Hairless Heart

No comments on this beautiful instrumental? I have a few thoughts. First, I can play this on my clarinet very well. Second, it's a very vivid, evocative song for me, even though there are no words. I still see a story in this that relates to the overall story on The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. I imagine that after the violent shaving of his "fluffy heart" in the preceding song, Back In NYC, the protagonist Rael falls into a deep sleep. As he sleeps, which is during this song, I imagine a figure slowly taking shape next to him. This is the manifestation of Rael's brother, John, actually a multiple personality. When they wake up, Rael cannot remember a time without John. So that's what I think happens during this song- it's a flashback to a very important moment in Rael's life. The flashback continues with his first romantic encounter in Counting Out Time, and finally the story returns to the present time and situation with The Carpet Crawlers.

Yes, I know that's a lot to read into one song that doesn't even have words, but maybe I'm just being crazy.

Nice to have comments on this lovely instrumental piece !

After living with the Lamb since its release all those years ago, I have only recently listened to it again and given it some deeper thought. It is an incredible piece of work by any standards and holds up today extremely well. The music , concept, story and lyrics all work together to produce a musical which, for me, is up there with Sondheim.

And there is so much conjecture about meanings etc - the wonders of the internet ! So much love of this album, and very creative responses from fans from all over the place.

My own thoughts revolve around this instrumental, and more tellingly, its location at the hairy or not so hairy heart of the Lamb.

For me it seems to mark a turning point. The previous track Back in NYC seems to boil down to an internal dialogue – go the route which will put one back behind bars , or go another route which will unite one with the rest of humanity ( counting out time , carpet crawlers and 32 doors ) as opposed to the lifeless grand parade view of humanity he has held to date. For me, the heartfelt 32 doors could almost have been the end of Rael´s story – listen to the beautiful final tinkle of Tony Bank´s piano.

This could be the end because, after very many listenings, the second record now runs parallel in my head with the first ( er um , am I making sense doctor ?) , kind of looping back to this very point. The first record seems to be Rael at the upper level of his mind, while the second deals with his deeper drives . On disc two his mum and dad ( seemingly absent on the upper level) , for me at least, loom very large from a psychological perspective . My somewhat potty notion is that these figures affect the events on the first record rather than following them in a linear fashion. Outlandish I know, and probably the result of my over active imagination ! But pretentious fun nonetheless.