The Scarecrow

I apologize for all the typos in my posts, I was typing it while reading it from the insert on the CD, I am at work and not supposed to be doing this so I wanted to hurry lol.

The basis of the Wicked Trilogy album is about music composer dubbed The Scarecrow (Tobias Sammet) slowly going insane. His insanity births Mephistopheles (Jorn Lande) in his mind, and he falls into depression after being rejected by his unrequited love (Amanda Somerville). Tobi wrote this trilogy so The Scarecrows teeters between reality and illusions; that line being clearer in some songs more than others.

The beginning of his descent to madness, The Scarecrow begins hearing a second voice in his head. This is explained in the 2nd paragraph where Tobi starts speaking more harshly with lines like:

• "There's a voice and a million answers To the questions I don't ask A demon — I've got to contain"

Mephistopheles begins picking at The Scarecrow's insecurities in order to make him fall into depravity. He does this by talking about how The Scarecrow is different from everyone else and how the world tries to bring him down (referenced in Twisted Mind).

I believe the bridge represents the calm before the storm. The tranquility of The Scarecrow's mind before Mephistopheles begins invading it.

The rest of the song is The Scarecrow's mind starting to crack from the voices in his head, while Mephistopheles begins to tear at The Scarecrows biggest insecurity: his unrequited love.

My interpretation of the chorus is that it's The Scarecrow trying to console himself and give himself hope. However, the final chorus is when it's clear that Mephistopheles is beginning to affect The Scarecrow.

if anyone actually buys these CD's and does not just download them, they would have the sleeve which has the following on it :

The Scarecrow is a tragic story of a lonesome creature, emotionally isolated from his environment and suffering from a distorted sensory preception. His feelings for the love of his life unrequited. He sets off on a journey exploring the left-hand path, striving for inner peace, ploughing his way to approval and eventually facing temptation at the inner depths of the human soul...

"About eight years have passed since I started wriging my first conceptual project under the style of Avatnasia. Although it was called a "Metal Opera." It was not really an opera. I don't know too much about opera, in fact I know nothing about it and I can't even read scores. continued below

In the sense of Rock 'n' Roll and Heavy Metal, it definately had operatic elements, a full concept and countless high profile vocalists who could curely make a greate career on Broadway. But this time I have tried to do things a bit differently: I wanted to come up with something that was more abstract and not your typical good-vs-evil fantasy stuff. I didn't want to keep it within the limitations of a once-upon-a-time fairytale. and I didn't want to squeeze the story into the tight corset of pedantry. I wanted to do something metaphoric, so I wouldn't unveil and ruin the mystery of the story. Follow me to the 19th century and walk the path of a composer slowly going insane; bouncing from passion to success, from isolation to acclaim, from heaven to hell, and from genius to insanity. This is my personal Faust-story. A lot of stuff is based on personal experience and thoughts. I can't go too deep into the story here, there is a fine line between reality and fiction and I will not reveal where it is to be drawn. But I am damned certain that everyone will be able to find some element of themselves in the "Scarecrow." It is me, and it is you!

God Bless you and good night. - Tobias Sammet, Octover 2007

I can see some "christ's passion" reference here. Actually, a little before it, on gethsemane, when the devil teases jesus. The scarecrow would symbolize jesus (even the shape of the scarecrow resembles a crucified man) and the crow is the devil. Verses like "A demon - I've got to contain" and the feeling of an near future sort of sacrifice as shown in "I close my eyes and see what's coming in my way" and "Do I really have a choice? No no no" resembles a lot Jesus asking God to avoid the sacrifice from him. ~ The Jorn parts are when I think my interpretation is more accurate. "So you're an angel meant to walk down here and you believe it's all divine and you don't play by all those temporal rules" and "when the lamb's been torn to pieces I've been crashing from the sky" are the verses I think the Crow is more and more the devil. As near to the end, when is mentioned a "Flight to hell" and the devil take the scarecrow's soul resembles what is said in the bible, that Jesus, when died, was down to hell to "defeat" the demon and then rise to heaven.

Or I may be just nuts. Anyway, that's my thoughts.

One of the best on the new album, but I'm not sure what it's talking about.