Spellbound

First 4 lines: Her toys are speaking to her as a 1-2 year old in a crib. "It sends you spinning" into a make believe world, truly believing that your toys are alive. You really "have no choice" in what to believe because of your environment (the crib), your age, and on top of it, you're assumed to be in a dark room, suggesting that you're blind and haven't seen the light. Had you seen the light, you'd realize that your toys really aren't alive. We can infer that the room is dark because instead of providing visuals, this song uses mostly audio clues: "From the cradle bars comes a beckoning VOICE" and "You HEAR laughter cracking through the walls." Also, it's usually at night when one imagines that their toys are alive, not during broad daylight. 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."

Spellbound tells a story of child and the vulnerability he faces when gaining knowledge as a young infant. Through its lyrics, you can easily see that the first verse speaks about the inability of the child to escape the voices speaking to him, because he cannot talk, walk, and make decisions as an infant. In other words, he is stuck in his bed, confined within the cradle bars, as the voices (arguably that of his parents and relatives) forces a language onto him—a language he will grow up to master, whether he likes it or not. The second verse also illuminates his vulnerabilities by stating that “You hear laughter, cracking though the walls, it sends you spinning”―suggesting that the laughter (which can also mean knowledge) is actually a torment because it is a knowledge that is forced onto the child (who is still confined in his bed) on what the society deems humorous or serious when there is an absence of laughter. 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.

This was the song that got me hooked on Siouxsie.

I listened to this song tonight for the first time in many years, and realised just how great it is! On looking at the lyrics at first, and knowing that Siouxsie was very much a figure of the early UK punk movement, rebelling against suburban conformity, my feeling was that there was an element of a war between the generations about them, the voices and laughter the child hears presumably belonging to its parents or other adults. Contrasted with the helplessness of the child, these adults seem to be shown in a sinister light. Reading other folks' interpretations enlightened me as to the religious aspect. I recognise the part about throwing the parents down the stairs for not saying their prayers from a nursery rhyme my mother used to read me when I was small, Goosey Goosey Gander. Apparently this rhyme was associated with the propaganda campaign against the catholic church in the time of King Henry the Eighth.

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.

I think this one has a pretty obvious meaning. It's either about irrational childhood fears or quite possibly, if you want to look at it on a deeper level, child abuse. But personally, I go with the former...

I don't know what this song means, but it's haunting and beautiful, I love Siouxsie's accent in this (is she Spanglish? I know they're all British, but Siouxsie has a hint of a Spanish accent in there.) and her voice as well. She sounds a bit like Cher, only not quite so deep, and with a different accent.

Ok, I had no idea of the meaning of this song before reading it again several times and thinking about jkarhu24 academic interpretation (really, this should be discussed in the university), which now I fully agree, except only for restricting it to religion (relation to a "God", or any specific credo).

My feeling, based especially in the repetitive lines of "you have no choice" and "spellbound" is that since your very early childhood you are bound to be embraced by mysticism, regardless of any attempt otherwise. Thus, mysticism would be born at the beginning of our cognition, and reality only at a later stage (regardless of the religion of the parents).

The third four lines are still very hermetic following this interpretation... But the child is very infant (as also explained by jkarhu24 - in a cradle, only hear voices), so I believe that the lines could mean a strange primitive sensation of the will to throw the elders (any person in the house supposed to protect the child) down the stairs if they are not praying (which would be the only reasonable effort) to protect the child from the mystic harms he/she still cannot understand.

Thus, I belive "religion" as a complex value (such as christianity, or islam) is not present in the song, but some of its roots are indeed (mysticism, superstition).

The nicest thing about this song is that, if there is any critic, it is very light (for example, superstition could make you want to kill someone, so beware). In its essence, it seems only to say "hey, we were all entranced by spells since we are born", and this kind of unites mankind, regardless of faith or absence of faith.

i fucking love this song. every song i've heard by siouxsie is surreal and haunting and beautiful, this one by no means excluded. i think only scarecrow rivals this as my favorite....or maybe not. siouxsie rocks.

I'm a bit surprised almost no one has commented on the songs of Siouxsie and The Banshees. They are awesome. So is this song.

OMg i love her!!!! damn good song, im kinda idiot...and i didnt get this song very well...and the fact that im not an english speaker also affects. Can someone give a clear explanation :S plz???

ill apreciate it