This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
Very many years ago, the Bolivians were starving so,
They had rats as big as ponies there. They asked the Pope
To declare them fish.
We thank the Pope for granting us this wish.
When Friday comes, we'll all call rats fish.
We catch them with a net, kill with the gun.
We'll call it all forgotten when we're done.
They didn't look like rats at all, but like some horrendous horse doll.
Still they had to eat this thing.
In gratitude, the Pope-they kissed his ring.
We thank the Pope for granting us this wish.
When Friday comes, we'll all call rats fish.
We catch them with a net, kill with the gun.
We'll call it all forgotten when we're done.
We'll call it all forgotten when we're done.
They had rats as big as ponies there. They asked the Pope
To declare them fish.
We thank the Pope for granting us this wish.
When Friday comes, we'll all call rats fish.
We catch them with a net, kill with the gun.
We'll call it all forgotten when we're done.
They didn't look like rats at all, but like some horrendous horse doll.
Still they had to eat this thing.
In gratitude, the Pope-they kissed his ring.
We thank the Pope for granting us this wish.
When Friday comes, we'll all call rats fish.
We catch them with a net, kill with the gun.
We'll call it all forgotten when we're done.
We'll call it all forgotten when we're done.
Lyrics submitted by LilBowieGirl
Rats Lyrics as written by Melora Creager
Lyrics © SONGS OF VIRTUAL, Songtrust Ave
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Specifically, this song is about the capybara, which is the largest living member of the rodent family. Found in South America, they live on land but also spend a lot of time in the water. In the 16th century, the Pope said that they could be considered fish. This was because of the fact that they were semi-aquatic AND because Catholics aren't supposed to eat meat during lent. After that, since capybara were considered fish, people could eat them all year round, despite the fact that they're actually mammals.
So this song IS about something that really happened. There are many possible meanings behind it, though.
This supposedly happened with capybaras in Venezuela, not Bolivia, but apparently it has also been claimed to have been other large water dwelling (hence "fish") mammals, like beavers. (Try looking up capybaras on wikipedia.com) The story's credibility isn't exactly something to stake your life on.
I'm not sure if this really happened, but the song is about people starving in Bolivia and asking the pope to declare rats fish so they can eat them on Friday because you weren't supposed to eat meat on Fridays if you were a Catholic. In declaring rats to be fish, the pope was helping with the hunger problem and the rat infestation. Again, I'm not sure that this is based on something that really happened.
I thought it was more about them being overrun by rats and starving, but still having qualms with eating such "dirty" things. To help them with that, anything the Pope says must be law, even if it makes no sense at all, so rats "became" fish and problems solved!
to me, it seems that this song is a reference of how people overrun their morals and pressure their leaders into swaying toward antimorals in order to survive. thus, people care more about their lives than their morals... though, i could be utterly, utterly wrong.
sometimes God gives you a pile of shit, but you must learn how to turn it into a butterfly.
could be
I agree with sicanonym. I also think it's about corruption in the catholic religion. The pope is calling a rat something else. Rat as in a sneaky, lying, dirty person. "We'll call it all forgotten when we're done."
Meaning, we'll look the other way I guess. We'll call rats something else because the pope allowed it, and we'll just forget about it.
I don't think its a negative judgement on the Catholic church. its just having some fun with the idea of the Pope being a living representative of an omnipotent God. also it says "In gratitude, the Pope, they kissed his ring." this amuses me.
There is actually some sort of water rat in the USA that DOES substitute fish on fridays, or atleast in did a long time ago. The food network is funny sometimes.
"I also think it's about corruption in the catholic religion. The pope is calling a rat something else. Rat as in a sneaky, lying, dirty person. "We'll call it all forgotten when we're done."
Meaning, we'll look the other way I guess. We'll call rats something else because the pope allowed it, and we'll just forget about it."
I couldn't agree more. Like lots of Rasputina songs, they will use themselves as the irony. I think it's a lot about corruption or more like "looking the other way" corruption.