[Track Info] [The Lyrics] [Explanation]
Track 3, from the album "Seasons end"
- Album Version 3:53
12" version, Uninvited Guest 5:04
7" version, Uninvited Guest 3:45
Lyrics by Steve Hogarth & John Helmer.
Published by Charisma Music Publishing Co. Ltd.,
Rondor Music (LDN), EMI Music Publishing Ltd.
You may not recall the moment that you asked me
But your invitation was clear
You'll pretend you've never met me but it's far to late
Now I'm here, yeah
Cause I'm the one who knows what scares you
I'm the one who loves you best
I'm the thirteenth at the table,
I'm the uninvited guest
I'm the banquo at your banquet
I'm the cuckoo in your nest
I'm your fifteen stone first-footer
I'm the uninvited guest
I was there when you said insincere I love you's
To a woman that wasn't your wife
And I fronted you the money
That you ran away and blew
On the biggest regret of your live
Cause I'm the one who knows what scares you
I'm the who loves you best
I'm the thirteenth at the table,
I'm the uninvited guest
I'm the banquo at your banquet
I'm the cuckoo in your nest
I'm your new year's resolution
I'm the uninvited guest
I'm the face you hoped you'd never see
But always knew you would
I'm the one thing you knew you shouldn't do
But did because you could
I'm the evil in your bloodstream
I'm the rash upon your skin
And you made a big mistake alright
The day you let me in
And you can fly to the other side of the world
You know you'll only find
I've reserved the seat behind you
We can talk about old times
Cause I'm the one who knows what scares you
I'm the who loves you best
I'm the thirteenth at the table,
I'm the uninvited guest
I'm the banquo at your banquet
I'm the cuckoo in your nest
I'm your fifteen stone first-footer
I'm the uninvited guest
I'm you new year's resolution
I'm the uninvited guest
Copyright © 1997 Fraser Marshall, Matthew Anderson & Bert ter
Steege.
From the compilation CD: "A
singles Collection":
This song was written within a couple of hours of receiving the
lyrics from John Helmer. We loved the lyric as soon as we set eyes on it - I was reminded
of John Cooper-Clarke by the style and the rhythm... (we considered asking J.C.C. to
narrate the lyrics on the 12 inch in his own inimitable Manchester drawl, but in the end,
we didn't have time to do it.) We already had a musical idea written which suited the
lyric perfectly... I added 'You can fly to the other side of the world... talk about old
times' (We needed more words). So what's a fifteen stone first footer?... I'm not telling
you. But you could ask a Scotsman. (Steve Hogarth).
Rich Tipper suggested: Can't remember where I heard/ read it but H also said the song is about AIDS. Put simply, the Uninvited Guest is the virus.
Regarding the AIDS concept, Ed 'Kahuna' Sander said: I found it hard to believe myself but I remembered an interview with John Helmer (who wrote the song) in one of the old Web Holland mags (actually DMF at the time) I looked it up and there it is, John telling the baffled interviewer that the song is in fact about AIDS !! John said: 'Only after seeing Marillion play the song in the 'Hammy O. ' I realised that I more or less wrote about the feeling of unwanted 'invasion' (. . ), which was a way to write about AIDS. '
In a later posting, Rich Tipper posted this: Here, for your delectation, is an extract from an interview with John Helmer. . .
JH: When I saw the band play The Uninvited Guest at the Hammersmith Odeon, I realised that this song was more or less about an unwanted invasion (. . . ), that was one way to write about AIDS.
Q: About AIDS? I think this comes as a big surprise for a lot of people. . .
