15 Meanings
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A
The Soapmakers Lyrics
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.
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
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" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j0_glRnJxI
Guys. I've seen several comments referencing the burning trees, but they all seem to take it literally. Maybe there's a double entendre here? "Burning trees?" I think maybe he's referring to smoking marijuana. You know, smoking it like a cigarette.
Really makes you think
Why do I hear echoes of Fight Club through this song?
The riff on this song is fucking wicked. It's actually what originally got me into Clutch.
I actually hear more Three Musketeers than Fight Club in here - "All for One, and One for All"
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.
@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
@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.