As was previously mentioned, Peel had received a copy of the latest album by The Fall. In this case, his first listen to The Infotainment Scan came via its cassette version. This was useful as he had had recently had a new car radio fitted, which had included a cassette player. He was pleased about this as it meant that he could listen to demo tapes while out driving again. Peel continued his campaign against the onslaught of developing technology by taking the time to find a radio which could be tuned by turning a dial rather than by pressing buttons.
So, the essential website, The Annotated Fall appears to be no longer operational. This is dreadful news for Peel show bloggers because it means we now need to stick our necks out and try and interpret for ourselves what Mark E.Smith meant in his lyrics. I guess it’s the image of the old bastard, sitting up in a pub on a cloud somewhere, pissing himself laughing and saying to himself, “He’s a genius this bloke, isn’t he? He really should be teaching musicology somewhere. I could learn from him.” that has us so wary of interpreting his material. However, in the case of Service, I have a theory which I think fits well enough. So using the Who-What-Why-When-Where-How theory and mixing it with the kind of mental deductions required for the latter rounds of 3-2-1, my take on Service is that it is a poignant song about ghosts and mental illness.
Winter is here declares Smith. A line setting which gets further clarification with references to kicking rotting leaves, the brownness of tree branches and streets washed clean by the rain. However, the lines referring to vulperines (anything with the features of a fox), wolverines (which here refers less to the X-Man and more to the carnivorous animal, which by extension leads to thoughts of werewolves) and the witch that is at Smith’s left shoulder all conspire to give a strong Halloween vibe. But Service doesn’t exist in the world of little kids in plastic masks and cheap capes going door to door for fizzy candy, it lives squarely in the realm of the supernatural. Smith’s character is putting on his hat and corny brown leather jacket in order to go to work at the local mental hospital. I assume he sometimes has to sleep in at work on some nights and that the man who would spit out two or three teeth a night on the floor is the same patient who also laughs at everything and nothing. I think that this particular patient might be equally at home with the witches, vulperines, wolverines and all things associated with All Hallows Eve. It’s my supposition that the patient is R.M. Renfield, the servant of Count Dracula - which is where the title, Service is taken from in this song. Renfield spends the majority of his time in an asylum, both proclaiming the coming of his master and fearful of it.
One striking thing about Service is how elegant it is, with its central piano figure managing to conjure both the feel of a once stately castle and the approaching storm clouds of Dracula’s flight. If it wasn’t for some poor mixing which drowns Smith out at times and the dated synth trumpets, I’d be calling this one of my favourite Fall songs to listen to for pleasure.
During his stint covering for Jakki Brambles, Peel played The Fall’s cover of Lost in Music. On this 16/4/93 show, he played the other cover tune which made it on to The Infotainment Scan, the lesser known I’m Going to Spain, recorded by Steve Bent, an actor who was best known for his appearances in the ITV soap opera, Crossroads. His single, which was released in 1976, appears at face value to be trying to cash in on the vogue for holiday themed singles which became big hits on the UK charts in the mid-70s, such as Y Viva Espana or Barbados. Unlike them, Bent’s more modest effort missed out on the charts, but was considered awful enough to merit inclusion on the 1978 compilation album, Kenny Everett - The World’s Worst Record Show.* Outside of this, the record had languished in obscurity. Peel didn’t have a copy of his own, and when he signed Bent’s single out of the BBC Record Library so that he could include it in a future programme, he noted that he had been the first person to borrow the record in 17 years.
The Fall didn’t record a cover of it just to take the piss. For a start, Smith liked Crossroads, not least because it starred Carl Wayne for a time, and The Move were one of Smith’s favourite groups. I’m Going to Spain isn’t a great song, but what makes it interesting is that it isn’t concerned about sun, sea and sangria, but about using travel as a way to broaden the mind and life experience. The refrain at the end of each chorus is I hope I can quickly learn the language, after all. Smith may also have enjoyed the ambivalent humour on lines like :
The factory floor presented me with some tapes of Elton John.
Though that should keep me company
And I hate them,
Yes I hate the goodbyes….
If we need any further evidence of the regard in which Smith held the song, it’s that he tried to sing it in the same high key register that Bent did. They even sneak the castanets in at the end.
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