Gone Guru

Since Dead Rising came out 6 years before Dead Rising was released, I'll take a stab at trying to explain this very complicated song.

It starts off with the first singer introducing his "brother" or friend who gave away everything in his possession in order to achieve some sort of enlightenment. He "gave it all away, the hard-rock bands, the groupies, the booze, the all-night jams".

In retort, all the 'friends' and people he used to party with asked him "where did you go?"

Of course, he probably wasn't around to answer them because he was too busy meditating and "lettin' go of the ego". He ended up joining a naturalist cult that demanded that he give them half of his possessions in order to gain their trust, and in return he'd be given the knowledge of truth.

The phrase "bit my finger with the truth, the blood was spoutin', now my cup overfloweth just like a fountain" is to symbolize that they had given him more "truth" or "information" than his mind could handle. He was in awe of this newfound truth that he had seen, so everything around him felt "so serene. The sky was blue and yeah the grass was green."

"And that's three square meals, if you know what I mean" reiterates that he was so full of information and enlightenment that he always felt more than full.

In the next verse he says he saw "a thirty foot pharaoh walking down your street, though I was down with God I had to yell retreat" could possibly mean that he saw the true corruption behind what the rest of us 'normal' people believe in, and though he believed in a higher power, he couldn't accept the blindness we all live by.

At that point he had "gone guru" and cut out all the bullshit. He was more comfortable living in a world of "free animals" and if any 'normal' man were to talk to him, he would elevate their mind "like airplane glue". Pretty self explanatory.

This next few verses you notice the singer is just beginning his true descent, where he takes things too far. He goes out into the blaring desert, where the heat is intense, and (perhaps noting at) mescaline filled cactus which can be an incredible hallucinagen. Combining the two together have provided many intense trips throughout history, one most famous recent-ish moment being when The Doors went out to the desert and tripped on those same cacti.

He tells others to "join the club, and send their wives to my hut for the body rub". This could mean two things, one of which is that he is still holding onto his physical desires and wants everyone to believe in letting themselves go. On the other hand, he could mean that there's no point in believing in societies standards.

In the following verses it starts getting harder to decipher, as he mentions going out to "the zen monastery where I milk the holy cow, but quit the dairy. Snowboarding with the yeti eatin' veggie spaghetti. Don't have to live like no refugee, peace to Tom Petty." These verses could mean that he still is trying to live a holy life, but refuses to "drink the dairy" meaning that he won't buy into the religious propoganda. As far as snowboarding with a yeti goes... I'm lost. The last line is in reference to Tom Pettys "Refugee", where he says "Everybody's had to fight to be free, you don't have to live like a refugee"

The following lines are when he discovers that one of his friends works for the cointelpro, which is the COunter INTELligence PROgram. He feels a need to leave the cult for his own safety, and start "handing out my leaflets in Bethlehem" meaning his birthplace/hometown.

"The Bible's played out so I'm writing a new text, we're all one so what's the problem with group sex?" This line refers back to when he'd invite other people's wives to his "hut". It's part of his belief in freedom of expression/body.

With all these "children" wanting to join his fold/cult, he gets a call from Mike Love (a member of the Beach Boys) which confuses me and I cannot find a connection for that particular line, but the singer "puts that sucker on hold".

Then it's back to being true to yourself and being "gone guru". Self explanatory. However, he changes the ending this time saying he'll "deliver whoever pays what's due, that's nine for me and one for you" which is similar to when he first joined the cult and they asked him to share half of his wealth with them. Perhaps his "divine knowledge" is getting to his head.

It seems to turn into a party where incense and peakock feathers are burning, a symbol of the "peace and love" movement of the 60's, as a crowd cheers in the background.

It appears that he was living in Ohio, where polygamy was illegal. He divorced twelve of his wives in order to not land in jail, and moved to Hawaii. He says he arrived without travel but "they lost my bags. Another trial for my people, don't scratch the jag." This might mean that he hadn't lost anything of real value, because his jive was still with him, although his baggage might've been misplaced.

In Hawaii, they say "hang loose" but "they really don't mean it" because he (now being a famous cult leader" was deported to South America and you "could watch it on CNET" which was a popular social/news platform in 2000 when the song was released.

The news had followed him to continue their story, and he had loyal cultists that believed in his message all across the planet, so he quickly amassed 30,000 people "who had the right to choose" him as their Messiah.

He became so famous internationally that even Harrison Ford wanted his autograph, but the singer knew he had the upper hand when they had met because Ford became so infatuated that he donated the singer a jet.

I think this next part refers to the Rajneesh cult, because they wore bright colored clothing "like orange pajamas" and had a fleet of Rolls Royce's. They also we're notorious for breaking the law.

I can't explain the part where he "gets jiggy with Madonna and Marilyn Manson". Perhaps that means that he could reach out to all different types of people? He had the spotlight again for not paying taxes, and since it was bad on his image, he put "down his toupee" so they couldn't see his face.

As he starts to grow older, his advisors tell him to consider cloning himself but instead he "found out heaven is a place on Earth" which could mean that he doesn't truly believe in an afterlife. He turned himself into a cryogenic robot in order to gain immortality and continue his reign as a new-age cult leader forevermore.