The Statue Got Me High

Actually, Linnell said at a concert that this is based on the life of Don Giovanni, though he didn't know that when he wrote it.

Don Giovanni/Juan, appartenly, is a book or screenplay or something similar telling the story of a man who falls in love with a statue, talks to it, brings it out to dinner, yadda yadda, and then it send him to the fiery pits of hell, I guess. Sorry if I spoiled the book. :P

Don Giovanni/Juan - Many different things, actually. A novel, opera, play, etc. The statue story I'm familiar with is from the Don Giovanni opera. It follows most of the show which is a very comic opera about Giovanni, the unrepentant lech and despoiler of women. Giovanni doesn't fall in love with the statue, if I remember correctly, but the statue speaks to him. He mocks the statue and jokingly invites it to dinner. Then it actually shows up. At the end of the meal, the statue casts Don Giovanni into Hell - because, in that pre-Mamet day and age, all sinners in theatre had to burn.

Linell's comment may have been a joke, because honestly I don't see a lot of connections between this and Giovanni besides the fact that they both have a statue.

I agree with Beefinit that it's a commentary on religion. The statue is symbolic of having no mind of your own.. Simple.

The first verse reminds me of VALIS by Philip K. Dick, with Fat being on acid and seeing a pink light shine into his eye.

Unlike most mocking religious commentaries there is no point of disillusionment about the Idol worship, which leads me to belive that the narrator never managed to reach such a point, instead it just ends talking about what "they" will find. It sounds like a suicide cult. They turn on the gas or some such and as they get disoriented by it they fantasize about the aftermath of their actions.

(and I think this could easially be made to fit any form of Idol worship)

It ind of reminds me of the episode of the Simpsons, when Ned opens the Bible theme park and the gas line near the statue of Maude gets everyone high and they thought they could see heaven. I know that's not what this is about though.

Remind anyone of 2001: A Space Odyssey? The statue's referred to as a "monolith". The "getting high" and could be Dave Bowman's journey through the Star Gate.

I think y'all are thinking too hard. Some TMBG songs are hard to understand (Everybody Wants a Rock, Someone Keeps Moving My Chair) and some are easier (Birdhouse in Your Soul) but I think this one requires no interpretation. This one should be taken at face value. It's just a narrative of a spooky/goofy science fiction/fantasy story. Particle Man could be interpreted at face value too, but it has some more mysterious bits that crave explaining (Universe Man, Person Man). This doesn't have anything like that.

I think it's possible that the writer had a very intense emotional reaction to a work of art, a sculpture in particular, and the lyrics are a metaphorical relaying of that experience.

Something in particular occurs to me regarding the "religion" interpretations I've read:

"The statue got me high The truth is where the sculptor's chisel chipped away the lie"

If the statue represents the Christian God, as some have implied, it would not have a sculptor.

I would have to say this is one of my faviorite TMBG songs as it appears to be a hilarious commentary on religion. It seems to be an extended metaphor for religion and gods/idols. The song talks about a statue giving a person this feeling of elation and teaching them. The person then goes on to evangelize the "religion of the statue" saying he has seen and experienced its "miracles". He says once you give it a chance you too will see all that it teaches. The statue seems to have become the believers god, which he now worships. It seems the line, "it took my hand, it killed me and it turned me to the sky" is a vague reference about the heaven the statue showed him. This is all rather similar to many of the large religions and may be more specifically about christianity.