Lyrics
Shoulder Pads 1#
All these fads
It's shoulder pads
On New Year's dawn
To my surprise
All the Macca lads stayed at home
Picking antiques and clotheses
Cosy fleck with green bits
Main undercurrent, white spermatoze
My powers against them, half useless
My senses alive, half-parted
Was embarrassed but stuck with them
Walked, at shoulder, down the street, ridicule
They couldn't tell Lou Reed from Doug Yule
Suppressed hate romance
It was like being back at school
My powers before them resound
My powers languished in time, doom
Win populace, internal defeat
Their mob had a coup d'etat
Realise what they'd always wanted
Knew I was right all along
It wasn't then a Beatles song
Superhero in harlequin kecks
Dimwit lecture, half-read
Cursing black singers ten years dead
Was a clown in victim hat
Was shouldered and spurned
Then my powers did return
Shoulder Pads 2#
Knew I was right all along
Rock to them a Talking Heads album
Superhero in harlequin kecks
Dimwit lecture, half-read
Was I victim in clown hat?
Was I nearly turned?
Then my powers did return
Watch out fakers and cads
It's M.E.S. in shoulder pads
My powers gone
Powers, said Batman
Said a twisted chill, flashes pan
It's M.E.S. in shoulder pads
Big fit deal for mamas of fads
It's M.E.S. in shoulder pads
You'd better
Line that bottom line
Against that different plan
Holding ankles, rotten kecks
It's M.E.S. in shoulder pads
Commentary
Shoulder Pads #1B
All these fads
It, it's shoulder pads
On the year's dawn
To my surprise
All the macalachs stayed at home
Picking antiques and clothesies
Cosy flecked with green bits
Main undercurrent white spermatoze
My powers - against them half-useless
My senses โ allied half party
Was embarrassed but stuck with them
Walked at shoulder down street ridicule
They couldn't tell Lou Reed from Doug Yule
Suppressed hate ferments
It was like being back at school
My powers, my powers surfaced and cooled
When populace ate tunnel defeat
Their mob had a coup d'etat
Realised what they'd always wanted
Knew I was right all along
It was to them a Beatles song
Superhero in harlequin kecks
Dimwit lecture half-red
Kissing black singers ten years dead
Was clown in victim hat
Was shouldered and spurned
Then my powers did return....
Def now now for girls and lads
Making clothes from curtain pads
My powers gone
Save a twisted chill, flash pan
Itโs MES in shoulder pads
Look out lovers of fads
Itโs MES in shoulder pads
Big fair deal for lovers of fads
Itโs MES in shoulder pads
Better line body and mind
Against a different clime
Haul in anchors, run to the cabs
Itโs MES in shoulder pads
And unless you want MES as your dad
Haul in your anchors lovers of fads
Itsโs MES in shoulder pads
Itโs MES in shoulder pads
Itโs MES in shoulder pads
MES in shoulder pads
MES in shoulder pads
MES in shoulder pads
Footnotes
Sources / Links
- The Annotated Fall: โShoulder Pads #1 and #2โ [Archived]
- Smith, Mark E. (2008). Renegade: The Lives and Tales of Mark E. Smith. London: Penguin.
- The Track Record: “Shoulder Pads”
- Wolstencroft, Simon (2014). You Can Drum But You Can’t Hide. London: Strata Books.
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