Lyrics
Let me tell you about the wee lads
And the snazzy jazzy tune
Green and unfettered on mock stage
In the fishbowl city 1 they were regarded as snazzy 2
I cried for the band
I cried outside
I cried for the man
Their sweat mottled, melted
Their prescription blushed
I cried for the band, in the aisle
I cried for the man, snazzy
I never saw them again
And if I ever do I'm sure it will be in purgatory 3
Where all people will meet and cry for the band
Our tears went unnoticed
They were snazzy, jazzy
Legs like trunks of ash, trunks of tree
Turn it up for the man!
Turn it up for the man!
Commentary
snazzy. adjective. colloq. M20. [ORIGIN: origin unkn.] Attractive; stylish; smart, flashy.
Shorter Oxford English Dictionary
“Snazzy” was released on 2015’s Sub-Lingual Tablet before it had been heard in a live context. Post-release it was played just three times in 2015, disappeared from setlists for 2016, and returned for four final performances in May and July 2017.
The song seems to be about The Fall, or perhaps it’s a song about itself.
An instrumental version of “Snazzy” turned up on a outtakes bootleg The Track Record calls the “Dentist Drill Demos (2008-2015)”. My copy of the download is, for reasons entirely unknown to me, labelled as “Christmas Has Come Early AKA Facebook Leak”.
The track is credited to Mark E. Smith and Eleni Poulou.
Footnotes
- The phrase “fishbowl city” is probably being used generically; any city would be a fishbowl if you were always under scrutiny there. Perhaps this would be true of Manchester for The Fall. Just to note for completeness that Fishbowl City is a 2014 film directed by Martin McCann and set in Belfast [Link to info from the Irish Film & Television Network].
The Fall’s earlier song “Reformation!” includes repeated lyrical references to a “goldfish bowl”, which may, or may not, be relevant.
(AI generated image of a city in a fishbowl) ↩︎ - “Snazzy” also appears in the lyrics to the track “Levitate” from Levitate (1997): “The snazzy japes of a Basingstoke shot.” ↩︎
- According to the teachings of the Catholic Church, purgatory is a place, or state, of the final spiritual cleansing where – or in which – the souls of the dead expiate their sins through suffering before entering heaven. According to the Catechism:
“All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.” [para. 1030]
“The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned…” [para. 1031]
MES may not be using the term with strict theological accuracy. May God have mercy on his soul. ↩︎
Sources / Links
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