Comments on: A Market Town That Lacks Quintessence

By: tomasz.

tomasz. — Fri, 20 May 2011 17:00:06 +0000

i was going to suggest the same thing as Mr Larrington in the post above. i’ve got recordings of Peelie using the phrase on at least two separate occasions on his Radio 1 show, dating back to the late 90s. i think it was one of those ‘go-to’ phrases he was fond of using in certain situations as the best way to express a particular idea (usually, the same ‘mustn’t grumble’-type idea Nigel expresses in both the PopMatters and Is This Music? interviews).

By: Mr Larrington

Mr Larrington — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 09:49:58 +0000

Didn’t NB57 say he pinched the phrase or saying off Peelie?

By: Chris The Siteowner

Chris The Siteowner — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 22:21:20 +0000

There's an even earlier use of the phrase in the Is This Music? interview from 2004 on Gez's site: I wonder if as the Biscuit's lyricist people have him down as a grumpy so-and-so. "With music it's peoples attitudes which amuse me, the things people will complain and get het up about," he says. "We live in one of the most spoiled societies in the western world; nothing is bad enough to moan incessantly about. You can write about your art or your angst-ridden love life, but you can't expect people to think you're hard done by, set against the scale of human suffering."

By: Charles Exford

Charles Exford — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 20:50:59 +0000

Notice the phrase “when set against the scale of human suffering” in that interview, two years before it appeared in NSD.

By: Chris The Siteowner

Chris The Siteowner — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:28:10 +0000

Yep, we love 'em here in Cambridgeshire. NB57 said in the Popmatters interview that he'd never been to Chatteris, so maybe it was just luck that we happen to have so many of the things around here.

By: grim

grim — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 13:53:16 +0000

Not this again. As I said in 2008: it was me. The term “crick barriers” and the accompanying definition on hmhb.co.uk are taken directly from an email I sent to Gez, years ago when the album came out. It’s what I heard, at the time, and it even seemed to make sense. I was wrong.

At any rate, this is what I was talking about:

Give way.

and at the other end:

Yaw Evig.

By: Charles Exford

Charles Exford — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 12:06:08 +0000

Well yes, NB57 did tell me it was ‘prick barriers’, but we always have to allow for the possibility of the Tarkovsky factor (AKA an Emily Davison). However, perhaps Gez is equally likely to have been a victim of a Tarkovsky/Davison, and I would like to know if he has actually personally witnessed such measures in Gamlingay? Google satellite images show no sign, either there or in Chatteris.

Nor does this page make any reference to them.

Nor can I find any other reference to Crick barriers in lists of traffic calming measures anywhere on t’interweb.

By: nigel (no not that one)

nigel (no not that one) — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 15:49:31 +0000

@Joe
Have you checked the source of the confirmation posted by Chris?

By: Joe

Joe — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 08:18:45 +0000

It’s crick barriers – look on hmhb.co.uk

By: Chris The Siteowner

Chris The Siteowner — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 18:45:08 +0000

Well… it’s confirmed as “prick barriers”.