The main part of the song is just stating how bad the system is, that you can be fired, wiped from the system and 'swept under the rug', and institutionalised when you decide that this is wrong and you arent willing to take any more of it, all in the name of profit and 'efficiency'. Then the song takes a bit of an surreal twist, with the 'surplus rats' and the people joking about how much you want to die around the water cooler. Why does Biafra start going on about rats? Beacuse the rats are you - the working man. The people orhestrating all this and laughing about how you would like to die are the 'gods' - the bosses, managers, politicians, those in power who will use you up and wear you out like you were a lab rat.
I agree with the Soylent Green reference as well, - 'Soup is good food' takes on a sinister twist if you think that the ground up 'human rodents' becoming the soup for the recently unemployed person, at the other end of this horrible slope. And so the circle is complete!
The main part of the song is just stating how bad the system is, that you can be fired, wiped from the system and 'swept under the rug', and institutionalised when you decide that this is wrong and you arent willing to take any more of it, all in the name of profit and 'efficiency'. Then the song takes a bit of an surreal twist, with the 'surplus rats' and the people joking about how much you want to die around the water cooler. Why does Biafra start going on about rats? Beacuse the rats are you - the working man. The people orhestrating all this and laughing about how you would like to die are the 'gods' - the bosses, managers, politicians, those in power who will use you up and wear you out like you were a lab rat. I agree with the Soylent Green reference as well, - 'Soup is good food' takes on a sinister twist if you think that the ground up 'human rodents' becoming the soup for the recently unemployed person, at the other end of this horrible slope. And so the circle is complete!