Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Behind the Cliffside Inn,
I heard a fiddle and a mandolin,
Keeping rhythm on an old washboard
And stomping on the floor.
Saw people of all sorts
Dancing 'round in twos and fours,
Caroling about days of old,
And what the future holds.
In the middle was a big cauldron
That they were stirring, stirring,
And there were trees around
That they kept burning, burning.
I asked a toothless man
Who all these people were,
And he said, "The soapmakers,
And we are working, working."
As they stirred Heaven and Earth, they combined to one,
And everything was everyone and each one was all.
As they stirred I heard a trumpet call,
And everything was everyone and each one was all.
As they stirred Heaven and Earth, they combined to one,
And everything was everyone and each one was all.
As they stirred I heard a trumpet call,
And everything was everyone and each one was all.
I heard a fiddle and a mandolin,
Keeping rhythm on an old washboard
And stomping on the floor.
Saw people of all sorts
Dancing 'round in twos and fours,
Caroling about days of old,
And what the future holds.
In the middle was a big cauldron
That they were stirring, stirring,
And there were trees around
That they kept burning, burning.
I asked a toothless man
Who all these people were,
And he said, "The soapmakers,
And we are working, working."
As they stirred Heaven and Earth, they combined to one,
And everything was everyone and each one was all.
As they stirred I heard a trumpet call,
And everything was everyone and each one was all.
As they stirred Heaven and Earth, they combined to one,
And everything was everyone and each one was all.
As they stirred I heard a trumpet call,
And everything was everyone and each one was all.
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No Surprises
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This song alludes to Ayahuasca... "As they stirred Heaven and Earth, they combined to one, And everything was everyone and each one was all." Check out "The Nature of Ayahuasca (2019) Documentary" youtube.com/watch
I hear more echoes of "The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz" than Fight Club. How much mystical imagery was there in Fight Club?
it is washed-up, but maybe Soap is a referance to meth, and the cauldron is a methlab. just an idea. maybe the trees they were burning was a hobo fire. who knows?
@Cold_Steel_Heart - Ayahuasca is made from the giant woody liana vine which is generally combined with one or more plants. When brewed together, they create a "tea" with powerful psychedelic or entheogenic effects.
I haven't looked at the liner notes in a long time but I think the Soapmakers are a cult performing a ritual to make soap.
always reminds me of my family reunions. grandmother always stirring a massive pot of soup, relatives playing the fiddle, spoons, and banjo, everyone is dancing, and it is always boiling hot outside.
Think it speaks of a denial that heaven and hell exist separately. "Everyone was everything and each one was all... " "As they stirred Heaven and Earth, they combined to one" Working to a single future for each and everyone - No one left behind- no hell taking the bad and god taking th evil. Here we are, here we'll stay, the trumpet proves that there is nothing more than what they have, and they are preparing be making soap. The happiness of the tribe leads me to believe that the have accepted purgatory and are not afraid or lustful or in want. (everything is everyone and each one is all)
@Helvira They’ve excepted purgatory, I like that
The Cliffside Inn is near Harper's Ferry, WV. The guys from Clutch lived in a really old house in the Eastern Panhandle of WV(near Harper's Ferry) while recording the Elephant Riders album. I remember reading Neil's interactive journal that was included with the original Elephant Riders CD. In it Neil states that he imagined this scene one day while driving past the Cliffside Inn.
As far as the imagery is concerned, it's definitely vague. The Fight Club novel was released two years before Elephant Riders (the movie came out in 1999)was released so there's a possibility that Neil is referencing it. However, I think the "Chemical Wedding" theme is more likely, because Neil has sung about it since then as well (see "The Amazing Kreskin" on the "strange Cousins" album.
to me it sound like it could be about an occultist ritual. the main lines that make me think this are:
As they stirred Heaven and Earth, they combined to one,
And everything was everyone and each one was all.
As they stirred I heard a trumpet call,
Neil is infamous for taking a mundane personal experience and turning it into something spectacular. In this, I see him happening across a group of people behind this Cliffside Inn making soup and making a time of it. The second part when the theme changes indicates he's being swept up by the music.
In symbolism, he's describing the soapmaking as a backwoods ritual. It portends something mysterious, but which may be entirely grounded in reality.
I looked up cliffside inn hotel, in harpers ferry, west virginia. there is the harpers ferry national park behind the hotel. there is also a church of latter day saints nearby and that is right next to the US Customs and Border Protection Advanced Training Facility. I wonder how many people are training there, staying at the hotel and going to that church? doesn't seem to be many stores around so camping lifestyle may be common for visitors. they may be washing clothes outside near, definitely burning wood from the park or they may be cooking and stirring up ideas on how to clean the country and the world of all the "bad things." This does seem like a realistic event but I'm sure it is not completely accurate. How advanced is a training facility when a majority of the people hold radical beliefs>? Maybe a majority of them don't but the visitors talk about some of the things they've learned at the facility and church.