This song has a few themes: decay (flies, disheveled, vanishes, debris, dead horses, syphilis), hedonism (opiates, vibrates with pleasure, gigolos carouse), and pious detachment (gloves, puritans stare), to name some.
I think that Beck is contrasting the self-denying, reproachful attitude of the pious with the abandon of the hedonistic. On the one hand, there are the Puritans and the magistrate. The magistrate examines his life and the world around him and passes judgment - he knows the world is corrupt, and contemplates it as something he must endure. The Puritans strive to make their souls beacons while staring in disapproval at the pleasure-seekers around them.
On the other hand, there are the hedonists. They do what they want, recognizing their own corruption and gleefully accepting the consequences (syphilis, blindness, etc).
I think Beck's trying to get people to ask which life is better. Should we be slaves to morality or sin? Should we beat a dead horse by constantly being judgmental, or by repeating the same stale recreations? Should we stoop to acknowledge our sins, or should our confessions (or consequences, I quess) be written by the decay of our body to dust?
This song has a few themes: decay (flies, disheveled, vanishes, debris, dead horses, syphilis), hedonism (opiates, vibrates with pleasure, gigolos carouse), and pious detachment (gloves, puritans stare), to name some.
I think that Beck is contrasting the self-denying, reproachful attitude of the pious with the abandon of the hedonistic. On the one hand, there are the Puritans and the magistrate. The magistrate examines his life and the world around him and passes judgment - he knows the world is corrupt, and contemplates it as something he must endure. The Puritans strive to make their souls beacons while staring in disapproval at the pleasure-seekers around them.
On the other hand, there are the hedonists. They do what they want, recognizing their own corruption and gleefully accepting the consequences (syphilis, blindness, etc).
I think Beck's trying to get people to ask which life is better. Should we be slaves to morality or sin? Should we beat a dead horse by constantly being judgmental, or by repeating the same stale recreations? Should we stoop to acknowledge our sins, or should our confessions (or consequences, I quess) be written by the decay of our body to dust?
That's my interpretation.