There aren’t many HMHB tracks which I totally don’t get, nor are there many which, well just don’t seem to be any good, but I have to say Multitude ticks both boxes for me. In addition, there are one or two lines I’ve had to guess at, and one I’ve never been able to work out – and nor have either of the good folks who’ve sent this in. Hopefully someone else can help. Thanks to Fredorrarci and Neil G
See lyrics to Multitude
Charles Exford
I would add “of Keith”, after just three unknown words denoted with ???, as given the geographical references to those 3 other Highland league clubs and towns, it makes sense that it is the fans of another Highland league club which would not “have a beef” with them in a world of peace where the lion lies down with the lamb, etc.
Indeed, given NB’s penchant for ‘road songs’, it is no coincidence that those 4 places actually line up along the route in that order as we take a motoring tour northwards and westwards.
It is one of the most deliciously silly not-quite-rhymes he’s ever come out with I think, not least because that farming area is the place for Aberdeenshire’s famous beef and because Aberdeen itself (if not the more provincial Highland league towns listed), is rather infamous for its hoolies.
I love this song with all its parodying of the spirituals, of religious writing (even a play on words with bunion/Bunyan) and in atmosphere it reminds me of the stranger scenes from “Oh Brother, where art thou”. In fact, I’d say the last verse is positively “filmic”, as the boom camera lifts off above one of those 1930s/1940′s US end-of-film scenes of homecoming and celebration …only in this case we are in heaven being re-united with lost relatives. Also reminds me a bit of those evangelical images on the cover of “Bridgwater”. I can’t remember exactly which actual spiritual the line about “yonder mum and dad” comes from, but I will check.
I have a bit of an outlandish theory about the 3 missing words, but I’m at work right now and I’ll get back to you later…
20 April 2009
Chris The Siteowner
There you go then, maybe it’s not a crap song after all.
20 April 2009
Charles Exford
OK, here’s me half-baked biscuit theory about this one then.
Listen to the applause at the end. They’re messing about in the studio, having a laugh. The applause reminds you of the end of “Let it Be”, up on the roof. It’s more or less a live track. Don’t know how many takes they would have done, but not many I’d guess. Maybe the studio time is running out and someone wants to get back home or down the pub? In some ways it is the most throwaway track on the album.
There’s been a quick run-through of the lyrics before, but nothing too perfectionist as far as the backing vocals are concerned. This is probably the feel that is needed to sound like a cotton-pickin’ gospel group from the 1930′s (as in Oh Brother Where Art Thou?). How do we know that perfectionism is neither required nor expected? Because if you listen carefully there is a point where the BVs sing something different to the lead.
When NB sings “From the straight and narrow path I’ve often wandered, but every time he’s put me back on course”, the BV simultaneously sings “he puts me”, which also makes perfect sense. It comes out sounding as if they all sing “he’s puts me” which of course they don’t.
So they’re messin’ about and occasionally not singing from the same hymn sheet.
Then we come to the line which sounds like it wants to be “Where the Transit full of Keith”, seemingly referring to a vehicle full of supporters of that particular Scottish semi-pro team not causing the expected trouble (or “beef”) in the sidestreets of 3 other Highland towns who have teams in the same league. We know all about NB’s penchant for lower league ground-hopping. We also know that NB is on record as singing about Transit vans elsewhere.
Problem is, it just doesn’t seems to be Transit – it seems to be “Tran-tit”.
OK, now it’s time to go back to “Alms” in “A Country Practice”. He’s playing with the sound of words, Q.E.D., ocasionally using what linguists would call his own idiolect, his own idiosyncratic way of saying words, or taking the piss about the idiolect of someone else in the studio maybe ?
But here, the BV’s go further, superimposing “Tran-tit”, not just a bit idiosyncratic, but an actual neologism. I think “Tran-tit is sung loudly by the BVs OVER Nigel’s “Transit”. What, do they think they’re bloody James Joyce or something?
It may be a mistake, it may be deliberate sabotage by the BVs messing about (I’d personally like to think that’s what it is), or it may be an in-joke (after all, this comes from a member of a small group of Tranmere fans who have been punning up and down the motorways for the last 30-odd years and what might they have at some stage have called some other Tranny fans in a Tranny van? Tran-tits, or something like that ? Well it’s possible, though we shall never know except yes, gasp, by one day even asking.)
Incidentally, this backing vocals issue is also in my opinion why the Holy Grail of difficult Biscuit lyrics, the final BV couplet of Hi-Vis, remains unsolved. It’s ‘cos they aren’t necessarily singing from the same hymn sheet, or not exactly simultaneously anyway.
