| Manic Street Preachers – Journal For Plague Lovers Lyrics | 14 years ago |
|
The way I interpret it -- all of the songs in Journal for Plague Lovers were written during Richey's last days, when he was undergoing psychiatric treatment. Some parts of the treatment that he underwent (like for his alcoholism) required him to believe in a god-like 'higher power', but because Richey didn't believe in a benevolent higher power he eventually rejected the treatment. One of the things Nicky and James DB said about the treatment was that it threatened to change Richey into a different person and required him to embrace all the ideas that he had mocked when he was 'okay'. It resulted in really erratic behavior, like writing the word 'Love' on his knuckles. I think Richey wanted to get better, but he couldn't do it on the terms that he was given, and in fact, absolutely hated how it destroyed him as an individual. He cruised along with the treatment ('pretend prayer / pretend care'), but held bitter resentment against the values the treatment endorsed (like love, which he rejected). The reason I interpret it this way is because elsewhere in Journal for Plague Lovers Richey expresses similar distrust and discontent with the psychiatric treatment he was undergoing. It made him feel as if he was a sick person who was unfit for society and going to be weeded out of the gene pool, figuratively speaking ('Me and Stephen Hawking' and 'Virginia State Epileptic Colony' being the most prominent). |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.