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The Great Deceiver Lyrics
Health-food faggot with a bartered bride
Likes to comb his hair with a dip of rye
Once had a friend with a cloven foot
Once he called the tune in a chequered suit
Great Deceiver!
In the door on the floor in a paper bag
There's a shoe-shine boy with a gin-shop slag
She raised him up and she called him son
And she canonised the ground that he walked upon
Great Deceiver!
Cigarettes, ice cream
Figurines of the Virgin Mary
Cigarettes, ice cream
Figurines of the Virgin Mary
Cigarettes, ice cream
Cadillacs, blue jeans
In the night he's a star in the Milky Way
He's a man of the world by the light of day
A golden smile and a proposition
And the breath of God smells of sweet sedition
Great Deceiver!
Sing hymns, make love, get high, fall dead
He'll bring his perfume to your bed
He'll charm your life 'til the cold wind blows
Then he'll sell your dreams to a picture show
Cigarettes, ice cream
Figurines of the Virgin Mary
Cigarettes, ice cream
Figurines of the Virgin Mary
Cadillacs, blue jeans
Dixieland playing on the ferry
Cigarettes, ice cream
Figurines of the Virgin Mary
Cadillacs, blue jeans
Dixieland playing on the ferry
Cigarettes, ice cream
Figurines of the Virgin Mary
Cadillacs, blue jeans
Dixieland playing on the ferry
Cigarettes, ice cream
Figurines of the Virgin Mary
Camel hair, Brylcreem
Drop a glass full of antique sherry
Likes to comb his hair with a dip of rye
Once had a friend with a cloven foot
Once he called the tune in a chequered suit
There's a shoe-shine boy with a gin-shop slag
She raised him up and she called him son
And she canonised the ground that he walked upon
Figurines of the Virgin Mary
Cigarettes, ice cream
Figurines of the Virgin Mary
Cigarettes, ice cream
Cadillacs, blue jeans
He's a man of the world by the light of day
A golden smile and a proposition
And the breath of God smells of sweet sedition
He'll bring his perfume to your bed
He'll charm your life 'til the cold wind blows
Then he'll sell your dreams to a picture show
Figurines of the Virgin Mary
Cigarettes, ice cream
Figurines of the Virgin Mary
Cadillacs, blue jeans
Dixieland playing on the ferry
Cigarettes, ice cream
Figurines of the Virgin Mary
Cadillacs, blue jeans
Dixieland playing on the ferry
Cigarettes, ice cream
Figurines of the Virgin Mary
Cadillacs, blue jeans
Dixieland playing on the ferry
Cigarettes, ice cream
Figurines of the Virgin Mary
Camel hair, Brylcreem
Drop a glass full of antique sherry
Song Info
Submitted by
ruben On Jun 09, 2002
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I'm surprised no one has mentioned that "Cigarettes, ice cream, figurines of the Virgin Mary" is the only King Crimson lyric that Robert Fripp wrote. It was allegedly inspired by souvenirs at Vatican City.
The Great Deceiver is a common name for the devil (as King Crimson is a less common name for the same).
the politically correct society of today would be outraged at the health food faggot line...how sad in this name they strangle artistic freedom
@johnnyobreadislea You do not understand the context as it is English/Welsh. Faggots are meatballs made of pig organs
@johnnyobreadislea You do not understand the context as it is English/Welsh. Faggots are meatballs made of pig organs
By doing a little bit of analysis the cryptic lyrics start to make sense. Remember the tune was inspired by a gift shop at The Vatican.
By doing a little bit of analysis the cryptic lyrics start to make sense. Remember the tune was inspired by a gift shop at The Vatican.
Health food faggot = a lie; faggots are pork meatballs in England and Wales. The last thing they are is healthy food.
Health food faggot = a lie; faggots are pork meatballs in England and Wales. The last thing they are is healthy food.
With a bartered bride = reference to the famous Smenta opera where there is misdirection and a character who is able to manipulate the betrothed groom in an arranged marriage so that he loses...
With a bartered bride = reference to the famous Smenta opera where there is misdirection and a character who is able to manipulate the betrothed groom in an arranged marriage so that he loses interest in the contract. True Love wins out via a clever deception
Likes to comb his hair with a dipper ride = another lie as it is Impossible to comb one’s hair on a roller coaster
Once had a friend with a cloven foot = no explanation needed, this is the Devil himself.
and so on
The song is not a slam on religion but on the devilry behind the sale of religious fetishes. Jesus at the temple part 2
@johnnyobreadislea \r\n\r\nCould it be not about combing your hair ON a roller coaster, but in the style OF a roller coaster? Think wavy hair styles like 1950s D.A. or Teddy Boys style. Maybe?
