FALAA the meaning of ????

[surexform]

Some years ago when I first got into the sisters a group of friends were
all big fans.

There was a rumour going around about the meaning of FALAA. Started by someone who knew someone who knew the band - yeah right!!!

This was that it was infact a story. The classic spurned lover scenario.
With Marian as the love interest.

Starting with Black Planet - a kind of realisation that its all gone wrong

Walk Away - She leaves him for another or hes been cheating on her?

No Time to Cry - Urging her and himself that its a saveable situation
"everything will be alright"

Rock and a hard place - "and i didnt have the heart to tell her why" she
comes back but hes resolved that its all over with.
"I'm gone far away" hes pushing her away, does he have another lover?

Marian - Hes deep in regret, loosing himself over his bad decision

First and last and always - This is how it was meant to be, but its tounge
in cheek "following lost and blind", "seems i wore this face for you far too
long before"

Possession - "so much dreaming" really loosing it, "ill be your imagination
tear apart what you believe make a mess of your conviction take away my pride" self pitty, being possessed by his demons.

Nine while nine - "Caught on this line again" going over on over it.
Waiting for the trian from nine in the morning till nine at night, acutally waiting for a train or waiting for some sense to come of it all? "in the days when i was stronger, in the days when you were here"

Logic - Suicidal or murderous??? "give me one good reason" not to use the kinfe. Maybe now she has someone else and it really is all over. So he drowns himself in "amphetamine" kidding himself that one life, his life is all he needs.

Some kind of stranger - "heard of him in conversation" the other lover?
"all i know for sure all i know for real is knowing doesnt mean so much", "all of my words are second hand" any explaination he offers her, shes heard it all before! "I can wait a long long time before i hear another love song" any woman will do right now, "memories they last for years but names are just like souvenirs", "and i dont care what your called tell me later if at all".

This could all be very off base, but I think it makes sense. theres
reference to support this in every track!

However what makes me doubt myself is that I've never heard any meanings to this album or for that matter many of the other songs.

I don't know if the band wanted to keep it that way. Many artists like the
fans to make up their own minds.

So am I raving lunatic? Or is there someting in it?

Does anyone know the facts behind any Sisters tracks. Or are we all doomed to the subjective world of language analysis?

sure

[MrChris]

That's certainly an interesting theory, I hadn't heard it before. It might make sense. On the other hand, there are lots of theories about the individual songs' meanings that make sense in themselves (so, Black Planet is about nuclear war, and AE's strange theory that it's ethically awful but aesthetically beautiful. Walk Away is a plea for Gary Marx to make up his mind whether to leave the band or not. Amphetamine Logic is about, well, amphetamine logic). It's not necessarily true that these overt meanings contradict your theory. The lyrics are famously multi-layered. There's room for all sorts of levels of meaning. Anyway, if they get you thinking like this, they've achieved something.

[claws]

Just a correction on "Some kind of stranger". It's not "Heard of him in conversations..." . It is "Heard a million conversations..."

/claws

[CellThree]

Didn't I read in UTR (way back when) that Some Kind... was lyrically Andrew's "I want every girl in the world" and Gary Marx's music was his version of the Wedding March.

[Andy TG]

Didn't I read in UTR (way back when) that Some Kind... was lyrically Andrew's "I want every girl in the world" and Gary Marx's music was his version of the Wedding March.

@ Cell Three - Yep ! - I read this two from at least Two sources!

[MrChris]

I heard this too. The general line appears to be that Gary wrote a lovely song, and Andy warped it completely in his own inimitable way. I also heard that the metamorphosis of the song played a part in alienating Gary. Apparently one line in the song peed Gary off so much (more than Walk Away, even) as an apparent dig at his indecision, that it precipitated him leaving the band:

'Lingers undecided at the door'.

This one puzzles me, I have to say, since a) it fits into the song completely, rather than sounding like some gratuitous barb, and b) it isn't a particularly nasty comment anyway, is it? But it takes all sorts...

So yes, the general impression I have is that Gary wasn't a fan of the lyrics...

[khepri II]

I heard this too. The general line appears to be that Gary wrote a lovely song, and Andy warped it completely in his own inimitable way. I also heard that the metamorphosis of the song played a part in alienating Gary. Apparently one line in the song peed Gary off so much (more than Walk Away, even) as an apparent dig at his indecision, that it precipitated him leaving the band:

'Lingers undecided at the door'.

This one puzzles me, I have to say, since a) it fits into the song completely, rather than sounding like some gratuitous barb, and b) it isn't a particularly nasty comment anyway, is it? But it takes all sorts...

So yes, the general impression I have is that Gary wasn't a fan of the lyrics...

Mr C, my guess is the missing "careful" is the bit that hacked off Gary

whether it was musical, or physical retraint, I suppose we'll never know but it seems to makes sense that Careful is Mr Marx

[nodubmanshouts]

I've read that "Marian" was a piece of music/ style of music played by the band on the deck of The Titanic as the ship went down. If you watch the (insert personal opinion) movie Titanic, somebody mentions this. The lyrics to Marian make an awful lot of sense if this is related...

