Leslie Fish - The Day It Fell Apart
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- Опубликовано: 29 май 2014
- I own nothing from this video, and probably even flubbed some lyrics. Horrible as I am, I intend no distress or infringement upon royalties, credit, talent or rarefied air.
More uploads coming. Many songs by Leslie Fish, some by Kathy Mar, a handful from Heather Alexander, a smattering sample of Meg Davis and Cynthia McQuillin, and a single song from Kristoph Klover and Joe Bethancourt respectively.
I welcome any suggestions for uploads, although, my library is far from complete. If it sounds familiar, I will scramble through all my backup CDs at the expense of all else. I shall forgo hygiene and nourishment all for your whims!
![Carmen Miranda's Ghost 02 - Dawson's Christian [HQ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/VyVuuXUR7Lc/mqdefault.jpg)
![Carmen Miranda's Ghost 02 - Dawson's Christian [HQ]](/img/tr.png)
![Leslie Fish - The Day it Fell Apart [HQ]](/img/1.gif)
Just a little general hospital, in a little factory town.
The board put me in charge for mainly keeping prices down.
I hadn't touched a patient since 1982,
But the day of the explosion I remembered what to do.
At eleven in the morning, we all heard the factory blow.
The blast took out the windows, and the shrapnel fell like snow.
We could get no help from out of town for half a day or more.
We had near a thousand casualties and beds for ninety-four.
And can you keep your head, your backbone, or your heart?
We all found out the answer on the day it fell apart.
It was worse than combat medicine; supplies were draining fast.
Bandages ran out and antiseptics wouldn't last.
I took all the able-bodied I could catch inside the door
And made them help the doctors to go scrounge supplies and more.
I invented laws to tell them saying in such emergency
Forget your usual job and boss, your orders come from me.
I sent the cops to commandeer anything in reach:
Food or disinfectant cloth or alcohol or bleach.
The janitor ran cleanup squad, the cook maintained supplies,
The garbageman removed the ones who died before our eyes.
The clerks burned all our papers to boil water on the fire
For sterilizing instruments, as the body count went higher.
A local healthfood herbalist brought everything he had.
The painkillers were useful, and the poultices weren't bad.
A smack and cocaine pusher handed us his whole supply.
The quality was lousy, but a few more didn't die.
We did triage in the parking lot, ranked minor, major, grave.
A sad-eyed fireman gave the stroke to those we couldn't save.
Then sometime in the chaos, a director wandered in
To tell us we were breaking rules, what trouble we'd be in.
But if we'd swear the factory was not the fire's cause,
And the harm was accidental, he'd forget the broken laws.
The staff sneaked up and grabbed him, and tied him to a door.
He gave them blood transfusions 'till he hadn't any more.
(Musical interlude)
When that day was over, and we'd saved all that we could,
We saw that law and politics would hang us where we stood.
We'd saved eight hundred lives but shattered all authority.
I told them, "People, save yourselves, put all the blame on me."
I took my books and instruments, and a few supplies beside,
Packed my car and ran away to open countryside.
So now I live an outlaw, condemned by righteous men,
But for all the lives I saved that day ... I'd do it all again.
And can you keep your head, your backbone, or your heart?
You'll all find out the answers on the day it falls apart
Source: Musixmatch
@TheHerrDoctor You’ve heard of dyslexia, right? Not everyone can read video lyrics in different colours.
Plus, it’s pretty much tradition by now to have filk songs (and quite a few others) have all the lyrics in the comments section.
Ah, posting lyrics for a video that is all lyrics. Great job.
@@colinmerritt7645 GrowTFUp.
The part that always gets me for some reason is the drug dealer giving up his whole supply to save people.
Everyone has something to contribute in a general mobilization.
It reminded me of how drag queens were drafted in World War Two and sent to the front lines in entertainment units.
Everyone contributed.
It doesn't specify that he handed it for free (or willingly, for that matter).
Can't sell to the dead
@@arcadiaberger9204what? 😂 thats not real.
@@RainedOnParade google it
I know there are HQ versions of this but this really makes me feel like I'm in the room with the filkers, I really want to meet Leslie fish one day
"Oh your O-! Wonderful!" I love it
Damn, but I am so glad that I finally found a recording of this song online.
