This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
Take a little walk to the edge of town and go across the tracks
Where the viaduct looms like a bird of doom as it shifts and cracks
Where secrets lie in the border fires in the humming wires
Well, you know You're never coming back
Past the square, past the bridge, past the mills, past the stacks
On a gathering storm comes a tall handsome man
In a dusty black coat with a red right hand
He'll wrap you in his arms and tell you that you've been a good boy
He'll rekindle all the dreams it took you a lifetime to destroy
He'll reach deep into the hole, heal your shrinking soul
And there won't be a single thing that you can do
He's a god, he's a man, he's a ghost, he's a guru
They're whispering his name 'cross this disappearing land
But hidden in his coat is a red right hand
You don't have no money? He'll get you some
If you haven't got no car, he'll get you one
You've got no self-respect, you feel like an insect
Well, don't you worry, buddy, 'cause here he comes
Through the ghettos and the barrows and the Bowery and the slum
A shadow is cast wherever he stands
Stacks of green paper in his red right hand
You'll see him in your nightmares, you'll see him in your dreams
He'll appear out of nowhere, but he's not what he seems
You'll see him in your head on the TV screen
Hey, buddy, I'm warning you to turn it off
He's a ghost, he's a god, he's a man, he's a guru
You're one microscopic cog in his catastrophic plan
Designed and directed by his red right hand
Where the viaduct looms like a bird of doom as it shifts and cracks
Where secrets lie in the border fires in the humming wires
Well, you know You're never coming back
Past the square, past the bridge, past the mills, past the stacks
On a gathering storm comes a tall handsome man
In a dusty black coat with a red right hand
He'll wrap you in his arms and tell you that you've been a good boy
He'll rekindle all the dreams it took you a lifetime to destroy
He'll reach deep into the hole, heal your shrinking soul
And there won't be a single thing that you can do
He's a god, he's a man, he's a ghost, he's a guru
They're whispering his name 'cross this disappearing land
But hidden in his coat is a red right hand
You don't have no money? He'll get you some
If you haven't got no car, he'll get you one
You've got no self-respect, you feel like an insect
Well, don't you worry, buddy, 'cause here he comes
Through the ghettos and the barrows and the Bowery and the slum
A shadow is cast wherever he stands
Stacks of green paper in his red right hand
You'll see him in your nightmares, you'll see him in your dreams
He'll appear out of nowhere, but he's not what he seems
You'll see him in your head on the TV screen
Hey, buddy, I'm warning you to turn it off
He's a ghost, he's a god, he's a man, he's a guru
You're one microscopic cog in his catastrophic plan
Designed and directed by his red right hand
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Son Şansın - Şarkı Sözleri
Hayalperest
Hayalperest
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
The "Red Right Hand" is the hand of God, red on account of the way it strikes humans in punishing ways. Horace (23BC) wrote of the God Jupiter striking his own city and temple with his red right hand. Then, in 1667, in Milton's Paradise Lost, the fallen angel Baliol warns the other fallen angels not to go to war with God for fear of his "red right hand" striking them.
In Nick Cave's version (1994), he depicts the contradictory nature of God, at once a ghost (holy), a guru (preacher), a man (Jesus) and yet still threatening us that with "red right hand" of punishment for our sins, even after promising to answer our prayers for money, self-respect, cars, etc.
"God's plan," at once creating us all, and then punishing us all, is seen as bizarre and threatening: every human is merely "one microscopic cog in his catastrophic plan Designed and directed by his red right hand."