Beastie Lyrics
long murky middle-age and final hours long in the tooth,
he is the hundred names of terror, creature you love the least.
Picture his name before you and exorcise the beast.
He roved up and down through history spectre with tales to tell.
In the darkness when the campfire's dead to each his private hell.
If you look behind your shoulder as you feel his eyes to feast,
you can witness now the everchanging nature of the beast.
Beastie
If you wear a warmer sporran, you can keep the foe at bay.
You can pop those pills and visit some psychiatrist who'll say
there's nothing I can do for you, everywhere's a danger zone.
I'd love to help get rid of it, but I've got one of my own.
Beastie
There's a beast upon my shoulder and a fiend upon my back.
Feel his burning breath a heaving, smoke oozing from his stack.
And he moves beneath the covers or he lies below the bed.
He's the beast upon your shoulder. He's the price upon your head.
He's the lonely fear of dying, and for some, of living too.
He's your private nightmare pricking. He'd just love to turn the screw.
So stand as one defiant yes, and let your voices swell.
Stare that beastie in the face and really give him hell.
Beastie
There's a beast upon my shoulder and a fiend upon my back.
Feel his burning breath a heaving, smoke oozing from his stack.
And he moves beneath the covers or he lies below the bed.
He's the beast upon your shoulder. He's the price upon your head.
The song is about dealing with fears and phobias. The first verse describes how these "beasts" are with us our entire lives. The second talks about using home remedies, medicines, and psychiatry to try to deal with them, but these cures do very little. In the third verse, Ian states that ultimately we have to face our fears to overcome them.
This song terrified me as a kid.
I agree with Krendall, it is about fear and eventually facing whatever it is that terrifies us.
I always thought that the music at the beginning of this song would work great as an accompaniment to an audio or film version of Dante's descent into Hell, or anyone's descent into Hell. Very chilling and terrifying intro music and effects.
Anderson nailed reality pretty accurately in much of this song, and the futility of mortal men in their human strength to deliver men from their demons. Anderson expresses no aspirations for help from above in the struggle against our mortal foe, but rather, in his characteristic irreverent fashion, tells us to give Satan Hell. It might make for a good song and bluster, but it's poor advice for people with real demons. But insofar as the song mirrors truth, it's a pretty thought provoking song, the lyrics of which I have introduced in public speaking many times.