The clue is in the fifth and sixth lines of the song and in the pronunciation of the word as “integral” instead of the more accepted “integrel” (deliberate spelling error to high light the pronunciation).
The whole song is based on a book by Yevgeny Zamyatin, called “We”. The book portrays a nightmare state where every moment of every individuals life is planned, plotted and controlled by a hyper totalitarian government that calculates all the probabilities of peoples behavour (“Where your lives exist as information).
What must be remembered is that Neil Tennant is a very educated man (History degree) and has shown in previous songs that he is very well read ( re:
“I was faced with a choice at a difficult age
Would I write a book? Or should I take to the stage?
But in the back of my head I heard distant feet
Che Guevara and Debussy to a disco beat”).
So it should not come as a surprise that he should use classical Russian literature as inspiration for his work. Although I do not disagree with the above comments (they are valid and well presented) but if we are to be pedantic about this song we must say that it is about a book, and it is Yevgeny Zamyatin's book that is about the “New World Order”.
Incidentally “We” is a good book and I can really recommend it to anyone who likes conspiracy theories or has ever read (and liked) George Orwell's “1984”. Also audio books for free does a good audio book of it.
Remember, Just because you are paranoid it doesn't mean that they are not out to get you!
The clue is in the fifth and sixth lines of the song and in the pronunciation of the word as “integral” instead of the more accepted “integrel” (deliberate spelling error to high light the pronunciation).
The whole song is based on a book by Yevgeny Zamyatin, called “We”. The book portrays a nightmare state where every moment of every individuals life is planned, plotted and controlled by a hyper totalitarian government that calculates all the probabilities of peoples behavour (“Where your lives exist as information).
What must be remembered is that Neil Tennant is a very educated man (History degree) and has shown in previous songs that he is very well read ( re: “I was faced with a choice at a difficult age Would I write a book? Or should I take to the stage? But in the back of my head I heard distant feet Che Guevara and Debussy to a disco beat”).
So it should not come as a surprise that he should use classical Russian literature as inspiration for his work. Although I do not disagree with the above comments (they are valid and well presented) but if we are to be pedantic about this song we must say that it is about a book, and it is Yevgeny Zamyatin's book that is about the “New World Order”.
Incidentally “We” is a good book and I can really recommend it to anyone who likes conspiracy theories or has ever read (and liked) George Orwell's “1984”. Also audio books for free does a good audio book of it.
Remember, Just because you are paranoid it doesn't mean that they are not out to get you!