Goodbye Mr A

The Hoosiers are taking a swipe at the famous comics author Steve Ditko's Mr A who was a 1960s, short-lived, uncompassionate, moral absolutist, superhero -- "You promised you would love us, but you knew too much" and "You had all the answers but no human touch" -- who would punish everyone, killing some, allowing others to die, regardless of the degree of their guilt.

It's also worth noting that Ditko's Mr A was, in-part, the basis for the psychopathic (yet o-so-awesome) "Watchman" Rorschach of the recent film: moral absolutism dictating street justice, who is said to have dropped a nutty-but-harmless, wannabe arch-villian down an elevator shaft. Rorschach was, of course, an Alan Moore parody of Ditko's moral absolutist "superheroes" like Mr A and The Question.

To Mr A, there were only criminals and the innocent, and no shades of gray -- his "calling card" was a card with one-half black, one-half white -- and the innocent who got involved in crime "just a little" were equally as guilty. Mr A stories would describe how those engaged "just a little" in crime would inevitably be buried deeper and deeper until they couldn't just walk away. And they were afforded no mercy by Mr A. The guilty would often attempt self-justification, only to have Mr A definitively explain the error of their logic or ways, before meating-out punishment. To Mr A, no begging for forgiveness, no promises to repent of their ways would cause him to yield. They were guilty; they deserved punishment.

("You who know all the answers")

Killers would inevitably fall into situations in which they needed saving by Mr A, but he'd ignore their pleas.

In some stories, Ditko would depict the crime stories allegorically: criminals on a black platform trying to explain why they compromised their values, while Mr A on a white platform would denounce their self-justifications. Such stories would end with the guilty falling off their black platform into the deep, dark abyss.

("So busy showing me where I'm wrong, you forgot to switch your feelings on.")

The Hoosiers are clearly not fans of such cold, logical, moral absolutism, as the song criticises Mr A for showing no mercy ("You love is a fraction"), lacking a human touch, a lack of human understanding ("You forgot to switch your feelings on"), and for setting himself up as judge and jury. ("So, so superior, are you not?")

"The world was full of fun until you opened my eyes", I think, is linked to the line "You claim science aint magic, and expect me to buy it", that the Hoosiers claim his rigid reliance on logic is draining the colour out of life and insufficient to explain the world.

And where did it all come from? Mr A is Ditko's attempt to put into comics the Objectivism he ardently ascribed to, the hard-nosed philosophy of Ayn Rand, which is perversely regaining currency. (I say "perversely" since portions of its implementation arguably caused this recession.) Mr A comics are famed for the ideological explanations by characters, particularly Mr A himself, for their actions: Ditko's attempt to convince people of Objectivism.

Objectivism was a philosophical reaction to Soviet communism that took power as Rand emerged into her teens, to communism's crushing of any form of individualism, be it of thought, of actions or decisions. However, it was arguably at the other extreme in which an individual's responsibility is ONLY to his/her own happiness, the rest of the world be damned.

Rand's books also alude strongly to Mr A's objection to moral "greyness". In Atlas Shrugged, the protagonist rails against compromise with evil, saying: "Any compromise between good and evil only hurts the good and helps the evil." Very Mr A-ish.

SO, noting this, noting the Hoosier's British origins, noting that Thatcherism ("Reaganism" is alleged to be the same thing, but it was faaaaar more tamed) is descended from Objectivism (via Monetarism), AND that Blair failed to completely overturn Thatcherism, one is sorely tempted to suggest the band are as much taking a swipe at the hard-nosed economic philosophy in British politics as a comic book character.

You may be the judge.

I always saw it as Mr.A meaning Mystery, so goodbye Mr.A is talking about science taking away the worlds mysteries by providing explainations for everything. I never really thought of Mr.A being an actual person. It's a great song though really really catchy! x

I believe this song could be an indictment of Randian Objectivist philosophy. "Mr. A" was a 1960s superhero created by Steve Ditko (the man who invented Spider-Man, Blue Beetle, the Question and others) who practiced strong conservative teachings (Objectivism as defined by Ayn Rand) which Ditko personally believed. The superhero aspect of the music video as well as almost all of the lyrics (for instance "There’s a hole in your logic, / You who know all the answers") seem to indicate that the video is a savage (and justified!) criticism.

I was thinking it may have been talking about the creation of nuclear weapons (Atomic - Mr. A?). 'You had all the answers but no human touch.' The promise that invention of nuclear weapons would solve the problem of war but in reality just made the current problem much worse. There seems to be quite a few references to maths and science as well. Just my thoughts on the song.
Terribly catchy tune. :)

Mr. A was a comic superhero who used logic to solve cases, and only believed that there was good and evil- no in between. I believe this song is meant to show that there should still be mystery in life, and not everything can be worked out with logic or taken seriously.

Just my two cents ^^

The guy in the video looks a lot like Captain America who was a Marvel Comics superhero but was killed off from the series recently. I thought that they called him Mr A becuase Marvel would sue if they used the characters actuall name. I thought that the song was saying he was wrong becuase the character of captain america was killed becuase the government created a law that superheroes must register their identity and work for the state, he lead an underground movement to oppose the government and eventually gave himself in becuase he had become a danger to society, after his trial he was shot down by a sniper and died. I thoguiht the song was abouit this, i think I'm probably wrong though.

Reminds me of my Dad: REALLY intelligent man, but had a hard time being there emotionally =|

I love this song can't stop playin' it. I think it's about when they were young and all the things they thoughts about the world were crushed by their teacher "Mr. A". I thouhgt it could have been science teacher but with the maths stuff it's gotta be a primary school teacher. Truly unique song. Love the vid so much I really hope the Hoosiers' album does well. =]

Maths Teacher?

Brillo Song :)

This song really describes my English teacher Mr Anderson. ::)