This song is hard to interpret, but I don't think it's about war. Elvis has plenty of songs about war, but this is one of his songs in an opaque, cryptic vein where he sparks some mystery and forces us to cast about for meaning.
The main character is either deflecting blame from himself to Cain -- that's the manic energy of the refrain, especially when you hear it as Elvis belt it out. Blame it on Cain, not me. Did the narrator actually do something wrong, i.e., something worthy of blame? According to him, no: "It's nobody's fault, we just need somebody to burn."
Like razajac said, this seems to show the narrator deflecting responsibility or even blaming "it" (whatever "it" refers to) on our sinful nature. You might feel the narrator's using that nature as an excuse for his behavior - but it's hard to say whether it's a lame excuse or a joyful one. The humor and energy of the song could take it either way. It could be Elvis speaking in the voice of a slime-bucket justifying his own nefarious behavior, or he could be speaking closer from his own heart and telling someone/society to leave him the fuck alone and "Blame it on Cain," not him, since he's only human.
So what did the narrator do that he wants us to blame on Cain? The song doesn't answer that question, and there's really not a whole lot of concrete detail we can decipher. One thing that recurs is the need for money. The main character had money but "government burglars took it away," suggesting someone with taxing authority got it, like the English version of our Internal Revenue Service. The money's also tied to the character's relationship to someone who sounds like a lover, "the only one." Whatever the speaker wants to blame on Cain seems to involve this money, since he says if the "man with the ticker tape," i.e., an auditor/accountant who might be coming for his taxes, comes to get that money, he's going to tell him effectively piss off, blame it on Cain, not me.
The second verse continues the theme of needing money to keep the couple afloat. If the speaker were a saint (which by implication he's not), he could get money by trading in his silver cup. Again, it's ambiguous -- is it good to be a saint who has silver cups to trade in, or is that decadent? Either way, the speaker doesn't have that option. The "radio to heaven" allusion is interesting, even raising the idea this is a song about songwriting -- that if Elvis were a facile pop star, his radio to heaven would be wired right to his purse, and he'd have plenty of money.
The last verse feels great to listen to and sing, and it really releases the pent-up tension of the song, but frankly, I have no solid idea what it means. The speaker is in some kind of exile "on the outskirts of town," talking to himself, and he's living with a vague kind of guilt or social stigma, either for something he did or just because society doesn't like him. He seems anxious, talking to himself, but says he's "never been accused," suggesting there's nothing specific he actually did wrong.
So what's really going on here, and why is this such a great song? In addition to the wonderful phrasing and pent-up rythms, I think part of the charm lies in the final verse's mystery. Not having money is, for many people, tied up with thoughts about relationship, success, one's own virtue, and social approval. Without a radio to heaven and a full purse (or socially approve saint's silver cup), many of us feel anxious, inferior, exiled, guilt-ridden -- especially in the younger stages of adult life, which was Elvis' audience at the time. Jumpbling up irresponsible and irrepressible joy, anger, rebellion, moral justification, and even moral purpose, Elvis' persona rejects the stigma being thrown his way and belts out in self-defense, "Blame it on Cain!" not me. Is that the right move? Maybe not, he admits -- there's a bitter randomness to blaming Cain. We need somebody to burn -- someone to blame things on -- and it "just seems to be his turn." So maybe the speaker is a bit of a slime-bucket -- but who hasn't sought relief from the anxiety and misplaced guilt of human life?
That's why it's so fun to sing along with this song.
This song is hard to interpret, but I don't think it's about war. Elvis has plenty of songs about war, but this is one of his songs in an opaque, cryptic vein where he sparks some mystery and forces us to cast about for meaning.
The main character is either deflecting blame from himself to Cain -- that's the manic energy of the refrain, especially when you hear it as Elvis belt it out. Blame it on Cain, not me. Did the narrator actually do something wrong, i.e., something worthy of blame? According to him, no: "It's nobody's fault, we just need somebody to burn."
Like razajac said, this seems to show the narrator deflecting responsibility or even blaming "it" (whatever "it" refers to) on our sinful nature. You might feel the narrator's using that nature as an excuse for his behavior - but it's hard to say whether it's a lame excuse or a joyful one. The humor and energy of the song could take it either way. It could be Elvis speaking in the voice of a slime-bucket justifying his own nefarious behavior, or he could be speaking closer from his own heart and telling someone/society to leave him the fuck alone and "Blame it on Cain," not him, since he's only human.
So what did the narrator do that he wants us to blame on Cain? The song doesn't answer that question, and there's really not a whole lot of concrete detail we can decipher. One thing that recurs is the need for money. The main character had money but "government burglars took it away," suggesting someone with taxing authority got it, like the English version of our Internal Revenue Service. The money's also tied to the character's relationship to someone who sounds like a lover, "the only one." Whatever the speaker wants to blame on Cain seems to involve this money, since he says if the "man with the ticker tape," i.e., an auditor/accountant who might be coming for his taxes, comes to get that money, he's going to tell him effectively piss off, blame it on Cain, not me.
The second verse continues the theme of needing money to keep the couple afloat. If the speaker were a saint (which by implication he's not), he could get money by trading in his silver cup. Again, it's ambiguous -- is it good to be a saint who has silver cups to trade in, or is that decadent? Either way, the speaker doesn't have that option. The "radio to heaven" allusion is interesting, even raising the idea this is a song about songwriting -- that if Elvis were a facile pop star, his radio to heaven would be wired right to his purse, and he'd have plenty of money.
The last verse feels great to listen to and sing, and it really releases the pent-up tension of the song, but frankly, I have no solid idea what it means. The speaker is in some kind of exile "on the outskirts of town," talking to himself, and he's living with a vague kind of guilt or social stigma, either for something he did or just because society doesn't like him. He seems anxious, talking to himself, but says he's "never been accused," suggesting there's nothing specific he actually did wrong.
So what's really going on here, and why is this such a great song? In addition to the wonderful phrasing and pent-up rythms, I think part of the charm lies in the final verse's mystery. Not having money is, for many people, tied up with thoughts about relationship, success, one's own virtue, and social approval. Without a radio to heaven and a full purse (or socially approve saint's silver cup), many of us feel anxious, inferior, exiled, guilt-ridden -- especially in the younger stages of adult life, which was Elvis' audience at the time. Jumpbling up irresponsible and irrepressible joy, anger, rebellion, moral justification, and even moral purpose, Elvis' persona rejects the stigma being thrown his way and belts out in self-defense, "Blame it on Cain!" not me. Is that the right move? Maybe not, he admits -- there's a bitter randomness to blaming Cain. We need somebody to burn -- someone to blame things on -- and it "just seems to be his turn." So maybe the speaker is a bit of a slime-bucket -- but who hasn't sought relief from the anxiety and misplaced guilt of human life?
That's why it's so fun to sing along with this song.