the right place to raise it!): cassettes for TWAFWoTF and TNSG and cassette and CD for BS so you may want to link them in too. The bonuses were just miscellaneous singles tracks I think but I’m sure you’ll know the details better than me.