this song is about personal and religious hypocrisy, and the way religion influences how we act and what we do. tim says "there's no use to keep a secret; everything i hide ends up in lyrics", which parallels the catholic ritual of confessing your sins to the father in the confessional box. tim is saying that, as a catholic, he confesses his sins to an anonymous body, but not through confessional, like he was taught, but through his music, to us, his impartial confessor. when he asks "our father, who art in heaven, save me from the wreck i'm about to drown in", and chides himself by asking "didn't i learn anything counting down my sins on rosary beads", he's basically saying that religion as a system of values has failed him, leaving him only with the hope of god's mercy to save him from the mess he's gotten himself into because of his personal failings. the recurring theme of the reverend and the ugly organ illustrates tim's views on personal morality as thrust upon us by the church, an almost sexual relationship where we prostrate ourself before the governing body and are rewarded with a "sweet and salty sermon", which is intended to impregnate us with certain values. however, tim goes on to show how, like the catholic church, he makes his living by parading his values and conflicts before us and passing the hat to us, asking us to pay to partake of his own sweet and salty sermon (which is why he characterizes himself as operating the "ugly organ" in the beginning of the song). the ugly organ itself is an interesting concept, as it fits the characterization of music and sexuality as a delivery system for personal values. organ, of course, is a slang term for a penis, which fits with the action of spewing a sweet and salty sermon on the audiance. the organ as a musical instrument, widely used in catholic sermons to accompany hymns, is a metaphor for how kasher sees his music, almost self-deprecatingly, as passing onto us, the listeners, a set of values and morals. in essence, kasher is telling us that this album is a hymnal for the twisted values he's learned as an adult. finally, kasher uses the condition of stigmata as a metaphor for how this album will be seen by others; as an outward manifestation of inner conflict. i find that interesting, as stigmata is said only to afflict true believers. is kasher stating that he himself is a true believer? and if so, what is he a true believer of? this song is very critical of catholic doctrine and it's influence on personal morality, so is kasher characterising himself as a "true catholic", or as having been fully indoctrinated into the hypocrisy of the catholic church characterized in this song? either way, this song is meant to show how this album illustrates kasher's inner conflicts, shown by being red handed with stigmata, through the sleight of hand that is catholic doctrine: "some red-handed sleight of hand".
this song is about personal and religious hypocrisy, and the way religion influences how we act and what we do. tim says "there's no use to keep a secret; everything i hide ends up in lyrics", which parallels the catholic ritual of confessing your sins to the father in the confessional box. tim is saying that, as a catholic, he confesses his sins to an anonymous body, but not through confessional, like he was taught, but through his music, to us, his impartial confessor. when he asks "our father, who art in heaven, save me from the wreck i'm about to drown in", and chides himself by asking "didn't i learn anything counting down my sins on rosary beads", he's basically saying that religion as a system of values has failed him, leaving him only with the hope of god's mercy to save him from the mess he's gotten himself into because of his personal failings. the recurring theme of the reverend and the ugly organ illustrates tim's views on personal morality as thrust upon us by the church, an almost sexual relationship where we prostrate ourself before the governing body and are rewarded with a "sweet and salty sermon", which is intended to impregnate us with certain values. however, tim goes on to show how, like the catholic church, he makes his living by parading his values and conflicts before us and passing the hat to us, asking us to pay to partake of his own sweet and salty sermon (which is why he characterizes himself as operating the "ugly organ" in the beginning of the song). the ugly organ itself is an interesting concept, as it fits the characterization of music and sexuality as a delivery system for personal values. organ, of course, is a slang term for a penis, which fits with the action of spewing a sweet and salty sermon on the audiance. the organ as a musical instrument, widely used in catholic sermons to accompany hymns, is a metaphor for how kasher sees his music, almost self-deprecatingly, as passing onto us, the listeners, a set of values and morals. in essence, kasher is telling us that this album is a hymnal for the twisted values he's learned as an adult. finally, kasher uses the condition of stigmata as a metaphor for how this album will be seen by others; as an outward manifestation of inner conflict. i find that interesting, as stigmata is said only to afflict true believers. is kasher stating that he himself is a true believer? and if so, what is he a true believer of? this song is very critical of catholic doctrine and it's influence on personal morality, so is kasher characterising himself as a "true catholic", or as having been fully indoctrinated into the hypocrisy of the catholic church characterized in this song? either way, this song is meant to show how this album illustrates kasher's inner conflicts, shown by being red handed with stigmata, through the sleight of hand that is catholic doctrine: "some red-handed sleight of hand".