@johnnyobreadislea \r\n\r\nCould it be not about combing your hair ON a roller coaster, but in the style OF a roller coaster? Think wavy hair styles like 1950s D.A. or Teddy Boys style. Maybe?
This is the first KC song I ever heard, WGTB in Washington DC, summer of '77.
But say, isn't there one more closing lyric here? I think it goes something like "camel hair, Brylcreem, bumper cars . . ."?
Brylcreem: guys hair styling product from the 60's
@9alan "Camel hair, Brylcreem, Drop a glass full of antique sherry.
@9alan "Camel hair, Brylcreem, Drop a glass full of antique sherry.
@9alan WGTB, summer 1977, a favorite hang out for me at that time. Also about the same time I heard this and many other tunes by KC for the first time.
@9alan WGTB, summer 1977, a favorite hang out for me at that time. Also about the same time I heard this and many other tunes by KC for the first time.
I think it's about a con man, which would obviously welcome the title of Great Deciever. Mention of a friend with a cloven foot would suggest a friend in the devil. In the night he's a star in the milkyway, which would mean he's one in a million, but he's a man of the world in the light of day, meaning he comes of as somebody who knows a lot and is full of wisdom.
The second verse speaks of a child being left in a paper bag on a doorstep and a woman raising him. So perhaps this is an allusion to Christ, but in being a deciever, he is the Antichrist.
Many of the lyrics about christianity would then be interprated as his deception towards man kind, passing himself off as a holy man.
Hmmm! Not too sure if that's fagot or faggot. Everyone should realise that King Crimson are British and both fagot and faggot have no connection to the derogatory US/Canadian usage.
Fagot can be a bundle of sticks (so health food fagot could be an unpleasant allusion to a bundle of dried grass). Faggot is also a type of meatball from pork shoulder and liver. That would make the description effectively a "health food meatball". Of course, it could refer to both (Fripp is a smart cookie and well educated as well).
If you called someone a "faggot" in the UK, they might get mad at you if you were from North america, but most likely they they'd be puzzled why you referred to them as a meatball.
I think the Great Deceiver is religion. It shows how hypocrital it is.
The chorus pretty much sums it up. Cigarettes (not healthy at all,) ice cream (a metaphor possibly?,) figurines of the virgin Mary (showing that these church powers smoke and eat, but they still have the virgin Mary so they're still "good people.")
@Petary791
@Petary791
The chorus is not symbolic. It is an account of things seen in a gift shop at The Vatican
The chorus is not symbolic. It is an account of things seen in a gift shop at The Vatican
The song is not a slam on religion but on the devilry behind the sale of religious fetishes. Jesus at the temple part 2
The song is not a slam on religion but on the devilry behind the sale of religious fetishes. Jesus at the temple part 2
I have been listening to KC since 1972 and have never heard or seen an attack on religion. RF is a spiritual man.
I have been listening to KC since 1972 and have never heard or seen an attack on religion. RF is a spiritual man.
One might argue Sinfield’s lyric in Poseidon is anti-Christian but the reverse seems true here: “Children kneel in Jesus til they learn the price of nails”. That has more to do with would-be adherents...
One might argue Sinfield’s lyric in Poseidon is anti-Christian but the reverse seems true here: “Children kneel in Jesus til they learn the price of nails”. That has more to do with would-be adherents who do not understand the sacrifice required of them until they are fully involved and then leave the faith.
The next line is key: While all around the Mother Earth waits balanced on the scales
Divine reckoning is coming. I like the use of scales here. A measuring device and what we find Poseidon’s tail is made up of
It's about Satan.
Hmmm! Not too sure if that's fagot or faggot. Everyone should realise that King Crimson are British and both fagot and faggot have no connection to the derogatory US/Canadian usage.
Fagot can be a bundle of sticks (so health food fagot could be an unpleasant allusion to a bundle of dried grass). Faggot is also a type of meatball from pork shoulder and liver. That would make the description effectively a "health food meatball". Of course, it could refer to both (Fripp is a smart cookie and well educated as well).
If you called someone a "faggot" in the UK, they might get mad at you if you were from North america, but most likely they they'd be puzzled why you referred to them as a meatball.
Wow guys. The great deceiver by King CRIMSON. Revelation 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
I believe it's their homage to Satan, whom they worship.
@Huelogy Pretty sure they don't worship Satan. Read more into why they're called King Crimson
@Huelogy Pretty sure they don't worship Satan. Read more into why they're called King Crimson