BILL MESNIK'S SUNNY SIDE OF MY STREET PRESENTS: TOTALLY WIRED by THE FALL (1982, ROUGH TRADE) EPISODE #84

DIG THIS WITH BILL MESNIK AND RICH BUCKLAND- THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS

It’s jangly and jarring, but irresistibly hypnotic. Mark E Smith chants this incantation as if he is literally crawling out of his skin. The performance is teeth grinding punk rock in its distilled essence. a portrait of a poet in service to anarchy. And, funny. Deeply biting and ironical, this was DJ champion, John Peel’s favorite group. The lyrics here seem improvised, but he’s a gonzo beat poet extraordinaire - he’s written it all down, and delivers it with his signature repetition in a discordant bray.

“You don't have to be weird to be wired

You don't have to be an American to be strange

You don't have to be strange to be strange

You don't have to be weird to be weird”

After seeing the Sex Pistols in ’76 Mr Smith had a vision that carried him for 42 years through a ridiculous number of personnel changes. It doesn’t matter who is playing as long as Mark is at the mic. He said once, “if it’s me and your granny, it’s The Fall”.

Mark was a difficult, complex man who died in 2018 at the age of 60, leaving behind 32 studio albums and countless live versions. One could pick out practically any Fall tune, and experience that singular voice - “attitude personified,” one journalist dubbed it. I chose this cut because it makes me smile every time I hear it. I hate being in that condition myself, but it’s fun to vicariously share Mark’s flirtation with psychosis.