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Beautiful Child Lyrics
These are the things I hold onto
These are the things I use to deceive myself
I line them up in front of me
I judge them carefully
Then I throw them all away
I throw them all away
I am a small man
I am not a dangerous man
I love a child
I love a beautiful child
I love a child
I love a beautiful child
I will hold this child in my arms
And caress his soft head
Listen to him cry
Listen to him cry
I can kill the child
The beautiful child
I will kill the child
The beautiful child
This is my life
This is my choice
This is my damnation
This is my only regret
This is my life
This is my life
This is my sacrifice
This is my life
This is my only regret
That I ever was born
This is my sacrifice
Get out of my head
These are the things I use to deceive myself
I line them up in front of me
I judge them carefully
Then I throw them all away
I throw them all away
I am a small man
I am not a dangerous man
I love a child
I love a beautiful child
I love a child
I love a beautiful child
I will hold this child in my arms
And caress his soft head
Listen to him cry
Listen to him cry
I can kill the child
The beautiful child
I will kill the child
The beautiful child
This is my life
This is my choice
This is my damnation
This is my only regret
This is my life
This is my life
This is my sacrifice
This is my life
This is my only regret
That I ever was born
This is my sacrifice
Get out of my head
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I always just thought that the child was himself, thus all the references to "things I hold onto" and "my sacrifice."
He's destroying a more innocent part of himself. The child. Loss of innocence is a big part of their music; remember the Golden Boy Swallowed by the Sea? And that one song on Various Failures/White Light from the Mouth of Infinity that begins with a baby crying?
Huh. Have you listened to it? Heard interviews with Gira? Extremely unlikely.
Kind of odd not to see any of the comments mention this, but I've always thought that this song is pretty blatantly about Abraham and Isaac.
This is definitely one of those songs that should only be taken at face value in context. Relates to religious fanaticism.
This song is a reference to the book "Les Chants de Maldoror" by the Comte de Lautreamont.
In the first canto, there is a passage about growing your nails out for weeks on end until they are razor sharp, and then finding a young child and holding him and making him feel safe. When the child is comfortable, Maldoror (the 'protagonist' of the book) tells you to slice the child open with your nails, but not to kill him. Instead, you are supposed to let the child weep, and then taste his blood and tears.
I'm 99% sure this has to be a reference to this passage, it fits too perfectly not to be.
@waful I don't think you're correct here. The entire album is about God and religion. The song is from Abraham's perspective when he is asked to sacrifice his son Isaac (the Beautiful Child).
@waful I don't think you're correct here. The entire album is about God and religion. The song is from Abraham's perspective when he is asked to sacrifice his son Isaac (the Beautiful Child).
Yeah, I can see that, but ultimately the imagery used in this song is too similar to that passage to just be a coincidence, and considering the popularity of "Maldoror" as a theme in the industrial scene etc in the 70s and 80s, it is pretty likely that Gira was familiar with the work.
What imagery? Besides holding a crying child? Admittedly, I haven't read the book, but this strikes me as being about abortion.
What imagery? Besides holding a crying child? Admittedly, I haven't read the book, but this strikes me as being about abortion.
In Maldoror the narrator talks about holding a beautiful child in his arms, stroking his hair, and then killing him. The similarity is pretty big. Plus it wouldn't surprise me at all if Gira has read Maldoror; it seems like a book he'd dig. So yeah, I'll have to go with Waful on this one.
In Maldoror the narrator talks about holding a beautiful child in his arms, stroking his hair, and then killing him. The similarity is pretty big. Plus it wouldn't surprise me at all if Gira has read Maldoror; it seems like a book he'd dig. So yeah, I'll have to go with Waful on this one.
Abortion
@Dweed I also assumed this was about abortion when I heard it, but after reading the lyrics, the interpretation of killing your inner child makes the most sense. It could be about Abraham sacrificing his son given the religious context of the album, though.
@Dweed I also assumed this was about abortion when I heard it, but after reading the lyrics, the interpretation of killing your inner child makes the most sense. It could be about Abraham sacrificing his son given the religious context of the album, though.