Mollusc In Tyrol

Written by:
  • Mark E Smith, Craig Leon
Initial release:
  • Seminal Live, Beggars Banquet  BBL102; LP  BBL102 CD
  • [US release: Beggars Banquet/RCA  9807-1-H LP; 9807-2-H CD;(9807-4-H) Cassette. German release: SPV/Rebel SPV 51-3018 LP; SPV 76-3019 CD]
Date:
  • 19 June 1989
 
Subsequent releases:
  • The Twenty-Seven Points – Cog Sinister/Permanent PERMLP36, August 1995 (instrumental tape version)
  • The Twenty-Seven Points – Castle (CMQDD1351) May 2006 (reissue of above)
  • The Fall 5 Albums, Beggars Banquet, B00DJWUJG6; 19 August 2013 (same version as on Seminal Live; details above)
 
Group on initial release:
  • Mark E Smith – vocals ( + Craig Leon – original music; see commentary below)
Commentary:
In an interview in The Pseud Mag no. 3 (April/May 2005) Craig Leon said: “Mollusc…is actually Mark reciting over a track from the soundtrack of a ballet I wrote in New York in 1981 called ‘Nommos’. This was released on Chrysalis Records back then…Mark had it on a tape or vinyl and started using it as an intro tape for shows. I never asked him how or why he came up with the wording.” (The track used for Mollusc in Tyrol was originally entitled “Donkeys Bearing Cups”.)
[A Nommo is an ancestral spirit worshipped by the Dogon, a tribe living in the central plateua region of Mali. They are amphibious, hermaphroditic creatures.]
An examination of the lyrics reveals the following:
Testing
Mollusc (role)
Ziggurat grave
Tombstone states
(…) to Tyrol (1)
(…) back on your streets (slave)
Destined to meet

To Weymouth (2) on back (…)
I’m a mollusc (role)
I’m a mollusc (role)

I scrub the wall, circle, bisexual and (…) mollusc
M… O… D… (…) L… L… U… S… C…
(Check the number)

I’m a mollusc (role)
I’m a mollusc (role)
The mollusc was a friend of Tony from Austria

I’m a mollusc (role)
I’m a mollusc (role)

I’m a mollusc (role)
I’m a mollusc (role)
Mollusc
(…)
Mollusc (role)
I’m a mollusc (role)
(Ziggurat grave)
I’m a mollusc (role)
I’m a mollusc (role)
Mollusc
M… O… L…
(…)
I’m a mollusc (role)
Mollusc
Ziggurat grave
Tombstone states
(…) whiskey
(…) destined to meet

The mollusc to get to (white limpets)
It slithered the roads
Slithered
Tyrol

I’m a mollusc (role)
The mollusc, to get to (white limpets)
It slithered the roads
To the Tyrol
To the Tyrol

I’m a mollusc (role)
I’m a mollusc (role)
(Tuesday … to Martin)
(Tuesday … to Martin)
But the braggart had crushed his heart
Like a tiny Eidelweiss
Billy braggart (3) had crushed his heart
And the blood sucked to Vienna airport
Its trail mingled
I’m a mollusc (role)
I’m a mollusc (role)
[… Vienna airport
Its trail mingled]

Notes
(1) A state in Western Austria
(2)  is a town in Dorset, England, situated on a sheltered bay at the mouth of the River Wey on the English Channel coast
(3) Reference to Billy Bragg perhaps
The track as a whole has attracted various views from Fall fans, some describing the drone-like music as awful, others as compelling.
A taped instrumental version of this track (as heard on The 27 Points album)  was used for some time at Fall gigs, for example on 14 February 1989 at Off Beat Night in Munich, Germany, and on 16 December 1989 at the Leadmill, Sheffield.