Shannon gave a nice ball-park explanation. I like it.
The artist is telling the listener to follow their heart. Hear and listen to your own master's voice. Don't be influenced by what others believe or what someone told you was true when you were a child.
To me the artist is putting a childish description on some prodigious religious characters (Mohammed and Christ) i.e. "rolling dice" and "they run to do their chores". I don't think he is putting them down or making fun of them or belittling them. I believe he's trying to paint them in a different light than some people would, for the benefit of the listener. When some people think of Christ and Mohammed they think I better follow and believe for he that doesn't suffers the consequences. The artist is describing them as children to more or less relax the listener. We all tend to listen better and retain more when we are relaxed.
He then describes their master telling them to "Re-write the bible for a generation of non believers". I personally believe this is a very important line. I believe the bible and Christ are fictional, created to give birth to and inspire hope. I believe we as human beings "hear what we want to hear" and have forgotten the most important lesson of the bible (have hope and love one another). The artist is saying the master believes he needs to try something new and that the old bible is not working and should be re-written.
The second and third verses are a case in point explanation of how not finding your own belief (master's voice) could end badly. The verses tell a story of a boy listening to a pastor and the boy hearing and being influenced by the pastor's master's voice. The boy then believes it to be his own and follows it witch eventually costs the boy his life.
The artist says "You're only gonna hear what you want to hear" and asks the listener "do you hear your masters voice now?".
What this verse means to me is people will interpret religions, beliefs, and creeds any way they choose. They hear what they want to hear and act accordingly. The artist just gave an example of how listening to someone else's master's voice and not there own cost them their life. If everybody hears what they want anyway, shouldn't we take the time and find out what WE really find to be important and meaningful to ourselves (our own master's voice) and listen and stick to that? It may be Christ's or Mohammed's words that we find as our master's voice, but learn that for yourself. Don't come to that conclusion because of what someone else believes or because that's what was taught when you were a child.
The last verse is the artist admitting that he finds Mohammed and Christ agreeable but he still is an individual and has his own beliefs.The artist master's voice just might be Mohammed or Christ, but in the spirit of finding what's important to yourself the artist leaves the identity of his master's voice undisclosed.
Great song from a great album. Maybe I'm over thinking it, I tend to do that.
If I have offended any one I apologize.
@duderr
To Duder and everyone who replied, I don't feel offended by anything said on this post. However, in analyzing His Master's Voice I think it's important to realize most songs of meaning have a great deal of symbolism. This song is no exception. The word "master" appears 8 times in this song. So what does the artist mean by the word master. I take it literally to mean the voice of God because of other lyrics such as "he sees his inner child, he ears his mother's voice." I don't think this can be interpreted in any other way except...
@duderr
To Duder and everyone who replied, I don't feel offended by anything said on this post. However, in analyzing His Master's Voice I think it's important to realize most songs of meaning have a great deal of symbolism. This song is no exception. The word "master" appears 8 times in this song. So what does the artist mean by the word master. I take it literally to mean the voice of God because of other lyrics such as "he sees his inner child, he ears his mother's voice." I don't think this can be interpreted in any other way except to mean he his dying. And I don't know what the reference to Mahammed would have to do with finding an inner self. The lyric 'There's evil that must be put down!' to me means the pastor has enlisted this person in a war to fight the devil. I hope all this makes sense. Sometimes I state my thoughts in a sort of out-of-order fashion. Have fun everyone!
Shannon gave a nice ball-park explanation. I like it.
The artist is telling the listener to follow their heart. Hear and listen to your own master's voice. Don't be influenced by what others believe or what someone told you was true when you were a child.
To me the artist is putting a childish description on some prodigious religious characters (Mohammed and Christ) i.e. "rolling dice" and "they run to do their chores". I don't think he is putting them down or making fun of them or belittling them. I believe he's trying to paint them in a different light than some people would, for the benefit of the listener. When some people think of Christ and Mohammed they think I better follow and believe for he that doesn't suffers the consequences. The artist is describing them as children to more or less relax the listener. We all tend to listen better and retain more when we are relaxed.
He then describes their master telling them to "Re-write the bible for a generation of non believers". I personally believe this is a very important line. I believe the bible and Christ are fictional, created to give birth to and inspire hope. I believe we as human beings "hear what we want to hear" and have forgotten the most important lesson of the bible (have hope and love one another). The artist is saying the master believes he needs to try something new and that the old bible is not working and should be re-written.
The second and third verses are a case in point explanation of how not finding your own belief (master's voice) could end badly. The verses tell a story of a boy listening to a pastor and the boy hearing and being influenced by the pastor's master's voice. The boy then believes it to be his own and follows it witch eventually costs the boy his life.
The artist says "You're only gonna hear what you want to hear" and asks the listener "do you hear your masters voice now?". What this verse means to me is people will interpret religions, beliefs, and creeds any way they choose. They hear what they want to hear and act accordingly. The artist just gave an example of how listening to someone else's master's voice and not there own cost them their life. If everybody hears what they want anyway, shouldn't we take the time and find out what WE really find to be important and meaningful to ourselves (our own master's voice) and listen and stick to that? It may be Christ's or Mohammed's words that we find as our master's voice, but learn that for yourself. Don't come to that conclusion because of what someone else believes or because that's what was taught when you were a child.
The last verse is the artist admitting that he finds Mohammed and Christ agreeable but he still is an individual and has his own beliefs.The artist master's voice just might be Mohammed or Christ, but in the spirit of finding what's important to yourself the artist leaves the identity of his master's voice undisclosed.
Great song from a great album. Maybe I'm over thinking it, I tend to do that. If I have offended any one I apologize.
Cheers, Duder
@duderr To Duder and everyone who replied, I don't feel offended by anything said on this post. However, in analyzing His Master's Voice I think it's important to realize most songs of meaning have a great deal of symbolism. This song is no exception. The word "master" appears 8 times in this song. So what does the artist mean by the word master. I take it literally to mean the voice of God because of other lyrics such as "he sees his inner child, he ears his mother's voice." I don't think this can be interpreted in any other way except...
@duderr To Duder and everyone who replied, I don't feel offended by anything said on this post. However, in analyzing His Master's Voice I think it's important to realize most songs of meaning have a great deal of symbolism. This song is no exception. The word "master" appears 8 times in this song. So what does the artist mean by the word master. I take it literally to mean the voice of God because of other lyrics such as "he sees his inner child, he ears his mother's voice." I don't think this can be interpreted in any other way except to mean he his dying. And I don't know what the reference to Mahammed would have to do with finding an inner self. The lyric 'There's evil that must be put down!' to me means the pastor has enlisted this person in a war to fight the devil. I hope all this makes sense. Sometimes I state my thoughts in a sort of out-of-order fashion. Have fun everyone!