Paint Work

"Paint Work" is often described as the high point of This Nation's Saving Grace. It is credited to Smith, Craig Scanlon and Simon Rogers and mixes studio recordings with sections taped on a four-track in Rogers' flat and audio from Smith's dictaphone. Scanlon plays the meandering lead line. During mixing Smith took the master tape home and accidentally erased part of it with a section from an Open University documentary lecture on red giant stars. The sudden jump between lo-fi and studio sound suited the mood, so he and producer John Leckie kept it.

The lyrics are mostly enigmatic, disconnected lines. The hook, "Hey Mark! You're spoiling all the paintwork", is based on a complaint from a decorator after the Smiths moved into the house described in the track before it, "My New House". It runs 6:38.

James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem linked the lo-fi intro of "Yr City's a Sucker" to the tape experiments of this song. There are 21 logged setlists, the last on 5 October 2004.