From the cradle bars
Comes a beckoning voice
It sends you spinning
You have no choice
You hear a laughter
Cracking through the walls
It sends you spinning
You have no choice
You hear laughter
Cracking through the walls
It sends you spinning
You have no choice
Following the footsteps
Of a rag doll dance
We are entranced
Spellbound
Following the footsteps
Of a rag doll dance
We are entranced
Spellbound
Spellbound
Spellbound
Spellbound
Spellbound
Spellbound
Spellbound
And don't forget
When your elders forget
To say their prayers
Take 'em by the legs
And throw 'em down the stairs
When you think
Your toys have gone berserk
It's an illusion
You cannot shirk
You hear laughter
Cracking through the walls
It sends you spinning
You have no choice
Following the footsteps
Of a rag doll dance
We are entranced
Spellbound
Following the footsteps
Of a rag doll dance
We are entranced
Spellbound
Spellbound
Spellbound
Spellbound
Spellbound
Spellbound
Spellbound
Spellbound
Following the footsteps
Of a rag doll dance
We are entranced
Following the footsteps
Of a rag doll dance
We are entranced
Entranced, entranced
Entranced, entranced
Entranced, entranced
Comes a beckoning voice
It sends you spinning
You have no choice
You hear a laughter
Cracking through the walls
It sends you spinning
You have no choice
You hear laughter
Cracking through the walls
It sends you spinning
You have no choice
Following the footsteps
Of a rag doll dance
We are entranced
Spellbound
Following the footsteps
Of a rag doll dance
We are entranced
Spellbound
Spellbound
Spellbound
Spellbound
Spellbound
Spellbound
Spellbound
And don't forget
When your elders forget
To say their prayers
Take 'em by the legs
And throw 'em down the stairs
When you think
Your toys have gone berserk
It's an illusion
You cannot shirk
You hear laughter
Cracking through the walls
It sends you spinning
You have no choice
Following the footsteps
Of a rag doll dance
We are entranced
Spellbound
Following the footsteps
Of a rag doll dance
We are entranced
Spellbound
Spellbound
Spellbound
Spellbound
Spellbound
Spellbound
Spellbound
Spellbound
Following the footsteps
Of a rag doll dance
We are entranced
Following the footsteps
Of a rag doll dance
We are entranced
Entranced, entranced
Entranced, entranced
Entranced, entranced
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Second 4 lines: "It sends you spinning" is used once again. Spinning is believing in the mysterious, the supernatural.
Third 4 lines: "And don't forget when your elders forget to say their prayers, take em by the legs, and throw em down the stairs." If you believe in the supernatural, such as a God or dancing toys, you'll act to honor and dignify their existence by trying to convert and even punish the disbelievers, even if they know more about the situation than you (such as your elders.) Your elders may know that the toys are actually lifeless from their knowledge and experience, but because of your environment (dark room with the crib) and naivety common to your age, you believe them to be real. Some, mostly intellectuals, may have dismissed the possibility of there being a God and represent the elders, but a young child growing up in a Christian household has no choice but to be "sent spinning" into the illusion of the supernatural. Anecdotal evidence of miracles from family members, attending church service where everybody else believes the same thing, watching people "speak in tounges," (you hear a beckoning voice) the "Ragdoll dances" that appear in the front of Southern churches worshipping God. If people don't believe in the supernatural and don't pray to it, "take em by the legs, and throw em down the stairs."
Quite an amazing and atheistic analysis of a great song.
Attacking a specific thing/belief/ institution often validates its power as an unintended consequence, however...
Following the footsteps of the adult that had taught him since infancy, the child grows up rebellious because he had realized that some of the knowledge forced onto him were fabricated, that he would now have to un-learn everything he had learn and relearn everything anew. So he turns violent to his elders, because he is spellbound to the knowledge that have molded him up until this very point.
The body movement of the lead singer is simply a gesture to depict a command/knowledge forced onto the vulnerable crowd, to hypnotize them and make them delusional at her wish.
Putting all of the above together, my own guess would be that this lyric has to do with the older generation selling religion to the child while simultaneously and hypocritically failing to live by the tenets of their faith.
(The Minstrel Boy to the war has gone
in the ranks of death you'll find him...)