I think this song is decrying the future" cloning, engineered food, were both hot topics in the mid-90s. People freaked out when faced with the moral question of how cloning humans will be handled. "Today it's a cow, tomorrow it's you."
"African Punch and Judy show at half the price"
I think refers to the capitalist phenomenon of outsourcing labor to countries that could get it cheaper. This was just beginning when Richey wrote this around mid to late 1994. So it is impressive he was on to it this early. And hopefully this won't start any Tupac-like rumors that he's still out there writing new songs. It just shows how frightening his intellect was. (Yeah, I believe he's dead personally.)
"A hundred thousand watch Giant Haystacks in a Bombay fight."
Giant Haystacks was a famous British professional wrestler, an icon of working class England. Having him "in a Bombay fight" might refer to the fight the working class UK will have with India over outsourced labor jobs. Not in a racist way, since Richey was hardly a BNP-sympathizer, but in the way that's there's only so many factory jobs to go around and if another country can do them cheaper, very few corporations care if they're taking them away from the west.
"Me and Stephen Hawking, we laugh
We missed the sex revolution
When we failed the physical."
Such a great line. And it's shocking the same guy who wrote the pitch-black outlook of The Holy Bible came up with it a year or so later. It's probably just a punchline. But if you want to look deeper at it, maybe it is saying Hawking, due to his physical handicap is really just an (incredible) brain without much of a outer body. And Richey probably saw him as a much more dignified human being for it. If you read Richey's interviews, he really saw himself as anti-sexual, so I guess he identified with that. Oddly.
There is some doubt whether Richey actually wrote these lyrics. Rumours has it that the 'long-ignored book of Richey's lyrics' was a publicity stunt, and the lyrics were purposefully peppered with 1980s & 1990s references for verisimilitude.
There is some doubt whether Richey actually wrote these lyrics. Rumours has it that the 'long-ignored book of Richey's lyrics' was a publicity stunt, and the lyrics were purposefully peppered with 1980s & 1990s references for verisimilitude.
Rumour has that Richey didn't write the lyrics on "Journal For Plague Lovers"? Was there ever more concrete evidence than that I ask you? I gotta say I'm almost offended by that remark... I don't believe the Manic's would be so careless and calculating. However, I have no doubt that Richey's lyrics were complex and convoluted and it was up to the band to turn his writing into actual songs and so its reasonable that they altered passages, but anyone who has followed the band for a long while, can see these are typical Richey song lyrics.
Rumour has that Richey didn't write the lyrics on "Journal For Plague Lovers"? Was there ever more concrete evidence than that I ask you? I gotta say I'm almost offended by that remark... I don't believe the Manic's would be so careless and calculating. However, I have no doubt that Richey's lyrics were complex and convoluted and it was up to the band to turn his writing into actual songs and so its reasonable that they altered passages, but anyone who has followed the band for a long while, can see these are typical Richey song lyrics.
I think this song is decrying the future" cloning, engineered food, were both hot topics in the mid-90s. People freaked out when faced with the moral question of how cloning humans will be handled. "Today it's a cow, tomorrow it's you."
"African Punch and Judy show at half the price"
I think refers to the capitalist phenomenon of outsourcing labor to countries that could get it cheaper. This was just beginning when Richey wrote this around mid to late 1994. So it is impressive he was on to it this early. And hopefully this won't start any Tupac-like rumors that he's still out there writing new songs. It just shows how frightening his intellect was. (Yeah, I believe he's dead personally.)
"A hundred thousand watch Giant Haystacks in a Bombay fight."
Giant Haystacks was a famous British professional wrestler, an icon of working class England. Having him "in a Bombay fight" might refer to the fight the working class UK will have with India over outsourced labor jobs. Not in a racist way, since Richey was hardly a BNP-sympathizer, but in the way that's there's only so many factory jobs to go around and if another country can do them cheaper, very few corporations care if they're taking them away from the west.
"Me and Stephen Hawking, we laugh We missed the sex revolution When we failed the physical."
Such a great line. And it's shocking the same guy who wrote the pitch-black outlook of The Holy Bible came up with it a year or so later. It's probably just a punchline. But if you want to look deeper at it, maybe it is saying Hawking, due to his physical handicap is really just an (incredible) brain without much of a outer body. And Richey probably saw him as a much more dignified human being for it. If you read Richey's interviews, he really saw himself as anti-sexual, so I guess he identified with that. Oddly.
There is some doubt whether Richey actually wrote these lyrics. Rumours has it that the 'long-ignored book of Richey's lyrics' was a publicity stunt, and the lyrics were purposefully peppered with 1980s & 1990s references for verisimilitude.
There is some doubt whether Richey actually wrote these lyrics. Rumours has it that the 'long-ignored book of Richey's lyrics' was a publicity stunt, and the lyrics were purposefully peppered with 1980s & 1990s references for verisimilitude.
Rumour has that Richey didn't write the lyrics on "Journal For Plague Lovers"? Was there ever more concrete evidence than that I ask you? I gotta say I'm almost offended by that remark... I don't believe the Manic's would be so careless and calculating. However, I have no doubt that Richey's lyrics were complex and convoluted and it was up to the band to turn his writing into actual songs and so its reasonable that they altered passages, but anyone who has followed the band for a long while, can see these are typical Richey song lyrics.
Rumour has that Richey didn't write the lyrics on "Journal For Plague Lovers"? Was there ever more concrete evidence than that I ask you? I gotta say I'm almost offended by that remark... I don't believe the Manic's would be so careless and calculating. However, I have no doubt that Richey's lyrics were complex and convoluted and it was up to the band to turn his writing into actual songs and so its reasonable that they altered passages, but anyone who has followed the band for a long while, can see these are typical Richey song lyrics.