Lyrics
[wolf-like howling] 1
Reputation is gone
You're in the clear, boy
Every day of your life
You persevere, boy
Wolf kidult man
Wolf kidult son
Where is your mum?
Your power is gone
Every moment of truth is here to stay
Somewhere up in your ear
You're babbling, frantic
Wolf kidult man
Wolf kidult son
Where is your mum?
Your power is gone
You start to walk
Where are you going?
Going to a shop
Your arms limp at your sides
And you've got to embrace this
Wolf kidult man
Wolf kidult son
Where is your mum?
Your power is gone
Reputation is gone
You're in the clear, boy
Every day of your life
You persevere, boy
You put me to work at once. I think I can save The Courier. 2
How can I put you to work? I can't even pay my bar tab.
Well, that's simple. I'll waive salary until you're in the black.
That's crazy. I might never be in the black.
Well, it's a chance, but it's better than anything you have now.
Commentary
< Post in progress >
“Wolf Kidult Man” is the second track on The Fall’s 2008 album, Imperial Wax Solvent. It is credited to Mark E. Smith, Dave Spurr and Eleni Poulou.
It is unclear what a “wolf kidult man” is, exactly. Maybe the phrase is a list of three separate things rather than one unitary concept.
“Kidult” was originally a portmanteau term coined by the marketing industry, referring to television programmes, films and other entertainments that were designed to appeal to both children and adults. It has subsequently also come to be used as a disparaging label for adults with “juvenile tastes”.
The earliest citation for “kidult” in the Oxford English Dictionary is from the Enyclopedia Britannica Book of the Year, 1960, dated to 1958, however I’ve found instances in American newspapers from the 1940s.
Wolve Kidult Man
“Wolve Kidult Man” appears as the last song on the setlist for The Fall’s gig at Robin 2, Bilston, on 5 March 2007 (Mark E. Smith’s 50th birthday). “Wolve” is a humorous reference to the fact that the town of Bilston is part of Wolverhampton (most of what had formerly been the Borough of Bilston was incorporated into the city as part of local government reorganisation in 1966).
Footnotes
- There are more rock and pop songs than you might imagine which feature the sound, or a vocal imitation, of a wolf howling, including:
– “Big Bad Wolf (In a Little Sports Car)” by Kim Garri with the Rhythm Kings Orch. (1960). ‘Kim Garri’ seems to have been one of Kim Fowley’s pseudonyms.
– “Li’l Red Riding Hood”, written by Ronald Blackwell and first performed by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs (1966);
– “Werewolves of London”, by Warren Zevon (1978). Covered by The Fall live on one occasion, see: “Werewolves of London“.
– “Little Red Riding Hood”, 999’s cover of Sam the Sham, which appeared on their album Concrete in 1981, and was also released as a single the same year;
– “The Wolf”, by Motörhead (1987); ↩︎ - The dialogue here is taped from the Twilight Zone episode “Printer’s Devil”, presumably as it played from DVD, as it hadn’t been broadcast recently at the time. The lines in bold are spoken by Douglas Winter, played by Robert Sterling; the non-bold lines are spoken by Mr. Smith (which is presumably not a coincidence), played by Burgess Meredith. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printer%27s_Devil.
@@VIDEO@@https://annotatedfall.thebiggestlibraryyet.org.uk//media-library/S-Z/W/wolf_kidult_man/printers_devil_clip.mp4@@/VIDEO@@ @@CAPTION@@Clip from the Twilight Zone episode “Printer’s Devil”. Episode 111; season 4, episode 9. First broadcast 28 February 1963. Featuring Robert Sterling as newspaper editor Douglas Winter (left) and Burgess Meredith as the fiendish Mr. Smith. Written by Charles Beaumont. Directed by Ralph Senensky.@@/CAPTION@@
The episode’s opening narration is:
Take away a man’s dream, fill him with whiskey and despair, send him to a lonely bridge, let him stand there all by himself looking down at the black water, and try to imagine the thoughts that are in his mind. You can’t, I can’t. But there’s someone who can—and that someone is seated next to Douglas Winter right now. The car is headed back toward town, but its real destination is the Twilight Zone. ↩︎
Sources / Links
- The Annotated Fall: “Wolf Kidult Man” [Archived]
- 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. (2008). vII. The Lough Press & AMarquisManipulationProductions. [AKA the Blue Lyrics Book]
- The Track Record: “Wolf Kidult Man”
- Wikipedia: Kidult
- Wikipedia: “Printer’s Devil” (Twilight Zone episode)
Sounds to me like…
Somewhere up in your heath
Your family’s frantic
Thanks for that suggestion. Need to have another listen.