Before the End

One main version:

* (1981) - Only Dreaming (4:06), Chemical Playschool Volume 2 (3:42), Prayer for Aradia CD Bonus Track (3:48).

Quick fade in. Near the end the effects and playing get chaotic, turning into static and feedback.

The "Only Dreaming" mix is different from the others (it's slowed down and the chaotic ending stops abruptly, like the master tape itself was stopped). The other mixes are identical except that the song fades out during the ending static on "Prayer for Aradia."

Instruments: Flanged bass guitar; vocals; occasional backup vocals, sometimes with heavy chorus ("Normal!"); organ chords possibly chopped up with tremolo and sometimes interspersed with chirpy keyboard; occasional quiet "fairytale" keyboard.

What it's about:

Through an increasingly unpleasant series of small-town archetypes, the narrator looks nostalgically back at life "before the end." We never find out what "the end" was, but when it came it brought mass panic and caused people to "all fall down" (a plague?) The real point of the song seems to be the flexible definition of "normal," which in this case includes shoplifting, suicide, and the behaviour of a "dial-a-prophet."

Lyrics (adapted from the Cloud-Zero archive):

Before the end the town was calm,
no cold panic, no alarm.
The pubs rang out with "Auld Lang Syne"
as a politician tossed a coin.
It was normal (normal).
Normal.

Before the end the children played
while old men watched them from the shade.
Bemoaned the heat, the price of tea,
discussed perverse psychology.
Normal (normal).
A-OK.

Before the end, in a darkened room
Tom waited for his best girl June.
Fingers crossed, he quietly prayed.
"Lie down," he whispered. She obeyed.
It was normal. Normal.

Ring a ring of roses, a pocket full of poseys.
A-tish-oo, a-tish-oo, all fall down.
'Cos we're normal. Normal (normal).

Before the end, in a crowded store,
Miss Demeanor broke the law.
Shifty eyes and sleight of hand,
slipped up a sleeve a sardine can.
Naughty -- tsk tsk -- but normal.

Before the end, in a cramped bedsit,
George slid a razor 'cross his wrist.
Bloody jeans, tearful eyes.
Unhooked the phone. Fed the mice.
Nasty.

Before the end, in a cushioned pod
Mr. Dial-a-Prophet looked for God.
Flaming throne to slice the sky
for mankind's last united cry:
"We're normal! We're normal!" (normal)
Can't happen to us. We're normal.
Normal. We're normal.

Why you should care:

It's one of many early-dots "chugging tremolo keyboard" songs, but the clever lyrics make up for it. It is all so deceptively cheerful.