Bills Corpse

You forget: these lyrics were written @ the height of the vietnam war.

To me: its about man manufactured disasters & how our american 'dreams' support them. The lady with the redwhiteblue wears her patriotism like a hairdo, lives it like a 'dream', which would be shattered could she hear the children screaming- our sons, shipped oversea, trained to carpetbomb & machinegun; the innocent women, children they murder: what once was beautiful is now: bones, ashes, bones, ashes, bones. We murder them for their past beliefs, the religious & political & cultural thought that jerrymandered the world into nation-states, majorities & minorities

The "all got together... out of shameful grief" lines are so poignant, cynical, sad: the power, knowledge, wealth, imagination of our nation, not used for good orbeauty, is instead harnessed to manufacture grandiose machines of death, to pollute our land with cancer & filth, to incarcerate & ghettoize & benumb.

But beef<3 left the particulars vauge on purpose: humanity will always be at war with itself, will always harness its shame and grief as a community, and only love in private. Saddest lyrics ever.

At first listening, I tought it was about a young girl who feels really bad after her abortion. She probably feels bad for many reasons. People are telling her: " Why surely madam you must be dreamin' You couldn't have done this if you knew what you were doin' ". Bill is probably the baby's name, but it could also be a metaphore for the total absence of the father in the song and in the story, and his lack of actions, help and support might make him look like a dead person, a corpse.

But then I thought: this could be the statue of Liberty. The ashes and lashes could be refering to her flame. The "red, white and blue hair" could be refering to the flag of the USA. When she was constructed, the United States was the place where all dreams came true, but now: " Hideously looking back at what once was beautiful ". It could be about the actual death of the women represented in the statue of Liberty. This could be a way to imply freedom died, and now that it's hopeless, people get together in grief. The various species could be about the many races in america, or the many political views uniting once freedom is lost. And the lyrics: " Why surely madam you must be dreamin' You couldn't have done this if you knew what you were doin' " could mean that freedom itself killed freedom through chaos.