We All Fall Down At The World Fair
Double Dyker Beds CD cover
The front of a CD case that has a large crack in the bottom-right. The album art is in black and white. The artist's name, Double Dyke Beds, is seen in the bottom-left of the album art, encased in a white box. The art itself features what appears to be Tellie Lectric's head, an abstracted globe featured in his tall hat. White, wispy hatches circle him, faint stars seen within.
Double Dyker Beds CD back
The back of a CD case that has some cracking in the bottom-left, and a small strip of tape in the bottom-right. The album's title, "We All Fall Down At The World Fair" is featured along the left-side. The track list reads: 1. Peace Through Understanding; 2. The World Fair; 3. Build it! Break it!; 4. Nuclear; 5. Helter Skelter; 6. Small World; 7. We All Fall Down At The World Fair; 8. 1974.
Created by the Double Dyker Beds - one of the many punk bands of the 70’s - this album spins a tale about the tragic events of the 1964 World Fair.
The DDB were a band well regarded amongst the punk movement for their funny and progressive views on American issues. They would often release music influenced by famous American historical events and the lyrics would often put on a fun twist or alternate story to the real world inspiration. In the case of the World Fair they created a song that speculated on what happened that day and alluded to the idea of things not being so simple as what the papers and reporters claimed them to be.
The song “We All Fall Down at the World Fair” discussed the nature of death, of everyone dying at some point and that at important points in history many people always seem to die. The song asks why that is, why it is that important history must always be made on the deaths of others, and if death serves as an index marker in the history of the world.
The song was very well received amongst a group of people embittered with the fallout of the World Fair incident which, as many know, was the impetus for America’s war of terror on many nations. However the song was greatly despised by nationalists and the adults of previous generations who claimed the song to be disrespectful to those who gave their lives in service of their country as well as towards the victims of the World Fair. As such the song was quickly buried beneath censorship and is less well known today. We obtained this disc case from a former member of the band who still makes music today!
As the recording we have to listen to on the site is only the instrumental, here are some of the lyrics that go along with the song:
“And although we go, down below, we all rise up in time
We all go down at the world fair
Scientists and bow ties charring in the flare
And although we will never know what happened there
We all go down at the world fair
We all go down at the world fair
We all go down at the world fair
We all go down and fly up high, we all look up at the sky, at the world fair
A fire in the air, a high volt man,
What did they see when the sky went red?
Was it fate? Was it right? We all go down to the fair tonight
We all go down at the world fair
We all go down at the world fair
We all go down at the world fair
We all go down and fly up high, we all look up at the sky, at the world fair
I guess that, we’ll never know, what dragged everyone deep down below, in charring remains of acid red, that blue spark man dancing baton in hand!”
The lyrics are very interesting in how they seem to use Tellie as a stand-in for Telectrica and their role in the tragedy at the World Fair. It should also be noted that at this time in history, a good thirteen years after the World Fair, the company known as Telectrica Innovations was long dead. It was noted in our Tellie Lectric character index page, but nobody bought the rights to his character during the liquidation process and as such Tellie became fair game for any person or group to use in any way they wished.