Health & Theory

Damn... de-constructing this song will be fun...I believe it's all about life and death, and about the absurdity of our fear of death and belief that only one religion is "true". First of all, the opening line of "So first thing's first if you didn't know. That thing in the hearse is a fucking joke." is addressing the fact that the body is a mere host for either an immortal soul, or an immortal consciousness. This consciousness carries over to the next life, and could be something as simple as that once you die, you just go on having dreams and nightmares for all eternity inside your own mind. In the case of the immortal soul, you go onto a spiritual plain of some sort. The line "The truth of minds that dwell above is a plan to kill the dove." "The truth of minds that dwell above"is a line that I think further shows how insignificant he's trying to portray human flesh as being. The line about a "plan to kill a dove" I can only interpret as being about dissolving all religions into a general recognition that they are all the same. Doves are a common religious theme, as they are "pure."

He goes on to say "But when they all appear to you, then they start to fade. Froze upon the path of all the names that we engrave." Just when we finally get to know someone, when they finally "appear" to you, they die or "fade." We are expected to believe that they are simply waiting in a graveyard, or "froze" there, where their names are "engraved" on a headstone.

The line "But closer to the moon, yeah across the ides of space, what if it only takes us back enough to save another day." seems to be about rebirth, not necessarily on planet earth.

Further into the song, he uses the word "nescience" several times. The word nescience means "1. Absence of knowledge or awareness; ignorance.

2. Agnosticism." (thank you thefreedictionary.com). Ignorance is again a theme.

   "Gonna try to ride the lightning on my own" seems to suggest either suicide in eager anticipation of finding out what happens when you die (could be my own sick interpretation) or the more obvious, choosing to neither believe in or doubt God by the time of your death, so you're doing it alone.

   "And never a demand to fill the soul, which brings me back to find the glue in a constant set of stones is a life all alone." If you never choose something to believe in, your life will be empty. If there's nothing that speaks to your soul, than the "stones" that make up your life are held together by an empty "glue," which in this case I believe is a metaphor for the time we spend on earth.

   "Come father and know the use your sleeping son has had, his blood has dried upon the land, and still he's trying to wait for you. This series of drones abused by the nescience in your head." Okay, time to get all philosophical up in this bitch. You ready? "Father" is "God." "Sleeping Son" is the now deceased "Jesus." The "use" he's had is his convincing all those people that he's the "only" option for those to be saved. His "blood" was spilled on the cross and through his punishment, and has "dried," meaning that he's "stained" planet earth with this religion. When Jesus was crucified he called out to "God" for mercy, asking why he'd been forsaken..."Still he's trying to wait for you," because Jesus didn't see "God's" plan for him. One could also say that "God" used Jesus. The "drones" are "abused" by religion now, because it's brainwashed them into believing that their religion is the only "true" religion.

   No offense to any Christians with my interpretations.

"Only through the fountainhead you'll find the truths of Vedic paradigm, the ones we know were never meant to sell. To weather the bastions of infernal ties indeed will measure supernal highs, go and think as you may but the wind has filled the sails." Fountainhead is a general term for "knowledge." "Vedic" is an old religion based on many separate deities. The line "Vedic paradigm" seems to suggest that he believes that this is the model religion, or one that he feels closest too. Probably because this is THE OLDEST religion in the world. The lines about "never being meant to sell" are about the fact that religion was never meant to be used and twisted in the manner it is today, example being Muslim fanatics, or the fact that the Vedic religion speaks for itself, and doesn't need to be preached, sold, or spoken for by others.

Last lines, finally. "And oh, with all the demon from behind my mind..." he's plagued with questions about life and death, as we all are. " there's no sleepless hells oh the deepest wells I've climbed up tooth and nail." He doesn't believe in an eternal punishment such as "hell," and he's going to great lengths to try and understand something that a mere mortal such as himself will never truly know. Hence the "deepest wells" he's "climbed tooth and nail" have a knowledge and meaning, but they will always be lost to himself and the rest of us.

"Oh under the tomb where every prince resides the soil sours, seeds of lies, that'll soon mature to counterpart Kal-El." Simple. Under the tomb of every "prince," or martyr(i.e. Jesus was considered a "prince"), the "soil sours, seeds of lies" meaning that myth and religion spring from martyrs, and "mature" or become new versions of "Kal-El" which if don't know is a reference to "Superman" as Kal-El is his birth name on his home planet of "Krypton." Superman is loved by all because he "saves" people, and is an artificial hero.

Thanks for reading. This is one of my favorite Deadsy songs.