JH: Well that's what it is about. I read a story of Edgar Allan Poe, 'Mask of the Red Death', About a rich prince. Plague was spreading on his land and he decided to organise a party for all his friends, lock himself away from the rest of the world and let the plague hit the countryside. As soon as the plague had stopped, they would come out of hiding again to continue their normal lives. But, when the clock struck midnight, Death dressed up like a man in a red cape took him and his friends. I thought that was some sort of a metaphor for the reaction that some people show towards AIDS; something that can only happen to homosexuals and 'other people' and that if you lock yourself up in an ivory tower, it won't happen to you. A lot of reactions on AIDS were all based on the same feeling and this feeling led to The Uninvited Guest. He will knock on your door and your biggest fear is that this is the one thing you don't want to admit happened to you: you just can't believe it can happen to you as well. The only real direct indication to this is "I'm the evil in your bloodstream, I'm the rash upon your skin". It is mainly about the unwanted disturbance of your life and sentences like "fifteen stone first footer" and "cuckoo in your nest" show the other bits that are based on the same idea. I think for me, it's about the seventies - when I was in my teens, there was much sexual freedom, everything was very free and easy and you could get experience with everything you wanted. In the eighties, everybody was more controlled and careful, and AIDS was basically the last straw: people were wary about with whom to share their table and bed. People tried to hide from all of this by locking themselves in, which gave me spooky images of The Uninvited Guest, and as a matter of fact it could also be you, at a party, being the person nobody wanted to know.
The Web - Issue 1-94
(I was recently re-reading through an article published in the Melody Maker just after the release of Hooks. The reviewer was talking about SE and saying that it was a bit bleak. H replied that whilst that was true, they have got tUG on the album. I wish I had the review with me in the office, so I could quote directly, but to paraphrase, he was going on about how tongue in cheek it was. I certainly remember several interviews where a similar thing was said, and given the video too, it leads me to think that if Helmer had written it about AIDS, then maybe he didn’t tell the band. Let’s face it, it’s not a subject which invites great levity! As far as I’ve ever heard H mention it, it was always as this spoof, mock gothic thing. - Ed)
From July 1992 issue of "Record Collector"(no. 155) by Linda La Ban: Hogarth: "It's sinister. I didn't write the lyrics; they were done by a chap called John Helmer. We were working down in Brighton and he would send his lyrics through on a fax machine. When this came, we all liked it immediately As luck would have it, we had been trashing around a musical idea which seemed to fit this perfectly, and we married the two. I added a few lyrics afterwards. It's a song about people you don't really want around but it's also about your conscience calling on you."
‘I'm the Thirteenth at the
Table’ & ‘I'm the Uninvited Guest’
Brewer’s: It is said that the origin of sitting down 13
at a table being unlucky is because, at a banquet in Valhalla, Loki once intruded, making
13 guests and Balder was slain. In Christian countries, the superstition was confirmed by
the Last Supper of Christ and his twelve apostles.
‘Banquo’
From Jeroen Schipper’s FAQ: In Shakespeare's Macbeth,
Banquo is one of Macbeth's friends. Eventually (you'll have to read the whole thing to
find out the details) Macbeth has him killed. Later, Banquo's ghost (or many say just a
'mad vision' of a ghost that Macbeth has) shows up at a banquet he is holding in honour of
Macbeth's ascension to the Scottish throne. Macbeth goes crazy, because he thought he had
had Banquo killed.
‘cuckoo’
Cuckoos are birds that steal other bird’s nests, often by pushing out
other’s young.
‘Fifteen Stone’
From Jeroen Schipper’s FAQ: A measurement in the
Imperial scale, which the British are notoriously bad at giving up, despite having gone
metric in 1971! 15 stone = 15 * 14 = 210 pounds * 0.4536 = 95.25 kilograms!
‘first-footer’
From Jeroen Schipper’s FAQ: First-footer is a Scottish
term relating to the New Year (Hogmanay). A first-footer is a person who is the first
person to enter your house on January 1st. When this person comes into your house, you
must give him all the food he/she wants! In other words, after The Bells (midnight on 31
December) you have to ensure that your "first footer" is a tall person who
should be carrying a small lump of coal, which would traditionally go onto your fire
(remember it's cold and dark at New Year in Scotland!). The early hours of 1 January are
traditionally spent going from house to house in your neighbourhood visiting people and
welcoming in the New Year (drinking!).
‘And you could fly. . . talk about
old times’
In one book of Horace’ Odes, (possibly book 5, but I’m not sure) it is
said of Nemesis, the Greek Goddess of retribution, that you could get on a boat and row to
the other side of the world, only to find that the Oarsman behind you was Nemesis. (Cp. Assassing)
Sources
Last Modified: 13 Mar 2002