I was never an emergency worker, but I was an analytical chemist during the analysis and cleanup after a major explosion in a chemical plant and this song was running through my head all through the following days and the massive overtime effort involved.
Those who analyse the mistakes past to prevent future harm are just as important as those that can wade through blood to stich up those harmed in catastrophies.
From my point of view this song applies to you just as it applies to medical staff
I'd actually pay money to see this turned into a movie.
First someone would be paid to write a script for it. (Mind you I probably COULD if I had the time, unfortunately I don't, but I can already see how to make the whole thing work.) In fact using this as a basis I probably COULD write a movie script based on it.
One of the things I love about this song is that whenever I listen to it I envision the narrator as old Hawkeye Pierce from the old M.A.S.H. show (not the movie). Think about it. In the show Pierce is 31 when the war ends in 1954. That'd make him 59 when the narrator last touched a patient in 1982. The album this came from was released in 1989 so let's go with that as the year the song takes place. That'd put the narrator, if it's Hawkeye, at 66. A little past retirement age and 7 yrs since he last touched a patient. For a surgeon, being out of the game that long is a fairly big deal. He was probably able to keep prices down because of the ability to stretch supplies and find alternatives thanks to having to get creative in a M.A.S.H. unit.
The narrator also probably has combat medic experience. They compare the scene to combat medicine and say "they remembered what to do." That sounds like someone who's used to performing medicine in high stress situations with massive casualties. Exactly what Hawkeye did. And of course, as probably the only person in town with that kind of experience he's gonna have to take charge.
Then you have the flagrant disregard for rules and laws when lives need saving that fits with Hawkeye's character to a T. Lastly, the narrator uses the word scrounge. That was always how Radar and Klinger referred to their supply collection; scrounging supplies.
That's an awesome theory.
Pretty sure it's just a nameless character by intension, but I love that anyways.
Alan Alda's voice has really changed!
Plus the absolutely cold blooded approach to everything except keeping the absolute maximum number of patients alive also suggests that kind of background or something similar
Scrounging is a common word
I've been thinking about this song a lot lately
I bet a lot of people will be soon. We still don't have enough hospital beds.
I found this yesterday and it seems to touch something inside of everyone
Seems more applicable by the day
Ugh haven’t we all >_>
The narrator here is a true hero. Of course he/she would disclaim this saying, "I'm no hero. I just did what had to be done." But that's the definition of a true hero; someone who does what has to be done because to do anything else is unthinkable, regardless of the personal cost, because to do nothing would be even more expensive, in the coin of not being able to look at themselves in the mirror; or having to look at themselves with loathing. And such people are *not* fearless. They are usually scared boneless but they do it anyway because they're more scared of what they will think of themselves if they do nothing. You can run away from others. You can't get away from yourself.
carloak9 Maybe you'd like the songs Some Kind of Hero, Sam Jones (both on Carmen Miranda's Ghost) and Demon Bane (Shadow Stalker). Of course these are sci-fi/fantasy settings. Have you heard Leslie Fish's Flight 93?
quizzlie I like Sam Jones and Some Kind of Hero, although in SKOH, the kid is knocked out and then put into a space suit with the instructions written out so I'm not sure if he qualifies. But then sometimes it's just being in the right place at the right time.. I'll look up Demon Bane and Flight 93. Thanks.
I suppose Molly in SKOH really speaks to me. She sacrificed herself rather than rely on fate to determine who got the last space suit. "Some kind of heroes just give without counting the cost".
carloak9 Instead of Demonbane maybe you'd be more interested in Magic's Price (if you weren't going to read Mercedes Lackey's Last Herald-Mage trilogy, although why you wouldn't eludes me).
quizzlie Even though I'm a grown man, flight 93 had me in tears. True heroes, every one. And when it started, I didn't care for Demonbane, (still don't care for the melody), but the words are powerful. Of course given the choice between defending the helpless and material wealth, I'd choose the former any day; and not for any altruistic reason. Helping those who are in need is one of the best feelings I have found. Nothing I've ever purchased with money has ever felt so good.
