"Cockroach naps" refers to Kafka's story "The Metamorphosis", in which Gregor Samsa wakes up to discover he has become a giant insect. It's in the song to say "fiction is strange, so when we say truth is stranger than fiction, we mean that truth is really, really strange."
"Cockroach naps" refers to Kafka's story "The Metamorphosis", in which Gregor Samsa wakes up to discover he has become a giant insect. It's in the song to say "fiction is strange, so when we say truth is stranger than fiction, we mean that truth is really, really strange."
I'm not nearly as confident about this, but I wonder if "rattling traps" refers to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum", which is (sort of) an account of the true horrors of the Spanish Inquisition--as good an example as you can find of the...
I'm not nearly as confident about this, but I wonder if "rattling traps" refers to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum", which is (sort of) an account of the true horrors of the Spanish Inquisition--as good an example as you can find of the strange real life cruelty of the human race.
"Caringosity" is an example of the sort of word that Jack Kerouac like to invent in his novels, though I don't know if he used that particular word. His novels, by the way, were only semi-fictional, his own strange life with strange people is transparently visible within them. Technically, he was killed by liver failure brought on by alcohol abuse, but it has been said that the worst of his drinking was caused by his sorrow over the death of Neal Cassady.
"Cradle for a Cat" refers to Vonnegut's book "Cat's Cradle", another example of bizarre fiction.
I think SpiralArchitect is right, that "Wolfe looks back" refers to "The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test," Tom Wolfe's "nonfiction novel" about his time "on the bus" with the founders of the psychedelic era. It fits in the song because Wolfe's true experience was plenty strange without adding any fiction.
This shit is why I love Bad Religion. You could teach a collegiate course in 20th century literature without ever leaving this song. The fact that they pack it all into a hot punk harmonyfest is just gravy.
Can anyone explain "cockroach naps and rattling traps"?
"Cockroach naps" refers to Kafka's story "The Metamorphosis", in which Gregor Samsa wakes up to discover he has become a giant insect. It's in the song to say "fiction is strange, so when we say truth is stranger than fiction, we mean that truth is really, really strange."
"Cockroach naps" refers to Kafka's story "The Metamorphosis", in which Gregor Samsa wakes up to discover he has become a giant insect. It's in the song to say "fiction is strange, so when we say truth is stranger than fiction, we mean that truth is really, really strange."
I'm not nearly as confident about this, but I wonder if "rattling traps" refers to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum", which is (sort of) an account of the true horrors of the Spanish Inquisition--as good an example as you can find of the...
I'm not nearly as confident about this, but I wonder if "rattling traps" refers to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum", which is (sort of) an account of the true horrors of the Spanish Inquisition--as good an example as you can find of the strange real life cruelty of the human race.
"Caringosity" is an example of the sort of word that Jack Kerouac like to invent in his novels, though I don't know if he used that particular word. His novels, by the way, were only semi-fictional, his own strange life with strange people is transparently visible within them. Technically, he was killed by liver failure brought on by alcohol abuse, but it has been said that the worst of his drinking was caused by his sorrow over the death of Neal Cassady.
"Cradle for a Cat" refers to Vonnegut's book "Cat's Cradle", another example of bizarre fiction.
I think SpiralArchitect is right, that "Wolfe looks back" refers to "The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test," Tom Wolfe's "nonfiction novel" about his time "on the bus" with the founders of the psychedelic era. It fits in the song because Wolfe's true experience was plenty strange without adding any fiction.
This shit is why I love Bad Religion. You could teach a collegiate course in 20th century literature without ever leaving this song. The fact that they pack it all into a hot punk harmonyfest is just gravy.