Anagram (for Mongo)

The entire song is an Anagram. Read each line of the song and you can spell a word out of another word used in that same sentence. Mongo is a small joke in reference to the Mel Brooks film "Blazing Saddles" where the appearance of a character named Mongo appears and says "candygram for mongo?" and the package explodes.

I'm really impressed at this song. It contains a stable meaning throughout, as good of one as in all there other music, but the amazing part is that each line is an anagram. It's surprising how they can do a song of anagrams still with meaningful lyrics.

Plenty of creative lyrics in this one. As already stated a lot of anagrams. The most obvious indication of this, to the listener is the line "there is tic and toc in atomic" although even that not so subtle hint may sneak by many listeners, it is a clear indication of the word play going on in this song.

I Particularly like the line "Image is just an eyeless game"

Take the "I" out of image and rearrange the remaining letters and you can spell "game". Thus the lyrics are, cryptically, being quite literal. Image IS indeed an "I"-less "game"

Clever.

Let's see if I can figure this out.

First off, I'd like to mention that the Anagrams are genius. But I think that there's a story here.

What I think could be happening, is that this is told from the perspective from an Angel or God, as they watch humanity. I also wonder if it is talking about the "End Times", but I'm not sure. Let's break down everything.

The first part seems to tell the nature of humans, by giving a history lesson. The "Snake coming out of the darkness" is Satan, ready to tempt Adam and Eve. "Parade from Paradise" means that they left the Garden of Eden. Men wanted to "end the need for Eden" because they were blinded by greed, and other stuff relating to rebellion. The "dreams of merchandise" brings us to the modern-day, where some people will do anything to sell what they have. Consumerism is a good word.

It seems that the stanzas talk about a specific group relating to consumerism.

The first group is about Governments. "Atomic" could mean many things, but since they used "tic-toc", that leans heavily towards atomic bombs. This isn't the first Rush song where they're mentioned. And the "leaders make a deal." Probably about the weapons. I think the next two verses are interesting. Neil is not saying that the moon landing is fake, that'd be dumb. But maybe that space exploration is mostly a "con", and that space is "comic" as in it's only for stories. Like a Star Trek utopia. This is important because rockets are for both space and nukes. So it's saying that they're putting all their resources into bombs.

This is the first chorus. I think that this part is what the Angels are saying to these people, and then ends in conclusion. The "feast" they're talking about is probably a metaphorical feast of greed. You know, feasts promise lots of food, but if it's all poisoned, that's bad. The "Beast" would likely just be talking about the Devil. It could be talking about the Beast in Revelation, but I'm not sure, so we'll just stick with the Devil. It's not saying to literally "stab" the Devil, but it's saying to put down his evil ways. The night is turning thin, could just be referring to the fact that all humans have a limited life. It could also be saying that the End Times are nearing. "The Saint is turning to sin" probably means that these people were either doing good things at first then stopped, or they had good intentions but it ended up bad. In the previous stanza, our Governments were supposed to lead us into glory, but instead, they're leading us into destruction.

The second group is about people who are, well, I don't really want to make enemies, but it's about Social Justice Warriors. "Resistance" can sometimes be violent, which is the theme of this stanza. "Art to resistance" means that they consider what they're doing personal expression. They don't care how "dangerous" they have to be to get what they want. Then their "Pride" can turn to misery. "Diamonds down to sand" really sums it up. See, what they are fighting for can be beautiful like a diamond. But when they use the methods that they use, they end up creating more destruction. That's the "Saint is turning to sin" part.

The third group is probably about "Big Business" people, specifically agricultural. The "small business" people have "heart" in what they do. They see the "brightness" of agriculture. But the "big business" people take away the "harvest" and replace it with consumerism. The "saint is turning to sin" refers to that nature was God's creation, but we use it for money.

The second chorus starts the same. But saying "reason is partially insane," says that anything can be twisted to be good. That what we see is just a "game" and not the truth.

The fourth group is the marketers. This could also refer to news anchors. "Miracles will have their claimers" probably says that these people claim to be able to fix your life, or that they're making the world a better place. "More will bow to Rome" probably says that people will buy this crap. If "he and she are in the house" then they are probably on a TV. But the only one "home" is the person watching them. They maybe wanted at first to make the world a better place, but they didn't. Hense, "the saint is turning to sin."

The fifth group could possibly be about the porn industry. The "splendor" of porn is easy to see. It asks a "response" from you. They always end in "lonely nights", but real happiness could be found from a real and true "friend".

It's possible that in this next part the Angels focus on a specific scene of that last group. Maybe they focus on a man and a prostitute. "I hear the rate of her heart." Do I need to explain that? "A tear in the heat of the art." Intimacy was the best gift that God gave, but we abuse it terribly.

So in conclusion, this song is about how people will sell you whatever they want, however they want, for whatever reason they want. No matter how many lies they have to tell. This, will lead to our destruction.

A very clever song, bot only musically, but also lyrically. The whole anagram thing they ahve going on is very interesting, yet if they called the song anything else you probably wouldn't notice that. Very cool, one of the strongest tracks on Presto.

It's clear there are religious overtones here. The first verse/stanza talks of the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve. "The Saint is Turning to Sin" and "Miracles will have their claimers/More will bow to Rome..." also has religious significance. But I'm having difficulty with the rest. There could be so many different ways to interpret this.

This is by far genius lyrical work by Neil. To not only make the entire song out of anagrams but to also make them all connect and fit together to tell a story. Blender magazine named Neil as the #2 "worst lyricist of all time"...well obviously nobody at Blender knows their ass from a hole in the ground because the man is a lyrical genius! Favorite lines in this song is by far the 1st 2 lines from the chorus "There is no safe seat at the feast, take your beast stab at the beast."

This is a great song. The music is just amazing and the lyrics will just bow you away. I love how they have an anagram in every single line, that is just amazing. The song is very interesting, but I it is hard to analyze the meaning of this song. I think Rush did this on purpose to allow it effect people in different ways. I think the song explains how not everything has answers. The fact that some things just can't be explained...they just are...

I love the line "lonely things like nights I find, end finer with a friend". Similar to the line from Time Stand Still, "to pass the evening with a drink and a friend". Sometimes Peart really hits them out of the ballpark.

Reasoning is partly insane. Image just an eyeless game. Love it!

Reasoning is partly made up by the letters in insane. And someone already pointed out the one about image. Truly love this song!