Lyrics
< Instrumental >
Commentary
A previously unreleased instrumental outtake, credited to Mark E. Smith and Simon Wolstencroft, “White Lines” first appeared on the Oxymoron compilation (1997) – one of the notorious series of releases on the Receiver Records label. No information was provided about the provenance of the recording or which musicians played on it. The track was re-released on the 2003 Time Enough at Last Castle/Sanctuary 3 x CD box set of the Receiver Records compilations 15 Ways to Leave Your Man – Live, Oxymoron, and Cheetham Hill.
Nobody has anything positive to say about the track. Steve Pringle (2022) describes it as “pretty awful… sounding like something that Orbital might have knocked about in the studio before discarding it as unfit even for a B-side.” To be fair to The Fall, it did only limp out on Oxymoron. Dave Thompson notes (2003, p.185) that there is even doubt about whether it is The Fall playing. He mentions Mojo magazine’s Pat Gilbert as one of those who have suggested that it might not be.
The title, “White Lines”, is obviously and probably deliberately ambiguous. It might refer to the white lines in the centre of a road, or it might refer to a line of a powdered drug to be inhaled/snorted, like cocaine or speed.
See also:
Sources / Links
- Pringle, Steve (2022). You Must Get Them All: The Fall on Record. [paperback edition]. Pontefract: Route Publishing Ltd. [Online store]
- Thompson, Dave (2003). A User’s Guide to the Fall. London: Helter-Skelter Publishing.
- The Track Record: “White Lines”