Something’s Rotten In The Back of Iceland is a belter of an album-opener, which might have one indistinct couple of words to argue about, quite a rarity for 90 Bisodol (Crimond). Five different contributors for this one, five different versions of that line. Thanks to Third Rate Les, Desmon, Conrad, Barry and Leigh
See lyrics to Something’s Rotten In The Back of Iceland
John Anderson
I’m sure it’s “stuck it out in the alley on the wrong day again” which makes far more sense.
6 November 2011
Charles Exford
It’s “her latest song in ‘C’ “. One wonders if she sometimes sings it another key.
It’s also “I don’t want to be in ‘the’ or ‘their’ distillery”. I incline more toward the latter.
And surely, but not quite as assuredly, I reckon it’s “And be an antidote to…” It’s part of what he wants.
The grass is always greener, I suppose, but I do wish that here in Leeds we could have the fortnightly collections for 3 different bins, as they do on Wirral, resulting their in a (council claim of) nearly
40% recycling back there in my homeland. Leeds’ weekly collection for general refuse and monthly for recycling is not the way forward.
But at least it’s not a memory test involving two different days of the week, which seems to be the downside of the rather strictly enforced Wirral system.
6 November 2011
John Anderson
On another listen he seems to say “angular urban concerns” rather than “regular urban concerns”.
6 November 2011
Treadmore
^ I agree with “angular”
6 November 2011
Charles Exford
I thought for quite a while it was ‘angular’. I foolishly serached for meaning in the idea of ‘the woman from the corner’ or even some sort of ‘anguila’ reference (it’s the genus name of the eel family dontcha know and so I even consider ‘anguilar’ ).
But then I realised it’s very probaby “yaregular” with /eg/ sounding as identical to / eŋ / as two consonants can get without being identical.
6 November 2011
Vendor of Quack Nostrums
Is the repeated line possibly ‘A nicer couple I couldn’t have a hope to meet’?
I was angling towards ‘angular’ albeit with an architectural leaning. Something like this;
http://www.rockwool.dk/inspiration/current+architecture/dresden%C2%B4s+palace+of+dreams
However, I’m intrigued by anguilla which, as Charles points out, forms the binomial for the European eel (Anguilla anguilla). Would fit in beautifully with the song sung in C.
6 November 2011
bobbybottler
It’s just like discussing “Doreen” all over again
7 November 2011
Dagenham Dave
and there was me thinking it was “anger and urban concerns”, this makes more sense but is obviously incorrect,
7 November 2011
John Burscough
Actually, an excursion to The Oban Distillery looks quite inviting. (And since there’s only one, might there be a case for Distillery with a capital D?)
7 November 2011
Hagerty F.
Just a suggestion, but it might be ‘could’ instead of ‘can’ in line three.
7 November 2011
SPENCER THE HALFWIT
That’ll be 176 then.
7 November 2011
Chesneywold
Am i missin summat obvious, anyone know what this eel in your fridge business is about?
7 November 2011
dagenham Dave
I’ve visited Oban Distillery and had a very interesting and informative time there.
7 November 2011
Rubber Faced Irritant
Speaking of “am I missin summat obvious” (which sounds like my native Woolyback dialect) am I the only one of us pedants who doesn’t consider this a belter (no offence Chris)? To my cloth ears, it is not a great tune and lyrically bland. I would categorise it as ‘filler’, whilst accepting that the opening track can’t be intended as filler.
This is all relative as the album is indubitably a belter. If it is not in the next Mercury shortlist it’s the biggest scandal since Frankie wasn’t voted off the X Factor last night. Sorry to lower the tone.
8 November 2011
SPENCER THE HALFWIT
Seconded, to a degree. I think it is one of the album’s lesser lights, but it may just be that it suffers by comparison to a set of largely corking choons.
Still think Fix It is over-rated though.
8 November 2011
Paul F
I’m not keen to be honest. It also suffers from following RARIFOBW in my car as the album goes back to the start.
8 November 2011
Hagerty F.
Going against the trend, I think this is one of the stronger songs on an average album. It’s certainly the best opening line anyway.
8 November 2011
Jon N
…be an antidote to you Anglia. (Ford or East… take your pick)
8 November 2011
chris from future doom
Interesting that both this and RARIFOBW both have sudden endings; no coincidence i’m sure.
9 November 2011
Chris S
Does anyone else think it sounds like ‘tread’ round distillery rather than trip?
29 November 2011
Charles Exford
Just a question, not even a tentative suggestion, but does anyone else wonder whether it’s “Oban concerns” the second time (only) ?
10 December 2011
Vendor of Quack Nostrums
All 4 mentions of whatever concerns it may be start with a definite ‘Urrrr’ sound to me, whilst the single certain mention of Oban is a definate ‘Ohhh’ sound. They seem quite distinctly different to these ears, but having said that, these days I trust them about as much as I trusted my MkIII Cortina on a cold, damp winter’s morn back in the day.
11 December 2011
Tom
For anyone who didn’t pick it: the Iceland of the title refers to a line of refrigerator-freezers manufactured (I believe) by Maytag. He misses his old fridge, is what the song’s about. He puts the bins out to see the old girl, and the bit about the eel in the decommissioned fridge might make a bit more sense in that context. I’m at a loss to explain the significance of the key of C, the best I can do is some kind of reference to Celsius, but there’s got to be a better theory than that surely?
19 May 2012
John Burscough
Wouldn’t he have unloaded his old fridge-freezer outside D-list Paul Ross’s “gaff”?
