Judge Yr'self

Well, it's Nietzsche's 'The Birth of Tragedy', innit? Tragedy is born of the conflict between the Apollian and Dionysian instincts within man.

I had to finally join SongMeanings to comment on the views expressed by a few that "The brightest Sun is the purest gun" is a crap line. I disagree completely - to me it is, like this whole track, the spiritual high point of the Manics, they really finished on a high, or Richey did anyway. "The brightest Sun is the purest gun" is essentially the message behind all great spiritual non-denominational (non-attached) worldviews. Just like "Find your truth - face your truth - speak your truth - be your truth".

"The brightest Sun is the purest gun" is also an interesting physical fact, which is also what makes it a great lyric, it is not only a metaphor but a metaphor of something concrete and true - what is more of a 'pure gun' than the Sun or other Suns in the universe? Concentrated natural nuclear power.

So IMO it's not a crap lyric, but a great lyric with a deep message. Want to change the world and fight injustice? This song, these lyrics show us how in an extremely concentrated form. Live from your truth, live from the centre, and be the brightest sun - that is the way to fight the darkness and the shadows. Spiritual enlightenment. Truly, I am impressed with some spiritual aspects of the Manics' lyrics, but this song I consider their highest point. I consider tattooing these words on myself because I have noticed for years how they seem to contain the greatest messages that humankind has ever come up with, no matter what spiritual or self-developmental views you look at , this is always the underlying message and the Manics really expressed this well in this lyric. Feel free to disagree but you could also do yourself a favour and find out whether this would actually make sense to you.

One last note - most of the Manics' work up until the point of this song is seemingly written in a depressive state, but also, many spiritual thinkers claim that often depression is the point you need to reach before you can see the light. I was hoping this would have happened to Richey, these lyrics certainly give reason to think so, and who knows really, nobody ever found the body so we can only hope that he's somewhere remote living anonymously in a spiritual community rather than being taken over by the despair of the world and topped himself.

previously unreleased, Last track recorded as a 4-some, Was ment for the 'Judge dredd' sound track,The lyrics of this song are partly written form the perspective of Judge Dredd, being judge, jury and executioner in one

Given the obvious sub-text of self-harm, I'm kind of surprised that this was supposed to feature on the 'Judge Dredd' soundtrack. I think it's about looking inwards at yourself - and being brutally honest with yourself - before looking outwards and criticising the world. Seems very anti-authoritarian when you consider lines like 'find your truth' - ie, don't take someone's word for it, work the world out for yourself. jeffjeffjeff's right about 'the brightest sun is the purest gun' being a crap line. I dunno, if you can't think of anything relevant to rhyme with 'gun', don't bother!

‘Dionysus against the crucified’ is a line of Nietzsche’s meaning (v.roughly) the id against the superego. So it pertains to the separation of the self. After Nietzsche’s mental breakdown he began to sign letters either as ‘Dionysus’ or ‘the crucified’. In light of that I think you could interpret ‘the scythe’ as a metaphor for the division of the self rather than as a metaphor for self-harm.
The line ‘be your truth’ could therefore refer to Nietzsche who didn’t just preach the idea of the divided self but became it. Nietzsche literally divided himself even though it meant ‘hurting’ himself – mentally - in that his philosophy and constant acknowledgement of ‘the (his) truth’ led (possibly) to his eventual mental breakdown and a decade of incapacity. I think the song is about Nietzsche and also the frequent theme of bible era manics songs – the constant acknowledgement and acceptance of truth no matter what the cost. I don’t think the manics would write a song that was directly or even indirectly about self-harm. They may be guilty of the odd sensationalist allusion but not entire songs. maybe that's just wishful thinking though...

I see the "brightest sun is the purest gun" line as essentially saying bright light / openness reveals truth- and facing your truth can be a gun. It can be a weapon pointed at others or at yourself, but it's a powerful thing, to have to face truth.

I like what voodoovole said about the whole Neitzsche thing, but i'm not sure i believe it, as i think the song is trying to get more at the arguments used by Neitzsche rather than the fact that Neitzsche used them.

"Dionysus against the crucified" I think that this line might refer to one of the stories about Dionysus in Greek mythology (according to dionysia.org/greek/dionysos/thompson/dionysos.html) in it, Dionysus was kidnapped by the Titans and while staring at his reflection, he was murdered and subsequently cannibalised (nice, eh?) - the cooking of which produced a smell that alerted Zeus to what was going on. Zeus then obliterated the titans with thunderbolts, leaving only ashes. From these ashes, Dionysus -and Man - were brought to life.

Another interesting point is that Dionysus was born of a mortal mother (Semele) and a immortal father (Zeus).

Sound familiar?

I think the line could refer to the similarities in Christian and Greek mythologies, highlighting the fact that, though they are apparently contradictory in factual reality, the stories themselves are essentially similar. However, since the approaches are different, it can often be easy to lose grip of the truth in the stories, and so every story must be examined and judged using one's own reason (the blade and the scythe, possibly?).

One of the main differences between the stories of Dionysus and Jesus is that Dionysus' story has a far greater emphasis on pleasures of the flesh (e.g. wine). That they are both essentially true (though probably not fact) but both have different takes on it, belies the fact that it is down to the individual to derive their own versions of the truth.

I think the rest of the song follows from this idea.

I think that the line 'the brightest sun is the purest gun' refers to the essential importance (and ultimate power) of being honest with yourself.

So, in summary i think this songs about the need for being honest with yourself. "Clean your flesh and mock your fears The brightest sun is the purest gun"

It's surprising that this was never released...it's a fantastic song, easily album-worthy

This is one of my favourite songs, but has some negative effects on me in the same way as Street Spirit by Radiohead (use your imagination). I think it would be great on the holy Bible, just fits in with the sceme of things, you know.

Also I believe it's sycthes (whatever way you spell that), not sighs, but I might be wrong.