The Fall: Fiery Jack (1980)

This character-driven rant-cum-diatribe came to attention again recently on the massive post-punk Moving Away From the Pulsebeat compilation.

Singer/declaimer Mark E Smith sounds a bit young to be delivering this piece from the viewpoint of a damaged, angry 45-year old who rails against the world while fighting his corner as someone under the bottle, living off lousy food but with a brain spinning around and flying off in many directions.

Smith said this of the piece: “I've always written from different perspectives, but that one seemed to have more weight to it. I still see "Fiery Jack" types like that. They're quite heartening in a way. Manchester has always had men like that, hard livers with hard livers; faces like unmade beds.

"Even though they're clearly doing themselves damage, there's a zest for life there. And that's a rarity. They're not as oblivious as you might think. Drinkers have a good sense of the absurd. I like that”.

Smith liked it so much he spent the best part of his life on the same path, finding the absurd and drinking his way through it angrily.

As he noted when this came out, "Fiery Jack is the sort of guy I can see myself as in 20 years time".

Mission accomplished.

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For more oddities, one-offs or songs with an interesting backstory check the massive back-catalogue at From the Vaults.