We go two, twice all the way round those things
Two high ones, two low ones, yeah
Right man

Man stopped us at the corner
He had a bloody nose
I mean, he opened his denim jacket
It was under his vest made out of tracing paper
Chest scars portrayed Aztec life in his horrible...

"... formation of Beryllium 8. Main sequence stars were no good for making carbon in this way. Red Giant stars ..." (2)

...self-made
Disfigured maybe
Tedious in its overaquaintance and obviousness

Then I woke up, then I decided to recommence my diary
Then I read Paula Yates on Vision mopeds (3)
Then I found out we were not going to Italy
Later Mam said "Them continentals are little monkeys" (4)
And yesterday we had liver and sausage over

And sometimes they say "Hey Mark, you're spoiling all the paintwork"
And sometimes they say "Your thumbprints are on the paintwork"

Distractors, constructors conniving, come here
Dressed in suits, grow talons
Everyone clenched, black, horrid

And sometimes they say "Hey, you're messing up the paintwork...
... thumbprints are on the paintwork"
And sometimes they say "Hey Mark, you're just spoiling all the paintwork"
And sometimes they say "Your thumbprints are on the paintwork"

And sometimes I feel like saying
Hey, this is bloody Newark (5)
Or some drive-in slab place
In Breda, NL, Cologne (6)
With the shirt on
Sun of vicinity
As if I hadn't done 10 months service
In the USA on the big yachts
That circle is where I'm still at

And sometimes they say "Hey Mark, you're spoiling all the paintwork"
And sometimes they say "Your thumbprints are on the paintwork"
And sometimes they say "Hey! You're messing up the paintwork!"

And I think
If I wanted to, if I wanted to live in Holland
And if I'd wanted to be European
I'd have packed up and pissed off
When I was 16
A Swiss Guard
And this lousy business
Was the last thing I was ever imagining

"Hey! Mark!" Why can't I live in England?

The end of shoes, all warehouse you've got
Cheap new one, the target is too yahoo
And take over all the desparate
I'll take over discussion and
...humanely regular colours over...
...engineered oxidate zeppelin
Old world style, old man only juke box caught
All power jets on...spectacular facets (7)

And sometimes they say "Hey, you're spoiling all the paintwork!"
And sometimes they say "Hey Mark, you're messing up the paintwork!"
I thought we lived in England!
And sometimes they say "Hey, you're fucking up the paintwork"
And sometimes they say "Hey, hey! Your footprints are on the paintwork"
And sometimes they say "Hey Mark, Hey Mark! You're spoiling all the paintwork"

What is this thing they're so hard-assed about?
What is this thing they're so hard-assed about?
I thought, I thought we lived in England!
"Hey! Hey! Hey Mark!"
And sometimes they say "Hey Mark, Hey Mark! you're messing up the paintwork..."
They say, "Hey..."


Lyrics submitted by birthcontrolblues, edited by epiwoosh

Paint Work song meanings
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5 Comments

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  • +2
    General Comment

    I always took the lines A [Swiss good ass/as/at] this lousy business Was the last thing I was ever imagining

    as being...

    A Swiss man asked if this lousy business Was the last thing I was ever imagining

    HibernusMortison September 25, 2015   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    My first favorite song by the Fall, and the song that made me a die-hard Mark E. Smith fan. No song of theirs except Shoulder Pads and Oh! Little Brother had such an impact on me and my musical tastes. The use of the tape recording onto the master tracks, and the use of the radio reports all combined with the (somewhat) non-sequitor lyrics were elements of musical genius. The entire album is a great work (far superior to Kurious Orange, in my opinion).

    Major Valoron April 12, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    MES> HUD> A song about PAINTWORK. Spill(ed_) on the PAINTWORK. Erased 1/2 (half) of track 11. It's okay MES PAINTWORK = Gerat.

    I play this song occasionally where I work, when the bosses aren't around. It's funny to see older folks whose regular musical ventures are country, sway this way and that to The Fall.

    I'm not sure about everything Mark's trying to do in this song, but the beautiful irony of 'Hey Mark, your thumbprints are on the paintwork' and the fact that he 'accidentally' cut out half the track is pure genius. Even if it's incidental genius.

    agent_cooperon November 06, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    This pretty much sums up growing up in England in the 70s.

    chrisrazoron February 10, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    The overtaped bit is wrong here. Correct wording is here: annotatedfall.doomby.com/pages/the-annotated-lyrics/paintwork.html

    dannynoon April 05, 2017   Link

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