This certainly sounds like a rock star talking about groupies. "Divide your cultured pearls and paste....." he's saying, very contemptuously, he can look through all the glamour and makeup (paste), basically, the image, these girls are presenting and "lay waste" the only part of someone you "can not taste" (soul). Or, in other words, turn them inside out...but he chooses "not to do" that. He's also saying, "don't come to the show looking to have sex with me," the "racy race" part, that is. The "Given the..." part is him thinking about how being in that position affects his conscience (which is probably why he dedicated the song to Exxon at one show because of their negligence concerning the Valdez disaster. In other words, "this is what it's like to have a conscience." The backing vocals are what the groupies are saying, "I believe in what you do. I believe in watching you."
This certainly sounds like a rock star talking about groupies. "Divide your cultured pearls and paste....." he's saying, very contemptuously, he can look through all the glamour and makeup (paste), basically, the image, these girls are presenting and "lay waste" the only part of someone you "can not taste" (soul). Or, in other words, turn them inside out...but he chooses "not to do" that. He's also saying, "don't come to the show looking to have sex with me," the "racy race" part, that is. The "Given the..." part is him thinking about how being in that position affects his conscience (which is probably why he dedicated the song to Exxon at one show because of their negligence concerning the Valdez disaster. In other words, "this is what it's like to have a conscience." The backing vocals are what the groupies are saying, "I believe in what you do. I believe in watching you."
The groupies saying, "I believe, " like the rock star is a god.
The groupies saying, "I believe, " like the rock star is a god.