on 7/7/02 7:17 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> That pretty much just leaves the chorus:
>
> Enter the multitudes
> In Exxon blue
> In radiation rose
>
> Could refer to the "multitudes" that began to follow Jesus around, and what
> scared the Pharisees into having him crucified...why Exxon Blue & radiation
> rose? Maybe Joni's suggesting that we're slaves to Fossil fuels & nuclear
> power. Maybe she just picked those as ways to describe the colors. There may
> be a painting connection there.
I'm going to go way out on a limb here and suggest that perhaps Joni wrote
this song after attending an actual Passion Play, possibly the most famous
one, held every ten years, in Oberammergau, Germany.
This event is world-famous and is held the first year of each new decade,
which would place it one year before the release of Night Ride Home.
The cast of the Passion Play consists entirely of the residents of
Oberammergau who often fill the stage in huge crowd scenes ("enter the
multitude").
When I was in Europe in 1970 I saw several posters of scenes from the play
and was struck by how colourful it was. Some pictures from the year 2000
play can be seen at http://www.oberammergau.de/. (Click on Kunst & Kultur
and then Passionsspiele). While the costumes are toned down quite a bit from
what I remember, you can still see some crowd members wearing robes which a
painter's eye might describe as "exxon blue and radiation rose."
By the way, I've been out on limbs before and even once cut the limb I was
standing on, but that's a different story.
Rick
