Red Dress

The "Whore of Babylon" is from Revelations in the Bible, and may be the key to this song. There are obvious allusions to slavery and past oppression in the song, but now the days of “white robes” have come and gone. However those that were enslaved (and really everyon) are still in the chains of materialism and fame. One interpretation of the “whore of Babylon” from the Bible is that she represents materialism and greed.

I think he is being sarcastic about many people who claim to be anti-war. The person saying “f*** your war” followed by “I’m fat and in love” obviously just wants to be left alone. They don’t have any real political opinion about it. They are enslaved by the convenience of modern life. We can all be fat and happy and don’t have to worry about thousands of people dying elsewhere in the world.

Seems like an anti-war song to me.

Is it actually Jackboot? I keep hearing "jackal."

TV on the Radio got good at writing lyrics. Dear Science rocks. Awesome album title by the way, I remember thinking that if I had a band, I would want to name it Dear Science a couple years ago. For me, it is a sarcastic view of how people think of science as an alternative to god. Anyway...

Someone is certainly defense of their beliefs against silly things like I dunno...facts..but whatever.

It's an awesome song though, I definitely think it has to do with the oppression of blacks and women throughout history and many still feeling powerless in today's society with still a lack real equality between races and gender in this country.(Though the recent election certainly was a new benchmark)

Does anybody have an idea of what the Jacaranda trees reference is about? I'm really curious about that, and have not been able to figure it out.

The song references slavery and lack of respect for black people, but to me that's a metaphore for how people in general let society and government tame and enslave them. Not with literal chains or whips, but by caving and taking the easy path. "Hey slave they called and we caved, we answered to the new name." For our personal feeling of safety and perhaps a few compliments, "You're such a good dancer", we sacrifice our beliefs and integrity, "and you'll all dance to this without making a fist". I'd say the red dress could refer to war as an example of what we support and don't resist that compromises our integrity. "Fuck your war cause I'm fat and in love and no bombs are falling on me for sure. But I'm scared to death that I'm living a life not worth dying for."

I am curious about the "Whore of Babylon". Babylon is now located in Iraq, so perhaps we are whoring Babylon?

I'm also curious about the Jacaranda petals. Perhaps it is simply for the stunning visual of the light purple petals mixing with blood, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was more.

"White Robes" is a reference to the KKK I think. As in, the days of that crude sort of overt racism are gone, but although everyone's really politically correct now, maybe not that much has really changed?

This song rocks my face off. Best antiwar song I've heard...possibly ever? It's up there, no question.

The only thing I have to add is that the song is yelling at us for being so passive. Compare the war in Iraq (or Afghanistan, for that matter) to Vietnam, and you see that they're pretty much the same: we're in a far off country we have no business being in, fighting a war we can't win, chasing after invisible boogie monsters (Communism/Terrorism). But unlike Vietnam, when the people spoke up, protested, rioted, or did SOMETHING, people now are not. "'Hey Slave,' They called, and we caved, and we answered."--yeah. The narrator doesn't like it, and is about as angry at himself as everyone else: "Cause I'm fat and in love, and no bombs are falling on me for sure. But I'm scared to death that I'm living a life not worth dying for.//It's a trap, that much is plain."--he's not doing anything, he sees the trap that he and all of us are falling in, he doesn't like the prospect, but he's not doing anything about it, and neither are we. "And I know that it sounds mundane"--you've heard this all before, and it sounds like nagging, or so he thinks, and feels that this whole song is futile--"But it's a stone cold shame, how they've got you tame and they've got me tame."

Awesome. \m/

PS I like the bitter and sarcastic jab at narcissistic facebook/myspace/other social networking sites: "But send snapshots of all your sweet pain." Ouch.

The significance of the Red Dress is that is symbolizes our indifference to the face of our oppressors. In the past they had to hide their identities with white robes and hoods, but now our general apathy has allowed them strut around in a red dress without any fear of exposure. Pretty scary when you think about it. Also the imagery of a "red dress" definitely points to our choice of consumerism as our new master, ie: e channel, red carpet obsessions, tabloid gossip as our elected distraction from the real truth.