(And talking of hymns, amongst dozens of gospel songs and spirituals which refer to crossing the Jordan as a metaphor for going to heaven there are definite references to “Bread of Heaven” at the beginning and end of this one, but I still can’t quite remember which one the “yonder mum and dad” bit parodies)
21 April 2009
Neil G
Do you know, Charles, I was just about to say that.
21 April 2009
Daryl
Strange little tune. Is Neil “taking” lead vocals on this one?
21 April 2009
Petrovic
@ Charles: [Applause]
(Are you a historian? This is precisely the sort of thing that medievalists spend their time inventing; the great thing is that no-one will ever know…)
22 April 2009
simon smith
Firstly, it`s a mutant echo of any discussion on a myriad of Dylan lyric sites. The `fans` shovel extra meaning of their own world view onto asinine/prosaic lyrics. I`ll bet Exxo has seen `Being There` too many times
It`s a pretty heartfelt song, with no side as far as I can see (akin to Song For Europe) about comfort etc. Nigel often claims he offers nothing `substantial` to matters (self depreciating to the last) and a truly subversive song for HMHB is the most anodyne.
22 April 2009
Ben
As a typical annoying piece of pedantry this site specialisesin, Keith is in Moray, not Aberdeenshire.
Regards
Deveronvale Top Boy.
22 April 2009
Charles Exford
I think we inevitably load our own meanings and interpretations onto this stuff all the time, when some of the imagery and reference in a particular poem or lyric has no clear explanation. That’s what poetry is about for many people, and that’s why I think Nigel’s lyrics are ‘poetry’ in every sense, far more often than the vast majority of Dylan’s are to be honest. I’ve listened to Dylan for about 30 years without ever feeling the need to wax lyrical about him being a fine particularly fine poet, and indeed always used to take the piss out of the students & academics who did so (in the far-distant days when I often came across those types).
But yes, some of us are prone to this kind of interpretation and loading on of our own guesses and assumptions onto the music we love more than others. I think because it has become so important to us. There are those who might just say that they like HMHB because they’re a laugh and then tell you they like the Macc lads ’cos they’re dead funny too, at which point I gag, but each to their own. Some of us are also more ready to risk making a fool of ourselves in public on such topics than others. You might think that the fact that I need to adopt the Exford ‘persona’ to do so says something in itself, but then again I just didn’t want to be called ‘Nigel’ on here – that would be too confusing when I might want to refer to _the_ Nigel in me posts.
Just last night on TV we had Marcus Brigstocke explaining a really vague and obviously inaccurate theory of the meaning of the lyrics “This Charming Man” to another Nigel (the horrible Havers) on a chat show, which had me seething and almost wishing that there was some forum I could write on about it, but I could never be arsed writing on public forums about the other artistes I used to be briefly passionate about when I was younger. These days, I can only imagine giving such time and effort to Nigel’s poetry, because it is publicly unexplained, because it means a lot more to me, but above all because the bits I don’t understand just intrigue me all the frickin’ time. I mean _all_ the time – I’m just lucky Mrs. Exford is a massive fan too.
There is enough on record from Mozz himself that we know what “This Charming Man” is about, but as far as I know there is nothing on record from Nigel about the meaning of this song. Why write obtuse poetry (as opposed to mere lyrics) if you’re then going to have to explain every line, after all ?
Don’t get me wrong, I did see ‘Being There’ once, ooh about 27 years ago and I am the last person to look for messiahs or gurus (by the way surely if I’d seen it many times I’d be less likely to look for Messiahs and gurus & hidden meanings, not more ?). Anyway I’m not talking about _that_ kind of deep meaning _ever_ in my posts on here. I am just standing back gobsmacked at the funniness & sheer cleverness of the lyrics & imagery of someone whose genius particularly strikes home because there’s so much shared experience in there (perhaps shared anger and shared scepticism about similar things, particularly? ). So naturally I want to speculate & I want to hear speculation when i don’t fully understand. After all, I’m the bloke who tried to work out the exact real-life bus routes in “Little in the Way of Sunshine” and who really would give his brother’s giro to know who Phyllis Triggs or Stringy Bob were.
Nigel is of course very self-deprecating in his claims, but surely there is plenty of side, spin or stun in any song which substitutes tigers, kangaroos and Highland League supporters for a well-known biblical cliché, and has Mum and dad playing darts in heaven instead of whatever they were doing in the song he alludes to? Basically I’ve learned to trust very little that he says about his own stuff, and I admire him for that self-deprecation & his immediate deflection of any hint of pretention about his work. Nevertheless I am not embarrassed to get almost pretentious about his work meself’ cos I think he deserves that level of scrutiny.