Incidentally, if this is the Victor and Hilary referred to http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101787/
then I wouldn’t want to be in their distillery ether.
19 May 2012
Chris
Came here to find out what the fookin’ ‘ell this is about, and I think I have it figured out now. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the protagonist is in love with an environmental health officer. He leaves rubbish and old eels where he shouldn’t to get her attention.
3 October 2012
Exxo
That is certainly one possible reading, Chris.
But Wirral Council is the proud employer of several “recycling participation officers”, a zealous crew, on a decent whack of commission on the fines they impose of course, who do not need much excuse to pop round for a bit of a re-educational Thursday afternoon hobknob. Therefore I feel we have to take into account the possibility of subversive sarcasm. The narrator or protagonist may not truly be enamoured with him/her at all, but may feign such infatuation as a fictional excuse, even maybe a seductive distraction of the zealous enforcer to try to swerve a fine.
It furthermore seems very possible that the protagonist/narrator him/herself is not him/herself per se the depositor of the age-old eel, because SHE breezed into his/her room singing it.
Then there is also the possibility that the person with the ‘urban concerns’ is not even a council employee, but perhaps a self-appointed urban vigilante roaming the mean back alleys of Prenton, poison pen poised to grass up the hapless participant in the wonderfully Byzantine and at the same time Kafka-esque three-bins- not-on-the-same-day-in-alternate-weeks-system. When you think about it it’s only surprising that there haven’t been more interpretations of this lament on here, not to mention a Spacebook campaign to make it number one in time for Recycling Awareness Week.
3 October 2012
Vendor of Quack Nostrums
Here is my interpretation, determined on a whim, as an alternative to undertaking real work.
It’s simply a no nonsense, straightforward, old fashioned unrequited love song.
Boy tries to meet girl, using the medium of his supposed ignorance of the three-bins- not-on-the-same-day-in-alternate-weeks-system. He longs to distract her from what so ever her concerns may be. He fails. In an attempt to remove his mind from his obsession he holidays up north, but not even the company of good friends and Scotch can deflect him from his desire to be near her.
He is driven to suicidal thoughts, and contemplates ending it all mid-week. (Shades of The Boss here – ‘Tonight my baby and me, we’re gonna ride to the sea. And wash these sins off our hands’).
Before he can carry out the act, the object of his obsession, realising she cannot have his demise on her conscience but ultimately being repulsed, calls round to serenade him with a composition of her own making, hoping to express her feelings towards him which are, at best, rancid and toxic.
He is so overcome with despair, he can do no more than repeat her words back to her, before coming to an abrupt ending, not knowing how to continue.
Interpretation? True story.
4 October 2012
That swan
A classic tale of infatuation from afar. For what it’s worth, I don’t think he ever gets the girl, and the bit about her breezing into his room singing is a work of fantasy/imagination – hence the nonsensical words of the ‘eel’ song. Any reference to refrigeration is probably a nod to the excellent wordplay in the song’s title (Hamlet Act 1, Scene 4 just in case that passed anyone by).
21 September 2013
WARWICK HUNT
Smalling’s rotten at the back v Iceland.
29 June 2016
bigrobmac
It’s interesting to read some of the interpretations on here. I took it to mean Iceland the frozen food supermarket, and that the protagonist had taken a job there just to try and be with the girl of his dreams. But he’s not taking the job too seriously, and has been deliberately hiding waste food in strange places or putting it outside and at the wrong times.
This could explain why the fridge was ‘decommissioned’ rather than just ‘old’ or ‘abandoned’, which would be more likely descriptions of the fate of a life-expired domestic fridge.
One of my favourite HMHB songs!
13 February 2017
Peter Mcornithologist
The eel in the fridge. Is it just me or was there a Wodehouse scene of such normality ?
5 March 2017
dr desperate
Here’s another song in C.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKtKn5Et524
8 March 2017
Des Pond of slough
Paul Devereux, Ian Thompson (1979) – The Ley Hunter’s Companion, page 7: “Those who relish visiting remote, prehistoric sites – the moorland stone circle, the hilltop earthwork – will find leys that offer them the best possibility for doing so… People who want to get away from it all will find spots on almost any ley that provide the perfecr invitation to do just that. Ley hunting is an antidote to mechanical city time and angular urban concerns.”
18 January 2020
EXXO
A very impressive find indeed. It was always a far-out collocation and it had to come from somewhere further out than Ronnie Boyce.
But WTF were you doing there when you found it?
19 January 2020
TRANSIT FULL OF Keith
Research fellowship in Biscuitology awarded for that one.
19 January 2020
Des Pond of Slough
If I tell you how I came across it, my cover will be blown. Incidentally, ley-hunting is not recommended for cyclists.
20 January 2020
transit full of keith
Don’t worry, Julian Cope, your secret is safe with us.
20 January 2020
Intheshadowoflilly
>Paul Devereux, Ian Thompson (1979)<
One of these is my real name incidentally. For a second I was worried I might be singled out for particular attention in the lyrics of NB57.
20 January 2020
Des Pond of Slough
Julian Cope only has one secret? No, he’s not me nor I him, though I do know someone who met him.
20 January 2020
dr desperate
That ley hunter’s surname is spelt Thomson, so no need to worry, @Lilly (unless your real name is Paul Devereux).
20 January 2020
Intheshadowoflilly
Consider my worry extinguished then.
21 January 2020
Des Pond of Slough
Coincidence, perhaps, but in Rory Gallagher’s “They Don’t Make Them Like You Anymore” off of ‘Tattoo” (1973), he repeatedly tells us that he’d “like to be in your vicinity”.
27 August 2021