Leslie Fish was a fixture at so many cons. Carmen Miranda's Ghost (is haunting space station three), The Tale of Jamie Dawson, and so many other classics out of filk manuals.
well, its falling apart. greetings from 2020.
I was wondering if anyone would think of this song now....
Greetings from 2021, seems like it's still falling apart.
@@PrimordialNightmare getting bettet
It's not much, but we are still here.
The sky haven't been covered entirely by darkness we ourselves created yet.
The water haven't consumed what it started entirely yet.
The earth havent been immolated by the fire of war yet.
For even with all the disasters or Downfall's rumored that will befell us, we managed to continue on.
I'm happy that's the case, even if just for a little longer.
(Note: Got weirdly poetics and psychological with it, but hey; if anyone is reading through this however much time forward. I wish you a wonderful time going forward.)
I used to work in an emergency department. Never had anything on this scale, but yeah, sometimes you break the rules, then snicker when the Monday morning quarterbacks come around.
My praise tou you then, In our country we have a strong tradition of volunteers fire fighter, if my studies hadnt take as mutch time as they do, id join, but shall highwater ever came back to our city, i know what to do, and this sumer, I am hadin on combat medicine course...
We have those sort of laws, made by people who imagined they'd be fighting WW III with them. They imagined a world where the state would commandeer cars at will and try to shuttle entire cities away, where your municipality or town council might be the only emergency authority at hand.
When it all falls apart, you have to answer the question, "what's more important, following rules, or doing what is necessary to keep bodies and souls together"?
Awesome song... And when in crisis, screw authority, do what's right.
So wonderful to know Leslie is still with us and getting a wider audience!
Sadly, she has been descending into some form of insanity in recent years, and has now been repudiated by almost everyone she knew, from her Fellow Workers in the IWW to fandom and SCA. She now posts hate-filled screeds, filled with all the foulest hoaxes and accusations (Sandy Hook denialism, InfoWar conspiracy theories, etc.); and everybody who knew her (as I did for thirty years and more) mourns the death of that brave and fierce mind.
@@orangemikelowrey520 just been the her Facebook. It was fine. The fuck are you on about?
@@Hesric She has posted links to all sorts of vile conspiracy theories, including Sandy Hook denialism. That's where I draw the line, much as I once loved her.
@@Hesric She has posted links to all sorts of vile conspiracy theories, including Sandy Hook denialism. That's where I draw the line, much as I once loved her.
@@orangemikelowrey520 Got source?
Listening to this song, the massive firework factory explosion in Beirut comes to mind...
(Apparently, it blew out windows injuring people up to 37 miles away.)
Leslie Fish is one of the great modern bard/balladeers, Incredible images in accessible verse. I have loved her work since someone gave me a "mix tape" about the time we opened the Metaphysical shop in Northwestern lower Michigan.
played as a soundtrack alongside Isaac Bonewits and friends " Be Pagan once again", Carlos Nakai, and Loreena McKennitt,
I have learned to sing these songs , Hers , in particular; and shamelessly adapted the tunes to my personal practice...'nuff said.
Now, I am seeking to get the CDs....
Let’s hope that the applicability of this song is limited in the coming months... I don’t really want to live through the spring when everything fell apart.
Edit: “coming months” was a really cute estimate
naruto tricked me sry thank you “naruto tricked me” for your input on my mental state during a global pandemic. Suddenly, everything is fine and dandy. Who knew “get a grip” was the answer to all my anxieties. I can’t thank you enough.
@@emilyblack7342 You forgot to knock on wood, didn't you...
@@GargoyleZoo neither did you it seems.....god this year's been a shit show
This didnt age well
Emily Black
I’m just trying
Ladies and Gentlemen, i present to you the true definition of Chaotic Good HERO!
This song is why i became a doctor. If bureaucracy stands in-between saving somones life id proudly go to jail or live as an outlaw
Here’s to the make-shift heroes, doctors without degrees, and the renegade rescue teams.
I like to imagine that in the aftermath, when the bureaucrats descended and on the town and demanded who was responsible for mangling the chain of command, the townsfolk pulled a Spartacus and everyone took singular responsibly for it. Several hundred conflicting confessions later the case would be dropped. As for the unwilling blood donor director, he would decline to make a statement on account that he realized what had happened was the Right Thing To Do... and because the entire town reminded him that snitches get stitches.
except the director died from them draining all his blood,
@@garda_airsoft5476be a shame if his burned body was found in the fired wreckage and couldn't be identified.
