Map Ref. 41°N 93°W Lyrics

Lyric discussion by ThisUsernameWasTakenFuckOff 

Ellington said that he didn't believe in categories. Wire, with this song, has elaborated his point abstrusely.

What is Map Ref. 41N 93W? It's a longabout way of referencing a town called Centerville in Illinois.

Human-defined categories are our way to understand our world - "whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name."

(Genesis 2:19), but defining things has a way of defeating our understanding of things as they are.

"Chorus: Interrupting my train of thought/ Lines of longitude and latitude/ Define and refine my altitude"

Labeling the chorus is obvious and reinforces the point that categories reinforce preconceived notions about how we perceive

the world.