Peeled Apples

A friend of mine once remarked to me that apples seem to last forever, but as soon as you take the skin off they turn brown almost immediately, and it was sort of funny because the skin tastes awful.

I got the special edition with the booklet, and I was reading the way Richey had originally typed the lyrics out on his trusty typewriter, and there are a few lines I wish they had included, but nonetheless, this song is incredible.

i think that this is one of the highlights of jfpl...

guessing that the song is mostly about inadequacy. esp. with what arollo said about peeled apples going brown, (becoming useless) hadn't thought of that. what seems to suggest that is the shopwork dummy verse, richey kinda claims that he is insignificant and inadequate, this would also fit in with what the rest of the band said about this album being alot calmer that the bible, richey has finally come to conclusions and has to accept them regardless

my opinion anyway...

Man, this is such a deep, deep song. Each line carries so much weight. Nobody writes lyrics like this any more.

"The more I see, the less I scream."

You get numb to tragedies and injustice when you see so much of it. So the more you see, the less you feel a strong reaction (scream).

"The figure 8 inside out is infinity"

Talking about running in circles, never getting anywhere.

"The naked lightbulb is always wrong"

A naked (uncovered) lightbulb brings enough light to see everything. You see the ugliness in life you want to really ignore.

"They make your break complete"

Focus exposes what is broken.

"Then they blow it to kingdom come"

People would rather wait until something is totally destroyed that take the effort to fix it.

"Riderless horses on Chomsky's camelot"

A riderless horse is a tradtion at American state funeral processions. Noam Chomsky wrote a book called "Rethinking Camelot" tearing down myths about John F. Kennedy, showing he wasn't as good of a leader as the re-writing of history makes him out to be. "Camelot" is a name given to the Kennedy family compound since they are treated as the closest thing to American Royalty.

"Bruises on my hands from digging my nails out"

A martyr/crucifixtion reference.

"A series of images against you and me"

People would rather focus on someone else's problems than their own.

"Trespass your torment if you are what you want to be"

If you succeeded at what you want to do in life, don't bemoan it.

"I once impersonated a shopwork dummy"

Richey was seen as just MSP's mascot in the days before he was respected as a lyricist, since he didn't actually play any instruments. The Holy Bible made people respect Richey, but before then he was mocked and hated by non-fans.

"The Levi jean will always be stronger than the Uzi"

I believe this is a pun on (Primo) Levi gene. Levi was a Holocaust survivor who wrote books and poems about his experiences in Auschwitz, one poem is in the artwork to MSP's Gold Against The Soul album. This says the will to survive is stronger than the violent force and oppression its up against.

"A dwarf takes his cockerel out of the cockfight"

Cockerel is a young rooster, taken out by another small, weak being (a human dwarf). So that's talking about the weak not putting up a fight.

"Falcons attack the pigeons in the west wing at night"

Falcons are big, strong, violent birds that always get their way (those in power) Pigeons are like the impoverished weaklings of the birds. Even though pigeons (impoverished people) outnumber falcons (the powerful), they still get dominated. And the inner-dealings to screw over the majority of the world are done in darkness (The West Wing of the White House, where the work is done, at night.)

I agree with whoever said that about peeled apples becoming brown, ultimately probably about the futility of life.

Certain lines stick out: "The figure 8 inside out is infinity"- always running in circles, like a figure eight. "The naked lightbulb is always wrong"- possibly an allusion to A Streetcar Named Desire where Blanche always covers up the lightbulb?

Any thoughts on riderless horses on Chomsky's Camelot? Something about Chomsky's critique of foreign policy...

Noam Chomsky write a book called Camelot, about rethinking of vietnam war.Mostly about cold war.

thanks to the fine folks at the forever delayed forums for working these out. likewise, if anything's wrong, it isn't my fault :)

Sample at the start is from The Machinist starring Christian Bale

I don't even wanna hazard a guess as to what this is about, but it's fucking great.

I think the line is: "They make your brain complete/then they blow it to kingdom come"