Lyrics
Rowche rumble
Rowche rumble
Is valium
Valium
Valium
Rowche rumble
That's rumble
Thousands of wives around the world
Are given them by doctors, who think they're little girls
The doctors need prescriptions, the wives need their pill
So Rowche rumble
Rowche rumble
Menopause wives are hard to handle
No culture or love, no gambles
The dull manage, especially smashed on Rowche rumble
Rowche rumble
Physician, heal thyself
Our government's built on expense accounts
Once in, never out
A step to Rowche, force feeding
What are the people around you taking?
Rowche rumble
Rowche rumble
Now I've tried crazy things, abusing my body to a quick end
But I'll never never never never do it again
I said I'll never never never never do it again
Rowche rumble
Rowche rumble
Physician, heal thyself
Physician, heal thyself
Musician, heal thyself
Hey mister, heal thyself
Loads of people across the land do a prescribed death dance While condemning speed and grass
They got an addiction like a hole in the ass
Rowche rumble
Rowche rumble
Physician, heal thyself
Physician, heal thyself
Rowche rumble
I send seventy pounds instead of seventy p. 1
To pharmaceutical company Rowche AG
The lorry arrived the next day
Swiss gnomes dealing out potions 2
Kick your liver in
What is it the fear for?
To decant the beer
[ ] the full use of your body isn't?
Rowche rumble
Rowche rumble
Is valium
Valium
valium
Rowche rumble
That's rumble
Commentary
< Post in progress >
“Rowche Rumble” was recorded at Cargo Studios, Rochdale, on 11 June 1979, along with its b-side, “In My Area”. It is credited to Mark E. Smith, Marc Riley and Craig Scanlon.
“Rowche” is a not-trying-very-hard disguise for the name of the huge Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company, F. Hoffman – La Roche [See Wikipedia]. Valium is Roche’s brand name for the anti-anxiety sedative drug diazepam [see Wikipedia], which is also the subject of the title track of The Rolling Stones’ 1966 single, Mother’s Little Helper. The topic isn’t original, but it is very much in The Fall’s early lyrical wheel-house.
Valium was also in the news at the time. On 21 April 1978 it was announced that Betty Ford, the wife of former American President Gerald Ford, had been admitted to hospital ten days previously for treatment for addiction to alcohol and prescription drugs – specifically Valium.
Footnotes
- “p.” is an abbreviation for pence. ↩︎
- “Gnomes of Zurich” is an idiomatic turn of phrase referring negatively to Swiss bankers. Gnomes are mythical creatures found in northern European folklore generally, but especially Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland. Gnomes as garden ornaments first appeared in Germany. ↩︎
Sources / Links
- The Annotated Fall: “Rowche Rumble” [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 Start, Brix (2016). The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise. London: Faber & Faber. [Text available online in archive.org]
- The Track Record: “Rowche Rumble”
- Wikipedia: Diazepam
- Wikipedia: Gnomes of Zürich
- Wikipedia: Mother’s Little Helper (Rolling Stones song, 1966)
- Wikipedia: Roche
- Wolstencroft, Simon (2014). You Can Drum But You Can’t Hide: a memoir. Trowbridge: Strata Books. (2nd edition published by Route Publishing, 2017).