This one is very profound. Definitely appears to be about a man's psyche thrown into chaos from the combination of want of love, want of sex and the failure to achieve either. There are a lot clever images and metaphors thrown into the mix. I think "some bald guy writhing" has two meanings. I think perhaps the narrator is being portrayed as having physical characteristics that are traditionally viewed as unattractive. "Bald" is obvious. "Writhing" probably means weak and frail in this context. This in turn leads to more rejection as he does not have characteristics that women would typically be drawn to. But I think that there's a second meaning here also. I don't mean to disgust anybody but I think it may be a metaphor for a certain part of the male anatomy. "Bald" and "writhing" would certainly seem consistent with the idea of an aroused pen---OK, that's enough. From there, there's also the mentioning of the possibility of a god and if so, it must surely be punishing him. I think that the idea here is that if there is a god, then it has "cursed" the narrator with sex drive. Something that at first thought would be a gift has turned out to be a curse. I think the fact that he refers to the god as "it" instead of "He" also has significance. How could the god be male if he would instill in male humans this "curse"? Then I think the most metaphorical and profound part of all is the ending. I think the rejection "taking life away from eyes" and "giving you to the skies" means that the pain of the rejection is so great that it can lead to suicide. "More than a man" would therefore mean that he has killed himself and is no longer "human" but something "more" living in "the skies." And more specifically than being more than HUMAN, he's more than a MAN--no longer cursed with lusting for love and sex from women. That's my take on this song. As per usual, Phil hits on a very profound and down-to-earth topic that can hit the listener on a very personal level.
This one is very profound. Definitely appears to be about a man's psyche thrown into chaos from the combination of want of love, want of sex and the failure to achieve either. There are a lot clever images and metaphors thrown into the mix. I think "some bald guy writhing" has two meanings. I think perhaps the narrator is being portrayed as having physical characteristics that are traditionally viewed as unattractive. "Bald" is obvious. "Writhing" probably means weak and frail in this context. This in turn leads to more rejection as he does not have characteristics that women would typically be drawn to. But I think that there's a second meaning here also. I don't mean to disgust anybody but I think it may be a metaphor for a certain part of the male anatomy. "Bald" and "writhing" would certainly seem consistent with the idea of an aroused pen---OK, that's enough. From there, there's also the mentioning of the possibility of a god and if so, it must surely be punishing him. I think that the idea here is that if there is a god, then it has "cursed" the narrator with sex drive. Something that at first thought would be a gift has turned out to be a curse. I think the fact that he refers to the god as "it" instead of "He" also has significance. How could the god be male if he would instill in male humans this "curse"? Then I think the most metaphorical and profound part of all is the ending. I think the rejection "taking life away from eyes" and "giving you to the skies" means that the pain of the rejection is so great that it can lead to suicide. "More than a man" would therefore mean that he has killed himself and is no longer "human" but something "more" living in "the skies." And more specifically than being more than HUMAN, he's more than a MAN--no longer cursed with lusting for love and sex from women. That's my take on this song. As per usual, Phil hits on a very profound and down-to-earth topic that can hit the listener on a very personal level.