Let’s face it most of us can’t entirely tell even who’s being ironic in our comments on here, or to what extent
, so if what the intended ironies here aren’t not clear, then I certainly don’t think the these lyrics are. So I won’t necessarily thank Neil G for his comment above,’cos, errm, I think he’s probably being ironic there (but I’m only 98% 
), I won’t ask Ben if he has any stories of his Highland League scallying experiences with the Deveronvale Ultras to share (but thanks for the correction) …. and I really don’t know whether I should ask, but Simon – do you really think that songs like “Song for Europe” and “Multitude” are not ironic parodies of the crassly idealistic & religious genres they respectively ape, given the huge back-catalogue of such parodies throughout the whole HMHB opus ?
23 April 2009
Charles Exford
An old pedant shouldn’t get too defensive about his typoes either I guess ….but even I had to wonder what I meant by “so if what the intended ironies here aren’t not clear, then …”.
Maybe I meant “so if what ironies are intended here isn’t clear, then…”
But I’m only 93%.
23 April 2009
Neil G
Charles: “Nevertheless I am not embarrassed to get almost pretentious about his work… ”
Almost?
‘typoes’? or ‘typos’? Hmm… I wouldn’t call a case of mixed up word order a typo, but still.
I think you are being a bit defensive, Charles. I appreciate Nigel’s work as much as anyone. Listening to HMHB;s songs, especially for the first time, is like nothing else. What’s even better is that you know that the second, third and fourth listens will yield something more. Once you get to the hundred and fiftieth listen, you think that nothing more can be gleaned and then you realise that the lyric that you’ve been singing to yourself all that time was actually something else completely and it’s even better than you thought! That is something very special.
Unlike you, I tend to let things make themselves known to me. I just enjoy the lyrics, even if I don’t understand some of them. I find that words or references that are unknown to me become known over time and add to my enjoyment. If I went out of my way to understand them the first time I listened, it would be like eating a two litre container of rich ice-cream all in one go. I prefer a bit now and a bit later.
If you want to analyze and speculate, that’s fine. Don’t let any attempts at humour or sarcasm on my part put you off.
23 April 2009
Chris The Siteowner
This really will be the last time I ever say I don’t particularly like a song. I’d feel too guilty if that throwaway comment ever elicited such a response again.
23 April 2009
A J Smith
I’m fairly sure it’s “bunion LEAVES my heart to curse my feet” : ie the pain in his heart is removed only to migrate elsewhere on the his mortal form.
23 April 2009
simon smith
A stirring and passionate post, Exxo. Much like the Lancastrian back four in the infamous Preston/Hyde United game, you have no need to defend, but do so conscientiously.
It is interesting that you mention The Macc Lads. Throughout the barren period of the late 80`s and early 90`s when Biscuit product was either curtailed or unguaranteed to continue (when would Nigel take away his genius again???), I trawled car boots, streets and impromptu girlfriends` cupboards for tapes and ephemera I could record over/listen to. I tell you, if I found ten `Back In The DHSS` tapes in that period (and I perhaps did. I certainly distributed a lot to the local masses) then the Macc Lads spagnum opus `Beer Sex Chips and, indeed, Gravy` was on the `flip` side of six. Thank God the connection ceased.
25 April 2009
Chris The Siteowner
“Where the Transit full of Keith” is confirmed: Source
29 March 2010
Daryl
I sometimes hear it as ‘he prods me back on course’ rather than ‘he puts’.
Earth-shattering observation or what?
3 January 2011
Charles Exford
The Keith team bus is quite literally a transit full of Keith
21 January 2011
Chris The Siteowner
Hat tip, Exxo. That may well be the finest PBR ever.
22 January 2011
s.g.d A Shropshire Lad
blatant plug = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YLppsnMLXQ
23 January 2011
Chris The Siteowner
That’s a great song; I’d love to see them live, to work out how the singer manages to keep changing his T-shirt every time the camera cuts away.
23 January 2011
tommy
the name spagnum opus has already been taken
19 August 2011
MIKE IN COV
“Where the tiger soothes the baby kangaroo”. Tigger and Roo in one of the stories in Winnie-The-Pooh or The House at Pooh Corner? I haven’t got a copy to hand (give it me back, Dad!), and A A Milnes’s works are still in copyright; but I’ve got a vague memory this incident happens. I’ve never seen any of the cartoons, but they might be another possible source.
12 July 2012
MIKE IN COV
I propose “for evermore”, for eternity; rather than “forever more”, in increasingly large amounts.
12 July 2012