The Fall – Bill Is Dead

General CommentGreat job overall, especially "riding school", which tends to throw some people off (I've seen "right in school" !), and improves the subsequent punchiness of "legs ... so cool."

However, while I could be wrong, I'm fairly certain you're missing the article "a" before "Dynasty", which should not be capitalized, as I assume the usage is slang in Marky's typically personal manner, likely referring to a night on the town involving various intoxicants and attempts to meet members of the opposite sex. Hence, "got pasted in a bar" coming just before "I hope I've got the number" refers to a phone number the protagonist procured from a potential acquaintance who, one can only assume, lacks a "Y" chromosome, and eventually becomes the lady friend he now wakes up with.

As you have it, "D"ynasty would have our narrator up all night watching a horrid American prime time soap opera while drinking stout, perhaps mildy entertaining but hard to imagine worth paying "two days" for and contributing to "the greatest time" of his life.

Taking this thought further, the contrast of the initial "last week", filled with hangovers, with "but just lately", and which he's "renewed" and "aglow" suggests a change and the potential for an ongoing relationship, the key word here being "seeing", which would not make sense for a mere one night stand, supported further by "you dressed today" (as opposed to how she dressed yesterday, last week, etc.). No, it seems our scruffy hero may have fallen into having a (gasp) honest-to-god girlfriend, the "pink sheets" telling us he's staying, or at least frequenting, an abode in which a female selects the bedding (good call on her part -- one can only imagine the condition his place is in!)

In any event, as I've aged this has become my favorite Fall song, proving Mr. Smith is more than a mere ranter, but can cram a novelette within a few paragraphs. Quite a dynasty.

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  @JSBach
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  Very nice write-up on this song, JS.

  Flag caralhovoadoron May 04, 2010  

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  Have to say this is one of the millions of Fall songs I haven't heard (not one of the dozens that I have), but...
  
  I think it's more likely he was watching Dynasty, the horrible soap. Could it be "after-uh Dynasty"? Seems more likely, it's hard to watch after actual dynasties, they don't fall too often. Bit of kitchen sink for us there.
  
  Paying for two days (with sleep, one imagines, or perhaps just feeling a bit shit) for getting high, would fit very well with amphetamines. Nobody gets "high" on a nice stout, and Mr E has been known to do speed. You can stay up for days on it, some people manage 4 days. Some people I might once have gone out with, can stay up for 3 days but really ought not to! It leaves you a mental mess at the end of it, and that's if you're sane to start with!
  
  Staying up for days on speed, doing rubbish nonsense and watching awful TV, is the sort of thing that might happen if you're doing it at home, which many people do. As opposed to going out on the piss. It's easier to stay up for days if you're just around the house, going out can really wear you out, so you're more likely to sleep instead.
  
  I might look up when this song is from. I like a lot of their later stuff, from the 90s onward, not too keen on their earlier 80s or 70s stuff. Tastes vary wildly on The Fall! And not that it matters, but in the few years I've heard of them, I've seen them live once, or maybe twice. Great night! So were the Happy Mondays!

  Flag greenaumon April 01, 2012  

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  Oh, when I say "staying at home", I agree with you that a night out is in there too. Perhaps they were all nights out. Just seems to me more likely he hung around at home with this girl, or whoever, up sleeplessly for long enough to need 2 days pay-back.

  Flag greenaumon April 01, 2012  

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  @JSBach I think that first line is "Last week after I'd been asleep". Two days of recovering from partying hard would explain crow's feet better than watching crap TV.

  Flag Bozemaniteon October 22, 2016  

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  @JSBach Replying to Bozemanite: Thanks for your reply. While that would make sense, part of the art of figuring out lyrics is to listen carefully, often on headphones, without any preconceived notions. If you do (including a live version available on YouTube), you'll hear that he's definitely NOT saying "didn't sleep", but a phrase that ends with a "STEE" sound. There's no "L" sound, as you'd have with "sleep."

  Flag JSBachon January 09, 2017  

General CommentI think I read somewhere that Bill was the name of Mark's Dad...

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  @Yer_Ma
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  @Yer_Ma
  
  A debate about the lyrics here, the (excellent) comment above is referenced:
  
  annotatedfall.doomby.com/pages/the-annotated-lyrics/…

  Flag bzfgt11007on February 18, 2017