@@garda_airsoft5476 Or the nurses administering the blood draws stopped when he was too low to safely draw from, thus "hadn't any more" to give.
@@Crazael no i think he "donated" blood `til he hadnt ANY more
Gewuerz wanze h
I like how on the first verse, he tells people they can sing the chorus line with him and they're doing it by the last one.
I think Leslie is known for her tongue-twister lyrics sometimes.
Um, she. Just so you know. The lovely Miss Leslie Fish is without equal.
Dammit, I can never get it right when the singer has that particular tenor. Thought Dylan and Joel were women the first few times I heard them when I was a kid.
TJ Crumley It's understandable. Her voice *is* highly unusual.
@@Wolfrover , and, DAMN, she is fun to sing along with in person !!
One of my favorite Leslie Fish Songs !
EXTREMELY RELEVANT SONG
found this right before the coronavirus started aggressively happening, suddenly this seems presciently relevant...
Indeed
Let's raise a glass to the Italian and Chinese doctors, learning the answers in these days as it falls apart.
Fuck China.
@@nobelissimos8719 basado
And a year later, it’s now the Indian doctors’ turn. When will this all end?
@@ghostmadlittlemiss when it all cant fall apart no further
@@ghostmadlittlemiss .... another year later and .... :'>
I know someone who lived trough the chaos of Tchernobyl as an medic.
A hymn to self organization and -empowerment.
-All the Dragons Are Dead-
-Cynthia McQuillin - Farewell, My Bonnie Scotland-
-Cynthia McQuillin - Tyrant's Tale-
-Cynthia McQuillin - Dandelion Chains-
-Heather Alexander - Flesh Against the Thorn-
-Joe Bethancourt - Bella Dona-
Joe Bethancourt - Ladies in the SCA
-Julia Ecklar - Crimson & Crystal-
-Julia Ecklar - Hand of God-
Kathy Mar - A Chat With Your Mother
-Kathy Mar - A Healing In This Night-
-Kathy Mar - Arafel's Song-
Kathy Mar - Dancing on a Clock
Kathy Mar - Firebird
Kathy Mar - Forty Thousand In Gehenna
-Kathy Mar - I Am Lord-
Kathy Mar - Jonathan
Kathy Mar - Mizpah
Kathy Mar - The Word of God
Kathy Mar - Vapor Angels
Kathy Mar - When Giants Walked
Kathy Mar - Suicide Express
Leslie Fish - Celtic Woman's Song
Leslie Fish - Elfland
Leslie Fish - Tubal and Jubal
Leslie Fish - Ladies Of The Hightown
Leslie Fish - Bang Bang Leslie
Leslie Fish - Bring It Down
Leslie Fish - Brother Christian
Leslie Fish - Bully In The Alley
Leslie Fish - Cities Of The Sun
Leslie Fish - Disciple
Leslie Fish - Excommunion
Leslie Fish - Fishers Chant
Leslie Fish - Honest Rowan
Leslie Fish - My Favorite Things
Leslie Fish - Cold Iron
Leslie Fish - Never Neverland
Leslie Fish - Rise Up Bright Sun
Leslie Fish - Ship of Stone
Leslie Fish - Suffer Not The King
Leslie Fish - The Curse Of Beatrice Villareal
Leslie Fish - The House of Staghold
Leslie Fish - The Portent
Leslie Fish - The Quest
Leslie Fish - The Roc
Leslie Fish - The Wheel
Leslie Fish - They Were Having a Sale at the Gun Store
Leslie Fish - They're Singing Banned From Argo
Leslie Fish - Trinity
Leslie Fish - We and They
Leslie Fish - Tomlinson
Meg Davis - The Dragon Snap
Meg Davis - 'P' Stands for Paddy
Michael Longcor - A Smugglers Song
Michael Longcor - And Shall Trelawney Die
Can you find and post SF/Fantasy by Cynthia McQuillan? I would be eternally grateful! It was the song that introduced me to filk (more years ago than I want to count) and I can't find it anywhere.
