Think of the term "cool". Here are three definitons:
imparting a sensation of moderate coldness or comfortable freedom from heat: a cool breeze.
not hasty; deliberate: a cool and calculated action.
calmness; composure; poise: an executive noted for maintaining her cool under pressure. - cool it,: calm down; take it easy.
The first is literal, though the others are more metaphorical.
Our narrator singing in this piece tells us that the main character has become paranoid due to unceasing torment by others. He then goes on to perhaps exaggerate the point by saying that the whole world and the sun and the moon are involved too.
His friends feel for him and try to protect him, but the constant ridicule really gets to him. They put his face "in a smash proof case." and put it in the fridge. A place of calmness, and poise, if we follow the metaphor through. A place where perhaps, in his circle of friends at least he is accepted.
Not sure if the "they" giggling and giving orders are a reference to his friends or the ridiculers in the world, but in either case the orders seem to be to go and take his message into the limelight, where perhaps it would be better percieved as art.
"Playing Hamlet for a fortnight" is an interesting phrase. Hamlet the play is basically a revenge plot. Hamlet's father, the King, is killed, but the killer - his Uncle - has now become King and therefore in a position of power difficult to reach in some ways. Hamlet becomes depressed about this, and acts in ways some consider mad. It is his own conscience that spurs him onwards "O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space - were it not that I have bad dreams". He ends up choosing a play for his Uncle to see that depicts the exact kind of betrayal and murder of his Uncle's plans, hoping that "The Play is the thing, wherein we'll catch the conscience of the King."
So, our character is playing Hamlet, and screaming demands for respect on stage. Edward seems to sympathize with the character of Hamlet in some ways. Compare the line "I will take those sling and arrows" from the song "Radio 6" off his solo album "Red Letters", in reference to the famous Hamlet soliloquy:
To be or not to be, that is the question;
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to — 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause.
So, on that album, it appears that Edward answers this question of to be or not to be with "To Be", and that he WILL suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
At the end, a huge war breaks out, but our character has decided to stay cool.
Compare with the lines "And Satan walked the earth again, brought plagues of locusts, whips and chains... Played Guns 'n' Roses, blocked the drains but no one payed attention. Too busy in their quiet dream, playing possum drinking tea. The world concluded happily. So there." from the song "She Gave Me an Apple" on the album Chemical Playschool 9.
Think of the term "cool". Here are three definitons:
Our narrator singing in this piece tells us that the main character has become paranoid due to unceasing torment by others. He then goes on to perhaps exaggerate the point by saying that the whole world and the sun and the moon are involved too.
His friends feel for him and try to protect him, but the constant ridicule really gets to him. They put his face "in a smash proof case." and put it in the fridge. A place of calmness, and poise, if we follow the metaphor through. A place where perhaps, in his circle of friends at least he is accepted.
Not sure if the "they" giggling and giving orders are a reference to his friends or the ridiculers in the world, but in either case the orders seem to be to go and take his message into the limelight, where perhaps it would be better percieved as art.
"Playing Hamlet for a fortnight" is an interesting phrase. Hamlet the play is basically a revenge plot. Hamlet's father, the King, is killed, but the killer - his Uncle - has now become King and therefore in a position of power difficult to reach in some ways. Hamlet becomes depressed about this, and acts in ways some consider mad. It is his own conscience that spurs him onwards "O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space - were it not that I have bad dreams". He ends up choosing a play for his Uncle to see that depicts the exact kind of betrayal and murder of his Uncle's plans, hoping that "The Play is the thing, wherein we'll catch the conscience of the King."
So, our character is playing Hamlet, and screaming demands for respect on stage. Edward seems to sympathize with the character of Hamlet in some ways. Compare the line "I will take those sling and arrows" from the song "Radio 6" off his solo album "Red Letters", in reference to the famous Hamlet soliloquy:
To be or not to be, that is the question; Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to — 'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub, For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause.
So, on that album, it appears that Edward answers this question of to be or not to be with "To Be", and that he WILL suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
At the end, a huge war breaks out, but our character has decided to stay cool.
Compare with the lines "And Satan walked the earth again, brought plagues of locusts, whips and chains... Played Guns 'n' Roses, blocked the drains but no one payed attention. Too busy in their quiet dream, playing possum drinking tea. The world concluded happily. So there." from the song "She Gave Me an Apple" on the album Chemical Playschool 9.