Outside the then, Sheffield Polytechnic, Nelson Mandella building. This was a Sunday afternoon, in the summer and in the mid 90s. He was on his own, sat on the steps downing a can of best, smoking a tab, and looked like he had the troubles of the world on his shoulder!

Other than that, hearing 'Rowche Rumble' for the first time.

Last time I saw them was a couple of years back at Academy in Islington. Every song seemed to have an extra three minutes of intro bolted onto the front. Turned out this was to facilitate MES's trips to the fire exit for some mid-gig nicotine.

although Jo Whiley might not agree

Spoilt Victorian Child

"Lloyd Cole's brain and face is made of cow-pat,
we all know that"

...I'd hate to see the self indulgent, boring bits!

The whole song is, of course, a masterpiece but I offer the lyric:

"I was only on one leg..."

We are Northern white crap that talks back
We are The Fall we were spinning we were stepping
Cop out, cop out as in from heaven
The difference between you and us is that we have brains
Cos we are Northern white crap
But we talk back
Bang fucking bang, The Mighty Fall
The Fall, we are back, we are back
And this next number is Fiery Jack

In the burning scorch of another sunday over
The miserable scottish hotel,
Resembled a genesis or marillion, 1973 lp cover
All the hotel staff had been dismissed,
It was me, the hoover, and the o. a. p.s

....and the bugger never mentioned it in his lyrics. Still disappointed about it.

Bought this beaut on 7" in 1985

http://open.spotify.com/track/5ulf07975yBH14Jh9bjKJu

"YOU are the man with the problems"
"We are The Fall and we are the best"

.....from the Extricate LP in 1990.

The Fall getting pelted with apples at the Leeds show on the U2 Joshua Tree Tour.

They deserved it as they were a rubbish live act,especially in a stadium !

has a question that they ask everyone that goes something like , "There's 95 Million Pounds in this suitcase and it's yours if you want it but if you take it a man in China will fall off his bicycle and die. Do you want it?"

Only MES came up with an answer that I can remember, he replied "Do I get only one?"

Entrances uncovered
Street signs you never saw
All entrances delivered
Courtesy winter
You got Manny in the library
Working off his hangover 3:30
You get the spleen at 3:15
But it's 3:13
The mad kid walked left-side south-side towards me
He was about 7
His mother was a cleaning lady
She had a large black dog
And the mad kid said:
"Gimme the lead
Gimme the lead
Gimme the lead"
I'd just walked past the alcoholics' dry-out house
The lawn was littered with cans of Barbican
There was a feminist's Austin Maxi parked outside
With anti-nicotine anti-nuclear stickers on the side
..on the inside and they didn't even smoke...
Anyway two weeks before the mad kid had said to me
"I'll take both of you on,
I'll take both of you on"
Then he seemed the young one
He had a parka on and a black cardboard Archbishop's hat
With a green-fuzz skull and crossbones
He'd just got back from the backward kids' party
Anyway then he seemed the young one
But now he looked like the victim of a pogrom
Entrances uncovered
Street signs you never saw
All entrances delivered
Courtesy winter
Entrances uncovered
All enquiries too
All entrances delivered
Courtesy winter

I see Smith in the tradition of artists who are like human fissures in the personality of the British Isles that let our collective unconscious seep out in all its sad, ridiculous, ugly, glorious lack of composure. Spike Milligan. Viv Stanshall. Kate Bush. Billy Childish. Dan Treacy. Roots Manuva. Proper eccentrics.

...if I'm not mistaken. Used to go there for a Joey Holts, they'd got rid of that wallpaper by then.

(which is mostly about his time playing in Nico's backing band)includes a brief mention of his time on keyboards with The Fall. As they are just about to go onstage, MES tells him he has to sing backing vocals on a particular song. JY says he's not confident about his own singing abilities, and would MES mind if JY didn't sing? MES replis: "Yes I would f***ing mind".

perhaps we should start on 50 Great Sade Moments.

Bad Albert.

...where MES does a bit of, er, 'home entertaining'.

Stuart is sitting in the lounge while Mark is in the kitchen, banging and clattering pots and pans with gay abandon. After a sizeable wait, Mark cheerfully merges from the kitchen with two crisp sandwiches.

but I love this so much:

This one might pull 'em back on side!

Who really has better b-sides? Petty (Thief) Lout, Twister, Australians In Europe, I could go on.

from the mighty Extricate...

"s s s s serpenti-i-i-ineee rrrr!"

and

and

and

I remember watching "The silence of the lambs" in a packed cinema. The tension of the final denouement was slightly broken by me whispering excitedly to my girlfriend "thats the bloody Fall playing in the background!"
A sure fire way to tell the character was a psychotic killer and still my 2nd favourite fall album "Hex induction hour" the best is "this nations saving grace".
Best song "i am Damo Sazuki"

My work here is done.

The sample of MES saying... 'Which way's north from 'ere?".

There are so many great Fall musical moments - I'll offer up the example of "Mr Pharmacist". Brilliant song titles - "British People in Hot Weather" being just one.
My favourite non-musical evidence of genius would have to be the scene described in Andrew Collins' book (Cider with Roadies), when AC was interviewing MES
for the NME.
(I apologise for paraphrasing from hereon in.) AC and photgrapher met up with the man himself and went for a few drinks. With the chat going well, he invited AC and colleague back to his house. After a while, MES offered his guests something to eat. With offer accepted, MES went off into his kitchen,
and many food preparation-related sounds (cupboards opening, taps running, utensils rattling) wafted back through to the living room, where anticipation
for what must have been a fantastic spread of food grew and grew.
After what seemed a non-trivial period of time, MES arrived back in the living room, with a couple of (cheese and onion) crisp sandwiches on a plate, encouraging his guests to "tuck in".

(See post above - and it was Maconie, not Collins!)

Mind you, you tell it better than I did...

MES makes a cameo appearance in one sketch (sorry, can't find on YouTube), as a patient visting psychiatrist JS - JS proceeds to chainsaw himself and splatter MES with blood. MES then turns to camera and says how JS is just a poor man's Craig Ferguson*.

You probably had to see it to appreciate it, but it counts as an MES moment for me.

* pointed comment - apparently there was bad blood between JS and CF, at least at that time.

Silly me - for not reading the whole thread properly before posting, and for getting the book's author wrong. Paul, I think your version is more to the point. Mine is a bit long-winded. But thanks!

Most of you reading this thread will know that Frank is a big Fall fan and uses Container Drivers as his walk on music. Did anyone see his new show on Friday night? I was made up to see that No Bulbs is the theme music to the show.

Back in 1985 who would have put money on No Bulbs being the theme music to a Friday night entertainment show?