This makes me so mad that I can't give blood or medical reasons ! I'm a damn universal donor !
Love this video!
this song hits different now
Hi there! Mind adding a link to Leslie's bandcamp page to your description? [I can provide the link here, but then RUclips will filter the comment.]
We're releasing a bunch of new Leslie albums, and she [and I] would appreciate the link & publicity help on her songs. Thanks!
God I fucking love this song so much
This is why Linden Avery, MD, FAAFP chose to become a small-town generalist...at least until the emergencies found her in another world. A couple choruses ought to be in 5-part sea-shanty harmony with Giantish and Haruchai accents.
Did you ever realize that this is only in mono? Love the Lyrics anyway.
I found it
Could you upload "Better Than Who" by Leslie and I believe Heather Alexander?
I'm afraid I don't have that one. I'm sorry.
Why is this song not on Spotify
Mr. Fish just described the U.S. general elections, 2020.
As somebody else on this video pointed out (and maybe you found out right after you posted this), it's *Ms.* Fish. But take heart: you're not the first to make that mistake, and you won't be the last. 😉
@@ellynmacgregor8210 As for @OzzyMcFinn's comparison to the 2020 elections, clearly they hadn't imagined what election year 2024 was going to look like.... o_O
Um, "a sad eyed fireman gave the stroke to those we couldn't save..." Does that mean someone was using a fire fighters axe to, uh, behead the terminal patients?
Idk! I was looking through the comments to also see if I could figure out what it means
Truer still in UK, Jan 2021
Does anybody know what Factory this is talking about I would actually like to research the history behind this if it's actually a real factory
Check earlier comments. Leslie Fish says it's a conflation of several events, no names named. I can tell you when things blow up, you KNOW it. I remember when a grain elevator blew up on Galveston Island. Wow.
The craziest part about this a coke dealer gave his entire stash for the greater good youd never see that
In those small factory towns everyone has a friend or family working there. Dealer probably had clients or even family hurt in the blast and that kind of connection makes people care. At worst you eat the loss of profit if it means your customers stay alive to buy again. At best you give back to the people keeping your brother or father alive. It does happen.
@@Enderborn272 Amazing how people seem to think dope dealers are some kind of inhuman monsters.
@@arcadiaberger9204 some probably are, meth and crack have ruined entire communities and will push addicts to do some of the worst things but everyone is human and everyone has the chance to do the right thing and help others. I'm sure for every dealer who will keep selling until their clients OD for the last time there's another two with rehab numbers on their fridge for when their clients get too far gone.
@@arcadiaberger9204Because they are.
@@arcadiaberger9204 They are scum, no doubt. And that is exactly why that line hits hard. Imagine a situation so dire that even someone who generally does not care about others well being contributes.
what is this music based off from?
Was this a real event that she was referring to ?
I don't think so.
***** It happened more than once, it will happen again.
Because, as I think I once heard someone say, "Winter is coming."
+Leslie Fish Are you 'the' Leslie Fish? If so, I love your songs. Also, do you know Vic Tyler who had a few tunes on your "Carmen Miranda's Ghost' album? I can find no one who remembers him. Neither can I find any more of his songs. Would love to know more about him and his music. And thank you for all the wonderful music you have shared with us over the years.
brace yourself...
@Leslie Fish Despite very different circumstances, it made me think of the Halifax Explosion.
Does anyone know the history of this song?
Was this written in response to an actual disaster (current or past, at the time of writing), or was it purely a work of fiction?
I dug some, and this was released in 1989... a year after the PEPCON disaster in 1988. My suspicion is that it was inspired by in part, though to my knowledge no hospital administrators ended up on the run as a result of it or anything.
According to Ms. Fish, it's inspired by more than one actual disaster rather than any specific one.
Leslie makes great fill songs, but I'm not impressed by her anarchism. Having worked in many factories, I know production workers are. They aren't saints, and the bosses aren't all assholes.
I find myself disagreeing with anarchists a ton but tbh I respect her even when it comes to this. IIRC shes really outspoken about how bad anarchists' nostalgia for pre industrial societies is