It's about Jesus, Hitler, and many other things. Essentially Hitler saw himself as the savior of the German people, much as Jesus was said to have seen himself as the savior of the Judaen people. There are very strong elements of religion in contemporaraneous German art, in the ceremonies instituted by the national socialists, and even in the name they chose (third -Reich-, after the "Holy Roman Empire" of old).
The "golden ring" that we would never let go could easily be a reference to the ring in the saga of the Niebelungenlied, a symbol in pagan Germanic myth for the destiny of the German peoples and their place as favored of the gods.
Of course you'll agree that the Nazis should not have been able to "lay their filthy hands upon" the greatest secrets of the universe, but who among us truly would be worthy?
Miss Murder could be Kali, mistress of death and also of rebirth and reincarnation. I've read that suicides were held by some ancient traditions to be bound to the earth, forced to be reborn (seek to lose your life and gain it??).
"Empty set" is a mathematical concept. It would be used, for example, to answer the problem, "list all values of x for which x = x+1". The empty set is not "zero" or "nothing" in the common use of the word. To butcher a zen koan, "Once a student asked his master, 'Sir, what is it like to attain Buddhahood?' His master shouted, 'The empty set!'"
That said, perhaps a better question to ask than "What does this song objectively mean?" is "What can I subjectively learn from experiencing this song??
You are reading more into it then the words merit. But you then cover this by asking an existential question at the end as a cop out to keep people from analyzing your ideas. To your credit you are well read and I certainly can not say that all of your ideas are bogus. But if he throws enough darts even a blind man can get a bulls eye now and then. A better way to find meaning might be to see if the band has said something about the songs meaning on line. But I suspect they have not...
You are reading more into it then the words merit. But you then cover this by asking an existential question at the end as a cop out to keep people from analyzing your ideas. To your credit you are well read and I certainly can not say that all of your ideas are bogus. But if he throws enough darts even a blind man can get a bulls eye now and then. A better way to find meaning might be to see if the band has said something about the songs meaning on line. But I suspect they have not said much or someone else here would have more to say about this. Certainly the song has a not so veiled Anti-Religious message . A possible point of the song is that he is accusing religious people of giving people beliefs they are willing to die for. Of course he postulates that since it is likely in his opinion that the hope these people have is false that essentially they die prematurely for no good reason. So his question is can he remain beautiful by taking his own life as if he is trying to learn from her when he sees faith as ridiculous. That is just 1 possible explanation of the song but it is justified by the words here with out going too far away from the text. That said mant religions do address the question of who is worthy. Christianity is noteworthy for saying that none are but if you ask forgiveness for your sins. wickedness, whatever you call it That God allows you to grab it's brass ring of eternal life. This being America the songs argument is less with the faith then with those who believe. I suspect miss Murder is someone who tried to share their faith with one of the band members far too agressively. But until the Cliff note for Alternative music come out it is just a guess.
It's about Jesus, Hitler, and many other things. Essentially Hitler saw himself as the savior of the German people, much as Jesus was said to have seen himself as the savior of the Judaen people. There are very strong elements of religion in contemporaraneous German art, in the ceremonies instituted by the national socialists, and even in the name they chose (third -Reich-, after the "Holy Roman Empire" of old).
The "golden ring" that we would never let go could easily be a reference to the ring in the saga of the Niebelungenlied, a symbol in pagan Germanic myth for the destiny of the German peoples and their place as favored of the gods.
Of course you'll agree that the Nazis should not have been able to "lay their filthy hands upon" the greatest secrets of the universe, but who among us truly would be worthy?
Miss Murder could be Kali, mistress of death and also of rebirth and reincarnation. I've read that suicides were held by some ancient traditions to be bound to the earth, forced to be reborn (seek to lose your life and gain it??).
"Empty set" is a mathematical concept. It would be used, for example, to answer the problem, "list all values of x for which x = x+1". The empty set is not "zero" or "nothing" in the common use of the word. To butcher a zen koan, "Once a student asked his master, 'Sir, what is it like to attain Buddhahood?' His master shouted, 'The empty set!'"
That said, perhaps a better question to ask than "What does this song objectively mean?" is "What can I subjectively learn from experiencing this song??
@untermenschfurimmer You are brilliant. Thank you for this analysis.
@untermenschfurimmer You are brilliant. Thank you for this analysis.
You are reading more into it then the words merit. But you then cover this by asking an existential question at the end as a cop out to keep people from analyzing your ideas. To your credit you are well read and I certainly can not say that all of your ideas are bogus. But if he throws enough darts even a blind man can get a bulls eye now and then. A better way to find meaning might be to see if the band has said something about the songs meaning on line. But I suspect they have not...
You are reading more into it then the words merit. But you then cover this by asking an existential question at the end as a cop out to keep people from analyzing your ideas. To your credit you are well read and I certainly can not say that all of your ideas are bogus. But if he throws enough darts even a blind man can get a bulls eye now and then. A better way to find meaning might be to see if the band has said something about the songs meaning on line. But I suspect they have not said much or someone else here would have more to say about this. Certainly the song has a not so veiled Anti-Religious message . A possible point of the song is that he is accusing religious people of giving people beliefs they are willing to die for. Of course he postulates that since it is likely in his opinion that the hope these people have is false that essentially they die prematurely for no good reason. So his question is can he remain beautiful by taking his own life as if he is trying to learn from her when he sees faith as ridiculous. That is just 1 possible explanation of the song but it is justified by the words here with out going too far away from the text. That said mant religions do address the question of who is worthy. Christianity is noteworthy for saying that none are but if you ask forgiveness for your sins. wickedness, whatever you call it That God allows you to grab it's brass ring of eternal life. This being America the songs argument is less with the faith then with those who believe. I suspect miss Murder is someone who tried to share their faith with one of the band members far too agressively. But until the Cliff note for Alternative music come out it is just a guess.