I haven't really sat down and thought much about the lyrics of this song in
the past, but it's one I've never really understood, so have finally made
the effort! My results (however misguided they may be) follow. I've
deliberately ignored other people's interpretations, and just gone with my
own feelings.
I think this song is about the interactions of religion and technology.
I've dissected the lyrics as follows:
"Magdalene is trembling
Like a washing on a line
Trembling and gleaming
Never before was a man so kind
Never so redeeming"
Mary Magdalene, one of the first "sinners", trembling with fear and relief,
forgiven by Jesus, the great redeemer. She is gleaming with happiness,
having been "washed clean" of her sins. This gives us our first reference
to religion and Christianity.
"Enter the multitudes
In Exxon blue
In radiation rose"
The multitudes - Christianity started with one man (Jesus) and a handful of
followers, now it numbers in the millions. Also now there are billions more
people in the world, and technology has advanced exponentially as a result,
with the discovery of nuclear power, etc. Exxon blue - blue is also a term
for mistake, eg. the sinking of the Exxon Valdez. We've made several
technological mistakes. Radiation rose - rose may refer to the lesions
formed in radiation sickness, similar to the old nursery rhyme "Ring of
Roses" referring to the pustules formed by bubonic plague - a symptom of our
mistakes.
"Now you tell me
Who you gonna get to do the dirty work
When all the slaves are free?
(Who're you gonna get)"
Who is left to take the blame for our technological blunders, if religion
can "forgive us our sins"?
"I am up a sycamore
Looking through the leaves
A sinner of some position
Who in the world can this heart healer be
This magical physician"
I think these first three lines mean that although she is a non-believer and
feels superior in her beliefs, she feels she is not seeing clearly, ie. her
vision or perceptions are obscured (by the leaves). Then perhaps she's
questioning the basis of Christianity, that a religion can be based on just
one man's philosophies, and how could someone literally heal someone with
the touch of a hand. Or perhaps as a more indirect concept, how can we
magically be forgiven no matter what we do, and therefore have no need to
accept any responsibility?
"Enter the multitudes
The walking wounded
They come to this diver of the heart
Of the multitudes
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done"
The walking wounded - the everyday sinners who come to Christianity to be
forgiven their sins, in the knowledge that they will be redeemed and
eventually go to the kingdom, ie. heaven, if God so wills it, despite their
sins.
"Oh, climb down, climb down he says to me
>From the middle of unrest"
Come down from the sycamore tree, stop your questioning and see clearly.
"They think his light is squandered
But he sees a stray in the wilderness
And I see how far I've wandered"
The sceptics and non-believers don't understand how if Christianity or God
has this power, why do mistakes like the sinking of the Exxon Valdez happen?
But the basis of Christianity says that each individual is what is
important, not the global actions of the "multitudes", and she realises how
far from the truth her perceptions were.
"Oh, all around the marketplace
The buzzing of the flies
The buzzing and the stinging
Divinely barren
And wickedly wise
The killer nails are ringing"
Perhaps an early reference to Ethiopia (before the song of the same name),
or perhaps the spread of Aids in Africa via mosquitoes - the buzzing of the
flies, the stinging and the killer nails. It seems to be a departure from
the radiation theme, although "divinely barren" may refer to the
sterilisation effect of radiation. Maybe technology is "wickedly wise" in
making people in these countries sterile to off-set over-population?
As for the changing lyric: "Ecstasy, Misery, Apathy, Tragedy" could this
reference the history of the whole nuclear debate, or technology in general?
Initially Ecstasy at the discovery of a new weapon, power source, etc.
Misery after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as the implications are
realised. Apathy as people think "well, we can't stop the big companies
from using this technology, so why fight it?" Tragedy as the after-effects
of Hiroshima, Chernobyl etc. are realised, sometimes many years later.
This is probably the first time I've analysed any song in this much depth,
and if you've waded through this far, congratulations, you deserve a medal!
Hell
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great audiences too." - Walt Whitman
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