Assassing
Introduction: From Steve Rothery's liner notes on A Singles Collection: "The germ of
the idea came while we were writing at Mountain studios in Wales in the summer
of '83. A strange mixture of rehearsal studio and hippy commune run by amongst
others 'Sunshine' and 'Nutkin'. It had a Druids stone circle on a hill behind
the house and was quite possibly the strangest place I've ever been. I'd just
got my Roland guitar synthesiser and was experimenting with it, Fish had been
driving us all mad by playing Islamic records he'd got from Peter Hammill at
great volume all the time. We finished writing the song a months later, again
in Wales, this time at Rockfield Studios in a house by the side of a river.
"We
recorded Assassing at the Manor
Studio in Oxfordshire, a beautiful old house complete with a snooker table, a
pair of Irish Wolfhounds and a ghost."
Fish has often lamented adding the 'g' to the title, but the initial idea was apparently to create a neologism from 'assassin' and 'sassing' in the US sense of being rude to someone.
Fish has often lamented adding the 'g' to the title, but the initial idea was apparently to create a neologism from 'assassin' and 'sassing' in the US sense of being rude to someone.
Punch and Judy
'Punch and Judy'
Brewer’s: "The name of Mr Punch, the hero
of the puppet play, probably comes from the italian pulcinello, a dimunitive of
pulcina, a young chicken. The story in its present form is roughly attributable
to Silvio Fiorillo (circa 1600) and it appeared in England about the time of
the Restoration. Punch in a fit of jealousy strangles his infant son, whereupon
his wife Judy belabours him with a bludgeon until he retaliates and beats her
to death. He flings both bodies into the street, but is arrested and shut in prison
whence he escapes by means of a golden key. The rest is an allegory showing how
the light-hearted ('wife beater' surely? - Ed) Punch triumphs over i) ennui
(boredom - Ed), in the shape of a dog, ii) disease in the shape of a doctor;
iii) Death, who is beaten to death; and iv) the devil himself, who is
outwitted."
Jigsaw
Introduction: Fish said: "When you
watch kids doing jigsaws, they'll always take the eye of the koala bear or
whatever and sit on it, just for the dominating factor of putting the last bit
in. You get to the point where you lie about the last piece, you deny that
you've got it. The other person is aware that you're lying and they hold back
four or five pieces so that you can't put in the last piece. Eventually you tear
up the jigsaw and say ' We'll do it another day'. That can grow into
relationships - where no matter how important that piece is to the other person
or the relationship. In general, the song is about the relationship that splits
up and forever comes together again. It gets worse because each time it comes
back together, more pieces of the jigsaw have got lost, and you can't get them
back."
Emerald Lies
Introduction: Simon Long wrote: "According to one of the books I
have on Marillion, I seem to recall that Fish explains that it is about a
relationship being destroyed by a lack of trust - guy goes to a party with his
girlfriend and sees her flirting (innocently) with several men, repeatedly
questions her and makes accusations of infidelity, and discovers that all along
she has been telling the truth - but that his questions have destroyed the
trust on which the relationship was based.
"I
guess the 'Emerald' of the title is green for jealousy. Torquemada was one of
the Spanish Inquisitors: it's a reference to a figure trying to extract a
confession. 'To be the prince of possession' - desire to own the woman in
question. 'Suffering your indiscreet discretions' - watching her flirt. 'You
accumulate flirtations' - ditto. 'Looking in shades of green through shades of
blue' - jealousy tinged with sadness. 'Ravaging your letters, unearth your
plots' - going behind her back, snooping for clues to her infidelity. ' Innocence
- what a surprise' - discovery that she had been faithful after all'. 'I trust
you trust in me to mistrust you' (incredible lyric!) - I hope you'll believe
that I don't trust you. 'Courtroom drama' - 'set the wedding rings dancing' -
divorce, end of relationship. If you know what it is about, the lyrics all make
sense... "
She Chameleon
‘Chameleon'
Chameleons
are probably best known for their ability to change their colour to suit their
surroundings and that is certainly the sense in which Fish uses the metaphor.
However, Chameleons do not change their colour to suit the background, but
according to their mood and temperature.
Incubus
Introduction:
Transcript of the introduction given by Fish on the show filmed at the Chippenham Golddiggers for the BBC's Sight and Sound series, broadcast 17th March 1984 (and hence all the references to watching his language):"Here's where we shave the bone oh-so close! Do you remember, for those that have seen us before, on the previous tour, there was a story regarding a song called The Web, which was about a relationship that had split up?
Fugazi
‘Fugazi’
From Jeroen Schipper’s FAQ: "Fugazi is a
word that was used by Americans in Vietnam, and is slang concerning those who
died in ambush (something like that), so the acronym is Fucked Up, Got
Ambushed, Zipped In." (Presumably
the ‘Zipped In’ refers to body bags - Ed.) This explains pretty well what
Fish is trying to say with the album: 'This world is totally fugazi'. Fugazi is
close to a popular net-acronym, Foobar, which is derived from Fubar and means
'Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition'. Fugazi is definitely not a Vietnamese word
as there is no Z in the Vietnamese alphabet.
Fish had been reading a book called Nam by Mark Baker, a book of Vietnam reportage from the US soldiers that were there. It was from this book that Fish first encountered the word 'fugazi'.
Fish had been reading a book called Nam by Mark Baker, a book of Vietnam reportage from the US soldiers that were there. It was from this book that Fish first encountered the word 'fugazi'.
Fugazi - Torch's Version
This page is the analysis of Fugazi by Torch, a contributor to the Freaks mailing list. It was sufficiently long that it required a page to itself.
Torch said: "Fish is, as usual, pissed and depressed. He clutches his 'vodka intimate' as he courts 'isolation', playing the role of the lonely martyr. His apartment, or 'cell' is in Blackheath, a not unappealing area of London that reminds one that he described the first three albums in the Misplaced Childhood sheet music book as Script was bedsit thoughts, Fugazi was hotel thoughts and Misplaced Childhood is home thoughts.'
Torch said: "Fish is, as usual, pissed and depressed. He clutches his 'vodka intimate' as he courts 'isolation', playing the role of the lonely martyr. His apartment, or 'cell' is in Blackheath, a not unappealing area of London that reminds one that he described the first three albums in the Misplaced Childhood sheet music book as Script was bedsit thoughts, Fugazi was hotel thoughts and Misplaced Childhood is home thoughts.'
Cinderella Search

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