There's a place called Potter's Field in H.P. Lovecraft's "Harbert West: Reanimator", which is about a scientist obsessed with bringing life back to corpses. Potter's Field is a graveyard where Herbert West digs up one of the corpses. He manages to "reanimate" the corpse but it turns into an insane, murderous, ape-like thing. It burns down the house, carries out several killings, and is eventually put in an asylum. At the end of the final story, it is freed by another of West's zombies and abducts West, who is dragged down into a zombie netherworld.
When I read this story, I instantly thought of the line "should've let me rest in Potter's Field" and thought the song must be about that. The abortion thing makes more sense in many ways. But I can see how it could be about a zombie too. He was "told to burn" (his first act when revived), born to "save" West's career/vocation, he's a one-night nightmare who returns with retribution, and West never takes responsibility for the zombies he's created.
There's a place called Potter's Field in H.P. Lovecraft's "Harbert West: Reanimator", which is about a scientist obsessed with bringing life back to corpses. Potter's Field is a graveyard where Herbert West digs up one of the corpses. He manages to "reanimate" the corpse but it turns into an insane, murderous, ape-like thing. It burns down the house, carries out several killings, and is eventually put in an asylum. At the end of the final story, it is freed by another of West's zombies and abducts West, who is dragged down into a zombie netherworld.
When I read this story, I instantly thought of the line "should've let me rest in Potter's Field" and thought the song must be about that. The abortion thing makes more sense in many ways. But I can see how it could be about a zombie too. He was "told to burn" (his first act when revived), born to "save" West's career/vocation, he's a one-night nightmare who returns with retribution, and West never takes responsibility for the zombies he's created.