Marmelade : noun Preparation of crushed and cooked fruit pulp with sugar.
To be in marmalade: in capilotade, in mush, crushed: wounded, swollen, bruised, which causes suffering, sore, concussed, exhausted, tired, painful.
Messy. What marmalade! What a mess !
To have marmalade feet: to have tired, bruised feet.
Having marmalade pins: having tired legs, cotton legs.
To put something or someone in marmalade: to put him/her in mush, to crush him.
To be in the marmalade: Misery, bad situation, to be in bad position.
The great marmalade of the men of the city (Céline in "Voyage to the end of the night").