first post: i just created this account to comment on the album as a whole. I recently picked this album up after first hearing fortress, and i have been analyzing the lyrics and compositions in an effort to decipher to story.
here's my take:
Kezia is imprisoned for a crime that is never alluded to, but i speculate that it was something realted to dissidence, and most likley completley unjustified. the brutality and corruption of the system as a whole is alluded to a number of times within the album.
naturally, these are segregated camps, and she is being held captive with other women. executions are probably a common occurance, though given human nature, i would imagine many of these girls would be kept alive to gratify the sexual desires of the presumably male prison staff.
kezia seems to be the favored consort of the prison priest, who can see her growing more and more resentful of the forced relationship each and every day.
"Last night I saw you dine with lovers and human tears But glanced at me in ways that brought to life my sleeping fears That today you'll bite my neck"
i think that Kezia decides that she would rather have her life snuffed out than to continue the role of a whore for the pleasure of her captors. in "turn soonest to the sea"
"So when you bled on the bed as you fed those expectations as a whore and not a human
You embraced with hesitation the very parameters of all you can be--Not a mother, not an aunt, not a sister who's not subdued Because dignity's not physical and your flesh means more than you"
she is sentenced to death because of her defiance to the priest in whatever manner. she refuses to be a whore.
this is evident in the title of the last song in her story. "The Divine Suicide of K." It implies that she didn't have to die...she could have continued living, albeit in wretched conditions.
also interesting:
in blindfolds aside, we hear the gunman reflect
"...a sin i didnt care for, but a sin that paid my debts, a sin that fed my children, that burned my smiles and cigarettes."
after the song ends, these same words are sung by a female voice, presumably representing Kezia....putting those words into a much different context.
first post: i just created this account to comment on the album as a whole. I recently picked this album up after first hearing fortress, and i have been analyzing the lyrics and compositions in an effort to decipher to story.
here's my take:
Kezia is imprisoned for a crime that is never alluded to, but i speculate that it was something realted to dissidence, and most likley completley unjustified. the brutality and corruption of the system as a whole is alluded to a number of times within the album.
naturally, these are segregated camps, and she is being held captive with other women. executions are probably a common occurance, though given human nature, i would imagine many of these girls would be kept alive to gratify the sexual desires of the presumably male prison staff.
kezia seems to be the favored consort of the prison priest, who can see her growing more and more resentful of the forced relationship each and every day.
"Last night I saw you dine with lovers and human tears But glanced at me in ways that brought to life my sleeping fears That today you'll bite my neck"
i think that Kezia decides that she would rather have her life snuffed out than to continue the role of a whore for the pleasure of her captors. in "turn soonest to the sea"
"So when you bled on the bed as you fed those expectations as a whore and not a human You embraced with hesitation the very parameters of all you can be--Not a mother, not an aunt, not a sister who's not subdued Because dignity's not physical and your flesh means more than you"
she is sentenced to death because of her defiance to the priest in whatever manner. she refuses to be a whore.
this is evident in the title of the last song in her story. "The Divine Suicide of K." It implies that she didn't have to die...she could have continued living, albeit in wretched conditions.
also interesting: in blindfolds aside, we hear the gunman reflect
"...a sin i didnt care for, but a sin that paid my debts, a sin that fed my children, that burned my smiles and cigarettes."
after the song ends, these same words are sung by a female voice, presumably representing Kezia....putting those words into a much different context.