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Speaking in Tongues Lyrics

Hypocrite reader,
My double, my brother

Your daddy really took it out of you

But did he speak it in tongues?
But did he speak it in tongues?

Sneaking out the windows now

You've got the spirit now

Hypocrite reader,
My double, my brother

Where did we lose our way?

It's like we're speaking in tongues
It's like we're speaking in tongues

Sneaking out the windows now

You've got the spirit now
You've got the spirit now
You've got the spirit now

Hypocrite reader,
My double, my brother

Now I can't understand a word

Now you're speaking in tongues
(Speaking in tongues)
Now you're speaking in tongues
(Speaking in tongues)
Now you're speaking in tongues
(Speaking in tongues)
Now you're speaking in tongues
(Speaking in tongues)

Come out of your head
And into my world now

Come out of your head
And into my world, my world, my world now

(Speaking in tongues)
(To end)
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Cover art for Speaking in Tongues lyrics by Arcade Fire

"Hypocrite reader, my double, my brother!" Why, an allusion to one of my favorite lines in Eliot's The Waste Land? Already this song has won over my heart. What a phenomenal band.

"Hypocrite Reader, My Double, My Brother" It's Charles Baudelaire's Les Fleurs Du Mal introduction, "To The Reader" IT'S NOT ELIOT'S!

Cover art for Speaking in Tongues lyrics by Arcade Fire

Good catch on the Wasteland reference! As Eliot and his contemporaries like Yeats were very interested in mysticism and the occult, including automatic writing and speaking in tongues, there's certainly a connection there.

Also, keep in mind Eliot was himself alluding to the classic Baudelaire poem, "Au Lecteur" ("To the Reader")

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Fleurs_du_mal

Cover art for Speaking in Tongues lyrics by Arcade Fire

a very good song :)

 
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