[Track Info] [The Lyrics] [Explanation]
1. Anti-Christ" version (04:17)
2. "Battle-Priest" version (04:15)
3. Re-recorded version (04:45)
4. Edited Re-recorded version (03:56)
5. Live (London, England - "Hammersmith Odeon", April 18th '83) (08:07)
6. Live (Leicester, England - "De Montford Hall", March 5th 1984) (07:31)
Notes: 1) is equal to 2), except for the word
"Antichrist" replaced with "Battlepriest".
Versions 3) and 4) were recorded with the drummer John Martyr; they have a shorter
instrumental introduction (4 bars instead of 8). 4) has also an extra strophe ("I
give peace signs when I wage war in the disco...").
1) and 4) have a fading finale, 3) doesn’t.
Live versions follow studio version 4), but 5) has the 8-bar introduction. Both live
versions have a longer instrumental passage before the verse "I am your
antichrist...", in which Fish plays percussions (in live version 5 this section is
very long). In live version 6), before the extra strophe, Fish introduces the band (Pete
introduces Fish).
Lyrics by Derek William Dick (Fish)
Performed Live for the first Time: 19-May-82
Published by Marillion Music
I found smog at the end of my rainbow
I found my thoughts shift slowly into phase
Declared the constitution of the walkway
I realise it's time to plan the day, [the day]
I'm a Market Square Hero gathering the storms to troop
Cause I'm a Market Square Hero speeding the beat of the streetpulse.
Are you following me, are you following me?
Well suffer my pretty warriors and follow me.
I got a golden handshake that nearly broke my arm
I left the ranks of shuffling graveyard people
I got rust upon my hands from the padlocked factory gates
Silent chimneys provide the silent steeples
Cause I'm a Market Square Hero gathering
the storms to troop
Cause I'm a Market Square Hero speeding the beat of the streetpulse, the streetpulse.
Are you following me? are you following me?
Well suffer my pretty children and follow me, follow me!.
Change, change, change! Change, change, change!
I am your Antichrist show me allegiance, [Are you
following me]
I am your Antichrist pledge to me defiance, [Are you following me]
Suffer my pretty warriors, Suffer my fallen child, [Are you following me]
The time has come to conquer and I'll provide your end [Suffer!]
We March!!
I give peace signs when I wage war in the disco
I'm the warrior in the ultra violet haze
Armed with antisocial insecurity
I plan the path of destiny from this maze
Cause I'm a Market Square Hero gathering the storms to troop
Cause I'm a Market Square Hero speeding the beat of the streetpulse,
the streetpulse.
Are you following me? are you following me?
Well suffer my fallen angels and follow me
I'm the Market Square Hero,
I'm the Market Square Hero
We're Market Square Heroes,
We're the Market Square Heroes [Are you following me?]
I'm the Market Square Hero!
In the re-recorded version the purple coloured parts are
added.
Copyright © 1997 Fraser Marshall, Matthew Anderson & Bert ter
Steege.
‘Market Square’
Aylesbury is a town with a market square.Pears Cyclopedia says: "Aylesbury
county town, Aylesbury Vale, Buckinghamshire, England. Expanded town, Market town,
population (1981) 48,159
Torch: The title comes from the Aylesbury Market Square; the band were photographed in it for press releases at the time, but there is an obvious reference to Nietzsche's "Man in the marker square"...Fish commented he was dead keen on philosophy.
‘I found smog at the end of my
rainbow’
Brewer’s: The old legend is that if one reaches the spot where
a rainbow touches the earth and digs there one will be sure to find a pot of gold. Hence
visionaries, wool-gatherers, day-dreamers etc., are sometimes called rainbow-chasers,
because of their habit of hoping for impossible things.
Torch: Finding "smog" at the end of a rainbow is indicative that rather than a crock of gold and a promised fortune, there's just industrial pollution.
‘The constitution of the
walkways’
Torch: This is the manifesto for the streets, as he "speeds the
beat of the street pulse" and stirs people to action.
‘The day’
An allusion to ‘The Glorious Day’ when the Socialist Revolution will take place.
Torch: He plans "the day" when it will happen...think of "The Knife" by Genesis and "It All Stops Here" by IQ.
‘Golden Handshake’
Brewer’s: A phrase applied to the often considerable terminal
payments made to individuals, especially business executives, whose services are
prematurely dispensed with. It also has been applied to the final grants made to colonial
dependencies on attaining their independence. The phrase was coined by Frederick Ellis
(d.1979), city editor of the Daily Express.
Torch: The "golden handshake"conjures up an image of unemployment again, nearly breaking his arm, and he leaves the "shuffling graveyard people"...dole queues?
‘silent chimneys’
Torch: The factories are all closed...strikes, pit closures...silent
chimneys provide silent steeples...a crusade launched from picket lines outside empty
factories.
‘storms to troop’
Torch: The real genius element is that he gathers the "storms
to troop" and not the troops to storm...ie all the discontentment he stirs into a
fighting feeling.
‘Antichrist’
Can anyone give me any information about the word ‘Antichrist’, and the possible
meaning of ‘Leader of men’? Is this true, and what is the derivation for this.
What are the biblical references?
Emiliano Bugatti: I think that the Word "Antichrist"
has been taken by Fish not from the Bible, but from the pages of the german filosofer
Nietzsche that with Antichrist describes the new-man, the ubermann.
This Antichrist and this antinichilistic, the winner of God and of nothingness, he
will come, a day. Book "Genealogy of morality".
Torch: There are further disturbing religious images...suffer my
fallen angels...Satan the fallen angel gathering his army to fight heaven... I am your
antichrist...do you really want a revolution...think about it. Ultimately it's a song that
is a warning to armchair revoltionaries as Fish clains in "Words And Pictures".
But the BBC missed the point and had the line changed to "I am your battle
priest". Fish added a rather crap verse live..."have yer peace signs when I wage
war in the disco...I'm the warrior in the ultra violet haze...armed with antisocial
insecurity..."mmm.
Are you following me?
‘Antisocial Insecurity’
Social Security is the system of payments made with income raised from taxation. It goes
to those who are unable to work, unemployed, and other state dependants. In the case of
Unemployment Benefit, once fortnightly, a claimant has to ‘sign on’ to indicate
that they are available for and looking for work. In response, a giro-cheque is paid out.
The level for this (1995 levels) is about £35 a week for a single person under 25.
Additionally, you can apply to have the cost of your rent or mortgage paid or part paid by
the state. Unemployment Benefit has recently be replaced (Oct. 1996) by the Job
Seeker’s allowance. It only lasts for six months, after which you can be made to take
a job you don’t want or face having your benefit cut. Even better than in Fish’s
day!
Sources
Last Modified: 27 jul 2000