I believe "First And Last And Always" was a phrase used during Prohibition as a kind "Yeah, right" to any questions as to whether or not you'd consumed alcohol. I've no where it comes from, or its significance to the rest of the lyrics though...

food for thought

[James Blast]

First And Last And Always was a damn fine album, a turning point in my life, nothing was ever quite the same thereafter.

regards
Blast

[khepri II]

I think FALAA is actually a catholic religious thingy


it goes something like "Christ is the first the last" and to prove you're as religious as hell and never gonna stray from the path "and always"


yeah a quick search bore this

Our Lord taught His Full Deity (John 8:58, John 8:24) and the Bible calls Him the "Alpha and Omega, the first and the last" (Revelation 1:11, 17, 18). Yet it is Jehovah alone who declares that He is "the first...the last" (Isaiah 44:6). Since there can be only one first and last, God fully manifested Himself in Jesus Christ, "the first and the last" (Revelation 1:17, 18) as the Scriptures and the Christian Church maintain.


of course as usual i could be talkin' crap. Good fun though

[James Blast]

Well Khepre II it might just as well be called Black October, as Mr. E wanted but the release date was uncertain.
OK there is the track FALAA, just don't read so much into these or any lyrics or else you will start taking guns to school. (IMHO of course)

regards
Blast

damn fine avatar BTW

[emilystrange]

[quote="Red Sunsets"]First And Last And Always was a damn fine album, a turning point in my life, nothing was ever quite the same thereafter.

I couldn't agree more.
Some kind of.. is the one saddest bleakest things i ever heard.
but i'm an emotional kind of girl.

[Petseri]

First And Last And Always was a damn fine album, a turning point in my life, nothing was ever quite the same thereafter.

I couldn't agree more.
Some kind of.. is the one saddest bleakest things i ever heard.
but i'm an emotional kind of girl.

A member for only two days so far and already 47 posts!?!? Man, Quiff Boy averages less than 6 posts a day, and he runs the forums! I did not think that there was that much Sisters-related stuff to discuss.

[Big Si]

First And Last And Always was a damn fine album, a turning point in my life, nothing was ever quite the same thereafter.

I couldn't agree more.
Some kind of.. is the one saddest bleakest things i ever heard.
but i'm an emotional kind of girl.

A member for only two days so far and already 47 posts!?!? Man, Quiff Boy averages less than 6 posts a day, and he runs the forums! I did not think that there was that much Sisters-related stuff to discuss.

Hi Martin!

You'll find the posts are in General Chat! (Bloody Goths! )

[emilystrange]

as i said, i'm working redundancy and consequently doing no work.

[Planet Dave]

Is the song 'FALAA' not about Eldritch's view of the band-fan dynamic? ie. another pop at the goths. It's pretty much as blatant an attack as Floorshow was, I think. And also served to bring more and more of them on board. Oops. Similarly, the even-more-blatant More seemed to continue this trend of massive misinterpretation.

'There's some strange looking people out there. I hope you're not with me. Ahh ahh ahh, did I ask you to come? I think not. This one's for you, anyway...' intro to More, Crystal Palace 93.

In fairness, there was an unfeasible number of wedding dresses kicking around that day.

Or maybe he did it all knowingly. Maybe he loves goths. After all, they can be very pretty. Who knows? Who cares, when the songs are that good regardless?

Dave

[emilystrange]

did frankenstein love his monster? maybe.
and familiarity breeds..

[mh]

Throw the words "first" "last" "always" into Google, and you'll be surprised at the amount of stuff that comes back. It's just a well known phrase, nothing special, no hidden meaning, none of that stuff.

[mugabe]

I've read that "Marian" was a piece of music/ style of music played by the band on the deck of The Titanic as the ship went down. If you watch the (insert personal opinion) movie Titanic, somebody mentions this. The lyrics to Marian make an awful lot of sense if this is related...

Where did you read this? What style of music is "Marian"? The popular myth is that they played "Nearer My God To Thee" as they went under. Besides, I always thought "Marian" to be Anne-Marie of the Skeletal Family.

Whatever.

[emilystrange]

i have been singing FALAA all afternoon which raised some eyebrows with my colleagues

[pikkrong]

I've read that "Marian" was a piece of music/ style of music played by the band on the deck of The Titanic as the ship went down. If you watch the (insert personal opinion) movie Titanic, somebody mentions this. The lyrics to Marian make an awful lot of sense if this is related...

I believe "First And Last And Always" was a phrase used during Prohibition as a kind "Yeah, right" to any questions as to whether or not you'd consumed alcohol. I've no where it comes from, or its significance to the rest of the lyrics though...

food for thought

One strange thing came to my mind. One night, 9 years ago, I tippled with my friends at my home and listened to Sisters. Suddenly one of them asked: "What the f*** is that?" It was "Marian". The friend of mine, who asked it was an archaeology student, he had been on excavations on one Estonian island Saaremaa which lies in the Baltic sea, it's a place were men had been sailors since vikings era. My friend told that in this island, while they boozed with local drunkards, those men used to tootle accordion and sing a primitive song which had only 4 words "Miks jätsid mind, Mariaa-aa-naa?", i. e. "Why did you left me, Mariaa-aa-naa?" and the melody... was the same... "Marian"
It's quite impossible that those men have ever heard The Sisters Of Mercy. At first I thought, maybe it was an old sailors tune, then I start to believe my friend was just so drunken that mixed up everyhting... Now, reading the above post, I recall it again...

[Quiff Boy]

blimey!

[nodubmanshouts]

Sorry, I don't have references to the Titanic thingy, though I'm sure its mentioned in the movie (anybody have a copy they want to watch?)

However, regarding the Estonian Island sailors... as Quiff Boy puts it...

blimey!

[pikkrong]

Maybe it's just bulls*** what I told. Can't confirm anything. Maybe the song my friend had heard had just a similar name in the lyrics and it just seemed to his drunk mind that it was the same melody...

[nodubmanshouts]

I did a search for Saaremaa and Marian, and came up with a page which was in a very, very strange language. Anybody speak Saaremaaian?