Lyrics
(Your nervous system, your nervous system, your nervous system, your nervous system)
(Underground medicine, underground medicine, underground medicine, underground medicine)
A spark inside
Ten percent that I hide 1
And when it clicks
There's no resist
Every time I hear a new baby cry
I thank my spark inside
And you get underground medicine
Underground medicine
I'm but a nervous system
Underground medicine
I found a reason not to die
A reason for the ride
The spark inside
When it hits the mind you get
Underground medicine
Underground medicine
I'm but a nervous system
Underground medicine
I had a psychosomatic voice
And one time it might come back
[Now! It's back] 2
Underground medicine
Underground medicine
I'm but a nervous system
Underground medicine
On my pants I spilled expectorant
And the colonel shot better with thirty pints
They took his cup away
Take it away, take it away
[Used to 'ground] medicine
[Used to 'ground] medicine
[Used to 'ground] medicine
Commentary
< Post in progress >
Is the spelling “medecin” supposed to be a fancy bit of French (meaning “doctor”)? Or was nobody brave enough to point out the error to MES? It was spelled inconsistently on setlists.
Footnotes
- The old Lyrics Parade, and current The Fall Online – Discography, had/have this as “[Traverse up my hide]”. A lyric sheet provided to Facebook by MES associate Graham Duff had “Ten percent that I hide”. ↩︎
- This needs checking! ↩︎
Sources / Links
- The Annotated Fall: “Underground Medecin” [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: “Underground Medecin”
- Wolstencroft, Simon (2014). You Can Drum But You Can’t Hide: a memoir. Trowbridge: Strata Books. (2nd edition published by Route Publishing, 2017).
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