I think the part at the end about shaving Rael's "fluffy heart" is the hardest metaphor/symbol to understand on the album. Everyone seems to have different interpretations of what it means. Personally, I think hair represents emotions, and shaving it would mean getting rid of emotion, becoming harder and tougher and cooler. (I relate this to a scene in the movie Pink Floyd: The Wall, which is entirely different concept album, where the main character shaves off all the hair on his body.) I think Rael needed to become tougher to survive in New York City, and that this incident happens after he is released from the Pontiac, so I naturally assume that the reformatory made him this way. Another interpretation of mine that's similar is that the shaving is preparing him for living in an extroverted world- New York is an extremely extroverted city, in my opinion, and it's not really the right place for an introvert to survive (I know my soul would die if I lived there). I think that despite Rael's bragging about being a tough kid, he is really a sort of quiet, introverted person who doesn't like attention (in the first song he yells at women for staring at him, and later in the story for Chamber of 32 Doors, he immediately runs off to a quiet corner of the room after the people notice him). So all in all, the shaving of the heart represents a survival mechanism. I have no clue what the porcupine could possibly mean, though... I don't think it's supposed to be a real porcupine...
Anyway, the rest of the song provides some much-needed backstory on this character, and I think makes him more sympathetic. It's a useful song in terms of the story, but I don't really like listening to it because the music doesn't seem to fit the lyrics until the end.
I read "fluffy heart" or "heart deep in hair" as Rael's past, a safe place remembered from childhood. Therefore shaving the hair from the heart is relinquishing the memories of the past held dear.
"As I cuddled the porcupine" I've always read as a metaphor for masturbation!
I read "fluffy heart" or "heart deep in hair" as Rael's past, a safe place remembered from childhood. Therefore shaving the hair from the heart is relinquishing the memories of the past held dear.
"As I cuddled the porcupine" I've always read as a metaphor for masturbation!
I think the part at the end about shaving Rael's "fluffy heart" is the hardest metaphor/symbol to understand on the album. Everyone seems to have different interpretations of what it means. Personally, I think hair represents emotions, and shaving it would mean getting rid of emotion, becoming harder and tougher and cooler. (I relate this to a scene in the movie Pink Floyd: The Wall, which is entirely different concept album, where the main character shaves off all the hair on his body.) I think Rael needed to become tougher to survive in New York City, and that this incident happens after he is released from the Pontiac, so I naturally assume that the reformatory made him this way. Another interpretation of mine that's similar is that the shaving is preparing him for living in an extroverted world- New York is an extremely extroverted city, in my opinion, and it's not really the right place for an introvert to survive (I know my soul would die if I lived there). I think that despite Rael's bragging about being a tough kid, he is really a sort of quiet, introverted person who doesn't like attention (in the first song he yells at women for staring at him, and later in the story for Chamber of 32 Doors, he immediately runs off to a quiet corner of the room after the people notice him). So all in all, the shaving of the heart represents a survival mechanism. I have no clue what the porcupine could possibly mean, though... I don't think it's supposed to be a real porcupine...
Anyway, the rest of the song provides some much-needed backstory on this character, and I think makes him more sympathetic. It's a useful song in terms of the story, but I don't really like listening to it because the music doesn't seem to fit the lyrics until the end.
@EnduringChill Homer used the term
hairy heart..., i believe to describe warrior heroes, so there you go ! PS: Its also a medical condition.@EnduringChill Homer used the term
hairy heart..., i believe to describe warrior heroes, so there you go ! PS: Its also a medical condition.I read "fluffy heart" or "heart deep in hair" as Rael's past, a safe place remembered from childhood. Therefore shaving the hair from the heart is relinquishing the memories of the past held dear. "As I cuddled the porcupine" I've always read as a metaphor for masturbation!
I read "fluffy heart" or "heart deep in hair" as Rael's past, a safe place remembered from childhood. Therefore shaving the hair from the heart is relinquishing the memories of the past held dear. "As I cuddled the porcupine" I've always read as a metaphor for masturbation!