A lot of MM's lyrics mention the theme of people gaining celebrity after they die. Someone above got it right when they said the president is a controlled, useless figurehead rather than a true leader- a celebrity, if you like. IMO this song is about JFK in particular (see Lamb of God) and how after he died, he was idolised by the American people, as he had been assassinated at the height of his fame- kind of in the same way Jesus Christ became a celebrated figure because of his death rather than what he did in life. "Give the bills time to work" and the idea that "martyrs" don't know why they are considered so great might be a reference to the fact that JFK didn't have much time to carry out real change during his presidency, despite his aspirations- who knows, he could have turned out to be a terrible president, but he died before he cold become unpopular in the mainstream. I see the reference to a "stained glass skull" as more evidence of this.
People buying tickets in order to find God sounds like a criticism of the commercialised form of religion that is promoted in some countries, as well as noting that people tend to worship pop culture figures, politicians and embodiments of patriotism as gods. I would argue that JFK himself was all three of these things- a martyr for American values, an idealist politician and a popular figure all at the same time. It's drawing parallels between religion, celebrity and death like so many of MM's lyrics do, in order to further criticise religion and the seedy underbelly/hypocrisy of American society.
I know this is long, sorry :P I just wanted to share my thoughts.
A lot of MM's lyrics mention the theme of people gaining celebrity after they die. Someone above got it right when they said the president is a controlled, useless figurehead rather than a true leader- a celebrity, if you like. IMO this song is about JFK in particular (see Lamb of God) and how after he died, he was idolised by the American people, as he had been assassinated at the height of his fame- kind of in the same way Jesus Christ became a celebrated figure because of his death rather than what he did in life. "Give the bills time to work" and the idea that "martyrs" don't know why they are considered so great might be a reference to the fact that JFK didn't have much time to carry out real change during his presidency, despite his aspirations- who knows, he could have turned out to be a terrible president, but he died before he cold become unpopular in the mainstream. I see the reference to a "stained glass skull" as more evidence of this.
People buying tickets in order to find God sounds like a criticism of the commercialised form of religion that is promoted in some countries, as well as noting that people tend to worship pop culture figures, politicians and embodiments of patriotism as gods. I would argue that JFK himself was all three of these things- a martyr for American values, an idealist politician and a popular figure all at the same time. It's drawing parallels between religion, celebrity and death like so many of MM's lyrics do, in order to further criticise religion and the seedy underbelly/hypocrisy of American society.
I know this is long, sorry :P I just wanted to share my thoughts.